You can look at how fashion pushes values concerned with modesty, sexuality and gender relations. Fashion also has a role in defining how women should look, setting an ideal for women (which has become younger and more skinny over the decades); and telling men which women they should be attracted to. By moving from full sized women to 14 year old tall girls as models, fashion also creates a type of pedophilia which is socially acceptable. There's probably some good stuff about it too.

Next, you want a thesis. Well, what do you want to say about the entertainments? Do you just want to describe them or do you want to put them in some kind of context to understand them better. That is what your thesis does.What is the role of entertainment today? Maybe some parallels can be drawn.

Perhaps your thesis might be that entertainment is also a form of social control. Wasn't it a Roman who said "Give us bread, not circuses"? So perhaps there are political implications of entertainment. Maybe you just want to look at whether or not the types of entertainment the Romans were interested in are really the same as entertainment we have today. What are the parallels between football and gladatorial combat? Is reality TV just a high tech kind of Roman game? With this kind of thesis you could look at each subtopic and draw parallels.

Additionally, people are moving all about the world these days and many conflicts arise out of cultural misunderstandings. As citizens we have the duty to understand cultures of the world so we do not blindly follow leaders who want to impose their cultural values on other peoples without understanding the traditional values. Now, if you think this is just a jab at George W. Bush, perhaps it is. But if a democratic institution can be transplanted into Iraq and become as valued to the Iraqi people as the US constitution is to the American people then it will be because those introducing the institution understood the values of the receiving culture and were able to create an institution which works in that culture. If they fail to be able to communicate in an understanding way with that culture, the institution will fail and the US will be viewed in the end as an invading army seeking nothing more than oil. History will be the judge. All I am saying is understanding culture is the key to success here.

Here's another reason to study cultures. The spread of western industrial culture is wiping out cultures and languages at an alarming rate. In a century, or two, if we survive, culture studies may be only part of the history department at universities. Can we make statements about the importance of cultural diversity being parallel to the importance of biodiversity? I think so. What an amazing world when you can travel to regions where people speak Punjabi, Mandarin, Tagalog, Dogrib or Swahili and every language and culture incorporates a different world view. We will be much the poorer when they are all speaking English and shopping at Mega-Low Mart. Studying other cultures is a vital part of being a responsible citizen in the global village.

Video surveillance has become so ubiquitous that it is said that the average person is videotaped 10 times a day. (I don't know the exact number or source, but it is worth finding out for this essay.) In many communities police use video cameras to control crime. Police have either mounted cameras in public locations or use portable cameras to take pictures from their vehicles. This greatly expands the police ability to identify and persecute people engaged in anti-social behavior.The government is manipulating language in order to further its own political goals. The most obvious example is the "Patriot Act" which is really legislation that rolls back civil liberties and expands police powers of surveillance and arrest. Labelling groups as "terrorist" eliminates the need to judge the validity of their causes. Whereas once the label "terrorist" was strictly applied to non-governmental organizations engaged in lethal campaigns, today the label includes states which tolerate or encourage opposition to U.S. corporate and military hegemony as well as groups engaged in non-violent civil disobedience.

The current war on terrorism has been stated by President Bush to be a long-term struggle taking place on many fronts on an undefined timetable. This is a striking parallel with the war in "1984". (You can expand on this by citing the book and also Bush's 2002 State of the Union address.) Finally, the novel cites a regular "two minutes of hate" for the main enemy of the state. Current American culture, fed by government propaganda, has created a culture of hate focused on Osama bin Laden in particular and arab muslims in general. By labelling his enemies "an axis of evil" President Bush has created and reinforced an emotional reaction which legitimates his internal control of the American population while justifying his military exploits against countries of his choice.

What I think you are saying is that the trial is an example of the prejudice of the White people against the black people of the town.

It is significant that Scout and Jem have to sit with the black people and then realize the perspective of the black people about prejudice in the town for this is the very heart of the novel. Harper Lee uses this novel to open the eyes of White people to the bigotry of the south at this point in history. It's like the old saying about walking a mile in another man's shoes. Here, Jem and Scout literally sit in the seats of the black people in order to see things from their perspective.You can find many other places in the novel where Scout and Jem begin to observe the prejudice of Mayberry. You need to cite these passages and discuss how they work. Use the example of the courtroom in your reading and look for ways in which Scout and Jem interact with black people in ways that most White people ordinarily do not. Consider their social position. Hopefully you will find other examples of how the author uses their experience to open the reader's eyes to the experience of the black people.

My apologies to people of African origin for using the terminology of the novel to describe the characters.