Tapping the Narrative Zeitgeist: Using Popular Television Shows as Pedagogical Tools for Understandi

For English 1302, Composition II, I have utilized visual narratives as a means of engaging students in analytical and critical thinking. Using an episode from shows like Girls, Game of Thrones, Orphan Black, Mozart in the Jungle, or Vikings, students operate on a shared experience and learn to analyze, critique, and discuss in small group and full classroom seminars using critical theories such as Feminism, Marxism, Reader Response, New Historicism, Sexuality, Cultural, and Psychoanalysis. When paired with traditional readings of short stories, poetry, and plays, students more engaged in the readings and their perspectives are broadened in how they understand stories and literature.

Image: HBO. www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/index.html. Accessed 17 Nov 2016.