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