PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS VERY CAREFULLY. PLEASE DO NOT BID IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE BOOK.

You will need to get your hands on a copy of this book: De Zengotita, Thomas. (2005). Mediated: How the media shapes your world and the way you live in it. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. You are required to use the APA writing style and include at least 10 academic peer reviewed references in your paper.

Think back to your favorite commodity from your childhood (book, cartoon, movie, song, etc.) OR your favorite hero from your adolescence and take a deeper look.

Using the arguments presented in De Zengotita’s Mediated about the products of our childhood and their deeper meanings OR the twilight of heroes, construct a 5-page essay (1,500 words maximum) that offers a detailed reflection on the significance of your chosen commodity or hero. Spend the first ¼ of the paper describing the product or hero in detail. Use the balance of the paper to address the key questions listed below. Be sure to use the Blob, mediation, and other key concepts from Mediated as a framework:

• What does this media product or hero say about our larger cultural experience?

• What about your cultural experience as a child? (or as an adolescent)?

• What is this cultural object’s (hero’s) significance? Or upon deeper reflection, is it (or him/her) insignificant?

• What can you offer in terms of a critique of the cultural product’s mode of production/the media’s treatment of your hero?

• What is the “real experience” of interacting with this media product or hero as a child/adolescent? Now as an adult?

• How has your perception of this product or hero changed from childhood/adolescence given your reading of Mediated?