Old Spice Stereotypes

Pick one or more examples of one type of multimodal text (see options below) and create an analytic argument about the way your chosen texts rhetorically express themselves. Whatever you choose to work with, you must have a clear central claim, i.e. something you are going to establish in the essay.
Besides the chosen primary text(s), you must use at least one external source for the paper, quoting directly from it. This source does not have to be an academic one but must be a written text by a specific, identifiable author and cannot come from a reference work (e.g. no dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.). You can use more than one source if you wish. Make sure to list your primary text(s) and source(s) in a Works Cited section in proper MLA format, as well as to provide quotations and citations in the body of the essay, as needed.

Here are some questions that you should consider while setting up your plans for the paper:

What is it that your chosen texts seek to convey? What is presented explicitly and what is implied? How do the texts make meaning? What ideas in society do the texts reference and count on? How do specific elements of the texts relate to social codes about things such as power, difference, and identity? How do non-visual elements in the texts relate to and mediate the effect of visual elements? What sort of appeals (ethical, logical, pathetic) are the texts using? Who is creating the texts? What are their contexts? What sort of audiences are the texts aimed at and how does each address them? What do the texts unintentionally reveal and convey, about themselves, about their audiences, and/or about the wider world beyond them? Are there any weaknesses in the texts and do they unintentionally convey anything?

It is absolutely not a requirement for you to directly address all these questions, but you will have to engage with at least a few of them in order to achieve an effective analysis.