Week 4 Discussion 1
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, review the following Required Resources:
Chapters 7 and 8 of the textbook
What Makes an Urban Legend? (Links to an external site.)
‘Duck Dynasty’ vs. ‘Modern Family’: 50 Maps of the U.S. Cultural Divide (Links to an external site.)
Note: Should a pay requestor pop up indicating that you have exceeded your quota of article viewing, simply access the resource after switching your browser to InPrivate mode (IE browser), Private mode (Firefox browser), or Incognito mode (Chrome browser).
Choose one of the following two options to address in this discussion. Be sure that your initial post meets the full length requirement of 300 words, and that you incorporate at least two of this week’s required resources in your post, one of which should be the textbook. Include citations and a full reference to your chosen sources. (See the Required Resources page for all references in APA format).
Option 1: Read What Makes an Urban Legend? (Links to an external site.) and address the following:
In what ways have urban legends adapted over time, both in terms of the content of urban legends and the way in which the spread over time?
What urban legends, folklore, or scary supernatural tales do you remember hearing about as a child?
What kinds of urban legends have you encountered as an adult?
How many counterintuitive elements exist in the urban legends and other tales that you have encountered?
What strong emotions are evoked by these tales?
Are there elements to these stories that deal with death and survival or both?
What do you think urban legends will look like in the future?
Option 2: According to the maps in ‘Duck Dynasty’ vs. ‘Modern Family’: 50 Maps of the U.S. Cultural Divide (Links to an external site.) Scroll to the end of the article and enter your zip code, then address the following:
What kind of television is most popular where you live?
Which shows are most and least popular where you live?
Do your own preferences line up with what is popular in your area?
On the list of 50 shows, are there any shows that you are unfamiliar with, and if so, why might this be?
What do our television preferences say about us as individuals and also about our regional cultures?
What cultural divides are illustrated in the maps in this article?
How does our consumption of media today differ from the 1960s and 70s, when television was “the great unifier”?
What benefits and drawbacks are there to the wide variety of television shows and diverse casts that we have available today?
Solution Preview
Television Viewership
South Park is the most popular television program around my home area, with most of my peers relating to the content of the sitcom. However, while the comedy is popular within the local community, most people are not keen on watching reality shows,
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