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.