Thursday, October 30

Today’s Agenda:

1)    We are going to begin a new unit today: The Literature of Everyday Experiences. In this unit, we will be examining aspects of the visual arts, including movies, television, video games, and the internet as they are experianced by you on a day-to-day basis.

 

 So far, I have told you that literature deals with the issues, concerns, and events that play a central role in the lives of people within a given culture of civilization.

Today, for your journal entry, I want you to do the following:

1)    For the next 10-15 minutes, I want you to write on the following topic: Given the definition for literature I just provided you with, what do you think qualifies as literature in your life. What form of entertainment or interactions do you think would qualify as literature under the definition above? I want you to identify several types of literature in your life, and then cite specific examples of how they deal the kinds of issues, concerns and events that are central to your life and the lives of the people you are most familiar with.

 

2)    Group Work: For the next 10 minutes, small groups are going to discuss the various forms of literature in their lives and compare and contrast these literatures. How do they address different issues or aspects of your culture? I want you to compile a group statement on the role literature plays in your day to day life. Is it a big part, or is it a small part?

 

3)    Class discussion

 

4)    Now that we have though a little bit about the literature of our everyday experience, it is time to start thinking about how literature is put together.

 

a.     The Writing Process: So far, we have been reading poems and story stories. These tend to be written by individuals. Often times, they are written with a small group of proofreaders and editors – but writing is, by and large, a solitary art.

b.     However, the literature of your everyday experience – newspapers, movies, television shows, talk radio – is different. It is a COMPOSITE ART.

                                                             i.      A Composite Art is art that is created by a group of people.

For example, let’s think about television shows for a moment. Television shows are a form of Drama.

What is Drama?

Drama is like poetry and short fiction on more ways than you may think

In dramatic works, we have:

Characters
Settings
Cultural References

A Plot
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action

Symbolism
Allegory
Motifs
Themes

How is it like Poetry?

Well, in Dramatic works, there are

Speakers
An Audience
A Situation

Imagery
Metaphor
Similes
Symbols
Allegory

However, it is also different from Poetry and Short Stories in that it is a Staged Art.

It has a THEATRICAL DIMENSION AND LITERARY DIMENSION.

We see it preformed, and our understanding of its performance, of its THEATRICAL dimension, is just as important as our understanding of its LITERARY dimensions.

In Dramatic works, you will find STAGE DIRECTIONS that will tell you how the play is to be performed.

Thus, our first step in approaches Dramatic Works should be to consider the physical and practice realities of the performance.

We need to remember that Drama is a COMPOSITE ART.

It is made up of many other arts, and we need to understand these relationships to understand the work.

 

Let’s think about this for a second: New Journal identify the basic dramatic elements of television show or movie of your choosing.  

Class discussion.

Pass Back Exams.

 

 

 

 

Homework: Watch a television show and record the following:

Title:

Setting:

Characters:

Cultural References:

Plot:
Exposition:
Rising Action:
Climax:
Falling Action:

Symbolism:
Allegory: (if applicable)
Motifs:
Themes:

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