The readings in Chapter 7 present a lively and varied discussion about the power and effects of images. Although we are surrounded -- and affected-- by multiple images every day, how often do we step back and analyze images and their power to persuade? The selections ask us to question what is "real" and what is valuable and to look more closely (and critically) at the images and symbols that shape the American experience. The selections also encourage us to consider nature and culture and the ways the two are made inseparable by image production.

Some starting places:

• In what ways do images or symbols affect people?

• What responsibilties do image creators have to their sources and audiences?

• What is the relationship between words and images?

• What is the relationship between image and reality?

Some possible topics:

• Write an imaginary dialogue between any of the writers we have read in this section. What are their views on image, or reality, or any of the topics we discussed in relation to any of the texts for this section? What would they agree on? Disagree? How would they resolve their differences?

• Try tracing the social consequences of any of the texts.

• Explore the metaphorical power of words and images in any one of the articles you have read. What is the purpose of the metaphor or image? How does a particular metaphor or image guide the way we think about a given topic?

• Compare and contrast the major claims of any two writers. Weighing one set of claims against the other, which do you find to be the most persuasive. Why? Where might you need more evidence?

• Trace a specific image (or color / symbol / metaphor) in The Matrixand evaluate the effectiveness for a given audience.

• What motivates one of the characters in The Matrix? Who might be motivated by these same forces? Are they good ones? Who decides ? Do good motivations sometimes lead to negative consequences, and vice versa? If so, what should be the relationship between ambition and actions? What might be the relationship between the imagined and the real?

More starting places:

• Plato:
  "[T]he prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world."

• The Matrix:
  Start with any line from the movie -- or use a phrase such as "residual self-image."

• Postman:
  "One picture, we are told, is worth a thousand words. But a thousdand pictures, especially if they are of the same object, may not be worth anything at all."

• Mc Cloud's "Show and Tell":
  "And INDEED, words and pictures have GREAT powers to tell stories when creators fully exploit them BOTH.

• A question worth answering:

• An audience who could possibly care:

Due dates:

• March 24: workshop draft
• March 31: editing draft
• April 4: Final draft

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