2/18-6/18

Prompt: Is comedy good or bad for democracy? (700）

See rubric for the grading criteria (scroll to the bottom of this page)

Organizing your Argument:
Include a clear argumentative thesis statement that makes a claim (comedy is good/bad for
democracy) and signpost the main steps in the argument.
Give the reader a preview of how you will support your view with reasons and evidence.
Analysis: What are the goals of comedic modes such as satire or pranks? Are these goals in
line with democratic goals?
Use evidence from the reading/watching to support your claims.
Consider your opposition and respond.

Consider your Opposition: You must raise the strongest argument from the other side of the
debate. Respond to their objection to strengthen your overall argument in the essay.
For help finding a strong opposing argument, look back at Discussion 1: Cynic Comedy to
see what your colleagues from the other side of the debate had to say.

This is NOT a research project
You may use outside sources if they are relevant, but I require a minimum of 5 citations from
the course reading to support your claims.
1 reference must explain democratic values: Use this short article by Danielle Allen called
“What is Democracy?” (Scroll down to the article)
1 example from the Diogenes text
1 example from Aristophanes’ Clouds
1 reference from a Who is America? or Nathan for You clip
1 reference from the articles that criticized Sacha Baron Cohen and Nathan Fielder
Pranks and Masculinity on “Who Is America?” and “Nathan for You” (The New Yorker)
Nathan For You’s star confronts the A.V. Club mom who scorned him (AV Club)
Why “Nathan for You” Isn’t for Everybody (The Village Voice)

Putting this in context:

Helpful things to consider in relation to the course as a whole…

The goal is to (A) clarify and articulate our collective values in a democracy and (B)
determine whether comedy supports these values or undermines them.
Plato’s Republic is an indictment of Athens. He is accusing them for not living up to their
collective deals. Socrates was right, he thought, Athenians cared more about superficial
appearances at the expense of truth, wisdom, moral virtue, and ultimately, the excellence of
their soul.

Plato said in The Apology that Aristophanes’ Clouds played a large role in getting Socrates
condemned to death for false charges (The same false accusations were made against him
in Clouds)
Plato sees the soul of the community as what shapes the moral development of its
members. If the communal culture is sick, then its members will get sick too. Education is
fundamental to a healthy city, he thought, so he says in the Republic that we should ban
entertainment and social practices that undermine the chief political value, UNITY.

Formatting:

12 point font, Times New Roman, 1-inch margins, double spaced
Avoid using long quotes just to fill space–paraphrase when appropriate
Use in-text citations: “Quote from the text or summary” (Author ##).
Class texts only–this is not a research assignment–no outside sources

FILE FORMAT: Canvas only accepts the following file formats: doc, docx, pdf, txt, and rtf
(Google docs and Pages files won’t work). Also, Canvas will not process file names that
include special characters or dashes. If Canvas doesn’t accept your file, then I can’t grade it.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Submitting this assignment to Canvas will check for plagiarism
and originality through Turnitin.com. Please don’t plagiarize or buy essays online—it’s not
worth it. I report all instances of plagiarism to the Honor Council.

If you’re struggling to complete the assignment, then please please please come to office
hours so we can talk it over. We might clarify confusing things from class, make an outline to
get you started, and I’m also open to reasonable deadline extensions.

REVISIONS: After you receive your peer feedback and a rubric score from me you can
choose to revise and resubmit for a higher grade. Revisions are optional and I will enter your
highest score in the gradebook. Should you choose to revise, then please highlight all
revisions to make it easier for me to evaluate your revisions. If there are no highlights then I
will ask you to use highlights and resubmit.

Prompt: Is comedy good or bad for democracy? (700-800 words)