Submitted by: Jennifer L. Jones
School: Hermitage High School
Summary
The Gatsby Line project is assigned to students after they read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This novel features decadent lifestyles in 1920’s America and the materialistic preoccupation of its main characters. The Gatsby Line project engages students in the creation of a modern advertisement for the clothes, cars, or homes of the time in an effort to cultivate an understanding and appreciation of the 1920’s. To add a modern twist and relevancy, students imagine their clothing designs are from Project Runway; the car designs are from the Detroit Auto Show, and the house is an HGTV Dream Home. The goal for this project is to have students analyze two things: the materialist elements in the novel and the art of persuasion. Throughout the year, the students study persuasive techniques, and this project gives them an opportunity to implement persuasive strategies while displaying their perception of the clothes, homes, and cars in The Great Gatsby. In addition, symbolism is prevalent in this novel, so the project allows them to choose key symbols, work the symbols into the illustration, and explain what they think each symbol represents.
TIPC Ratings
Ideal/Target: Students complete independent research on the three popular television programs/events in order to find appropriate logos/slogans used for these particular programs/events. In addition, students also research how these programs are advertised, synthesizing the Internet sources and discerning between effective/ineffective advertising strategies. Furthermore, students must also use the novel (The Great Gatsby) to research color symbolism.
Students will work in pairs, communicate with advertising experts in the Richmond area, and use School Space email to talk to me about the best ways to create an effective advertisement. In addition, they will complete a School Space Discussion Board after presenting to discuss the effects modern-day advertising would have had on 1920’s America.
Throughout this assignment, students must critically analyze effective persuasive techniques, symbolism and how it relates to literature, and the cultural significance of advertising and how it has affected our nation since the 1920s. Student will conduct advanced Internet research, contact appropriate experts in advertising, and communicate with each other about this assignment.
The advertisement is the embodiment of creativity. Students must take what they have seen and experienced as consumers and viewers and use that to shape an entirely unique advertisement for the Gatsby Line. As students reflect on the 1920’s era, they develop an appreciation for the influence of that era on the fashion, cars and homes of the 21st Century.
Student Artifact
