Response Paper 2:Black Mirror’s “White Bear” and Cancel CultureLength, formatting: 700 words minimum, MLA

Response Paper 2:
Black Mirror’s “White Bear” and Cancel Culture

Length, formatting: 700 words minimum, MLA formatted: 12-point, double-spaced, Times New Roman font, with appropriate heading and page numbers (see this video for how to format your paper in MLA using MS Word: ignore the stuff about “page break” from 2:06-3:00; just focus on doing your heading and page #s correctly): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMqTfSm7gdA

Two (2) Sources for this paper:
1) “The Long and Tortured History of Cancel Culture” (2020), a journal/magazine article by Ligaya Mishan (see attached files for .pdf and audiobook/mp3).
2) “White Bear” (2013), a short film/stand/alone episode of the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror (2011-present): *Here is a link to the Blackboard Collaborate recording of “White Bear”; it’s not an HD-quality recording or anything, as you know from watching videos on Bbc in class, but it’s certainly good enough for watching this movie if you don’t have Netflix (which, if you do have, you should be using instead); it’s Black Mirror, season 2, episode 2, “White Bear”):
https://us-lti.bbcollab.com/recording/35aab1980f0c49379ea76ad18b484808
Assignment Description:
The main purpose of this Response Paper is for you to practice analyzing fiction in a way similar to how The Film Theorist does it in that video essay from Paper 1. Now you will be developing your own analysis of a work of fiction for how you see it criticizing our real-world actions, and/or trying to teach us something about ourselves, human nature vs. nurture, etc. The best fiction for this kind of analysis, obviously, is the kind that deliberately tries to do these things (deliberately tries to use art for social commentary). As writers and critical thinkers, we can use this type of exercise for gaining a deeper understanding of various social issues, because writing this kind of paper often leads us to discover some new truth by forcing us to see things from alternate perspectives.

For Paper 1: the work of art we will examine here is a short horror film called “White Bear” (technically, it’s a stand-alone episode of the Netflix anthology series, Black Mirror). The main social issues/problems we see represented in “White Bear” are associated with public shaming on the internet, scapegoating–or, in other words, so-called cancel culture. For the sake of putting your analysis in a critical context/conversation about cancel culture, you will read Mishan’s article, “The Long and Tortured History of Cancel Culture,” and reference it in your paper (by summarizing, paraphrasing, and/or quoting it directly) to help you define it and any relevant key concepts associated with it.
Your main focus for this paper will be explaining how you see “White Bear” criticizing us for the kind of behavior we typically associate with cancel culture or online shaming (repeated, public, etc.). So, in what ways do you see the film doing this? Here are some other questions, any one or combination of which will help you get conceptualize your paper: How do you see the fate of the characters in “White Bear” working as a METAPHOR for the fate of the people we cancel or shame online? (And by we, of course, I mean society.) Why do you think the filmmakers felt compelled to write and produce this film? What are the problems the filmmakers would seem to have with cancel culture, then? What are they trying to teach us about all that stuff, why is it a bad thing, etc. Or think about it like this: it’s like you watch it and say “ok, I can tell this film is trying to teach me something about cancel culture and internet shaming,” and so now you simply explain what exactly you think it’s trying to teach in that respect. Furthermore, as you develop your main point(s), you will identify/explain any specific scenes or parts of the film that can we single out and analyze to help us better understand those lessons it’s trying to teach us about how we (mis)treat each other, why people act the way they act, etc.
Directions