African Media

This course has tracked our own emergent ideas, reflections and conversations about the power of representation, who represents, and how is Blackness represented. For this creative project, come up with an idea of Black representation that you would like to see in your chosen tv series (from your first paper on a tv series).

The form of the project will be up to you.  You have the power and the freedom to create from your own interests and strengths. You may pitch an episode or an additional season or a spinoff series.    Your pitch must take into account the different areas explored in the course: production, narrative, and audience.

Each aspect must be addressed in your pitch.   When imagining and constructing your creative piece, please also consider the following and reference past course themes in your pitch.    

   You should also have a theme statement that explains the larger cultural relevance of your project, storyline, premise, settings, and characters.premise, theme, conflict, characters. As a writer and producer, how does this work and this episode promote diversity and inclusion in storytelling?

We will think critically about the ways in which television both reflects and shapes representations of American identity. What can television teach us about our history? Our hopes? Our anxieties? Our values?

Move beyond simple description and summary to explore how representation and production can help us better understand the cultural expectations, attitudes, and beliefs. Be sure to include what ideologies of race, gender, sexuality, and class your episode is reinforcing or subverting. 

 How does your storytelling amplify Black multiplicities and Black humanity? Your pitch should be at least 500 words, but will likely be longer to develop key themes. Your artistic statement that explains the interventions and engagements that you are making in terms of Blackness and Media should also be at least 600 words.  In total, you should have 1000 words