Course Syllabus

About Your Professor

Dr. Matt Barton is an associate English professor at Saint Cloud State University, where he has served on the faculty since 2005 after receiving his PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of South Florida. Matt teaches courses in rhetoric, composition, social media, popular culture, and advanced writing. His published work includes five books, several articles and reviews in top academic journals, and a documentary called Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution. He’s the host of a weekly YouTube program called Matt Chat, which features in-depth retrospectives and interviews with veterans of the videogame industry. Click here to view my CV.

How to Contact Me

My office is located in Building 51, Room 158. 

Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays 12-1, 3-5 P.M., Tuesdays and Thursdays 11-1 P.M. (No appointment needed).

Email: mdbarton@stcloudstate.edu

Phone: (320) 308-5472 (please use email instead)

Course Description

The main goal of English 306 is to help you see how rhetoric works in popular culture. As opposed to “high culture,” or “fine arts”—think Shakespeare, Homer, or Mozart--popular culture (often abbreviated as “pop culture”) is concerned with comics, movies, advertisements, videogames, popular music, and best-selling novels like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. If you’ve ever wanted to write an essay on The Matrix instead of “A Rose for Emily,” this is your class.

We’ll talk more about “rhetoric” as the class progresses, but understand now that it means more than just fast-talk or empty language. Rhetoric is concerned with understanding the social and cultural effects of any kind of discourse, whether we’re talking about movies or political speeches. Rhetoric is never a one-way street, of course—no matter how persuasive I might try to be in a letter, I can never know for certain how the person reading it will respond. What I can strive to understand, though, is how that person’s response will be influenced by his or her social standing, education, cultural background, association with various groups and communities, and so on. Two different people watching the same film will often have very different reactions; consider the furor over the video “Innocence of Muslims,” a shoddy film all but ignored by American audiences, but which reportedly led to over 75 deaths after it was dubbed in Arabic.

Many (if not most) producers of pop culture claim (and likely honestly believe) that their work is purely for entertainment value and has no other effect on their audiences. Nevertheless, groups of concerned citizens, including prominent politicians, have frequently contested this claim, arguing that pop culture works such as comic books, heavy metal albums, and videogames are contributing factors to crime—if not the outright destruction of our society. Which side, if either, is correct?

Since the world of pop culture is so immense, I’ve decided to focus on a recurring theme: zombies. Even more specifically, we will focus on The Walking Dead franchise. I chose this theme mainly because I love it, and secondly because it is a perfect example of “transmedia,” or a story whose parts are unfolding in several different media—in this case, a popular television show, comic books, traditional novels, and videogames. This is a much newer phenomenon than simply turning a novel into a movie or vice versa—now we’re getting stories so large that fans (or at least the producers) feel that they simply must be spread across a variety of formats, each with its own special advantages and disadvantages for storytelling and persuasion.

Needless to say, if you despise The Walking Dead or zombies in general, you should not take this class. This class is taught every other semester by Communication Studies, and, as far as I know, zombies have nothing to do with it.

Over the course of the semester, we will try to understand how these different media forms work rhetorically—all the while contemplating why the ideas of a zombie and a “zombie apocalypse” have such appeal in contemporary Western society. During the course, you will experience The Walking Dead franchise from each of these media. We will watch parts of the show in class, play the games, and read the comics. Then we will discuss the rhetorical strategies and delivery method of each of these forms. We will also read academic essays on the subject of zombies in modern culture and see how the concept is being used to illustrate and critique immigration, race, religion, and capitalism, and more.

Texts and Required Software

1. AMC. The Walking Dead (the show). Available in various formats, including Netflix, DVD, and Amazon Instant Video. Choose whatever is convenient for you.
2. Kirkman. Walking Dead Vol. 1 Compendium. ISBN: 1607060760
3. McCloud. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. ISBN: 0613027825
4. Sellnow. Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture. 2nd edition.
5. Telltale Games. The Walking Dead. (any format). ASIN: B007WQOIGW
6. American Zombie Gothic. 
   

There will also be readings on Canvas from various academic journals and books. These will be available at no extra charge.

Learning Outcomes

1. Analyze the rhetorical elements of texts (such as websites, commercials, essays, songs, movies, television shows, blogs) to recognize the socio-historical value assumptions communicated through them
2. articulate how the value assumptions that underlie texts affect decisions and evaluations of contemporary socio-political issues made by ourselves and others
3. articulate how texts operate rhetorically to construct identities and communities
4. analyze the logical connections among the facts, goals, and implicit assumptions relevant to the claims made by texts and evaluate implications that follow from these logical connections
5. formulate interpretations of texts that yield both dominant and alternative meanings or reactions to them
6. evaluate how texts function to negotiate power, particularly in relation to establishing, maintaining, and/or resisting ideologies

Projects and Grade Breakdown

Written Projects

• 2 Proposals (10%)
• 2 Rhetorical Analysis Essays (30%)
• Nuggets from Readings (15%)

Other Assignments

• 5% rough drafts (2)
• 20% peer reviews (8)
• In-Class Activities (5%)
• 10% Pop Quizzes (?)
  
• 5% Final Exam

Bonus Assignments

There will be opportunities for bonus points and other rewards during the semester. These will be earned on a competitive basis as part of Hell’s Kitchen-inspired workshops and challenges. Losing these challenges will not harm your grade, but only the winning group will receive bonus points.

Policies

I allow students to miss three classes without penalty. Most of our assignments will be submitted online (usually due by Sunday), so you seldom need to be present to turn in work on time. That said, it's vitally important to be present at each class so you can participate in class activities and have the opportunity to ask questions.

• If you earn perfect attendance (no absences, excused or otherwise), you will receive 10 points to your final grade (an 80 becomes a 90).
• According to SCSU's student handbook, missing more than 20% of a course (5 classes here) will result in an F grade. My policy is to deduct 10 points from your final grade for every absence after three. Thus, if you miss 4 classes, your 90 will become an 80. Note that excused absences count towards your three freebies. Thus, if you have three excused absences and one unexcused one, you will still lose 10 points.
• Arriving late (after roll call) or leaving early (before class dismissed) will count as absences after three occasions of either. So, if you're late twice and leave early once, I'll count it as an absence.
• Late work will be penalized half of a letter grade for each day it is late. For example: An A project turned in one day late will be an A-, two days a B, three days a B-, and so on. In terms of points, this amounts to a 5% reduction of the original score each time (100 to 95, 95 to 90, 90 to 85, etc.)
• Do not copy and paste material from other sites or documents into your own without offering proper citation. If you intentionally misrepresent a copied document (or a document composed mostly of copied passages) as your own work, you may receive an F for this course. I also reserve the right to check your documents with a service called turnitin.com. Cheaters will be prosecuted.
• Disrupting the class may result in your being dropped from the course. Respect me and your classmates at all times.
• Social Websites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and texting are forbidden during class. The penalty for using these programs in class is 5% deducted from your final grade per offense, up to a maximum of 20%. If you must check these sites for emergency reasons, excuse yourself and do it outside the classroom.