11.08.2007

Outline Paper 3 draft

Introductory Paragraph

Begin with an interesting quotation related to your opinion about the truth of history

(You will need a transition here)

- End the Intro paragraph with your thesis statement:

Even though many scholars take the time to report fact-only information, and those who read and work with opinion based information should realize that the author may have a bias and they need to examine their readings critically, history's facts often become skewed as time progresses due to a lack of communication by survivors as well as societal bias that shifts and changes, and we as a world should learn from past mistakes and take into light the consequences of our actions instead of ignoring the past because Survivors of past wars and important social movements such as the holocaust often have a difficult time discussing the things that happened during the time they may have suffered, so their stories do not reach out to mass media as quickly and un-biased as we would like and As our societies shift and advance into new generations and new ways of thinking, scholars look back on history's actions and may misinterpret events and meanings by ignoring hard facts presented and attempting to change what the events may have meant for society at that time.


Body Paragraph #1

Topic of the body thesis:
many scholars take the time to report fact-only information, and those who read and work with opinion based information should realize that the author may have a bias and they need to examine their readings critically

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that many scholars take the time to report fact-only information, and those who read and work with opinion based information should realize that the author may have a bias and they need to examine their readings critically is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Body Paragraph #2

Even though many scholars take the time to report fact-only information, and those who read and work with opinion based information should realize that the author may have a bias and they need to examine their readings critically, history's facts often become skewed as time progresses due to a lack of communication by survivors as well as societal bias that shifts and changes, and we as a world should learn from past mistakes and take into light the consequences of our actions instead of ignoring the past because Survivors of past wars and important social movements such as the holocaust often have a difficult time discussing the things that happened during the time they may have suffered, so their stories do not reach out to mass media as quickly and un-biased as we would like.

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that Survivors of past wars and important social movements such as the holocaust often have a difficult time discussing the things that happened during the time they may have suffered, so their stories do not reach out to mass media as quickly and un-biased as we would like is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Body Paragraph #3

The most important reason history's facts often become skewed as time progresses due to a lack of communication by survivors as well as societal bias that shifts and changes, and we as a world should learn from past mistakes and take into light the consequences of our actions instead of ignoring the past is because As our societies shift and advance into new generations and new ways of thinking, scholars look back on history's actions and may misinterpret events and meanings by ignoring hard facts presented and attempting to change what the events may have meant for society at that time.

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that As our societies shift and advance into new generations and new ways of thinking, scholars look back on history's actions and may misinterpret events and meanings by ignoring hard facts presented and attempting to change what the events may have meant for society at that time is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Conclusion

So you can see that although many scholars take the time to report fact-only information, and those who read and work with opinion based information should realize that the author may have a bias and they need to examine their readings critically, history's facts often become skewed as time progresses due to a lack of communication by survivors as well as societal bias that shifts and changes, and we as a world should learn from past mistakes and take into light the consequences of our actions instead of ignoring the past for two main reasons. First, Survivors of past wars and important social movements such as the holocaust often have a difficult time discussing the things that happened during the time they may have suffered, so their stories do not reach out to mass media as quickly and un-biased as we would like. But most importantly, As our societies shift and advance into new generations and new ways of thinking, scholars look back on history's actions and may misinterpret events and meanings by ignoring hard facts presented and attempting to change what the events may have meant for society at that time.

- Now you will return to your attention-getter from the introduction

- Then end your essay with a powerful So What? statement that shows why the reader should care about this.

10.23.2007

Skeleton Outline and Thesis for Paper 2

Thesis;

Even though with so many various cultures and societies, there will always be ignorance and hatred from one group of people toward another, variants in behavior and extremists who will continue to feed off of fear and hatred and pit people against others, global assimilation will never resign to fanciful, utopian ideals of world peace and harmony, but we should be able to grow closer as a world by accepting eachother's differences and tolerating other's cultural heritage without losing sight of our own traditions because a neighborhood consists of many different people who all call themselves part of that community. They are members who identify with a single, large group, but then go home and have different meals for dinner or pray to different gods, but they still consider themselves a part of that community and can work and get along with others and when immigrants came to America in search of new freedoms, foreigners found themselves being pushed together with other foreigners who had different cultures and spoke different languages, yet American did not form into a melting pot. It became a salad bowl, where everybody lives in America, but many still have their own family traditions that do not hinder their ability to communicate with others who are not like them.

Outline

It's the little differences


Introductory Paragraph

Begin with an interesting quotation related to your opinion about cultural assimilation and a global village

(You will need a transition here)

- End the Intro paragraph with your thesis statement:

Even though with so many various cultures and societies, there will always be ignorance and hatred from one group of people toward another, variants in behavior and extremists who will continue to feed off of fear and hatred and pit people against others, global assimilation will never resign to fanciful, utopian ideals of world peace and harmony, but we should be able to grow closer as a world by accepting eachother's differences and tolerating other's cultural heritage without losing sight of our own traditions because a neighborhood consists of many different people who all call themselves part of that community. They are members who identify with a single, large group, but then go home and have different meals for dinner or pray to different gods, but they still consider themselves a part of that community and can work and get along with others and when immigrants came to America in search of new freedoms, foreigners found themselves being pushed together with other foreigners who had different cultures and spoke different languages, yet American did not form into a melting pot. It became a salad bowl, where everybody lives in America, but many still have their own family traditions that do not hinder their ability to communicate with others who are not like them.


Body Paragraph #1

Topic of the body thesis:
with so many various cultures and societies, there will always be ignorance and hatred from one group of people toward another, variants in behavior and extremists who will continue to feed off of fear and hatred and pit people against others

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that with so many various cultures and societies, there will always be ignorance and hatred from one group of people toward another, variants in behavior and extremists who will continue to feed off of fear and hatred and pit people against others is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Body Paragraph #2

Even though with so many various cultures and societies, there will always be ignorance and hatred from one group of people toward another, variants in behavior and extremists who will continue to feed off of fear and hatred and pit people against others, global assimilation will never resign to fanciful, utopian ideals of world peace and harmony, but we should be able to grow closer as a world by accepting eachother's differences and tolerating other's cultural heritage without losing sight of our own traditions because a neighborhood consists of many different people who all call themselves part of that community. They are members who identify with a single, large group, but then go home and have different meals for dinner or pray to different gods, but they still consider themselves a part of that community and can work and get along with others.

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that a neighborhood consists of many different people who all call themselves part of that community. They are members who identify with a single, large group, but then go home and have different meals for dinner or pray to different gods, but they still consider themselves a part of that community and can work and get along with others is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Body Paragraph #3

The most important reason global assimilation will never resign to fanciful, utopian ideals of world peace and harmony, but we should be able to grow closer as a world by accepting eachother's differences and tolerating other's cultural heritage without losing sight of our own traditions is because when immigrants came to America in search of new freedoms, foreigners found themselves being pushed together with other foreigners who had different cultures and spoke different languages, yet American did not form into a melting pot. It became a salad bowl, where everybody lives in America, but many still have their own family traditions that do not hinder their ability to communicate with others who are not like them.

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that when immigrants came to America in search of new freedoms, foreigners found themselves being pushed together with other foreigners who had different cultures and spoke different languages, yet American did not form into a melting pot. It became a salad bowl, where everybody lives in America, but many still have their own family traditions that do not hinder their ability to communicate with others who are not like them is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Conclusion

So you can see that although with so many various cultures and societies, there will always be ignorance and hatred from one group of people toward another, variants in behavior and extremists who will continue to feed off of fear and hatred and pit people against others, global assimilation will never resign to fanciful, utopian ideals of world peace and harmony, but we should be able to grow closer as a world by accepting eachother's differences and tolerating other's cultural heritage without losing sight of our own traditions for two main reasons. First, a neighborhood consists of many different people who all call themselves part of that community. They are members who identify with a single, large group, but then go home and have different meals for dinner or pray to different gods, but they still consider themselves a part of that community and can work and get along with others. But most importantly, when immigrants came to America in search of new freedoms, foreigners found themselves being pushed together with other foreigners who had different cultures and spoke different languages, yet American did not form into a melting pot. It became a salad bowl, where everybody lives in America, but many still have their own family traditions that do not hinder their ability to communicate with others who are not like them.

- Now you will return to your attention-getter from the introduction

- Then end your essay with a powerful So What? statement that shows why the reader should care about this.



Walker

"Everyday Use," by Alice Walker, begins as a story of conflict between a mother, her two daughters, and her heritage. When first read, the story tells of the mother who rejects the shallow values of her older, prettier and more successful daughter "Dee," in favor of the practical values of her younger, less fortunate daughter "Maggie." The mother describes herself as “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (Walker 698). She also talks about having a second grade education, leading the audience to believe the mother takes pride in being a strong, practical woman with common sense. Her youngest daughter Maggie has received burns from a past fire which the family lost their home to. She is meek and often embarrassed of her burns, which she hides in her skirts. She is also smaller, and the mother describes her as "not bright" (Walker 699). Her older daughter Dee, on the other hand, likes nice things. She is pretty, bright, but self-centered. She stood outside of the burning house under a tree while her mother and sister fled from and watched it burn. As Maggie is trying on some clothes, Dee, who has long left the little house she still doesn't like, returns to visit. She's dressed up and now takes on a new, more African name. She begins taking pieces from her mother's house that represent her African American heritage. She takes a butter churning top that had been whittled by the family itself, but it is clear Dee is still shallow despite her interest in the culture, as she explains to a man she's with, "I can use the churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table." (Walker 703) Dee also wants a quilt, who the author explains has been sewn out of pieces of grandmother's dresses and grandfather's shirts, as well as a piece of great grandpa's Civil War uniform. This upsets Maggie, who has been promised by her mother to receive the quilt for her marriage. The quilt itself is central to both the main character's and the author's concerns, because it suggests the strength to be found in connecting with her roots and past. Dee wants to hang it on the wall, as one would a museum, whereas Maggie wants to use it and can truly appreciate what it really means to their Southern, black roots. Maggie tells her mother that Dee can have the quilt, but she she looks at her daughter "hard," she sees in Maggie's scarred and hidden hands a heritage she should be proud of – not ashamed of. Her mother demands that Maggie keeps the quilt and Dee takes others, and Dee explains that it's "a new day" (Walker 705) for their heritage and that the both of them wouldn't know it by the way they live, dirty and poor. This irony could be considered that Dee actually doesn't know what her true heritage is, whereas Maggie and her mother are still experiencing their real, Southern heritage on a daily basis and not ignoring who they truly are. Overall, I fo9und the story to be a very strong piece of work, and both very easy and very difficult to analyze. You have the actual story itself of the daughters, and then you have the heritage undertones within the story. It is worth reading and really gives insight into a "fake" sort of culture versus a "real" culture.

Works Cited;


Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Literacies. 2nd ed. Ed. Terence Brunk et al. New York: Norton, 2000. 697-705.

Cultural Imperialism

This Coke commercial speaks words far greater than those spoken in the commercial itself. In this older dated commercial that appears to be from the 1970's, we observe people of many different races and countries singing together with the camera panning through the crowd and stopping to focus on the faces, the races, and the Coke. It would appear that the commercial is attempting to instill a feeling of happiness, peacefulness, and togetherness with the lyrics, "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, I'd like to buy the world a Coke, and keep it company," (YouTube.com). It's saying that this small, commercialized product can bring the world together in "perfect harmony," which they further attempt to convince the audience of being capable with the text seen at the end of the commercial. It states, "On a hilltop in Italy, we assembled people from all over the world to bring you this message from coca-cola bottlers all over the world, it's the real thing. Coke," (YouTube.com). Alright, so you paid a bunch of young kids to stand on a hill that could or could not be in Italy and lip sync along with what sounds like a pre-recorded track of professional singers. A little on the cynical side, but it's truly a hard idea to grasp that Coke will bring the world together, as this commercial describes. It's a nice idea, but it's just an idea. It's ideal. This is portrayed as a global village, but I do not believe it is. I believe it is "the mere collection of men," that Barnlund discusses in his article, "Communication in a Global Village," (Barnlund 48). A global village would insinuate that these people, with Coke in hand, get along and understand eachother, live alongside eachother and do not discriminate between one another, do not have culture clashes nor feel uncomfortable living near the others in any way. These people, atop this hill, are people who have been brought together to advertise a product that signifies capitalism and imperialism. Not that the world does not want this change; it would seem that people are indeed interested in learning about other cultures, experiencing new things, and seeing what life may be like in another person's global shoes. From "The World of Coca-Cola," by Ted Friedman, Friedman discusses an exhibit in the Coke building of drinks from around the world. "Here, visitors are given the opportunity to sample 18 soft drink flavors which Coca-Cola sells in other countries, but not in the U.S." (Friedman) He goes on to explain that it's a very popular and crowded attraction, and that many people want to try all 18 flavors and often go back for more. Is this human curiosity to merely try weird flavor creations, or a desire to see what others experience outside the world of their own? Barnlund is correct when he states that the idea of a global village is inevitable, but the date uncertain. (Barnlund 48) We, as a people, are naturally curious to see what somebody else is experiencing, and in time we may be able to get past racial and ethnic hurdles that prevent some kind of global assimilation. However, the Coke product alone will not single-handedly become a catalyst for this necessary change, as this commercial would indicate.

Worked Cited;

Barnlund, Dean. "Communication in a Global Village." Literacies. 2nd
ed. Ed. Terence Brunk et al. New York: Norton, 2000. 47-61.

"Coke" Commercial. You Tube. 22 October 2007 .

Friedman, Ted. EServer.org. October 1992. 22 October 2007 .

10.18.2007

Our Purpose and Coca Cola

Any American can appreciate the amusement found in parks such as Disneyland as children; the food, the souvenirs, the bright lights and music and pictures with beloved story characters that helped us discover our imaginations. However, once we hit that stage where life just isn't a fairytale anymore, we begin to see the capitalistic side of the whole process, and can sometimes feel skeptical when seeing a joyful Mickey in his materialistic, objectified view by those corporate officers. In the article "The World of Coca Cola," by Ted Friedman, Friedman compares the World of Coca Cola factory to this capitalistic Disneyland, which he describes as "an annotated, museum –like display of advertising memorabilia punctuated by video presentations, live demonstrations, and interactive technology" (1). He describes it as a huge enterprise with a chronological time line as the basis tour, one which is made that visitors may not stray and jump around from location to location, but rather guide through neatly according to those who planned the presentation. (1) He also illustrates that the focus of this "museum" is on both product advertising and manipulating the consumer's own personal insight of the Coca Cola brand, not on the actual product itself. Friedman also discusses the major image of the World of Coca Cola factory, a "a giant red neon sign which hangs suspended above the main entrance" (1). Alike to Mickey and Disney, when the public of the city observes the sign, they are to associate the rotating globe and consider the World of Coca Cola and what it's doing for the city, bringing tourism and attractions as well as creating jobs and benefiting the city. He is very leery of this wondrous attraction throughout his article, and distrusts believing that drinking Coke will lead to the worldwide peace and harmony or "global village" they attempt to convey with their attraction. His article is a very detailed insight into corporate America and how it's views shape and influence our lives through products we least expected.

A much shorter article, if you could even call it that, "Our Purpose" from the Global Village and News Resource, states their intent right off the bat: "to provide you with timely news and resources from the leading edge of human achievement" (globalvillage.com) Their attitude seems encouraging when compared to typical America media, as they explain in "their purpose" that they wish to derail from the very dominant tragic-based media stories that create an even more negative view of our everyday society. It feels like a breath of fresh air in the staleness of violent and downcast media, although they do mention the necessity of such media, stating "The conventional press and most of the alternative press are doing an excellent job of bringing these to our attention." (globalvillage.com) Their overall theme, they state that it is their wish to create "new options" to "solve world problems" (globalvillage.com) through this optimistic and helpful media. I believe that regardless of their affect on society as a whole, it is a nice option and statement to have out there, with all of the constant downer media out there.

Works Cited;


Friedman, Ted. EServer.org. October 1992. 10 October 2007 .

Global Village News and Resources. gvnr.com. 10 October 2007 .


10.08.2007

Barnlund

Dean Barnlund's article "Communication in a Global Village," brings to light how much smaller our world is getting and presents the idea of global assimilation; cultures coming together, patiently explaining their belief systems and foundations and listening to others, associating similarities and accepting differences to rise above both predictability and obscurity that human kind cannot be stuck fruitlessly in. He talks of the similarities people share and how they act on those similarities, coming together with the familiar and how much easier it is to communicate with something like you. He states that technology has brought us as a world just a little closer than it already is, which can be seen everywhere; videos can be broadcast over YouTube from Japan to the U.S. to Europe, cell phones allow communication from long distances, mp3s bring us music cheaper and faster, just look at the Internet's capability to get us information in a matter of seconds from halfway across the world. However, Barnlund has quite the fanciful idea. He states, "We need, more specifically, to identify what might be called the 'rulebooks of meaning' that distinguish one culture from another" (Barnlund 52). While the concept is quite interesting, Barnlund admits there are already plenty of books about world culture out there, on "history, religion, political thought, music, sculpture, and industry of many nations" (Barnlund 50). He is looking for the behaviors and the differences between cultures, which I believe have already been looked for. Perhaps they are not all complied into a single handbook/manual for our reading pleasure, but something tells me that there could possibly be books on other cultures and behaviors that are already published and just need to be searched for. It's also quite the peculiar notion that our cultures will all eventually assimilate into one, and the past can confirm that this may not happen. Look at the United States, when the boom of immigrants back in the early 1900's brought numerous foreigners over in large numbers. They came from all over Europe, like Italy, Ireland, Poland, Germany, Austria, and Russia, and did they all assimilate into a singular culture? Hardly. Like Barnlund later illustrates, they stuck together with the things they knew, people similar to themselves, people who spoke their languages and came from the same part of the world. The "Melting Pot" is what they wanted to call America, however it did not become as such. It could be called a salad bowl, where people were in one society but kept their culture and their languages and shared the idea that they were to live together. Barnlund does not seem to wish to exactly make us all one race and one language, however I do think that the idea of such assimilation he desires is quite easier said than done. Like Barnlund later states, "Cultural myopia persists not merely because of inertia and habit, but chiefly because it is so difficult to overcome" (Barnlund 60). He is honest in examining the difficulty to understand others, in both same and different cultures, and lightly touches on a possible language barrier, but does not seem to illustrate a solution other than his rulebooks of meaning. I believe he is on the right track with his ideas and his article is both very articulate and has valid ideas, but a tangible or even possible solution seems to be the issue that left me a little confused at the end. Maybe I just missed it.

Works Cited;

Barnlund, Dean. "Communication in a Global Village." Literacies. 2nd
ed. Ed. Terence Brunk et al. New York: Norton, 2000. 47-61.

9.20.2007

Introductory Paragraph

Many civilizations have myths and tales of history that have been passed throughout generations, unifying the society and allowing room for "inside jokes" to be made that the culture, as a whole, can understand. Breaking outside of the culture barrier, however, can be difficult when trying to relate to another culture that's entirely different from your own. From Protocols of Reading, Robert Scholes' article, "On Reading a Video Text," addresses the difficulty a person may have watching a commercial from another culture and being able to correctly analyze it as thought it were a "video text," without prior knowledge of that culture's information. Even though some commercialized products do not need explanation of their obvious uses, i.e. mops or cars, not everybody can be expected to correctly interpret a commercial, especially if they are not from the same culture, because there is not enough information within less than 30 seconds to explain the unknown product's use or the commercials cultural references.


edited!

Many civilizations have myths and tales of history that have been passed throughout generations, unifying the society and allowing room for "inside jokes" to be made that the culture, as a whole, can understand. Breaking outside of the culture barrier, however, can be difficult when trying to relate to another culture that's entirely different from your own. From Protocols of Reading, Robert Scholes' article, "On Reading a Video Text," addresses the difficulty a person may have watching a commercial from another culture and being able to correctly analyze it as thought it were a "video text," without prior knowledge of that culture's information. (however, not all the viwers could undertsand my commercial) The commercial I chose to analyze begins with the audience looking at a bustling restaurant, and a waiter approaching a table of gentlemen. While clearing away the plates, the server asks the closest diner, an older gentleman, if he is all done with his plate. The camera angle zooms in to view the plate, whose vegetables have been clearly pushed off to the side and eaten around. When the gentleman replies that he is, indeed, all finished, the server slaps his forehead in a shame-on-you manner. A narrator pipes in with a line, "Could’ve had a V8," implying that the product that would have been a solution to the gentleman's vegetable-eating problem. This commercial illustrates a cultural norm that the viewer should understand, as a parental figure has always told them to finish their vegetables before being done with dinner, but this may not be the case with all cultures. It also displays a product that, without background knowledge, the viewer could not relate to solving the man’s problem unless they understood what vegetable juice was. Even though some commercialized products do not need explanation of their obvious uses, i.e. mops or cars, not everybody can be expected to correctly interpret such a commercial, especially if they are not from the same culture, because there is not enough information within less than 30 seconds to explain the unknown product's use or the commercial’s cultural references.

Outline Builder

an Online Outline for

A Splash Of Culture


Introductory Paragraph

Begin with an interesting quotation related to your opinion about Robert Schole's opinion on commercials and cultural reinforcement regarding my commercial

(You will need a transition here)

- End the Intro paragraph with your thesis statement:

Even though some products do not need explaining about their purpose or what they may be used for, not everybody should be able to interpret the commercial I chose without having a storehouse of cultural information because There is not enough information within less than 30 seconds to explain the unknown product's use and people in other cultures may not know anything about the product the commercial is selling .


Body Paragraph #1

Topic of the body thesis:
some products do not need explaining about their purpose or what they may be used for

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that some products do not need explaining about their purpose or what they may be used for is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Body Paragraph #2

Even though some products do not need explaining about their purpose or what they may be used for, not everybody should be able to interpret the commercial I chose without having a storehouse of cultural information because There is not enough information within less than 30 seconds to explain the unknown product's use.

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that There is not enough information within less than 30 seconds to explain the unknown product's use is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Body Paragraph #3

The most important reason not everybody should be able to interpret the commercial I chose without having a storehouse of cultural information is because people in other cultures may not know anything about the product the commercial is selling .

- Find evidence - like facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it upor support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how your evidence supports the topic sentence

Another example that shows that people in other cultures may not know anything about the product the commercial is selling is...

- Find more evidence - facts, examples, quotations, or statistics that back it up or support the topic sentence of this paragraph.

- Explain how this second piece of evidence supports the topic sentence.

Conclusion

So you can see that although some products do not need explaining about their purpose or what they may be used for, not everybody should be able to interpret the commercial I chose without having a storehouse of cultural information for two main reasons. First, There is not enough information within less than 30 seconds to explain the unknown product's use. But most importantly, people in other cultures may not know anything about the product the commercial is selling .

- Now you will return to your attention-getter from the introduction

- Then end your essay with a powerful So What? statement that shows why the reader should care about this.

9.12.2007

Scholes

Advertising plays a huge role in the world today, regardless of agreement on whether it actually sells the products it's attempting to. From The Protocols of Reading, Robert Scholes introduces an article called "On Reading Video Text," in which he examines how one could go about reading something produced on television such as they would read a story or novel.
Scholes begins his article describing all of the visual elements that are usually overlooked in a 30 second timespan,such as lighting, camera angles, and the colors of the commercial. Scholes brings his whole initial idea together by stating, "..they [video texts] offer us the single greatest virtue of art: change from the normal, a defense against the ever-present threat of boredom." (619) I would agree with htis statement, although not in the text he uses. "Normal" to Scholes and "normal" to myself are two different definitions; indeed, if Scholes is staring at a piece of paper with text on it, then boredom would set in. The pretty blinking lights and the flashy colors of television are a step up from lifeless, bland paper, unless the paper was actually read.
Scholes later explains how a video text is not just visually pleasing, but also through a narration and what he calls, "cultural reinforcement," which he defines as, "the process through which video texts confirm their ideological positions and reassure their membership in a collective cultural body." (620) Scholes believes that commercials have power, over the audience itself and over the thought processes of the day. The commercial I viewed is alike to this statement in that, without the narration, the commercial itself would make little sense and be more boring than reading a paper could be. It pulls the viewer in and gets a thought process going within seconds, and makes the viewer very briefly consider the product and/or owning it. My commercial begins with the audience looking at a bustling resturant, and a waiter approaching a table of gentlemen. While clearing away the plates, the server asks a closely angled man if he is all done with his plate. The camera flashes to the plate, whose vegetables have been clearly pushed off to the side and eaten around. When the gentleman replies that he is, indeed, all finished, the server slaps his forhead in a shame-on-you manner. The indicates a cultural norm that the viewer understands, as mother has always told them to finish their vegetables before being done with dinner. A narrator pipes in with a line, "Should have had a V8," bringing up the product that would have been a solution to the gentleman's vegetable problem. We're then shown the product on the screen as the narrator brings up specific and good reasons why the audience should buy the product. This commercial had the power to make the audience laugh, and brought about a good feeling to the viewer while looking at the product, associating something good with V8. The colors and camera angles brought the sense of the busy resturant and the server's attitude, but it was the narration that clearly informed the viewer what was going on and what they should understand. As a video text, it was clear that Scholes is correct in believing the power and hope of less boredom a commcercial has on both our viewer and society as a whole.

Works Cited:
Scholes, Robert. “On Reading A Video Text.” Literacies. 2nd ed. Ed. Terence Brunk et al. New York: Norton, 2000. 619-623.
“Should Have Had A V8.” Commercial. You Tube. 12 Sept. 2007

9.10.2007

YouTube summary and URL

It's 10:20, and I've been internetless because Irish Hills hates my computer, but oh well.

I found this commercial on YouTube after seeing it on TV and finding it rather amusing.

URL: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JgbxSecNwTs

I can't seem to embed it, I guess.

The commercial opens in a resturant, with a waiter who approaches a table full of business guys. There's bustling in the resturant, and the lighting is dim in the background and brighter on our waiter and his table, to keep the audience's attention. He asks if an older guy is done with his plate, and takes the plate when the man says yes. The camera flashes to a zoomed in view of the man's plate as the waiter notices that the man didn't eat his vegetables.The waiter gives the older man a slightly disdainful look and, while the man is talking to the other men at his table, smacks him on the forhead for not eating the vegetables. The commercial narrator then says the slogan line for the commercial, "Should Have Had A V8," as the text covers the end of the scene, and it flashes to a picture of the V8 product. It's a basic advertising commercial, attempting to persuade the viewer with comedy that if you need to get the serving of vegetables you're supposed to get, you should have a V8.