Cultural Codes Analysis

I’d like you to go out into the real world and find another image, article, or video of your choice and identify its cultural codes. To do so:

1. Explain what’s happening in the text: identify the text’s main idea, its purpose, and intended audience (e.g., an anti-bullying public service announcement communicating to parents of children).

2. Describe any cultural codes present in the text. Remember that cultural codes are any icons, symbols, words, ideas, or even beliefs/values that are native to a specific culture that require some background knowledge or prior exposure to understand (e.g., you must know what bullying is to understand an anti-bullying PSA).

3. Identify what’s “consumed” by interacting with the text. Remember that “consumption” involves more than just basic comprehension; to consume a text is to be able to develop a response to it — to be able to identify whether you support the ideas raised (an accommodation) or reject the ideas raised (a resistance) in the text. What you consume is often phrased in the form of an idealism (e.g., good kids aren’t bystanders to bullying) or cultural statement (e.g., bullying occurs frequently in schools).

Whatever text you choose — whether it’s a print ad, an article, a YouTube video, etc. — I want you to provide some way for me to access it alongside a works cited entry. You may either post your submission in the text box or attach a Word compatible file like you would when turning in an essay.