Paper 3 Idea

I want to study
the award-giving processes undertaken by the People's Association (PA) in Singapore,


to learn about
the reasons for and the efficacy of such prize-giving,


because
this will guide me in understanding the unique complexities of prize-giving in the field of community service.

Analysing 'Hairspray' through a lens provided by Macdonald

Phenomenon: 

Most of the general public welcomed the integration of both races together, as seen from their reaction when Inez won the title of Miss Teenage Hairspray.

Lensing question: 

Macdonald argues that Mass Culture is undesirable because it produces a homogenized culture, resulting in the destruction of values because of its eagerness to demolish social distinctions and also democratic nature that rejects discrimination. 

How does his argument change the way we understand and perceive the desirability of the abovementioned phenomenon?

Grounds for comparison: 

The process of homogenization can be seen as being embodied by the integration of the black and white races as seen from the phenomenon in Hairspray.

This is because the triumph of Inez can be understood, in Macdonald's point of view, as an example of "breaking down the old barriers of class, tradition, taste and dissolving all cultural distinctions", since voters had to be non-discriminatory in their judgement of Inez's talent, before they could bring themselves to support her. 

Main claim: 

In my opinion, Macdonald's argument of the undesirability of Mass Culture applied to the issue of racial discrimination in the case of Hairspray is invalid.

A response: Why I thought the author failed to convince

Much like my previous blog post, my response will be based on my analysis of the article according to its written content, rather than it being based on a personal reflection of the issue itself.


"A Reality Show Where Islam Is the Biggest Star"

Upon reading the title of this article, it lead me into having the expectation that the author intended to convince me why Islam - rather than the contestants as it is commonly understood - was the biggest star.

However, after reading the article, I concluded that the author had overall failed in doing so.

The justification for such a criticism is based on several written gaps, contradictions and content redundancies that I noticed throughout the article.

One instance when I thought I found a gap was when the author made a commitment to inform the reader how Imam Muda had "notable variations on the tried-and-true formula", but subsequently did not deliver as promised. It was neither explained what was meant by 'tried-and-true', nor was there intentional effort made to clearly account for what variations there actually were. The only notable variation that I could vaguely infer was through her report on the show's unique "prize pool".

As a reader, without being provided with a standard established according to what was 'tried-and-true', I was unable to appreciate how Imam Muda was different from whatever norms she had in mind. Indeed, the rest of the article instead gave me the impression that the show was not much different from other reality shows that I have encountered.

Next, the author reported information which were clearly contradictory. For example, it was stated that young people surveyed had said they wanted an imam who shared the same interests and who spoke the same lingo as them. Hence, it makes sense for Imam Muda to search for the best contestant who fit this ideal, as the creator had "said his aim was to find a way to make Islam more appealing to young people". However, the author went on to quote the show's judge who said that he was looking for a young imam "with a strong grasp of Islam, but also general knowledge and communication skills, "strong morality" and open-minedness." - qualities which were not exactly aligned with the young people's or the creator's.

Up till this point, I could still accept how those information helped in my understanding of why Islam would be the biggest star of the show. I thought the author's mention of variation in Imam Muda, however inadequate, would subsequently be attributed to the program's focus on ISlam )which di not materialise in the end). Likewise, the search for the ideal imam, regardless of the different criteria, had its focus centred on expanding and strengthening the appeal of Islam to young people. It seemed to prove that Islam was the focal point of the show, and thus its biggest star.

Hence, with all honesty, I went on to finish the article expecting the author to inform the reader about how Islam, as the biggest star of the show, came to enjoy this greater appeal established with the young people, such as in terms of its larger influence, or from the increased faithfulness of its followers.

However, the focus was instead shifted to the contestants and even the creator, on how they humbly enjoyed their newly found celebrity status through their appearances on the show. These information obviously seemed to me as redundancies that did not help fulfill the author's initial intentions. If anything, it caused the article to fail in meeting my expectations.

A Reality Show Where Islam Is The Biggest Star (NYT)

After reading the article, I did not really like it, as I thought it could have been better written.

At the beginning, I had no major problems with the article. This is because the article initially seemed to be cohorently written and easily understandable. The author, in my opinion, had also managed to keep the article interesting, by reporting interesting facts about the show and adding meaningful quotes from contestants or producers.

On closer analysis however, I noticed what I thought were several gaps, contradictions and unnecessary information within the article. A consequence of this was that the article fell short of meeting my expectation in convincing me how Islam could be the biggest star on Imam Muda.