Tag Archives: golovko

Rhetorical Essay Outline

Topic: WWII Poster

Commonplaces

  • slogans
  • common words

Audience Assumption

  • patriotism
  • group mentality
  • common enemy

Rhetorical Proofs (and examples)

  • ethos
  • logos
  • pathos

Conclusion

  • final effectiveness of poster
  • does it inspire change?

Artifact Ideas

For my “artifact” speech, I’m thinking of using various e-mails sent to my school account regarding joining sororities. Greek Life seems to be seen as part of many people’s civic lives in college, and it would be interesting to analyze the way that such groups recruit their members through rhetoric and various give/take propositions. It’ll be fun to see how they “advertise” joining a sorority.

Do The Right Thing Pt. 2

Upon further reflection on the movie “Do the Right Thing” my opinion hasn’t changed drastically, though there are a few things that I definitely am thinking about more. In my opinion, the message that the movie was trying to send across; one of learning how to be accepting and how to resolve conflict without violence, was a bit hollow because of something that I can’t seem to wrap my mind around. I understand that it was mean to be a cautionary tale of a group of people who were wronged and who chose to deal with it the wrong way. But all I could think about was that the characters who burned down Sal’s Pizza at the end of the movie didn’t have any legitimate reason for it. All throughout the film, many characters including Mookie made it clear that they thought the African American community was being oppressed in their neighborhood and foreigners like the Koreans or even Sal’s family were unwelcome there. But interestingly enough, only one character (Mookie) was even shown attempting to find a job or do something with his life. I just can’t seem to understand how they were being oppressed by “The Man”. Did the characters think that Sal’s family was given more privilege or that the Korean couple came to their neighborhood with some sort of advantage over everyone else?

Maybe I’m completely wrong on this interpretation, but it seemed to me that their anger was misplaced towards people who worked hard for their little bit of success, as opposed to those who spent their time watching and waiting for fortune to come upon them. Perhaps my view of the film will change upon a second viewing, but for now this is some of what I’ve taken from it.

Wait, maybe not.

Having thought more about passion blog ideas, I think I’ve settled on keeping the same review/criticism concept, but applying it to music. Looking back, it should have been pretty obvious from the beginning that music affects me more than movies, or even books sometimes do. With all the time I spend listening to albums and looking for new artists to enjoy, it only makes sense. (It also would finally justify the extensive amount of time I end up spending searching for new music, but that’s just a bonus). Now I just have to decide on an initial album or artist. Stay tuned, more at 11.

After my first viewing of Do The Right Thing, my immediate reaction was that the film itself offered very little in the way of perpetuating that piece of advice. Ironically, the neighborhood drunk, The Mayor, who initially gave the advice of always doing the right thing was probably the only one who really followed it. He jumped in front of a car to save a young child, he refrained from violence when the mob was burning down Sal’s Pizza, and he consoled those who were bystanders in the proceedings.  Based on what the film says, social factors might inhibit us from doing the right thing. Factors such as racism, stereotypes, and violence are often overpowering and make it nearly impossible for every single person to follow moral guidelines.

The concept of “loyalty” takes on a rougher meaning with this film. Loyalty is seen in being affiliated with only your own race, such as black, white, Latino, etc.  and is often blind to events that may potentially undermine that loyalty, for example when the young black man is killed by the police towards the end of the film, the black mob shifts blame towards Sal and his family, destroying his business in the process. Rage has the ability to block out critical thinking by enforcing group mentalities despite having a legitimate reason to be offended. Sal’s choice to only put up Italian-Americans on his “Wall of Fame” is a reflection of his love for his country of origin, and he wasn’t taking away anybody’s rights in the process.  I think the reason eateries/restaurants are so often the target of public scrutiny is because people show their loyalty to a brand by buying their food, spending money there, almost in an investment type of way. So when something is revealed that makes customers feel as though they’ve been lied to, there is a harsh reaction.

In my opinion, the film offered an example of What Not To Do in almost every possible situation. The ease of the perpetuation of ethnic stereotypes, even within the group itself, is shocking as well as saddening. The film’s title offers an idealistic piece of advice that I saw being followed by only one character, and not even at all times. I’m still not sure that I fully understand what the deeper purpose of this film is, but my current understanding leads me to think that it is a form of cautionary tale.

For my passion blog, I have an idea to write a weekly review/criticism of a new book or movie that that I’ve read. To be more specific, my thoughts are that I could pick the “best” in a genre each week (one that I haven’t read) and try it out. For example, as a representation of the Fantasy genre, I could read the first book or watch the first movie of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Or perhaps to delve deeper into the Sci-Fi genre, I could try out watching Star Wars.  I think that this might be especially effective due to the fact that I have yet to see a lot of movies that are known to be representative of their genre. I believe this might have the effect of making me more open-minded towards genres that I would not have considered otherwise.