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Posted on February 27, 2015, in AP Language. Bookmark the permalink. 32 Comments.
Room 37 Online 
Rhetorical Précis:
Ben Affleck’s 2012 film, Argo, is about the crisis in which Americans in Iran were held hostage during the Iranian Revolution and the American government made great efforts to try to exfiltrate six embassy staffs who escaped and hid in the home of the Canadian ambassador. The film delivers the message that one should not be afraid to take chances. Affleck builds this theme by showing that some of the escapees were reluctant about the CIA exfiltration specialist’s (Tony Mendez) plan in the beginning, but when they decide to go along with it, things went as planned and they escaped back to the U.S. safely. The director wanted his movie to convey that message in order to encourage people to put themselves out there and take chances. The targeted audience of this film is everybody because everyone can learn a lot from the film, whether it’s the life lessons or the history in it.
Personal Commentary:
I watched this movie with many other friends and I personally really enjoyed this film because I feel like I understood a lot of it since I’ve already learned the history of the Iranian Revolution last year in AP World. The movie was intense and suspenseful which made it even more interesting to me. Very few films based on true historical events interest me but this one definitely did the job. Overall, I think it was a great film and it made it onto my list of favorite movies.
Category : Book
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift the author of Gulliver’s Travels is about an utopia in which the main character, Lemuel Gulliver becomes the ships surgeon in where they were setting out to navigate the world; a violent storm kills all aboard except Gulliver and he swims to a town. He notices that he is giant size compared to them and about 40 and 50 of the Lilliputians are able to stand on his hand. Due to a language barrier, they use hand symbols and the Lilliputian emperor jails Gulliver due to his concern for his people. Gulliver agrees to help the Lilliputians in a war against their enemy, Blefuscu; Gulliver is greeted as a hero. A boat of Gulliver’s size sails to shore and Gulliver goes home to England carrying animals and exotic items gifted to him. After staying in England, Gulliver sets out again and lands at the place where the grass is 20 feet high. The farmer, wanting to make money, takes Gulliver to the market and display him in a cage where people looked at him. Then queen of Brobdingnag buys Gulliver and the dwarf becomes jealous and tries to get rid of Gulliver, but is punished. Gulliver travels to many other islands explaining to them the society of England and he wanted to stay at the Houyhnhnms island, but he returns back to England. He finds out his family thought he was dead and he was disgusted so he buys 2 horses and talk to them as his own family. The author tells his story by going in order from him being a surgeon on a ship; the shipwreck was a segway starting the plot of the story. The purpose of the story is to show how gullible people are because some people believe everything they say. This novel is intended for young audiences because children are most gullible when they are young.
I feel like this book could be made into a movie because it is very descriptive and adventurous. I enjoyed reading this book and I also realized that I was gullible when I was young and still now. Jonathan Swift does a good job in this novel in describing a utopia and showing the greed and selfishness existing in society. It shows there are all kind of people in the world, educated, uneducated, selfish, and etc. I recommend this book to young adults because they can relate to Gulliver’s experiences.
Andy Li
3/1/15
Maureen Dowd in her op-ed piece Dirty Words From Pretty Mouths describes how women in the last ten years have created raunchy sexual films, sometimes starring themselves, and the baggage that comes with it. Dowd shows this by listing multiple projects created by women that contain sexually graphic material and would be questionable if written by men, and then interviews a man and women creator separately on the topic. Dowds purpose is to portray a new rising genre in film, and describe some of the anomalies that come with it. The audience is film watchers over ten years old.
Commentary:
The genre dowd speaks of contains films like bridesmaids, knocked up, superbad, SMILF, etc. I like all these movies, and Dowd shares that when Judd Apatow (a man) writes it he is subject to some criticism for exploiting women, but when Frankie Shaw (a woman) writes it, she is a celebrated feminist. This is all interesting stuff, but personally I just like interesting funny movies, and I think the movie industry should continue to pump out these top selling comedies.
Visual Piece of Art
Rhetorical Precís: The painting “Dogs Playing Poker” by C.M. Coolidge shows that when we take part in gambling, drinking alcohol, cheating, and smoking cigarettes we are animals. Coolidge supports this by personifying the dogs to do human activities while looking drowsy, drunk, and having red eyes. The author’s purpose of this painting is to show that when we cheat we win more only if they don’t notice, the rest of the dogs on the other side of the table look sad because they lost all their chips, Coolidge shows this in order to stop us of from committing these sins and becoming these animals. The intended audience is anyone especially those who partake in the activities in the painting, and Coolidge sets a questioning tone with the audience.
Commentary: I found this painting very interesting because I like how many ways in can be portrayed. I’ve seen this painting in several places before like on some t.v. shows. I like the author’s idea of personifying the dogs to do human activities. The painting itself is very impressive and painted well.
Precis: In the movie “Psycho”, it is about a son not being able to let go of the fact that his mom passed away and still pretends his mom is still alive while she is actually living inside the son. This is supported by the the son still thinking that he lives with his mom by going to take care of her inside the house. The purpose is to show that sometimes it’s really hard for people to let go of their loved ones and some can’t coat with it so they still act like they’re still there. The intended audience would be teens.
Commentary: I enjoyed watching this movie because at the beginning it was kinda boring but after the first killing I got into it because I just assumed it was the mother who did it and we didn’t get to see what she looked like so I got curious. At the end, I was surprised that the son was actually the mother and that kinda freaked me out.
In the article, Medicating Women’s Feelings, Julie Holland describes how women are not fully able to express themselves due to the way their hormonal behavior is frown upon. Instead of people looking at womens moody personality traits as being a part of them, they believe that these personality traits should be “fixed”. The only way to “fix” a woman’s mood swings is by medicating them. This leads some women to believing that they are crazy or depressed, which is only true in particular cases. A woman can only control her emotions with the help of her closest family and friends. Medicating them is only the answer if they are truly diagnosed with a mental disease.
Personal Commentary:
I agree with Julie Holland, some women believe that they should medicate themselves when there is not anything wrong with them. Children and men may lead them to believing such things, which brings them to the doctor for medication to “cure” what is really nothing.
-Zaire Alford
The Rhetorical Précis
(Book) (The Awakening by Kate Chopin) first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast at the end of the nineteenth century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women’s issues without condescension.
(personal connection) i kinda don’t have a personal connection toward this book in general but i do see a connection with girls and women in general with this book,there is a lot of strange feelings in a women mind and its very interesting how they over come there problems by them self i have a lot of respect for women there great human beings.
RHETORICAL PRECIS:
Paul Langan in his dramatic book, “Brothers In Arms” argues throughout the book that in life’s strongest pains, and conflicts, revenge is not the way to heal the heart and life itself. Throughout the book the main character Martin endures a constant battle within himself and his mother in whether he should seek revenge and kill the ones who took his little brother’s life away, Langan shows his main argument through Martin, slowly but surely changing his mind, knowing that revenge is not the way to heal himself and his family, moved out from El Barrio, starting fresh at a new school Martin soon begins to learn that his passed away brother, his mother, and deep down inside, even himself, would not want Martin to seek revenge. Langan’s purpose for this book was not just to provide a form of literature for broke schools in the U.S, but also to show many young men and women in life’s struggles that there are other ways to live with pain, that revenge is not the way to solve issues with others, sometimes you just have to let stuff go. The intended audience for this book is young men and women in high school throughout the country living through struggle, bad neighborhoods, gangs, violence and pain, kids who need some advice and have to see the light of life.
PERSONAL COMMENTARY:
Freshman year I was going to do something, something that is the point of no return, few weeks before I was going to do it, I was talking to my homeboy about it, role model kind of homie. He was explaining to me that revenge is not the way, that I am better than that and if I am a man of revenge then life would be very difficult for me.. He gave me this book, didn’t think of it much but he urged me to read it. Once I was reading it I knew I couldn’t do what I was contemplating to do. Once I finished the book I told myself, “ Damn bruh.. this is the best book I’ve read.” The book made me break down in tears once or twice, the book was so good I read the sequel also. When I finished both books, I called up my boys, told them we could not do what we were about to. explained to them my logic and reasoning and they respected it and my decision. From then on I learned sometimes you just gotta let some things go.
Rhetorical Precis
Ben Affleck, in his movie Argo(2012) expressed the difficulties and hardships of a true story that told the tale of six Americans as they were rescued from Iran. The movie, Argo, follows a CIA agent as he ventures on a suspenseful journey posing as an assistant film producer who, with six other “canadian film crew members”, goes to Iran to scout the area for a sci-fi movie. The purpose of this movie was to retell a story of a frightening occurrence between Iran and the United States and how deeply anti-American Iran was at the time. Throughout the movie, the audience is anxiously on the edge of their seats wondering what will happen next as their sympathy and angst is drawn out for these seven main characters.
Commentary
I have been wanting to see this movie for a really long time and I am glad I finally got the chance to. I was disappointed that when I watched this, the Farsi spoken between Iranians in the movie was not translated with subtitles, because for a good portion of the movie I could not understand what was being said. However, overall I really enjoyed the movie because it brought me back to World History and I love watching a good thriller. Argo was also really good at bringing to light a story and situation that I would not have been informed of if the movie was not made. I am glad I know the sort of horrors and tensions that used to happen between Iran because then I am aware that things can be taken that far.
Rhetorical Précis:
Robert Zemeckis, the director of Forrest Gump, implies that even though being diffrent either in education, status, or looks anyone can have opportunities as long as they have an open mind and heart. Zemeckis, using the protagonist Forrest Gump who is not as intelligent as other people, portrays that like the feather in the beginning and end of the of the movie he drifts everywhere. He had many opportunities and met many important, famous people because he accepted everyone. He did not put materialistic wants before others unlike Jenny, his love interest, who had a hard life due to her ambitions. Zemeckis purpose is not only to be a open minded and caring person but also that fame and fortune is valueless in order to know what really matters in life. He shifts the viewers view, especially those who put their ambitions before their emotions, to vision life as more meaningful.
Personal Commentary:
This movie is one of my personal favorites because I enjoyed the scenes where historic moments were shown and how Forrest was tied into them. I also love the message portrayed. Life is not always about a set path. Sometimes going with the flow will lead to unexpected events that can be either positive or negative.
In the article “A Shooter, His Victim and Race” Nicholas Kristof reviews and inputs his opinion on a recent case in which the victim of an attempted murder by a thirteen-year old African-American boy strives to get her attacker an early release from prison after many years already being incarcerated. Kristof defends the victim saying that her feelings about the case are extremely reasonable as the circumstances of the young boy and most others of his same race are unfair and upsetting. The purpose of this article is to show the everyday experience of a young black male and their struggles in a world so unjust. Kristof’s intended audience seems to be racist or prejudiced Americans.
This story really intrigued me. Usually I find that in this situations such as this, race is brought up as reason for negative causes. In this case the victim of this shooting as well as the opinion reporter of this story defend the shooter and attempt to apply fault to the society we’re in and the uncontrollable circumstances he encounters. I found it very heart warming and something that everyone should read regardless of what their postion is.
Rhetorical Precis
Mary Bellis, a prominent writer on inventions, “Airplanes Flight”. Bellis begins by giving us the name of the inventors( Orville and Wilbur Wright ) and the date of the first successful flight. Bellis then gives us basic facts of what an airplane is, and the earliest inventions of a flying machine, which included Kites, Hot air balloons, airships, and gliders.She also tells us of the various inventors who continued to improve the airplane after its success of the Wright Brothers, which ultimately led to the creation of a jet engine, widely used to today. The authors purpose of writing this article was to give proper credit to those involved in the creation of the Aircrafts, The intended audience of this article is towards anyone who was curious of the beginnings of the Airplane, a widely used aircraft today.
Commentary
I always knew that Wright brothers were credited with the Creation of the Airplane, but reading this article gave me information on the earliest attempts at flight and how they evolved to be what they are now.
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/medicating-womens-feelings.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Précis:
Julie Holland, a psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, and author, in her New York Times article, “Medicating Women’s Feelings”, argues that many women in America are overly and unnecessarily medicated. Holland uses facts and statistics about the amount of American women that are taking psychiatric medication and the natural reasons as to why women are “emotional” and don’t need to be “fixed”. Holland carefully explains why many women are taking drugs such as antidepressants in order to inform people about the overuse of psychiatric medication. Holland’s article not only benefits the readers of the female gender, but also the men who are taking medication for natural emotions that are normal and actually quite healthy.
Personal Commentary:
I found Julie Holland’s article very interesting in the way that it tells people that feeling sad is normal. I completely agree that sadness is a normal and rather large part of living life, but it’s not like Holland is telling everyone on antidepressants to stay of medication; she’s trying to tell those who don’t need it, to give it up. Also, Holland’s idea that over-medication (for psychiatric reasons) will lead to our emotions becoming artificial was a very good point that I could definitely see being the idea that inspires a dystopian novel set in the near future.
Category: Movies
Precis:
Quentin Tarantino, the director and writer of the movie Pulp Fiction, implies that the 1990’s was a valueless and turbulent time. The rearrangement of the story’s sub-stories out of chronological order implies the turbulence the transitioning era experienced. All the characters, whom all come from different yet connected backgrounds, reflect the lack of morals and conscious of the society. His purpose was to show the irony between the characters actions and their moral compass by contrasting their actions with their emotions. The intended audience would appear to be the more intuitive and insightful group of people. The movie is not for the faint of heart.
Personal Commentary:
Personally, I found the movie to be a bit confusing at first. It isn’t the type of movie where one can watch it once, understand the plot, and be wholly satisfied with the movie experience. There are a lot of unanswered questions upon finishing the movie that is left up to the audience to ponder and answer themselves. I had to watch the movie twice to really grasp what was happening. As confusing and difficult to understand as the movie was, I enjoyed it. I think I will have to watch it a few more times though. I still do not understand the movies themes or much of anything besides the basic storyline.
The Beatles, Help album, asserts that you should keep your connection and respect with your partner to fulfill yourself with happiness. The Beatles support this album with their songs: ‘Help’—expressing his need to going back to his happiness, ‘Night’— looking into her eyes was a precious memory, ‘You’ve got to hide your love’—hide your love for the girl because everything is over, ‘I need you’—needing her back and ‘Ticket to ride’—she is leaving him. Their purpose is to express their regret of not treating their partner right and what happened after. This album is directed towards young men who are interesting in being in a relationship.
I have heard this band talked about a lot. I’ve never had the interest to listen to any of their songs. It was my first time listening to an album by them. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I thought it would be the type of music I would not listen to if I had an option. I wouldn’t mind listening to this. I discovered a new interest in my taste of music.
Source:
Fahrenheit 451 ; Ray Bradbury
Category:
Books
Rhetorical Precis:
In his renowned novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury creates as dystopian society with a clear parallel to the world we are living today showing implications of rising technology as detrimental to the world. He is able to carry his argument throughout the novel by tracing the negative effects of technology from Guy Montag’s point of view, who is the main character. He supports his claim through showing the oppressive government’s acts to burn books and other traditional works and thereby forces the people to take on new forms of growing technology. The purpose of the book is create awareness of the effects that technology has on society, which is clearly negatively taking over with a push from the government. This book appeals to an audience of readers and those interested in Science Fiction as well as government conspiracy theories.
Commentary:
I had to read this book twice! It was simply amazing and clearly one of Bradbury’s best works. I am really into story lines involving dystopias and utopias such as 1984, The Giver, and Brave New World. This novel can be compared to 1984 for the acts of the government to be a “Big Brother” figure with an oppressive authority to control its citizens’ lives. Guy Montag gets the reader to really think deeply. He does not really go through a huge transformative development but his mental state and ideals truly change throughout the book. We can compare this book in a light sense to today. Look around us. Everyone is into their smartphones at all times. It is truly unbelievable. No one really takes out a book to read. Bradbury does a great job creating this parallel as he was writing this book. Rise in technology results in the end of traditional forms. It can also subtly imply the corruption behind government officials in this case firemen. Bradbury takes on a very direct form of writing but continues to carry out much nuance. Every aspect of this book is incredible even the title. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper can self combust. Maybe he is implying that one day books will disappear on its own even without the government removing them on purpose. SWAG!
Rhetorical Precis
In Richard Wright’s Native Son, he asserts that racism towards Bigger Thomas has psychologically affected him to become the “dangerous black man” society depicts him to be. Wright develops his assertion by describing the propaganda directed towards blacks, having Bigger kill Mary Dalton in fear, and running away after accidentally killing her, but feeling “alive.” His purpose is to show how racism and stereotypes influenced Bigger’s actions and responses in order to show that racism has a psychological effect on victims. The audience is everyone because it helps bring attention to the issue of racism to outsiders and to those who have experienced the effects on racism.
Personal Commentary
Over the summer, I skimmed through this book but didn’t fully grasp the the novel’s deeper meanings so I decided to read it with the intention of analyzing the author’s writing. I really enjoyed reading the book because it gave me another perspective to truly understand how African Americans felt during this time period. I feel like the novel really brings attention to how racism and propaganda can have a large effect on someone.
Rhetorical Précis
Opinion article, “How we learned to kill” by Timothy Kudo explaining the hardships of being a marine. Timothy describes the training and steps to overcome these killing machines but forget the mental challenges many face. His purpose was to give higher officials the hardships soldiers go through before sending them to fight. The audience is people like the president or dictators to get a perspective of what’s it like.
Personal Commentary
This for me is a step forward to create a better world. It makes people rethink the negatives of war and what people go through. It also helps to give an idea of what war is like for people who want to join.
Rhetorical Precises
Opinion: Soda
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/10/soda-ban-what-about-personal-choice-column/1977091/
“Soda Ban?” by Katrina Trinko evaluates the being of soda in society today. The sugary drink leads to big problems such as a leading factor to obesity and cancer. However, just like cigarettes, it faces the dilemma of either becoming a choice or rather a crime. Katrina portrays New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg as a “nanny” to which he banned the selling of any soda bigger than 16 ounces. She feels than even as soda has a direct impact to health, it’s a choice to drink it just like smoking. Her argument is that she does not want to be “nanny”-ed just as a kid and making the choice to drink soda is none of Bloomberg’s business.
Personal opinion:
I believe soda is detrimental to health, however there’s no way to ban soda altogether. It would be the same as prohibition back in the 1920s, when alcohol was illegal. No one will pay any mind to the law and drink as to their “choice” in consumption. Today, we can only stress the fact of unhealthy effects that would happen in the course of consuming soda.
Rhetorical précis:
In the article, American Revolution History, it asserts the cause of the war and events leading into and occurring in the American Revolution. The article starts off by telling what the colonist was angered about and what the colonist did to retaliate against the British ultimately lead to the war also including key events that happened during the war. What the author is trying to accomplish in this article is to share his or her knowledge of how The United States of America came to be and to also explain some of the events that might not be in normal textbooks you would read at school. The author is using this article to attract the common people and students interested in furthering their knowledge in The American Revolution.
Personal Commentary:
I found this article really interesting because a lot of the information on this article was already what I learned in my AP US History class but I found it really helpful especially watching the video on the top, where they included a lot of new information I did not know about the revolution.
Source: http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/gail-collins-a-gun-on-every-corner.html?referrer=&_r=0
In the article, “A Gun on Every Corner”, Gail Collins claims that Senator John Cornyn’s bill on allowing concealed weapons to be carried all around the country. The article begins with a quote from Cornyn that compares permits to carry a concealed weapon to a drivers’ license. Collins uses this to support her claim by refuting his comparison in saying that the two cannot be compared. Drivers licenses signify that the licensee has achieved or obtained some form of knowledge in the task but a permit for carrying a concealed weapon only signifies that the holder can fill out a simple form. Collins also gives examples of how easy it is to obtain a permit in Virginia by simply taking an online class and in Florida, the holder doesn’t even need to be a resident. Although some states take background checks on the people applying for the permit, not all states do so. Collins’ purpose in writing this article is to educate the general public on a bill that, if passed by the House of Representatives and Congress, will affect them greatly. The biggest problem with this bill is that large and populous cities such as New York and locations such as playgrounds or grocery stores are not appropriate places for someone to wave around a pistol. By educating the public, Collins is able to make people aware of something that can have a traumatic affect on them if passed.
I had no idea this bill even existed and completely agree with Collins on this article. I don’t believe that looser gun control is what this country needs. I feel as though I am not the only person who feels this way because compared to the countries that have extremely strict gun laws, we have an abundant amount of violence that occurs because of guns. If we had stricter gun laws, I think the rate of violence across the country would decrease dramatically. However, enforcing this idea would be extremely difficult due to the fact that there are many people who believe in the complete opposite of I believe in. Hopefully this bill does not get passed and instead of loosening gun laws, everyone finally realizes that stricter gun laws is what we need, not the opposite.
Movie – Psycho – Alfred Hitchcock
Rhetorical Precis
Alfred Hitchcock, a film director, in his 1960 horror film Psycho claims that people often refuse to accept the truth and in the process, people can develop multiple personalities in order to reject reality. Hitchcock develops his claim through the character, Norman Bates, who has two conflicting personalities: his normal awkward personality and his “mother” personality where he kills anyone he feels attracted to because in the past, when Norman’s mother found a lover, she diverted her attention away from Norman, so Norman killed her and the lover as a way to reject the reality of being replaced by his mother; also his dual personality allows him to justify the crime by thinking that his mother killed the people and he is obeying his mother by cleaning up the evidence. Hitchcock’s purpose for this movie is to show how people can find alternative ways to change the truth and reality in order to live through undesirable situations; in Norman’s case, he developed two different personality. This movie is for a general audience because everyone has experienced a time when they don’t want to face reality.
Personal Commentary:
First off, my friends forced me to watch this and I screamed a lot during the movie. I did enjoy watching it. The music did a great job creating suspenseful moments and keeping me interested. I didn’t like the black and white aspect of the movie, but the story line was great. The plot twist at the end was unexpected and made the movie even better. Also, the way the movie was shot, like the camera angles and position, added suspense to the movie and kept me wanting more.
Guan Li
(Source):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5ZS8jCrnh4
Rhetoric Precis: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the best classical composers of his era, plays his 40th and 41st symphonies to imply how music can be pure elegance. Mozart does so by starting off songs with his strings playing in a smooth manner, to a more of a rushed fashion of excitement towards the end of each piece, The purpose of Mozart’s style was to show his collected influence of other composers and combining it with his own to make it so. The designated audience of his music was rich aristocrats and anybody with a pair of ears.
Personal Commentary: I’ve only played one song of Mozart out of pure fun: The Turkish March. Contrasting a piano and orchestra, the stress in notes is more evenly spread out to individuals while in piano, the pianist is holding all the stress on his/her fingers. When one realizes how painful it is to play Mozart, they soon appreciate the genius of Mozart’s music.
Personal Precis
The movie, Forrest Gump, suggest that love conquers all. Forrest, the main character in the movie, meets a girl at a young age and develop a friendship. As time pass, they grew closer and closer. When Forrest Gump decides to join the army, Jenny, his best friend, and him loses contact. Eventually they find each other through various events and rekindle their friendship. As the movie progresses, they meet different obstacles that test their friendship, and it soon turns that relationship to a romantic one. Throughout the movie, all the obstacles shows great length of challenges to stop Forrest and Jenny from getting together, but in the end, Forrest still stands to his love for Jenny, despite not actually being with her from the very beginning. This movie can appeal to almost any audience because it is the image of love at its finest.
Commentary:
While watching this movie, I was confused as to what the true meaning was and could not pinpoint one exact theme to use so I watched it again. After watching it, I decided to choose love conquers all based on the genre of the movie and how it ended. I enjoyed the movie a lot and it inspired me to chase my dreams no matter at what cost. It also taught me that if I want to do something, I should just do it, without hesitation.
“McFarland, USA” by Niki Caro
Rhetorical Précis: Director Niki Caro, in her movie “McFarland, USA,” exposes the struggle of poverty and the mental strength those in it must have to survive. Caro bases the story around Jim White, a white coach new to primarily latino McFarland, who raises a cross country team from the ground up to win the first California State Championship. Her purpose in this movie is to show that champions can come from anywhere, and that mental strength can overcome all barriers. Caro uses cross country to appeal to the public’s emotional connection to sports and to send a deeper message under an exhilarating superficial storyline.
Personal Commentary: This movie was really inspiring. Of course, I love running, and the movie caught my interest through this. During the movie, I was really only thinking about the storyline. However, right when we left the theater, I began to think about what deeper meaning the director might have intended to relay. The movie had many racial and socioeconomic messages, but I thought the most important part was the message that the drive to win can overcome setbacks. “Wanting it” more than everyone else is the way to make it to the top, no matter what your background. This idea resonated deeply with me.
Alfred Hitchcock, the director of the movie, Pyscho (1960), shows that the trauma faced by losing a love one can be misinterpreted through denial and linger within a persons personality for better or for worse, but in this movie, the latter. Hitchcock shows towards the end of the movie that Norman is still holding onto his mothers personality or “soul” and is embodied by her to do the evil deeds he’s done like murdering the main character, Marion. Hitchcock also points this out by showing at the end of the movie Norman being locked up in a mental facility to help treat his dual personalities instead of being thrown in jail. It can interpreted as him being fixed and separated from his mother’s death.
Precis:
Even though the movie was extremely low budgeted at $800,000, its excellent use of editing and cinematography changed the style of horror movies for years to come. It may have not been the best movie I’ve seen but it definitely is good for the time period it was made. The way Hitchcock made Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates) act as if he was a completely different really spoke to me as person who is troubled with loss and can’t let go of the past.
Rhetorical Precis:
New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, wrote “Bruce Jenner’s Courage” an article that condemns Jenner’s courage on coming out as transgender and the awareness that was raised because of it. Kristof mentions how Jenner has been receiving a lot of positive feedback and this brings hope to the transgender community that receive so much hate and discrimination. It is clear that Kristof is trying to show how important it to bring attention to this to this problem that has had a major negative impact on so many people. The audience he is going after are the people that are against transgenders and the people that do not see it as a big problem, in hopes to change the way they think and maybe gain more acceptance so these people can live their lives as normal human beings.
Personal Commentary:
This article is more than showing respect to Bruce Jenner for his bravery and doing what most people in his shoes only wish they could do. I agree with everything Kristof brought up in this piece and I think people really need to start paying attention. It sucks to live in a world where we can’t all live in peace. It is amazing that there are people out there that don’t follow the “I was born this gender, so I must follow it” rule. I don’t think they are really asking for our acceptance, but for a chance to live the way they want without being bashed for the way they are.
Book:3 The Color Purple
Alice Walker,writer and political activist, shows a woman overcoming many tragedies but can still be considered a hero. In the book you meet Celie and she goes through a lot. Ex: rape, babies being stolen, sister leaving, married off, taking care of someone else’s bad kids, abuse, and more. Even though all those bad things happen she overcomes them and is thought of as a hero in a man ruled world. The purpose was to show that women are just as strong as men. The audience is directed to men to show how women see them and the world.
My commentary:
It was a good book and it gave an example of female power. I can relate to the character because i’ve been through some of the same things. It was a good way for me to see the world someone else’s eyes who have been through the same thing. This book might be in a different time period but the problems we share as women are still the same.
Rhetorical Precis- Opinion
Spencer Whitney’s article, “Don’t Ask Why Walter Scott ran,” prompts a different question about the shooting, people often look for justification of attacks instead of questioning the equality of our legal systems. In his short article, Whitney opens with a statement that police brutality has become far too common, this causing many demands for police reforms. North Charleston Police Department released a video that shows the events before Scott’s death, causing questions to arise about why he ran. Whitney states a series of “would not have beens,” all realistic aftermaths of the incident if not have been partially video taped. With his predictions and common questions about this, Whitney draws a different concept, instead of asking what made Scott run to justify the police officer’s actions, the real thing to question is why are these men still being hunted down and why are these law enforcers not punished.
Personal Commentary
This article was very short, but Spencer Whitney made his point clear. I loved how he showed a different concept and and turned it around to the real issue. His statement about what would happen if the video did not exist is very true, and it has definitely been proven far too many times. First time reading San Francisco Chronicle and I am very pleased.
Rhetorical Precís
Category: Movie
Francis Ford Coppola, the phenomenal director and producer of “The Godfather Part II”, asserts his realistic and thrilling trepidation of the mafia, and a plot that reveals the legacy of the Corleone’s “Godfather” himself, Vito Andolini. Coppola brings in an intense seen from the past generation of the Corleone family to depict the way the family goes the trials and tribulations, both before and after. His purpose is to not only compare the situations the sons of the Corleone’s face, but his purpose is to generate a contrast between them on how they handle similar situations within the family. He does this throughout “The Godfather Part II”, to enhance nostalgic yet, suspenseful sensations erupt inside the souls of the audience.
Personal Commentary:
The Godfather Part II, was unlike any move I have ever seen before. I have seen many suspenseful thrillers and seen many action packed gangster movies, but now that I think of it, this movie really set a huge influence for new age mafia directors to look to for advice. Same thing goes to action pact movies, the sound, effects,and lighting really brings out the setting of Old New York and Historic Sicily, Italy.
Rhetorical Precis:
This article was created by History.com which talks about when, Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009 as the first African American President. This was a big part of history it was the first time in all of history were there was another race in the white house was the leader of the United State. Obama wasn’t just the first black president but also he was the first to be born out of the continental United States. This had been a big deal all the older people who fought for equal right finally can say that something was accomplished.
Personal Commentary:
I was still in elementary school so i wasn’t really sure of what the big deal was. As i got older and learned more i realized that this was a big part of history for African Americans. The inauguration was like a ticket to feel as if Obama made it.
Rhetorical Precis
The Strokes, American Indie and garage rock band in their Album “Is This It” they imply that there is always a second darker side to everyone. The album starts with Julian Casablancas singing about how he wishes his relationship with his friend’s significant other was over, but they seem to always get bak together leaving him to ask “is this it?”, later in the album he recollects how they’re relationship began and he begins to realize that he is beginning to develop actual feelings for her, son he gives her an ultimatum, stay with her boyfriend and forget about Julian or run off with Julian, the song ends before the decision is made. The Strokes sing about this story on order to show the audience the darker side to another’s supposed happy love story. The message seems to be amongst all song meaning that only fans who listen to the album will get the message, so the message is meant for true fans.
Personal Commentary
I actually have listened to the whole album a while ago but it was out of order so I didn’t notice that there was an actual story in between the lines. Great album my favorite song in this album is “Alone, Together”.