HSC Stuff > HSC Society and Culture
The PIP Thread
owidjaja:
--- Quote from: alice343 on February 02, 2020, 04:00:04 pm ---Hi guys! I'm currently in year 12, and I'm still trying to finalise my PIP topic down to the specifics. I'm having trouble narrowing my topic down, especially since I want to write about so many broad things: the evolution of dark humour and meme culture, differences between Western and Chinese humour, how the two different cultures and societies react (with humour) to the same subject, etc. And my teacher is old... like very old, so it's been difficult trying to get him to understand memes in general. I was wondering if anyone could help me with coming up with a specific focus question?
Thank you!!!
--- End quote ---
Hey there,
Exploring the evolution of humour and meme culture is a very interesting topic! If you would like to go down that route, you'd definitely need to be a bit more specific, not just naming your cross-cultural comparison (though it is important too) but also like what aspect of humour are you comparing? For example, are you exploring the impacts of humour/meme culture on Western and Chinese adolescents? Are you looking at dark humour/meme culture at a macro scale, say, in the films/advertisements/music? Think about what SAC concepts you want to address in your PIP but also look at the different opinions surrounding dark humour/meme culture. Or sometimes a reflection on why you chose this topic can help you narrow down the topic.
In terms of explaining it to your teacher, yeah it's difficult for them to understand meme culture (I did a History Extension Major Work on video games and my teacher knew absolutely nothing about video games), it can also work in your favour as well because your teacher can also learn from your PIP - and that's what you want; you want people to consider the perspectives you raise in your PIP or teach them something new. I guess the best way to approach this is to do enough research that you can give your teacher a basic definition of memes but also give them an example and explain it. Say you're looking at a bubble tea meme, then you break it down and explain how it refers to bubble tea as the Asian drink of choice. You shouldn't expect them to completely understand the humour of it, but the best you can do is to make sure they have a basic definition and basic understanding on what you're doing.
Hope this helps!
alice343:
--- Quote from: owidjaja on February 02, 2020, 06:34:27 pm ---Hey there,
Exploring the evolution of humour and meme culture is a very interesting topic! If you would like to go down that route, you'd definitely need to be a bit more specific, not just naming your cross-cultural comparison (though it is important too) but also like what aspect of humour are you comparing? For example, are you exploring the impacts of humour/meme culture on Western and Chinese adolescents? Are you looking at dark humour/meme culture at a macro scale, say, in the films/advertisements/music? Think about what SAC concepts you want to address in your PIP but also look at the different opinions surrounding dark humour/meme culture. Or sometimes a reflection on why you chose this topic can help you narrow down the topic.
In terms of explaining it to your teacher, yeah it's difficult for them to understand meme culture (I did a History Extension Major Work on video games and my teacher knew absolutely nothing about video games), it can also work in your favour as well because your teacher can also learn from your PIP - and that's what you want; you want people to consider the perspectives you raise in your PIP or teach them something new. I guess the best way to approach this is to do enough research that you can give your teacher a basic definition of memes but also give them an example and explain it. Say you're looking at a bubble tea meme, then you break it down and explain how it refers to bubble tea as the Asian drink of choice. You shouldn't expect them to completely understand the humour of it, but the best you can do is to make sure they have a basic definition and basic understanding on what you're doing.
Hope this helps!
--- End quote ---
Hey, thanks for replying! I was doing a bit of research, and found it quite interesting how sarcasm is received differently in cultures around the world. For example, English obviously is loaded with sarcasm, but whenever I have tried to use sarcasm against my Chinese parents, they don't get it at all. But sarcasm as an aspect of humour is a completely different idea to dark humour and meme culture, so I wouldn't be able to talk about both of them.
My teacher also suggested I use the corona virus pandemic as a case study, since there have been a lot of memes as a result of its media attention. SO basically... I just need to pick between sarcasm and dark humour/meme culture. But I'm really indecisive and just don't know which one would make a better PIP.
owidjaja:
--- Quote from: alice343 on February 04, 2020, 10:13:46 am ---Hey, thanks for replying! I was doing a bit of research, and found it quite interesting how sarcasm is received differently in cultures around the world. For example, English obviously is loaded with sarcasm, but whenever I have tried to use sarcasm against my Chinese parents, they don't get it at all. But sarcasm as an aspect of humour is a completely different idea to dark humour and meme culture, so I wouldn't be able to talk about both of them.
My teacher also suggested I use the corona virus pandemic as a case study, since there have been a lot of memes as a result of its media attention. SO basically... I just need to pick between sarcasm and dark humour/meme culture. But I'm really indecisive and just don't know which one would make a better PIP.
--- End quote ---
One thing I'd say if you want to do something about sarcasm, be careful that your PIP doesn't turn into a linguistics essay. One of the topics I brainstormed was about conlangs (constructed languages) and how they create a sense of communal identity amongst fandoms but my teacher warned me that it can easily stray away from Society & Culture.
If you want to do meme culture, then perhaps you can take your teacher's idea on how adolescents use memes to understand issues (e.g. political memes, coronavirus etc.) or you could look at how memes play an important role in collectivist culture. You can also look at controversies surrounding memes, specifically self-deprecating memes and normalising suicide and its impacts on adolescents.
Hope this helps!
alice343:
--- Quote from: owidjaja on February 04, 2020, 11:12:07 pm ---One thing I'd say if you want to do something about sarcasm, be careful that your PIP doesn't turn into a linguistics essay. One of the topics I brainstormed was about conlangs (constructed languages) and how they create a sense of communal identity amongst fandoms but my teacher warned me that it can easily stray away from Society & Culture.
If you want to do meme culture, then perhaps you can take your teacher's idea on how adolescents use memes to understand issues (e.g. political memes, coronavirus etc.) or you could look at how memes play an important role in collectivist culture. You can also look at controversies surrounding memes, specifically self-deprecating memes and normalising suicide and its impacts on adolescents.
Hope this helps!
--- End quote ---
I've always been interested in linguistics hahaha, but I'll definitely take your word for it! Thank you so much for your help, I've been stuck without a specific question for ages and it's been so difficult to start writing anything at all. ;D
owidjaja:
--- Quote from: kittyaliceee on February 20, 2020, 08:13:10 pm ---Hey, I've just written the first draft of my PIP intro. My topic is the erasure and intentional suppression of individuals throughout history on the basis of gender, and its influence on the values and policies of the 21st century society (a mouthful I know). As its my first draft I've gone over on the word count but I was hoping for some feedback before I start culling it down. If anyone had any pip titles too that would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
--- End quote ---
Hey there,
Welcome to the forums! Sorry this took so long to mark but I've included my feedback in the document I attached.
Just some overall feedback:
- Good start, you've essentially covered what is required in an intro.
- There are some sections where I believed that you didn't need in an intro or you should have elaborated a bit more
- It lacks a personal voice. Because your intro and log are gonna be the first few sections the marker will read, you need to be able to grab their attention so adding a bit of personal flair can help with that.
- Tense should be in past tense, just like any other intro.
Another thing I'll suggest is maybe instead of jumping into editing your intro, start planning out and writing your central material (it doesn't need to be perfect). It gives you a great understanding on the direction of your PIP. Or maybe, your PIP may go in a direction you didn't expect. Either way, it's best to see how your PIP will go and once you have a better bearing on your topic, then go back to your intro and see if you need to add or delete anything.
Hope this helps!
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