Essay Two Prompt:

Essay Two:  Critical Analysis of an Image

 

For this essay you are required to analyze an image.  You may choose to either analyze a painting, a photograph, or an advertisement. An analysis essentially means that you break something down—you take something apart—in order to understand how certain components work to make the whole.  So if you are analyzing a painting or photograph, you will discuss the use of color, texture, proportion, etc. If you choose to write about a print advertisement, then you will discuss similar things; however, there will likely be some kind of text (in which case things like font choice and use of slogans become important).  In either case, each component needs to be discussed at length. If you choose to discuss an advert for cologne, the use of color, for example, will need a fully developed paragraph. 

 

In addition to discussing the components, you will also have to discuss the effect of these components as a whole.  What was the painter/photographer/ad maker trying to achieve with this image?  For example, why does Edward Hopper’s work often feature rigid lines and dimensions?  What is he trying to say through the use of these shapes?  If working with an ad, the ad maker is obviously trying to sell a product, but how is she trying to sell a product? If the ad is for a Lexus, what is she trying to achieve by showing the middle-aged couple pulling up to a valet stand?  Why does the man have silver hair?  Why is the wife dressed in navy blue?

 

Once you have considered the larger goals of the image—the message, if you will—I want you to take this one step further and discuss the cultural context.  That is, what does the Hopper piece say about America during his time?  What does the Lexus advert say about America right now?  It might help to think about your image as if it were an artifact. If someone two hundred years from now found this Lexus ad, what would it tell him about our culture? For this part of the essay, you are required to use at least one outside source?  For example, if writing about a Renaissance painting, it will help if you know a bit about the Renaissance.  

 

The Protocol:

You must focus on a single image, not a series of advertisements, photographs, or paintings.  You are allowed to refer to other work (i.e. Picasso’s “blue period”), but the analysis has to be about a single image. 

You are not allowed to analyze a commercial, or film: no moving pictures.

3-4 pages (typed in 12 pt. Times New Roman with 1-inch margins).

Use a staple to pierce and bind the 3-4 pages

MLA guidelines must be followed for the outside source(s), including a Works Cited Page.

Do not “ape” another writer’s analysis (that is, do not find someone else’s analysis of a the same image and use each of their points to construct your analysis).