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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the essay "The Boys on the Bus," by Gary Smith, examine?

2. According to the textbook authors, why was the T.V. show Sex and the City popular?

3. Who is Aunt Jemima as a cultural icon?

4. What is the main point of the essay "The New Sexual Stone Age," by Andre Mayer?

5. How does Michael Omi state that Americans commonly judge a person's character?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did baseball become a national pastime?

2. How does Martha Stewart represent the culture of consumption, according to "The Assault on Martha Stewart," by Mark Caldwell?

3. How do toys like Barbie teach consumption to kids, according to Gary Cross, author of "Barbie, G.I. Joe, and Play in the 1960s?"

4. What does the semiotic reading of a show like Sex and the City reveal, according to the textbook authors?

5. What is the main point made by Lucy Lippard in her essay "The Alternating Currents?"

6. How did the gender codes change with time? Give an example.

7. Why is semiotics of sports crucial?

8. How does Barbie reinforce women's perception about perfect body image, according to "Our Barbies, Ourselves," by Emily Prager?

9. How does language mark women? Explain your point using an example.

10. What are the gender codes for female athletes, as posited by Mariah Burton Nelson?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Advertising is everywhere. How do the markets target you and your classmates into becoming consumers? Apply the semiotic method to analyze consumption as one of the aspects of popular culture.

Essay Topic 2

How do the movie characters and their roles conform the gender roles in American society? Do a semiotic analysis of a movie of your choice to support your arguments.

Essay Topic 3

While FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulates profanity and indecency, it allows violence, often the extreme kind, on TV as well as in movies. Should the FCC's role involve regulating violence?

(see the answer keys)

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