Research Proposal on "Mass Media Text"
Research Proposal 5 pages (1399 words) Sources: 0
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Media Literacy, Culture, And Critical Process in the OfficeEpisode Description
The Fifth episode ("Mafia") of Season Six of the NBC prime-time comedy hit the Office originally aired on Thursday, October 15, 2009. Its principle plot line is Michael's Scott's perception that an insurance salesman (played by Michael Starr, a character actor who has previously portrayed a prototypical Italian-American tough guy persona in mob movies) is shaking him down for protection money.
Starr plays Angelo Grotti, who claims to be an insurance salesman but evokes immediate fears on the part of the hapless duo Dwight Schrute and Andrew Bernard of being a mob shakedown artists selling commercial insurance as part of a thinly veiled protection racket. The episode also contains a subplot arising from the Kevin Malone's character's unwittingly causes Jim Halpert's credit card to be cancelled during his and newly-wed Pam Beesly's honeymoon in Mexico.
Initially, Michael does not suspect anything strange about Grotti, regarding him as a "bad salesman" insulting him (as a "great salesman") by trying to close an insurance sale that Michael clearly finds mind-numbingly boring. Dwight and Andrew immediately draw the obviously premature conclusion that Grotti is a criminal thug and not a legitimate businessman. When they discover that his name is only one consonant away from "Gotti," the most famous name associated with the contemporary American Mafioso image, they recoil in horror. The episode is eventually resolved only after Dwight and Andrew dupe Michael into calling Grotti's bluff and very rudely cancelling his newly purchased insurance policy by assurin
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Cultural Message Analyses and Interpretations
Initially, the Grotti character provides no objectively reasonable reason for assuming he is anything other than an insurance salesman. While much of his dialogue is potentially open equally to innocuous interpretation or to threatening implied innuendo, his delivery is neutral and suggests neither conclusion. On his way out of the office, he apparently knocks over the office coat tree; he picks it up and replaces it right-side-up where it belongs next to the reception desk, but he does so somewhat less apologetically than one might expect of someone who knocked over other people's coats while a visitor in a strange office. Instead of apologizing profusely, Grotti warns the entire staff, "Will you look at that, People? What an unpredictable world we live in, huh?" somewhat cryptically. Other than that slight possible glitch, the Grotti character does not give any overt hints about the potential criminal nature of his character or a threatening purpose of his business proposal.
The restaurant scene includes hackneyed use of typical Italian cuisine that is further designed to perpetuate uncertainty about Grotti. When he orders linguini with red sauce and garlic bread, the camera cuts to a recognition shot of Michael who then orders "gabagool," yet another obvious reference to a type Neapolitan lunch meat called Capocollo, but pronounced "gabagool" through thick Italian-American accents in both the HBO series, the Sopranos, and also in the Godfather. Andrew further reinforces the message in his attempt to help the waitress understand what Michael is trying to order by repeating the phrase "gabagool" in successively heavier impressions of a thick Italian-American accent.
The other direct cultural message comes in the form of Kevin's assumption that Oscar Martinez, an openly gay man, would "love" jail, presumably because all gay men love gay sex so much that even an environment in which forced anal rape is a risk would be enjoyable to them. Kevin says, "I wouldn't last in jail; I'm not like you" after Oscar tells him that Kevin may have committed a serious crime in pretending to be Jim on the phone when Jim's credit card representative called to confirm the charges from Mexico. Kevin reiterates "You would love jail; you would love it" and then looks knowingly at the camera.
Cultural Message Evaluation
The fact that Michael Starr's character is so convincing as the behavioral manifestation of the mannerisms and speech patterns that have personified the Mafioso in American popular culture ever since the Godfather (1972) makes him a… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Mass Media Text" Assignment:
“Write a critical analysis of this year's (2009) season opener of NBC's hit show "The Office" FOCUSING ON ITS CULTURAL MESSAGES, ESPECIALLY THE SUBTLE ONES.
It can be on any other episode of "The Office" but provide either the date it appeared on television or the title given the episode.
The paper needs to follow the media literacy and critical process as taken from Richard Campbell's book "An Introduction to Mass Communication." Those steps are:
1. description
2. analysis
3. interpretation
4. evaluation
5. engagement
How to Reference "Mass Media Text" Research Proposal in a Bibliography
“Mass Media Text.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2009, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/media-literacy-culture-critical/16674. Accessed 6 Jul 2024.
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