This week my students will choose a REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE of their SIXITES TOPIC to analyze and explain in their research paper – 300 words. It could be a very famous moment. It could be a scene few people know about. It could be a professional advertisement. It could be a shapshot. THEY DECIDE.
ALL I ASK: Be Creative. Be Thoughtful. Be clear on Historical Significance.
Here are are a few of Jay's Writing Prompts students may consider:
1. Discuss the basic elements of your image: picture, captions, description, colors, shapes.
2. What visual element grabs your attention first. What seems to be most important?
3. What’s the message? What is being shown, and what I being left out.
4. Do the facial expressions tell you anything. What is on the mind(s) of the person or people in the photo. How can you tell?
5. What emotions are involved? For the people in the image. For the people seeing this image for the first time.
6. What type of event(s) led up to the shooting of the picture. Like how or why was this picture taken. What is going on in this world. What do you think is going to happen afterwards.
To the right, I provide an image I chose for a my own sample Marilyn Monroe research paper.They told her not to come, but she came anyway. That's Bobby Kennedy on the left. That's President Kennedy on the right. And you know who that is in the middle – That's Marilyn Monroe. She had flown to New York to sing "Happy Birthday" to the president on his 45th birthday at Madison Square Garden. Of course, the first thing anyone is going to see in this picture is the dress. It's skin tight. It was so tight that it had to be practically sown on to her body for her performance. This is a black and white photo, but the color of the guaze material is the same color as her flesh. So, it looks almost transparent, like you could see right through it. What you are not going to see is Marilyn's underwear. She's not wearing any. There was no room for any garments underneath that dress. The dress is famous for all the jewelry that comes with it. More than 2,500 crystals are sewn into it. Her platinum blonde hair is arranged into a stylish bouffant. It rises up and flows downward on one side to cover part of her face. But nobody is looking at her hair. I notice both the Kennedys have their heads tilted forward and their eyes pointed downward. You can guess what they are looking at. In this picture, their behavior surprises me. They may be flirting with Marilyn right out in the open in front of everybody at the party. They knew of the rumors going around. People were whispering of their affairs with Marilyn. And the rumors were true. They were both sleeping with her. Reports say they warned her not to come because at this point, both of them must have feeling nervous for the truth to come out. Reports say they warned her not to come. But that’s Marilyn Monroe. She’s not a small nation president, princess or queen who might be intimidated by the Kennedys. She’s calling the shots. Nothing is over until she says so.
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In Jay's VISUAL ANALYSIS WORKSHOP I hope to not only share visual analyses I have modeled for other classes, but I can also reach into my files and find student work from previouis semesters to share. I can tell my current students, they will enjoy the challenge of Visual Analysis. My past students did.
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