Independent Viewing Project – Post 2

Choice 1

Claim: Although not explicitly stated, the main purpose of the film was to increase viewers’ appreciation of nature and will to protect the environment.

• awareness of context and audience:
• 2005 and years before, Al Gore gives speeches on environment and gains popularity for environmental concern(portrayed in An Inconvenient Truth released 2006)
• viewers of both were probably environmentalists or political followers of Al Gore who might have became more aware and concerned about the environment with after hearing his concerns about Global Warming
• an important message in his speeches was that glaciers are melting which is affecting 1. wildlife: polar bears cannot survive without ice, drowning, and potentially going extinct, and 2. humans: when glaciers melt, the melted water will create tsunamis and wind currents that will cause hurricanes, tornados that will destroy and/or flood major cities and coasts that will displace millions of people
• March of the Penguins mirrors 1. wildlife by planting the idea that the only reasons penguins are able to proliferate is because they can find solid ice to mate and rest on almost year-long – if the ice melts, the penguins will die and potentially go extinct
• March of the Penguins mirrors 2. many scenes in March of the Penguins show images of huge chunks of ice breaking off the side of glaciers and images of pools of the melted water that are caused by global warming and speed up the melting of glaciers; By showing these pictures throughout the film, this film subliminally solidifies the ideas that global warming is real, it will eventually affect us, and our environment needs to be protected, and we need to protect it
• third-person:
• using third person allows for speculation like “They’re really not that different than us” which increases audience’s concern for the penguins and feeling that penguins and their environment must be protected
• appeals to ethos by giving the feeling that the narrator is all-knowing and wise
• full-circle ending: beginning: “story of love”; end: “live and love”
• repetition of the theme of “love” adds importance and intrigue to the story, appeals to pathos, and also lets audience connect to the story and also increases concern for penguins and the feeling that environment must be protected
• reflects the “circle of life” theme that reminds the audience that they too are a part of the circle of life and have a duty to protect it and the environment

Independent Viewing Project – Post 1

March of the Penguins. Dir. Michel Fessler and Luc Jacques. By Luc Jacques. Perf. Morgan Freeman. Warner Bros., 2005. On Demand.

Originally titled La Marche de l’empereur, March of the Penguins is a nature movie that was released in 2005. The film was co-written by Michel Fessler and Luc Jacques; Jacques was also the director. While the French version was narrated by three voices as first-person insights to three penguins’ lives, the English version (the one I watched) was narrated by Morgan Freeman in third-person. Warner Bros. Studio distributed the film in America. The American film portrays one year of the life of a penguin, beginning with summer summer breeding when penguins above the age of five years old emerge from the Arctic waters to mate and hatch chicks. After laying the egg and passing it on to the father, the mother returns to the ocean to eat and catch fish to feed her chick once she returns to the father after winter ends and the egg hatches. This long march to and from the sea takes the whole winter, during which the fathers must survive the freezing climate and keep their eggs incubated. They huddle together for their egg’s and their own warmth until the mother returns. The movie concludes after the eggs hatch and all family members – mom, dad, and baby – return to the sea never to see each other again, as penguins are monogamous creatures who mate with a new partner each season.

There are several strategies the director used to make a seemingly simple and boring story of penguins impacting, interesting, and meaningful to viewers. The first is implemented by Morgan Freeman. The tone of voice Freeman uses to narrate the story reflects the mood of the scene; when Freeman introduces the film, his voice sounds wise and all-knowing, which, coupled with the majestic imagery of huge glaciers and snowy sunsets, eases the reader into the story and adds a feeling of importance and authority. The pictures enhance whatever Freeman is saying in the scene; for example, in the beginning of the film, Freeman speaks of the penguins’ purpose to mate and create “new life” just as a clip of a gorgeous sunrise pans over the television screen. Sunrises and babies both symbolize proliferation and the purpose of biology in general, and by matching them together, the director adds importance to the penguins’ lives and, therefore, to the film. This is also an example of the skillful use of diction throughout the film. Creating “new life” has much more positive and joyful connotations than a phrase like, “hatch offspring”. This euphemism is repeated throughout the film; Freeman refers to a mother penguin who is about to die of starvation and cold on her walk back to the sea by stating that “some fall asleep and disappear,” as a natural part of the circle of life that viewers must accept. This also adds to the beauty and importance of penguins’ lives. Freeman’s soothing, all-knowing voice states broad ideas that not only make penguins’ lives seem more important and beautiful to readers but also allows the film to move forward in time; in order to cover a year in an hour and a half, the film must skip through the seasons. Using general statements subliminally signals to the viewer that time is passing without rushing and destroying the mood. Background music also helps establish the mood of certain scenes. When a predator approaches an egg, suspenseful and stressful music plays. When chicks play and chirp, joyful, silly music can be heard.

AOW #28: IRB

In this section, pages 98-195, Monsieur Poirot attempts to find out more about Norma Restarick by contacting her family, friends, and connections they might have that would influence Norma. Poirot is frustrated by all of the information he has gathered: he sees “the links”, that connect people surrounding Norma to her and to each other, but he cannot find “the pattern”. He can not make sense of the information that would explain what Norma had first referred to when she told him she “thought” that she had committed a murder. This frustration he feels is reflected in the writing; the omniscient narrator takes the reader through Poirot’s thoughts as he summarizes and mulls over all the information he has gathered. This provides the reader with an overview of what has been uncovered, and what may be important in solving the mystery. In his summary he stresses some aspects that the reader knows to be important, such as the significance of Norma’s position as “The third girl”. Not only does the reader note this fact as important because of it’s repeated mention, but also because it is the title of the book. The individual parts of the mystery are presented through different characters, not only Poirot; using third person omniscient allows Christie to reveal tiny pieces of information that may be useful to Poirot through other characters in different chapters, different parts of the story. When Christie then describes their interpretation of their experiences to Poirot, the reader is able to compare what actually happened to what Poirot thinks happened. This is important because there are some discrepancies which affect Poirot’s ability to solve the mystery. For example, Mrs. Oliver, an old woman who is trying to help Poirot, finds out that one of the tenants of the apartment building Norma lives in died shortly before Poirot’s first encounter with Norma. Mrs. Oliver did not note this as important, so she mentions it briefly a while after finding out. Poirot is very upset by this, because he does think this is important. This example of the effective use of breaking the information into parts also shows one of the many intricate interrelationships surrounding the mystery that Poirot finds very frustrating. After Poirot investigates this “suicide”, he finds that the name of the woman who died is Louise Charpentier. Poirot does not realize this, but Louise was also the name of the woman who could be blamed for Norma’s destroyed childhood: her father had left her mother for another woman – a woman named Louise. The reader realizes this connection because it was discussed by other characters in an earlier chapter. But Poirot does not. At first, I did not make the connection between the two “Louise”s mentioned; however, the suspenseful conclusion, like many of the other cliff-hangers she ends her chapters with, stresses the importance of the name. Christie writes (from Poirot’s point of view), “Why had the name Louise some haunting memory about it?” (Christie 188). This is one example of the effectiveness  of Christie’s style in pulling the reader into the story and encouraging them to solve the mystery with Monsieur Poirot.

AOW #27: IRB 2

In this section, pages 98-195, Monsieur Poirot attempts to find out more about Norma Restarick by contacting her family, friends, and connections they might have that would influence Norma. Poirot is frustrated by all of the information he has gathered: he sees “the links”, that connect people surrounding Norma to her and to each other, but he cannot find “the pattern”. He can not make sense of the information that would explain what Norma had first referred to when she told him she “thought” that she had committed a murder. This frustration he feels is reflected in the writing; the omniscient narrator takes the reader through Poirot’s thoughts as he summarizes and mulls over all the information he has gathered. This provides the reader with an overview of what has been uncovered, and what may be important in solving the mystery. In his summary he stresses some aspects that the reader knows to be important, such as the significance of Norma’s position as “The third girl”. Not only does the reader note this fact as important because of it’s repeated mention, but also because it is the title of the book. The individual parts of the mystery are presented through different characters, not only Poirot; using third person omniscient allows Christie to reveal tiny pieces of information that may be useful to Poirot through other characters in different chapters, different parts of the story. When Christie then describes their interpretation of their experiences to Poirot, the reader is able to compare what actually happened to what Poirot thinks happened. This is important because there are some discrepancies which affect Poirot’s ability to solve the mystery. For example, Mrs. Oliver, an old woman who is trying to help Poirot, finds out that one of the tenants of the apartment building Norma lives in died shortly before Poirot’s first encounter with Norma. Mrs. Oliver did not note this as important, so she mentions it briefly a while after finding out. Poirot is very upset by this, because he does think this is important. This example of the effective use of breaking the information into parts also shows one of the many intricate interrelationships surrounding the mystery that Poirot finds very frustrating. After Poirot investigates this “suicide”, he finds that the name of the woman who died is Louise Charpentier. Poirot does not realize this, but Louise was also the name of the woman who could be blamed for Norma’s destroyed childhood: her father had left her mother for another woman – a woman named Louise. The reader realizes this connection because it was discussed by other characters in an earlier chapter. But Poirot does not. At first, I did not make the connection between the two “Louise”s mentioned; however, the suspenseful conclusion, like many of the other cliff-hangers she ends her chapters with, stresses the importance of the name. Christie writes (from Poirot’s point of view), “Why had the name Louise some haunting memory about it?” (Christie 188). This is one example of the effectiveness  of Christie’s style in pulling the reader into the story and encouraging them to solve the mystery with Monsieur Poirot.

AOW #26

This TV advertisement was recently released by Apple to promote their latest version of the iPad, which features Retina display, 5MP iSight camera, and 4G LTE. The clip features 2 young girls, scenes from the movie, Up, a flower, text from a children’s book, and a painting. Along with background music, these images are used to illustrate the adjectives the narrator uses to describe the iPad: stunning, brilliant, new, vibrant. The purpose of the advertisement is to convince their audience that the improvements made to this new iPad make it worth $500. The images shown indicate that the targeted audience consists of children and their parents: Up and the text appeal to children, and the images of happy, smiling, learning children appeal to parents who want their children to be happy, smiling, and learning. The tone of the background music and of the narrator serves as another rhetorical device intended to appeal to children and their parents; the tone is soft, gentle, and simplistic. The progression of dark to light images symbolizes the learning that the iPad brings to children, while also reflecting the context of the advertisement: spring is approaching, so Apple used scenes of butterflies, flowers, and bright green grass backgrounds to illustrate the positive diction. While I agree that this iPad is very high-tech and innovative, I do not see why parents would spend $500 on a slim piece of technology for their children to finger print and potentially break, especially if they already bought an earlier version of the iPad. For this reason, (even though I would not mind having one myself) I do not think Apple achieved its purpose.

AOW #25: Text (APUSH Chapter 30)

Chapter 30 in The American Pageant, written by David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey (all renowned professors of history considered to be experts in the area of study), describes America’s role in and point of view during World War I. This book was written for American high school students who are preparing to take the AP United States History Exam in May, which influences the way it’s written insofar as which facts and concepts it highlights. For example, instead of delineating the exact warpath of each Allied army unit with full descriptions of each battle, the text book only mentions the most important ones with more focus on their historical significance than their military technicalities. This is because the AP exam focuses on the “historical mindedness” aspect of United States History: the overall trends and events that have shaped our society in a way that have caused our country to be the way it is today and how they did this. Memorizing each battle will not help with the AP Exam. The authors included other rhetorical elements that are intended to help students study for the exam, including organization, colored maps and pictures, and extra passages. The chapters are organized with bolded, colorful, attention-grabbing headings and titles that indicate what the section will be about. They also reflect the narrative style of the writing; rather than listing the information as dry facts, the authors write history as if it were a story and the titles are just as captivating. The colored maps and pictures provide more material for students to survey while reading which breaks up the sometimes-seemingly-monotonous text and also help students further understand concepts being discussed in the text. Extra passages are included to delve further into an idea discussed briefly in the main text (such as more detail about the migration of the Irish to America) or to introduce other ways of thinking about what was presented in the main text (such as the “Varying Viewpoints” passages inserted at the close of almost every chapter). With these rhetorical elements, the authors accomplish their purpose of helping students prepare for the AP exam.

AOW #24: Text

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17174678

This piece, published by BBC News, a widely-read news source based in Britain, recapped the awards given at the Oscars earlier in February (exigence). It was purely informative, and was almost presented in a listing format, indicating that the audience of the piece was those interested in the Oscars and who missed the original showing (audience). However, little descriptions were given about each of the actors or actresses, or about the movies or directors that were being awarded so readers could have a sense of what the awards were commending rather than just a list of names and titles (rhetorical device). These descriptions also served one of author’s purposes of enticing readers to watch the movies that were given the awards (purpose). This purpose was not achieved in my opinion because as a reader I do not feel the need to watch any of these movies because I read this article. At the bottom of the article there are many other videos and articles about the Oscars; this encourages readers to peruse the news-site more which is probably another interest driving BBC to post a recap of the Oscars (purpose). This purpose was also not achieved for me because I was not interested in watching any of these other clips. Pictures were inserted in the text, which was informative but written with varying syntax and diction (rhetorical devices); both of these rhetorical devices kept readers interested in the happenings and helped distinguish each award from the other.