BA masters in communications U Washington

[neillloool]

hello, first time posting here.  would like some critique on my statement of purpose.  thanks!

 

 

            For the longest time, I generally never questioned the idea that mass media served as a system for communicating important news, messages and symbols to the general populace.  Theoretically, this model of mass media seemed quite beneficial towards my view of society until I came across Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent (1992) which elucidated the fact that “the levers of power are in the hands of a state bureaucracy, the monopolistic control over the media, often supplemented by official censorship, [make] it clear that the media serve the ends of a dominant elite.”  This is especially true in the United States as “five global-dimension firms…own most of the newspapers, magazines, book publishers, motion picture studios, and radio and television stations in the United States.”  As the main sources of nearly every person’s forms of media, these five big companies are able to embed their own cultural agendas and ideologies into the minds of the naively ignorant and compliant majority of humanity. 

 

 

In our media-dependent society, young children are instantly exposed to mass media’s subtle form of oppression that impresses its morals on our popular culture.  As people begin to watch television shows and view advertisements for products, they are unconsciously being fed different cultural stereotypes and societal ideologies as portrayed in the broadcasting. It is through the media’s power to influence how people develop and interpret the world that I draw upon the edifice of my critical film and media studies work. 

 

 

The beginning of my critical media studies began when I examined the Disney Princess Industrial Complex and how it set gender roles and cultural expectations upon the millions of children who were enchanted by the glam and glitter of their films.  The majority of the children enraptured by Disney’s traditional princess culture are taught misogynistic and stereotypic gender roles that delegate women to submissive positions only to be saved by chivalric men.  As I examined how these films affected young children and their expected functions in society I became more acute at how these princesses served as poor role models for our contemporary youth.  It was through my disdain for the current lack of positive role models for children that I became active in a project named “The Guardian Princess Alliance”, a book series of racially and culturally diverse princesses who aim to transform the cultural meaning of the princess into a positive role model that makes the world a better place by moving away from the traditional focus on the external beauty of the princess and emphasizing what they can do for others.  Rather than rejecting the powerful princess culture entirely, I have worked to create stories to positively transform the outdated and detrimental princess culture for children to enjoy. 

 

 

My experience and passion to study how different forms of media positively and negatively influence the children of our generation is exactly why I am a perfect candidate for Masters Program at the Department of Communication. The program’s emphasis on the cross examination of media and culture will allow me to critically examine how these two areas intersect and affect communities around the world. Moreover, if I were accepted into the program, I would be greatly honored to study with and perform research under LeiLani Nishime. Her significant contributions to understanding how multiracial and interracial identities are constructed and represented in media in Aliens: Narrating U.S. Global Identity Through Transnational Adoption and Interracial Marriage in Battlestar Galactica, will seamlessly compliment my previous media studies.  With the valuable knowledge and research I will gain, I hope to transform the cultural meaning of various forms of children’s media that are often imbued with outdated and conservative ethics, into positive and progressive role models for future generations to enjoy.

Edited February 1, 2014 by neillloool

[lzs]

I'm not in your field, but a broadly applicable piece of advice that I feel applies here is: fewer general statements about the field (what your first paragraph seems to mostly be), more specifics about you, and in particular, your future goals/plans. I assume they require a writing sample and will thus get to read about your past research, so you probably don't need to describe it in quite so much detail here. I'm not sure about masters programs but in PhD programs it's generally best if you can name more than one potential advisor. You also don't say much concrete about why you want a graduate degree and what you will use it for. Do you hope to go on to a PhD eventually? Do you have some kind of industry career in mind? You need to convince us that you have thought this decision through farther than, "Well, I liked undergrad and I don't know what else to do, so I'll go to grad school."

(The Guardian Princess project sounds really cool, by the way, I'll have to check that out.)

[Admissions Advice Online]

Here is a general format for a SOP. 

 

1. Your Background
2. How your interest developed in your area of study
3. How you pursued your interest (here you can talk about your education, research etc.)
4. What are your future goals
5. How will this program help you achieve your future goals
6. Final summary.

 

Admissions Advice Online