https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgUxPK0wv9U

Overall I think my TED Talk went pretty well. I was really nervous going into it and had been practicing and worrying about it for days. I was happy to be able to go first and get it out of the way. Being recorded and having the bright lights trained on me was pretty nerve racking, but I was able to get through the presentation pretty well. There was one point where I made a pretty big hiccup but I was able to recover myself quickly which was good. A coupe of other times I stumbled over my words a little because I think I was going to fast. That is one thing I really need to work on in public speaking, whenever I give presentation or speeches, I get nervous and talk to first. Usually, because I am talking to fast is what causes me to mess up because I get all jumbled when I try to speak. I need to take a deep breathe, calm down, and slow down. Watching the video of my TED talk, I think the visuals were good. They were engaging and were related to the topics I was discussing. I definitely should have stood to the left a little more because I was to far over in the recording. I think I did a pretty decent job with eye contact with the audience, there was a couple times I looked back at my power point to make sure my picture corresponded with what I was saying. I had some good hand gestures, but other times I didn’t really make any gestures. So I think I should work on that because gestures can make it more engaging. I was so relieved when it was over I had been working on it for a long time so it felt good to finally present it. Overall I think it was a good TED talk, there are still many things I need to work on, but there is always room for improvement. In general, I don’t think giving the TED talk was as bad as I thought it would be. I think it also made it easier because I presented to an all girl crowd. Glad the TED talk is over, but it was still fun to talk about princesses!

TEDtalk:

Disney princesses have been the picture of elegance, beauty, and poise for years,

however in 2012 Disney and Pixar shocked the world with a new princess.

No longer are Disney princesses restricted to ball gowns, glass slippers, and waiting for prince charming to come and sweep them off their feet. Merida offers young girls the role model we’ve been waiting for. She is a strong, independent, confident, and spunky tom-boy; a princess that is far from perfect and offers young girls an image of a “real girl”.

So why did Disney make this shift? Brenda Chapman, the writer and co-director of Brave offers up her reasons, “Because of marketing, little girls gravitate toward princess products, so my goal was to offer up a different kind of princess — a stronger princess that both mothers and daughters could relate to, so mothers wouldn’t be pulling their hair out when their little girls were trying to dress or act like this princess. Instead they’d be like, ‘Yeah, you go girl!’”

And parents reacted to the release of Brave with approval. Parents were happy that a true role model for little girls was finally offered up. Merida’s story was more focused on her self-development and less on her love interests. Actually Merida is the first princess we see ride off SOLO at the end of the movie, that’s right there is no prince involved.

Not only does Merida break the princess norm of her story revolving around her family and not her prince, but Merida offers up an empowering character. Parents like this new princess, she shows girls how to be independent and strong. One mother, when speaking about the negative effect of the Disney princesses on her daughter, said, “The toddler had stopped running and jumping, and insisted on wearing only dresses. She sat on the front step quietly – waiting, she said, for her prince. She seemed less imaginative, less spunky, less interested in the world.” Merida broke this mold completely. Here is a vivacious young girl filled with energy and spunk. All she wants is to ride her horse and shoot arrows. She even shows girl that it’s ok to be a little silly. Merida shows a princess who isn’t afraid to not be poised, and she has fun and acts a little dorky sometimes.

But Merida’s characteristics wasn’t the only empowering thing about her. Finally here was a princess that didn’t give young girls ridiculous standards to uphold themselves to. Here we have the first Disney heroine that has a realistic body. Chapman says, “[I] wanted to give girls something to look at and not feel inadequate.” And of course one of Merida’s most defining features is her crazy and fiery, red hair. Unlike other Disney princesses, Merida doesn’t tame her hair, but rather lets it out.

So Disney was doing so well, parents were happy that this princess was offered as a new kind of role model. But then Disney tried to back track.

Disney had taken some real positive steps in creating Merida. But right before Merida was to be formally crowned as Disney’s 11th princess, Disney tried to shift her image. This was the “new and improved” Merida that Disney released and caused an explosion of backlash from parents.

Parents were shocked, just as they thought Disney was turning a new leaf, they slid right back into their old ways. And this time people were not putting up with it. Disney had completely transformed Merida. She was given a smaller waist, a bigger bust, and her curls were more tamed and mature. Her dress was more “feminine”, with more glitter and gold, and the cut was more revealing. Worst of all Merida had given up her bow and arrow. Even her stance is sexier and more seductive. And parents were not happy. Where had the strong and spunky Merida gone that girls could look up to? Instead Disney was reverting back to their sexified approach of depicting the princesses.

Backlash among parents was tremendous. People were angry and wanted Disney to keep Merida the way she was. Even Chapman voiced her anger over the transformation, “”I think it’s atrocious what they have done to Merida. It’s horrible! Merida was created to break that mold — to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance.” Parents were so angry because Disney was taking away what made Merida who she was and what made her different and more appealing. She worked her way into so many hearts because of her uniqueness and her refusal to follow the strict rules of being a princess. The look the new Merida sports is exactly what she was fighting against becoming.

But Merida’s new look also raises body image problems. By changing Merida to look “more beautiful” and more like a “true princess”, Disney shows that Merida’s original look was inadequate; and therefore girls who related to her feel imperfect. Dr. Robyn Silverman, a child development expert, shares her opinion on Merida’s makeover,”[Merida] was beloved for her adventurous spirit, her unique look and her disinterest in romance as her ‘goal’ in life. Her allure was not physical–which sent a strong message to girls that they could be who they are– and still be beautiful, brave and confident.”

 This poll shows the common reaction of most people who wanted Disney to return Merida to her original form. A petition was also formed that collected over 256,000 signatures for Merida to lose her new “royal” look.

Disney and Pixar hit a home run with the introduction of the headstrong and lovable princess Merida. Parents loved her for being a true role model for kids. Disney had made this shift to “realistic” characters, and people were happy with the change. Once Disney tried to tone down Merida’s wild look, they were met with backlash. People liked the transformation Merida represented for all princesses, and they didn’t want to go back.

Image and gifs cited:

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/brave-gif

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/brave-gif

http://bravebow.tumblr.com/

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/merida-gif

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/princess-merida

http://www.parade.com/13921/#moregalleries

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/05/11/disney-princess-merida-makeover-redesign

http://romanticwhims.tumblr.com/post/18284843876/if-you-could-change-your-fate-would-you

http://www.gurl.com/2013/06/08/disney-princess-dating-advice-merida-gifs/4/

http://missmeridaofdunbroch.tumblr.com/

http://imgur.com/gallery/JjeLgkY

http://giphy.com/search/cinderella/

Intro:

Disney has always utilized their heart-warming movies to supply good messages to their audiences, however Disney’s message in regard of body image and role of women has not always been as positive. In an age where our society is so concentrated on beauty, young girls are trying to live up to unrealistic standards. The problem isn’t even the ultra chic celebrities who grace the red carpet, but rather the role models girls have been looking up to for years: Disney princesses. However in the past years, Disney has been trying to remedy this problem. Recent princess movies that have been released show more realistic princesses that girls are better able to identify with. But why has this recent change come about? In the recent decades, women are gaining more and more equal rights and becoming successful workers; and within our society eating disorders and self-esteem issues have been on a rise. In order to combat these changes, Disney has worked to transform the princesses they display as better, more realistic, diverse, and dynamic in order to create better role models for young girls.

Paragraph 1:

The rise of the women in the work force and politics, how this shift of women gaining more control in influencing society on a whole.

Paragraph 2:

The rise of self-esteem and eating disorders. How body image effects the youth and how culture has brought a change in body image creating problems like eating disorders.

Paragraph 3:

How Disney originally portrayed the princesses and how that can affect a young girls mind and perspective on beauty and a woman’s place in society.

Paragraph 4:

Disney has begun to shift a little more to a realistic ideal of beauty. Less about perfection and more about being yourself and being comfortable in one’s own skin. This can been seen in the movie Brave. Merida is depicted as the not so typical princess. Her hair is not kept back, but rather let out. Many times she complains about having to wear the strict clothing that a princess requires.

Paragraph 5:

The original Disney movies portrayed  women as living their life just waiting for Prince Charming to come rescue them. Now, the newest movies show the princesses taking a more active role in their own lives. Tiana works hard in order to fulfill her dream of opening her own restaurant. Merida claims that she will not let her life be decided for her, but will shoot for her own hand. No longer is Disney giving off the message that girls should wait for their prince to ride up and save them, rather in order to fulfill your dreams you have to go out and work for them to come true.

Paragraph 6:

Disney has also made a move to make the princesses more diverse and including more girls. Recently, Tiana has been introduced to the Disney Princess family as the first African-American princess. This inclusion of Tiana shows that princesses come in all shape, sizes, and races; there is no one typical princess.

Sources:

TOWNSEND, BEATRICE. “Closing The Gender Gap: Are Women Rising?.” Diverse: Issues In Higher Education 30.18 (2013): 17. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

Glasofer, Deborah R., et al. “Self-Efficacy Beliefs And Eating Behavior In Adolescent Girls At-Risk For Excess Weight Gain And Binge Eating Disorder.” International Journal Of Eating Disorders 46.7 (2013): 663-668. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

Carolan, Marsha, et al. “An Integrated Feminist Approach To Disordered Eating Intervention In A University Campus Outpatient Setting.” Journal Of Feminist Family Therapy 22.1 (2010): 43-56. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

Landro, Laura. “Amid Focus on Obesity and Diet, Anorexia, Bulimia Are on the Rise.” Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition 30 Mar. 2004: D1. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

Hayes, Sharon, and Stacey TantIeff-Dunn. “Am I Too Fat To Be A Princess? Examining The Effects Of Popular Children’s Media On Young Girls’ Body Image.” British Journal Of Developmental Psychology 28.2 (2010): 413-426. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

“The princess gene.” Age [Melbourne, Australia] 23 May 2007: 18. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Stasis, as defined by the text book, is when a rhetorician takes a stand on an issue. It can also be when two rhetoricians agree that they disagree. Stasis can help me through the writing process of my paper by helping me figure out what kinds of questions I need to answer through my research. If I decide to write my paper on the princess effect, stasis will help drive me to discover good arguments through the questions I ask. When I write my paper, stasis will help me look at more specific things rather than broad topics, especially in making my thesis specific. Sometimes when I write papers my thesis and topic sentences are too broad, so stasis will help me ask the right questions in order to find a specific argument. Stasis will also be very useful to me when I begin to write my paper because I will look at many different arguments and points of views before deciding on the argument I want to make in my writing.

In our text book, it was also stated that rhetoricians divide questions into two categories, either theoretical or practical. Theoretical questions ask why people do something, which can be useful when writing the paradigm shift paper to see why this shift in society and culture is happening. Practical questions are different from theoretical because they ask why people should do something. This type of question is also useful because it allows for me to question what people should do and make my argument. When I ask these questions, whether rhetorical or practical, I still need to remember to not keep my questions general, but more specific. If the type of questions I am asking when researching are general, then my argument will be general instead of focusing on something specific. Stasis will be beneficial to me to help me make my argument specific and to the point and allow me to understand my topic more thoroughly by asking many questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uMCOkTiHqU

P&G’s new Everyday Effect campaigns portray each of their products in such a way that is relatable to their viewers. One product that has been utilizing these commercials is Swiffer. The Everyday Effect campaign works to depict Swiffer products as a necessary commodity in the daily life of a typical person. The recent Swiffer ads have broken away from their normal portrayal of young and messy families who need Swiffer to clean up the accidents in life. Instead, Swiffer uses an elderly couple, Lee and Morty Kaufman to demonstrate that Swiffer is an item that is helpful to all people. Since Lee and Morty are elderly, the commercial demonstrates that Swiffer helps make cleaning easier and if Lee, a ninety year old woman, can complete her chores, so too can everyone else with the help of Swiffer products. Th ad draws on commonplaces and ideologies that are well known in society in order to make the product useful and relatable to the life of everyday consumers.

    In this commercial Swiffer draws on commonplaces in order to show that their product is relatable to all people. In many former Swiffer and other P&G brand commercials, the product is displayed in use by young and happy families. The commercials usually portray young, beautiful mothers cleaning up life’s messes. The “typical” family, as depicted by the media, is shown with the children spilling things and the dogs making messes and cleaning products coming to the rescue. Swiffer has run these kind of ads before, but this time the spokespersons for the product is no longer the lively, media-typical family, but rather the not so typical elderly couple. Using Lee and Morty Kaufman as the center of the commercial captures the attention of the viewer more because the commercial is not showing the same happy family like other ads. This ad allows the consumer to see that product is more relatable to themselves because it is not being used by the stereotypical family that are depicted in most television commercials. By using an elderly couple, Swiffer is also able to display that the products are effortless to use and makes life easier. If Lee, the little old lady depicted as “breaking her back” cleaning can use Swiffer and finish her housework, then Swiffer will make everyone’s cleaning easier and less of a hassle. That is the point of the Everyday Effect commercials, to show that the products depicted will be able to help life run more smoothly and allow people to be able to finish housework, such as mopping, quicker and be able to return to their family and life faster.

    This Swiffer commercial draws on commonplaces by breaking from the norms, but the ad also follows many common ideologies seen in society. Society usually views the woman as the home-maker and cleaner. In the ad Lee projects this commonplace by being shown cleaning while Morty watches. By drawing on this commonplace, Swiffer is able to bring some humor into the ad as well. Most women are able to view this commercial and relate Morty’s behavior to their own husbands. This relatability brings a humor to the commercial by focusing on the “typical” behavior of men when it comes time to clean. The Kaufmans are portrayed as a very close and loving couple, and while Lee cleans Morty voices his concerns for her safety when she uses the “rickety,old stepstool” in order to clean the top of the chest. Lee acknowledges that Morty is no help when it comes to cleaning and worries about her safety; however does not pick up the mop or duster himself, when she comically states, “That’s your line-be careful”. She points out that he sits and worries about her, while she gets the job done and cleans. The marital relationship between Morty and Lee is also made humorous by this acknowledgement that each know each other so well, they know the quirks and actions of the other. Lee knows that she is the one who will always be cleaning, and that Morty will sit and watch and worry she will fall. In this way the relationship between the elderly couple, who know how the other acts so well and the common ideal of the woman cleaning is made humorous in this Swiffer commercial.

    By using these spokespersons of Lee and Morty Kaufman, the Swiffer products are made more relatable to the everyday lives of people. The beginning half of the commercial films Lee performing her typical cleaning chores and showing how difficult and straining the process of cleaning is. By using Lee, the difficulty of cleaning is heightened because of her elderly age and how tiny she is. While wringing a mop, Lee says, “I’m not big enough, or strong enough for this”. The commercial portrays cleaning as an arduous task, one that is tiring for Lee and everyone. People are able to relate to Lee and her struggle to maintain her clean house while not straining herself. Once Lee and Morty are given the Swiffer package, the task of cleaning becomes much quicker and a lot faster. Because people were able to relate to Lee and her struggle to complete her housework, they will be able to relate to this new product that it’s ability to make Lee’s life easier as well as their own. Through the Everyday Effect ads, P&G stress that by having products that make cleaning and housework easier, the Everydays of life will become less stressful as well. Once Lee receives her Swiffer, she has more time to get back to Morty and the love they share. She has time to dance and sing with the husband that she has shared so much love with over the years. In this way the commercial shows that Swiffer allows housework to become a quicker and less difficult task, and allows consumers to get back to the important things in life, like family and love.

    Viewers are also able to relate to Lee when she discovers her home is not as clean as she thought it was. When she mops the floor with her new Swiffer she exclaims, “I’ve been living in a fool’s paradise!”, a paradise that Lee thought was clean. The commercial shows that all the work Lee has been putting in has not been cleaning her house as well as she thought.  But Swiffer is able to help her make her paradise an actual reality. With her Swiffer products, Lee will be able to clean her house and her cleaning products will actually do a good job. The commercial draws on this idea because people are able to relate to the thought that their house is clean, but really their cleaning products have been letting them down and not cleaning to a high enough standard. This idea of Swiffer being a higher quality cleaning product is a common one throughout all Swiffer commercials. Other ads for Swiffer have portrayed old mops being thrown in the trash for the better and more efficient Swiffer mop. Also the tag line of Swiffer declares, “Swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning”. When Lee realizes her house, which she thought was clean, is actually dirty she knows her new Swiffer can help her clean her house “right”. This portrayal of the power of Swiffer is able to relate back to the theme of many former commercials and the idea that Swiffer does a better cleaning job than other products.

Swiffer is able to use commonplaces in order to catch the attention of viewers and make the product relatable and useful with in their lives. Morty and Lee portray how Swiffer is able to perform a better cleaning job in half the time and with less effort. With the help of Swiffer the Kaufmans are able to spend less time on cleaning and more timing sharing their love, and that’s the Everyday effect, allowing families to spend less time on housework and more time together.

My first idea is to use the new commercials for Swifter. The ad draws on the common image of the woman doing the cleaning by portraying the wife cleaning, while the husband sits. The commercial also shows that the product is very easy to use and useful because it portrays an elderly woman using the product. The ad is one that offers some humor as well because every one just laughs as the little woman tries to get her cleaning done and the husband can been seen in the background. Because the husband is seen as sitting and watching his wife clean, and can also bring humor to the audience because people will just laugh at this common portrayal.

Another commercial I may use is one created by the company Indigo, a Canadian book seller. The message of the commercial is to show how important reading is and the impact books have on a child’s life. The commercial portrays a boy who is caught giving a love letter to the girl next to him, when the teacher reads it aloud she is stunned by the beauty of the little boys words. It shows how reading can be beneficial in the life of a child in so many ways. The commercial also shows that the impact of books can sometimes be shocking and something we do not expect, like the teacher who did not expect such an intellectual love note. The commercial utilizes a cute boy to give the message to audience that reading is important.

The other commercial I have in mind is the one for the Nexus 7. The commercial shows how beneficial the product is and how it really makes a difference in the kids life. The commercial plays on pathos because it is inspiring to watch the young kid research how to give a speech and get over his fear, to delivering his speech and catching the attention of the girl in his class. The ad also plays on a commonplace that many people have a fear of public speaking. The ad shows that the Nexus 7 is a very useful product and one that betters life. The commercial ends with the kid researching how to ask a girl out, that shows the Nexus 7 helped the boy with his confidence and can help other consumers as well.

For me personally, public speaking is not one of my strengths. Since I have yet to deliver my speech, I have been watching how other people perform and trying to take notes what works and what does not work. One thing I really noticed when people were delivering their speeches, was eye contact. The people who actually held eye contact with the audience I felt were more successful. For my own speech, I am working on trying to maintain eye contact and not losing the audience. I also feel that motioning towards the video or visual worked well along with hand gestures, but if the speaker used too many hand gestures it just began to draw my attention in a negative way. Overall I think that most of the speeches have been delivered very well. Everyone had their different strengths and weakness. It is interesting to think about what worked and what did not, so that for the next speech we will be able to work on our mistakes. Something that I think everyone did was say “uhmm” numerous times. All of us get nervous and when trying to think of what to fill the silent gap with we all unconsciously say “uhmm”. When it is my turn to deliver my speech I am going to try to take notice and avoid using word fillers. Some people also seemed to struggle with the timing, either being too short or too long. I know for myself, when I public speak I usually get so nervous that I talk really quickly, so I need to be careful of my speed so I don’t finish my speech way too early. Overall though I think all of the speeches that we have seen so far have been delivered very well, and it is a really good place for all of us to start. Hopefully from this first speech we will learn what to avoid and be able to deliver our next speeches even better.

In rhetoric, kairos is when the right audience is matched up at the right moment, to produce a perfect moment for a specific argument or discussion. Many arguments are only kairotic at a certain point because people’s emotions and opinions are always changing. One example of an event that caused a kairotic moment was after World War I in Germany. After the first World War, Germany was in ruins, especially their economy. The morale of the people was also down since everyone was worried about the state of their country and economy. The German people just wanted to be led out of these difficult times and begin to flourish again. Hitler took this moment to take control. Hitler was a very powerful speaker and he appealed to the masses because his public speaking ability was very good, however he was so successful because he brought his ideas to the German people at the right time. We always here the cliché “timing is everything”, but in the case of rhetoric it is very true. Who the audience is and what is going on in the world is hugely important to the success of one’s rhetoric. After World War I, Germany was shamed; because of the Treaty of Versailles they had to accept all responsibility for starting the war and pay many reparations to other countries. They needed a strong leader to pull their economy out of ruin and they needed someone to renew their pride of country. Hitler fulfilled both things. Hitler brought to power the nationalistic party and the Nazis took control of Germany. The Nazis believed that the Aryan race was far superior to all and this renewed the pride that many Germans lost because of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler’s timing was perfect, he saw that Germany was weak and needed someone who was powerful and bring them back to their “former glory”. Had Germany been doing better both economically and morally, Hitler’s ideas and plans would have probably just been ignored or only acknowledge by a few, instead Hitler appealed to the masses in their time of need.

UNICEF is a commonly known organization that is recognized for its work to help end poverty. One way that they work to raise money to help the impoverished is by putting commercials on TV and publishing posters. UNICEF is an organization that is sponsored by the United States and by the UN. This gives them a credibility and makes people want to donate money because they know the money will actually go to third world countries. This posters make average citizens feel like they need to give money to the organization or else they seem like a bad person. The ad directly asks people to save a child’s life, which causes Americans to feel inclined to give money. The artifact also plays on common places such as, all humans feel that if we can help save a life of a child, we must. Every human shares the common place that they want to end poverty in the world. This ad also draws on the pathos of the audience. The picture of the child evokes pity and compassion from the audience and makes them want to do whatever is possible to help. UNICEF uses pathos as much as possible because human emotions are very strong, so seeing a picture of a child dying from disease or hunger is going to invoke pity. This posters makes people want to become civically engaged because they want to help save a life.

The actual poster itself does not have very many words, however UNICEF uses that to their advantage. They rely on the image, usually a child, to invoke pathos in the audience. By using a child, more pathos is invoked because no one wants to see a child hurt or hungry. On the poster it says “Every day children die needlessly”. These specific words were chosen for a reason. “Every day” is used to shocked the audience, to remind them that every single day children die in third world countries. The word “needlessly” invokes that it doesn’t have to be this way, children do not need to be dying every day, it can change. The poster also says, “You can help by donating”. The “you can help” is very important because it makes the audience feel important and like they can really make a difference if they donate to UNICEF. What really catches your attention on this poster is the child’s eyes. The eyes are so sad and helpless they immediately make someone want to help that child. The eyes also stare directly out at whoever would be looking at the poster, so that the audience is forced to look into the child’s eyes. His eyes seem to be saying “will you save me or let me die?”.  UNICEF is one example of an organization that really makes people want to become civically engaged. People see this poster and think “If I give money I will save a life and that makes me a good person”. This poster is such a good civic engagement artifact because it draws on pathos so strongly, and pathos is so important because every human has emotions, and strong emotions can really influence people.