Comparing both President Barack Obama’s Farewell Address and Shepard Fairey’s We the People posters may seem a bit odd due to them being two completely different things, a speech and a series of posters. Despite what it may seem, there are plenty of similarities on the lines of their overall theme, rhetorical analysis, and how both appeal to the audience. Conversely, there are also plenty of differences when it comes to these as well.

The common theme both President Obama’s Farewell Address and Shepard Fairey’s posters share, is one of unity and hope. Both of these civic artifacts debuted roughly around the same time, and during that time the overall political climate was extremely hostile and divisive due to a messy and brutal Presidential election that ended with Donald Trump being its victor. Although they both take aim at the idea of unity in Trump’s America, they do it in different ways. President Obama lays down his hopes for the future and support the overarching idea for his speech in a more subtle and civil way, which is obvious due to his high position. Despite his apparent opportunity to bash President-elect Donald Trump, he did not and even went along and mentioned Donald Trump once throughout his speech. Shepard Fairey’s posters took a more head-on approach when it comes to supporting the overarching the main idea. When explaining the posters, Fairey stated the intent of the posters was to bring attention to the demographics that are seen as the most vulnerable in Trump’s America. He also goes on to explain that they were intended to be released in time for the Women’s March in Washington DC following Donald Trump’s Inauguration.

Both civic artifacts also strongly appeal to the audience but in different ways. President Obama’s Farewell Address uses strong diction and the rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) in his speech, while Fairey uses imagery and repetition to get his point across. As I previously stated, both of these artifacts debuted during the same time period which goes hand-in-hand with how the audience interpreted them. During this time, some people felt hopeless and were worried for the Trump Administration. These rhetorical devices worked and helped achieve the goal of offering hope and pushing for unity amidst the political chaos.

To begin my civic artifact speech, I’m planning on starting off part of the quote from the poster, “We The People”. The importance of this quote is not only the repetition through its sister posters, but how these words are taken directly from the United States Constitution. Americans are quite familiar with these three words. My main point of my speech will be about what these words what these words mean to people, what they actually mean, and what they meant. The creator of the poster is Shepard Fairey, who isn’t a stranger when it comes to political posters since he made former President Barack Obama’s 2008 iconic Hope poster. Fairey made this poster along with two others with the intent to be seen as a reminder that patriotism has no religion, race, or sex. I am also planning on pointing out the importance of the kairos. This poster debuted months after the 2016 election and before Donald Trump’s inauguration. During this time, the country (and even the world) was bracing for Donald Trump’s presidency because no one knew what to really expect. From June 2015 to his inauguration, Trump’s rhetoric was something we’ve never really seen in American politics. During this time, many Americans were afraid and worried as to if and how would their day-to-day lives could change.  The imagery quite possibly plays the largest role in this. The poster features a Muslim woman wearing a hijab that looks like the American flag. The woman is actually a real person and the original picture is from 2006 on the anniversary of 9/11. Fairey’s use of this photo can be seen as a response to one of Trump’s biggest points on his 2016 platform, the Muslim Ban. This goes hand-in-hand with the caption below the picture, “We The People are Greater than Fear”. This poster acted as a way to grab the audience’s attention and to bring us all together as a country despite the division that the election caused. I also plan on talking about the initial reactions of this poster and what role they took up when they were released. The Women’s March was the day following Trump’s inauguration which can be seen as an obvious statement. Like I said previously in my last RCL post, these posters feature a Muslim woman, a black woman, and a Latina which were all demographics that feel the most threatened by the Trump administration due to comments said, tweets, and rhetoric pushed during Trump’s race to the White House. I want to end my speech by explaining to the audience what the poster means to me and maybe even ask the class what the poster means to them.

It took me days to try to decide on what I wanted to write about for my passion blog, either Marvel or politics. However, I was given a great idea to merge the two together and write about Marvel and the political ramifications of characters, movies, and storylines. Not going to lie, this is going to be a bit challenging but I’m always interested in challenges! For my first passion blog post, I decided to write about Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel was released on International Women’s Day (March 8th), which was a move Marvel Studios took when making the film. Marvel Studios took a turn out of the “norm” by making Captain Marvel the first MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) film to have a female lead. Captain Marvel was seen as empowering and a milestone for young women, which can be seen throughout the film when Marvel Studios highlights the harsh realities of sexism, past and present, and how the main character, Carol Danvers, overcomes them. Captain Marvel (as a character) is headstrong, determined, and a natural-born leader, which are attributes usually held by male characters. Unfortunately, the film received a lot of backlash from certain individuals who found the film to be “too preachy” and “too SWJ-like”, when in reality, the film only had a female lead. To have a character debut like this nowadays is a really important thing, since there’s a push for the importance of inclusion and diversity on the lines of gender, sexuality, religion, and race. Characters like Captain Marvel are seen as an inspiration to young women, my friend Kylie says, “growing up, all the fictional female leads I had to look up to were princesses that basically taught girls that they needed a man to save them. Captain Marvel teaches girls that they can do the same things men can despite overcoming problems in her past.” Having Captain Marvel debut in the MCU as a main character and a huge player in upcoming Marvel projects was a breath of fresh air to many fans and women across the world.

Joke of the week: What do you call a bee that lives in America? USB.

As I mentioned last week, this poster was released to the world a bit before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. This poster (along with the other two posters) featured a Muslim woman, a black woman, and a Latina. The overall significance of these three choices is that these three demographics are seen to be the most vulnerable in Trump’s America. It’s safe to have this assumption due to his demonization and criticism toward these demographics throughout his campaign that began in June 2015. This poster making its debut after the 2016 Election but before Donald Trump’s inauguration was an opportune time people across the country (the world even) were protesting the election of Donald Trump. The overall timing of these posters being released was extremely effective as people  began to worry more and more the closer Inauguration Day came. The imagery Shepard Fairey uses for these posters are to put the spotlight on these groups of women. Allusion played a detrimental role in the creation of these posters, at the bottom of the posters, the biggest words are We The People. The audience would immediately think of the U.S. Constitution after reading these words, since these are the first three words in the U.S. Constitution. These rhetorical devices go hand-in-hand, the image depicts the women that are seen as the most vulnerable when it comes to Trump’s rhetoric and the words We The People tells the audience that despite the things that are said by certain individuals, We The People refers to EVERYONE. This can also be inferred if you look at the message in its entirety, which states, “We The People, are greater than fear.” Fairey pushes the idea that Americans should unite and stand up to any and all hatred and bigotry, no matter who’s mouth it comes from.

The artifact that I chose for my civic artifact speech is an artwork by Shepard Fairey, the famous artist that created the Hope poster featuring Barack Obama during the 2008 Election. Shepard Fairey is apart of a campaign called We The People, which is a campaign that was used to protest President Donald Trump. The campaign launched right before Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017 following a shocking and brutal election. The posters that Fairey created were a sign of protest of Trump. Fairey created a total of three posters, including the one show above. These posters depict three women, a Muslim, a black woman, and a latina. The most popular one is of the Muslim woman and for good reason. Ridwan Adhami captured this image at the World Trade Center in 2006 on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and was eventually used as an inspiration for Fairey. At the basis of it, it can be inferred that the target audience is all US citizens. I say all US citizens because this poster can mean a lot of different things to different types of people. Seeing a Muslim woman wearing an American flag hijab over the words “We the People are greater than fear”, amidst Trump’s Travel Ban (Muslim Ban), had one overall message: Patriotism has no race, religion, or sex. Having the line “We the People” acts a way to draw people in, this could be used as a way to remind people that although our country might be divided, we all have common American values and we need to stick together in order to secure said values and freedoms. The poster was widely used at the Women’s March in Washington DC, following Trump’s Inauguration and was even shared online. I chose this for my Civic Artifact Speech because this poster has a very clear and great message and a great reflection as to what our country is and should be.

“Write about something you’re passionate about!” Sounds easy, right? Well its a lot more difficult than I imagined. As an inexperienced blogger, I can honestly say that I have no idea as to what I’m really doing here but stick with me! The goal of this assignment is to write about something that’s not only intriguing but also something I know a lot about and enjoy talking about. After days of brainstorming, I’ve finally decided on the two things I would like to write about in my blog! I also thought it was a good idea to have one “serious” side and one “chill” side so here’s what my last two braincells and an iced coffee came up with…

My first passion I decided to write about is politics and my opinions on our current political climate! (Ha, typical of a Political Science major, right?) I have strong opinions when it comes to politics and I know lots of people don’t like to talk about it but I personally think it’s an important conversation to have, especially nowadays. I’m in no way trying to become Ben Shapiro or Anderson Cooper so take my posts with a grain of salt. I’m also a moderate so I don’t intend on attacking any one side.

My second passion is Marvel! Yes, I am a huge Marvel fan and have been since I was about 4 years old. Everyone has a nerdy side and that’s mine! I intend to discuss characters, movies, etc.

I also intend to end on a lighthearted note at the end of my blogs with a joke of the week! (Most, if not all, of these jokes will be dad jokes, so bear with me) This week’s joke is: “What do you call a concert worth 45 cents? 50 cent ft. Nickelback”

Any and all feedback is welcome!