Rhetorical Analysis

The film I chose that related to an element from my research in Project 2 is Across the Universe, produced by Revolution Studios. The film is about a young group of friends growing up in the 1960s. The main characters are involved in the Vietnam War throughout the movie. At first a friend of theirs dies in Vietnam, then another friend is drafted. Lucy, one of the main characters, becomes involved in one of the many peace movements in America during the sixties. One scene in the movie involves all of the friends marching in an anti-war peace protest. The overall purpose of the film is to show the lives of young adults during the sixties in a semi-realistic way. Since the film is also a Beatles musical it appeals to a broad range of audiences. Teenagers and adults may want to watch this movie. It could appeal to both genders, but its more of a chick flick. The ethos that are presented in this film are much like the values that adolescents had during the 1960s. The value that stuck out the most in this film is to just be true to yourself and enjoy life as much as possible. There are many pathos involved in this film as well. Emotions like, love, anger, trust, and sadness are shown throughout the movie. 

The song that I chose for one of the four modes is "For What Its Worth" by Buffalo Springfield. The song is about the Vietnam war and the protests in America.

"There's battle lines being drawn

Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind"

These lyrics from the song relate to my topic from project two because they are speaking about American involvement in Vietnam, and they are also speaking about the young people of the time revolting. The song also speaks about protests that we're held in opposition to the war. All audiences could listen to this song and enjoy it. The song also repeats several times that everyone needs to stop what their doing in their daily lives and focus on what it going on around them. The song says, "We better stop, hey, what's that sound everybody look what's going down". The logos for this song would be to show people that they need to be involved in what their country is doing and voice their opinion. 

The piece of artwork that I picked is called Moratorium, by Jasper Johns 1969. It is a painting of the America flag, but the traditional red, white, and blue is replaced by green, orange, and black. The painting symbolizes a "toxic flag", poisoned by war. The green could symbolize the jungle-like landscape of Vietnam. There is a single white dot in the middle of the flag that represents a bullet hole. The argument and purpose of this piece of art was to show the citizens of the United States how we are being poisoned by the war in Vietnam. This piece of artwork could mean many different things to different people. People who fought in Vietnam may feel sadness or anger when they look at this painting. Many people may feel disrespected when they see the painting, because it is the American flag without the original colors. I found this painting at the following website: http://www.art-for-a-change.com/vietnam/vietnam.htm.

Simpson's Critique

The Simpsons is a classic ironical cartoon that has been around since the late eighties. Each episode of The Simpsons involves hypocrisy within educational systems, religious beliefs, and the American political structures. This critique of The Simpsons explains how the show reaffirms middle class myths and lifestyles, by giving examples from many different episodes. One episode shows how family responsibilities may get in the way of what an individual truly wants to do. Another shows that conforming to peers and wanting to be considered "cool" by society, can lead to hurting oneself. One episode challenges and criticizes American politics by poking fun at the two-part system in the United States. 

Every character in The Simpsons has a unique role and personality. The Simpsons are a lower-middle class family, who live in the suburbs, own a dog, and have a family that often deviates from societal norms. Marge, the stay at home mom, is often not appreciated by her family. The disregard and dismissal of women in American society is shown through Marge. Bart, the young boy who is always getting into trouble, shows the failure of public schools. During the introduction of each episode, Bart is shown writing sarcastic lines on the chalkboard such as, " This punishment is not boring and pointless". Lisa is the voice of reason in the family. She has rationality and intelligence, and is out casted because of this. This shows that in American society intelligence and book-smarts are not always valued or respected. Mr. Burns is a character used to show American consumer lifestyles in many episodes. He owns a nuclear power plant, is the most powerful/rich person in town, and is disrespectful towards everyone. Mr. Burns embodies capitalism and shows it to be destructive and cruel. 

I was very interested in reading this critique of The Simpsons because I use to watch it all the time. When the text talked about the episode that showed how "familial responsibilities necessitate and justify unpleasant work", I thought about how unfair it is that people have to work at jobs they hate because they can't make enough money doing anything else. The essay also made me think about how people want to desperately to be accepted by society and their peers, that they may hurt themselves to be considered "cool". This was show in the episode that involved Homer joining the circus and having cannon balls shot at his stomach. He wanted Bart to think he was cool so bad, that he almost killed himself by trying to please him. 

The role of Marge as a middle class housewife relates to the reading we did by Simone de Beauvior on the second sex. The Introduction to the Second Sex discusses how women are seen are dismissive, weak, and submissive to men. Marge is not appreciated by Homer. He is often rude to her and takes all she does for granted. However, Marge stays loyal to Homer showing that even if he treats her badly, she will not leave him. 

Knowledge Nugget

This story could teach students to analyze Esther after her friend Joan committed suicide. Students may find that Esther blames herself for Joan's death and feels extreme guilt and depression.

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Esther may experience post-traumatic stress disorder after loosing her virginity because it was such of an intense, scary situation. This could teach students of psychology how to help woman who experience PTSD.

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It could be a good story to analyze Joan and try to figure out why she killed herself. Students could think of ways to help people avoid suicide. A good song for this is Adams Song by Blink182.