ICW 4/19

With the semester drawing to a close, I believe now is a good time to look back and reflect on what i have learned in this intermediate composition class. I  think that my persuasive writing has progressed over the course of the semester, due to this class, and i now have a better concept of what is expected of me when writing a persuasive argument. Overall, I feel that everything i did in this class was somewhat successful and i am not worried that i did anything poorly,  in the class. However, I do have one major concern with the class.

I feel like the papers where not spaced out properly in the class. Over the course of the semester we were required to write four papers. Up to this point we have only completed two of them and, with the end of the semester and finals just a few short weeks away i am worried i wont have enough time to put my full effort into writing the final two papers. The papers themselves aren't the biggest time commitment but, I will have to balance my time between writing them and studying for my other classes.

Movie poster

Movie Poster Analysis

Questions to Consider:

1.         Is the movie title prominently featured? Is the text easy to read?

           

The title of the movie is not prominently displayed on the movie poster. In fact it is almost in the corner of the poster and is in all lower case showing that the emphasis is on the images not the text.

2.         Are the main actors shown? If so, which ones? What do their appearances and expressions convey about the movie?

The poster is dominated by a picture of two of the main characters clutching, as if after an accident or “Crash”. Below them are images of a few of the other main characters in the film. Since the film follows the lives of a multitude of different characters lives no one main character predominates the poster for the movie.

3.         What is the design of the movie poster? Does it accurately reflect the mood and tone of the film?

           

            The expressions on the faces of all the actors in the poster all seem to be either upset or depressed. This sets the mood for the movie as potentially dramatic/tragic, obviously not a feel good movie.

4.         What other images are included? What do you notice about the framing of the images?

            Other than the facial expressions of the main actors, the only other noticeable feature of the poster is the out of focus lights in the background, which suggest the movie is set in a city or urban area. The main image on the cover of the couple clutching each other seems to be the center point of the poster because it is framed by the actors’ names as well as the other minor pictures on the cover.

5.         What text is shown on the poster? Is there a catchy slogan? If so, what does it tell you about the movie's story?

            Running down the side of the poster, the names of all the major actors in the movie are listed. There are twelve actors listed which seems unusual for the poster for a film but, looking closer you see why they are all listed; they are all big name actors. At the top of the poster it states 6 academy award nominations and 2 golden globe nominations. These Nominations are clearly meant to lend credit to the quality of the film.

6.         Is there any other important information included on the poster?

            There isn’t any other information other than the title, the actors, and the nominations.

7.         Why do/don't you think this movie poster is persuasive?

            The multitude of big name actors and the nominations suggest that this is a quality movie that would be worth your time to see. The distressed faces of the seven main actors on the cover also makes you want to watch the movie to see what caused these emotions to come pouring out.

Space Race

Thumbing through the pages of the March 3, 1961 edition of Life magazine, one theme was very apparent, the fascination with the space race. The cover of the Magazine depicted John Glenn, Virgil Grissom, and Alan Shepard looking u in the sky. Recently it was announced that one of these three men would be the first American in space. Obviously the thought of a man in space was on the forefront of everyone’s mind as almost a third of the magazine was devoted to this theme of space. However, what I found most interesting in this article was not the fascination with space but, the interest in beating the Russians at every step along the way.

                The article I chose to focus upon spanned pages 32-33 and it discussed the space exploration timetable for both the Soviet Union and the United States. The article started out by discussing what both nations had already achieved in the space race. The Russians had up to this point already launched numerous satellites, landed a probe on the moon, and launched and retrieved to dogs from space. The article then used an exasperated tone to describe the Americans achievements, which consisted of only getting a few satellites into orbit. Clearly the author of this piece was less than satisfied with Americans achievements in space up to this point. It almost seemed as if he were trying to goad the space program into taking greater actions by being pessimistic towards their efforts. From here the article gets much more entertaining.

                The next section of the article discusses the space exploration time table from 1961 to 1973. Back in this time period it seems that the expectations of conquering space as the final frontier where exceedingly high. According to the graphic representation of the space time table the Russians were expecting to have a man on the moon by 1967, only six years after this issue was published. From here, it seems, they expected to have a rover on both Mars and Venus by 1968 and a permanent orbiting space station by late 1969. The fact that the only permanent space station, a project consisting of over seven of the wealthiest nations, has not been completed and it is over forty years later, is a testament to the optimism of the time period. The United States’ space exploration time table seemed almost underachieving compared to the soviet one. The first major US breakthrough, getting a man in space, was scheduled for 1962, almost a year and a half after the soviets had achieved the same goal. From here, the US had no other major projects scheduled until 1971 when it planned to land its first man on the moon.

                What interested me most about this article was the respect it gave to the Soviet Union as a nation. Today every American believes that we are the greatest nation in the world. However back when this article was written, it is clear that we have not always thought this way. The notion of any country beating us in anyway technologically is unthinkable. This is why I found it so interesting that the article says that the Russians not only beat us into space but will beat us to the moon and mars as well. However, it is still apparent in the writing and in some of the other articles in the book that the US Space program and the American people were not going to give up and let the Russians beat them to space and, they would do everything in their power to win the space race.

Bite Me Reflection

When reading over the article "Bite Me (or not)", the main message i got out of the article was that the concept of "abstinence porn", as seen in the Twilight book series, is not as wholesome as some proponents of it would argue. The writer of the article states that some readers of the books see the lack of sex in the relationships, in the story, as influencing the teenage girl reader to practice abstinence. However, the author draws from multiple points in the series to try and dispel this notion.

Some of the examples the author uses include the images of a teenage mother in the final book. The writer says this is equivalent of a 1950s housewife, not the best time period for womens rights. She also describes that the heroine in the novel never really has any control over her virginity. Edward, her lover, always has the power to take it from her. She never has any choices in the book. She also included some fan fiction of a rape scene, to further incite this point.

Movie experiences

     One of the earliest movie experiences I can remember well is going to see the movie "Shrek" when it first came out. I remember this time in particular because it was the first movie I went to see at the newly built Century 11 theater downtown. Before going to see this movie I had always gone to the rundown movie theater closer to my house. Before we got to the theater, we stopped at seven eleven to get candy to the theater; my parents preferred not to spend $5 for a pack of M&M's. We also had ordered our tickets on-line through "Fandango", something we had never done before and I was quite excited about.
    When we got to the theater, we went though pretty much the same ritual as we always did in movie theaters. My parents told me and my sister to go to the bathroom so we wouldn't have to go during the show. Then I went and got an ICEE from the snack bar. The movies were the only times I can ever reember getting one of these frosty treats in my childhood.Once inside the actual theater i would always want to sit up in the front but, my parents would protest against it and we would end up sitting somewhere in the middle of the theater.
    The movie itself was great. I remember being thoroughly entertained watching "Shrek" for the first time. The part i remember most about the movie though, was my parents were also entertained by it. This was something that did not often happen when we went to see kids movies. Later on, I realized this was due to the abundance of adult humor that is also present in the movie, which i did not understand at the time. I also remember "Shrek" in particular because it was the first movie I had seen with the new type of 3D animation that got away from the cartoon drawing animation i was used to.

CW 2/23

I thought the film did a good job shedding light on a subject that most of the general public know little about, tort reform. Most of the general public just believe that tort reform is in place to protect businesses from frivolous lawsuits but, the film gave a different perspective to the issue than the one heard in the media. It showed the downsides of tort reform.

The film did a good job of bringing to light many of the arguments surrounding the tort reform issue, particularly arguments of definition. The first thing that has to be addressed when discussing tort reform is the issue of what is a "frivolous lawsuit"? To a large company one woman suing, over spilling hot coffee on herself, may appear frivolous. However, to the individual the scalding burns caused by the coffee have a dramatic effect on their life and health. Also the companies seem to have a much broader definition of a "frivolous lawsuit" than individuals. The companies seem to group many lawsuits, that would appear legitimate to most individuals, under the title of 'frivilous'.

HW 2/16

When reading chapter 7 of “everything’s an argument” I was able to understand the three main types of arguments the book was supporting. All three styles, classical oration, rogerian argument, and the toulmin argument, are fairly common strategies to use in rhetorical argument today. However, some of the examples the book used to shed light on the uses of the different arguments didn’t seem to make sense. For example, the book used Fredrick Douglass’ Fourth of July speech as a depiction of a Rogerian style argument. This did not make sense to me because the speech, while offering a different point of view on the Fourth of July, did not set up a context for the argument and didn’t even propose a compromise to an argument. In fact the only argument I could infer out of the speech was, Fourth of July doesn’t hold importance to African Americans. How is this an argument that both sides can compromise and benefit from?

Other than the few various examples, that didn’t make sense, the chapter overall reaffirmed many of my views on good rhetorical arguments. I noticed that all three forms of argument emphasize the notion that the alternative view must be stated and addressed in your argument. I believe this is vitally important to any argument because if you leave out the opposing view it is easy for your audience to assume that you don’t have a rebuttal to the points of that opposition. For example, if a politician made a speech on the benefits of opening the borders for immigration but failed to address some of the potential downsides, how credible would he seem? I also noticed that the three arguments are traditionally set up along the lines of deductive reasoning, with the argument being stated towards the front. However, I liked how the book showed that these arguments could be modified to be arguments of inductive reasoning as well. Due to the fact, deductive reasoning is generally more effective because you guide your audience to a conclusion rather than state the conclusion and then try to convince them.

                The chapter, while informative leaves a few questions unanswered. Why would you stick to one form of an argument when a combination of all three is potentially more effective? What do inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning have to do with the three forms of argument addressed? This concept seems to be just pasted at the beginning of the chapter as a side note.