Paper 3 Plan [REphrased]

In my Paper 3, I want to examine the idea that prizes do have another role (aside from marketing e.t.c as we have read in John Street, which is not the focus of this paper): Celebration of products, whether they are made by many people or just one person. I want to show that this idea is prevalent in pop culture, be it in movies, Japanese pop culture or in computer games.

I was inspired to use this idea after reading Dwight Macdonald's "A Theory of Mass Culture". In the chapter "Division of Labour", he predicted that as products in pop culture become something that is made by many people ("specialists") rather than one person ("artists"), they will become "bad qualitatively".

I find this (cynical) prediction to be at best, not all encompassing, considering how people do appreciate all sorts of products in today's world. I also noticed that it did not cover how technology or simply, one's will, will allow the creation of products by just one person.

Hence, I will show how prizes celebrate both types of products. In the case of products made by many people, I will also show how prizes celebrate the persons behind a particular section of it. Notably, Ms Coleen has pointed out that prizes have (partially) done this for movies; in the Oscars, movies can also win awards based on individuals' skills (e.g. Best Make-up Artist). Ultimately, I will focus on either anime/manga (which I see as one) or computer games.

Here's the structure of my essay:
1a. Introduction (Explanation of Dwight's Macdonald and my arguments)

If I choose anime/manga:
1b. Brief discussion on the creation process
2. Prizes celebrating products made by many people (anime based on the manga above and/or entirely new anime)
3. Prizes celebrating products made by one person (manga)
4. Prizes celebrating the individuals behind such products(seiyuu/CV in anime, characters)

If I choose computer games:
1b. Brief discussion on the creation process
2. Prizes celebrating products made by many people (large-scale games)
3. Prizes celebrating products made by one person (indie games)
4. Prizes celebrating the individuals behind such products(specific elements of games like the music)

For either part:
5. Conclusion (Showing how prizes celebrate this; a slight concession will have to be made though given how some products can end up badly)

Throughout the paper, I will need to have detailed discussion of prizes (the panel of judges [Can explore community-based prizes like SaiMoe for anime characters]? timeframe? criteria for the longlist/shortlist?]) If possible, I can also discuss on the effects these prizes have on the products (e.g. how it is used as marketing? Or perhaps, "thank you for your support" gifts for the users?)

My research focus will be on specific prizes, which can influence which text I will pick.

PS: Thanks Ms Coleen for the discussion! :D