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

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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 .

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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.

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

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.