Essay 3 brainstorming
For Essay 3, I am thinking about writing about Veronica Mars. I am unsure of what to do for a theme. I was thinking about doing morality, but I am bored of that topic and would like to expand and do something different than what I did for Essay 2.
Upon reseraching a little bit about Veronica Mars, it appears that this show (I have never seen it before) is about a girl who loses her best friend and is ousted by her group of friends because of it. Her father loses his job after making statements about the murdered girl's family so he opens up his own private detective business and hires Veronica to help him solve the crime.
This show does sound really interesting and I think it would make for a fun paper to write and do research.
Right off the bat, this girl is a high school student, so I think identity could fit well here. Also, the father did not give up his identity as a crime solver, so it could work for the front as well.
Another theme could obviously be the role of the detective and the criminal. Who committed the crime and how do Veronica and her father fulfill the role of the detective. Also, Veronica and her father have been ousted by society, so in a way, they are in some sense criminals themselves. How do they cope with this duality?
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Post 15
Finding sources for my Essay 2 Media Analysis was more difficult than I had anticipated. I attempted to search for things like, "morality in Reservoir Dogs" and "Lady Gaga and morality" "Morals in Judas Lady Gaga" and the like. It came up with very few usable resources for me. But after conferences, I was able to find much better sources after being told that searching for things like "American Values" and "Traditional American Values", etc. would be more beneficial to my paper. And it was! I was bale to more clearly define right and wrong within the confines on the American value system, which only boosted the arguemtn of my paper.
Post 14
Guilt & Redemption: Blade Runner an example of exploration of this theme. Finding your moral compass. Being challenged in your morality.
Human Nature & Identity: What does it mean to be human? Who are you? Search for self. Where did you come from? Who are you trying to be? How does your ideal self differ from your actual self?
Memory & Knowledge: What are memories? Can we trust our memories? Do our memories matter? How do they affect us? What is our knowledge? Can we trust what/who we know?
Right & Wrong: What is right and what is wrong? Who decides? Why do they get to decide? How do we determine what is right vs what is wrong?
Good & Evil: What is the difference between good and evil and right and wrong? How do these compare and contrast?
Detective & Criminal Roles: Who is the detective and who is the criminal? How do we know? Is it the protagonist or antagonist? What are the characteristics of each of these roles? How do the characters fit one or the other or both?
Right & Wrong: I could narrow this down by exploring how the characters in a specific film define for themselves the meaning of right and wrong. I could also tie this into existential philosophy of creating your own moral code. I could explore how each of the characters definition varies from one another. And then, how those definitions align with American culture at large. Also, when using another form of media, I could analyze how it defines right and wrong and how that compares with American Values as well as how it compares with the film. Do I choose a medium that compares or contrasts with the film? Do I choose a medium that has similar or dissimilar values as American Culture? What type of media should I use? Music video/song? And advertisement? A painting? A photo? A website?
Human Nature & Identity: What does it mean to be human? Who are you? Search for self. Where did you come from? Who are you trying to be? How does your ideal self differ from your actual self?
Memory & Knowledge: What are memories? Can we trust our memories? Do our memories matter? How do they affect us? What is our knowledge? Can we trust what/who we know?
Right & Wrong: What is right and what is wrong? Who decides? Why do they get to decide? How do we determine what is right vs what is wrong?
Good & Evil: What is the difference between good and evil and right and wrong? How do these compare and contrast?
Detective & Criminal Roles: Who is the detective and who is the criminal? How do we know? Is it the protagonist or antagonist? What are the characteristics of each of these roles? How do the characters fit one or the other or both?
Right & Wrong: I could narrow this down by exploring how the characters in a specific film define for themselves the meaning of right and wrong. I could also tie this into existential philosophy of creating your own moral code. I could explore how each of the characters definition varies from one another. And then, how those definitions align with American culture at large. Also, when using another form of media, I could analyze how it defines right and wrong and how that compares with American Values as well as how it compares with the film. Do I choose a medium that compares or contrasts with the film? Do I choose a medium that has similar or dissimilar values as American Culture? What type of media should I use? Music video/song? And advertisement? A painting? A photo? A website?
Post 13
More Brainstorming I did for Essay 2:
Primary Sources:
Reservoir Dogs
Lady Gaga's "Judas"
ROUGH outline:
Primary Sources:
Reservoir Dogs
Lady Gaga's "Judas"
ROUGH outline:
- 1. Intro: Written
- 2. Reservoir Dogs
- Tipping scene
- Mr. Pink doesn't tip
- Society = expects tip
- Result of clash: Mr. Pink chastized by group
- Ear scene
- Mr. Blonde torture of cop
- Society = torture and murder wrong. Empathy for others important.
- Result of clash: Mr. Blonde killed
- Mr. Orange
- Mr. Orange's deception
- Society = don't lie to others
- Result of clash: Murdered by Mr. White
- Lady Gaga
- Judas
- Love of Judas = betrayal of Jesus
- Wrong to betray
- Result of Clash: Gaga stoned to death
Post 12
Logical Fallacy practice:
I've decided to pick out some logical fallacies I see in advertisements.
This ad is a logical fallacy because it assumes that without this particular phone, one's life is disorganized, chaotic, and messy. If one doesn't buy the Palm, they will have to write all of their reminders and to-do lists on their hands, they'll be messy and disorganized, and will not be as efficient as those with the Palm. Also notice the messy background on the left side (or the "Chaos" side). It's a messy cityscape with heavy traffic. This induces a sense of choas in the reader. But on the right, the background is a crisp clean white. No mess, no distractions from the phone.
This ad is an appeal to celebrity because it features Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt is regarded as one of the most attractive men in the world. And he's married to one of the world's most attractive women. This ad attempts to sway viewers by suggesting that YOU TOO can smell like Brad Pitt. Wearing the cologne will make you more like him . And who knows, maybe you'll get a woman like Angelina Jolie if you wear it. It also uses a grayscale technique to increase the look of sophistication and also to make the bottle of cologne stand out.
Post 11
Essay Two Thought Process:
Possible Movies to pick from:
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Big Lebowski
Blade Runner
I was originally going to write about The Big Lebowski and my original theme of exploration was going to be identity. But after watching The Big Lebowski, I only came up with a few notes about identity. I decided to watch another one of the movies to see if I could come up with more ideas. This time, I decided on Reservoir Dogs and thought I'd look for themes involving right and wrong. From this, I was able to come up with many more example and roads to take about this topic. I also felt that there may be more sources available on morality in Reservoir Dogs than on identity in The Big Lebowski, but that was solely a hunch. I probably wasn't focused enough while watching The Big Lebowski, because I'm sure there is a lot being said about identity looking back on the film.
I did finally decide on Reservoir Dogs and morality, but then I had to figure out which media I was going to analyze. I decided Lady Gaga was a huge source of controversy of American values and morality, so I looked through her music videos to see which one I may be able to draw connections from. Upon seeing Judas, I instantly pictures Mr. Orange as a Judas character. He betrays the guy who attempts to save him. The only one who has faith in him. I figured they were comparable and started on some research!
POst 10
The Motor City is Back Commercial was watched during class and discussed in our group. This commercial seemed more like an advertisement for the city of Detroit than a commercial for a luxury vehicle. The advertisement started off talking about the city of Detroit. It showed an iron fist, the rough cityscape, and had narration which used phrases like, "to hell and back", "hard work", and the like. All of these things give the idea of toughness, strength, and survival. The advertisement also featured rapper Eminem as a spokesperson. I felt like this was an odd Appeal to Celebrity because many of the people that could afford this car may not know who Eminem is, or if they do, they are probably not a huge fan of him. The use of the church choir, however, I felt was effective because it was very powerful. The robes were black a red, which are power colors, and their voices sounded inspirational and powerful. The message of the commercial was that you can "be the best even if you don't come from the best".
I felt that this exercise was a good way to get the class thinking about media and arguments made within the media. It certainly helps to have practice at looking at different forms of media in a more critical light.
I felt that this exercise was a good way to get the class thinking about media and arguments made within the media. It certainly helps to have practice at looking at different forms of media in a more critical light.
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