Hayley's Log
Today we read the poem “Summer Solstice” by Stacie Cassarino, then Erica read the log from last class. Before presentations, Mat showed us that the schedule is up for conferences. He let us know that we should try to sign up as soon as possible, especially if we want to get out early for spring break. He let us know that he will look at our second drafts during conferences, but we could also come to office hours for more help. He also reminded us to put all of our work on our blogs, including reflections.
Arin started off the class with the first presentation on The Wounded Warriors Project Facebook page. The Wounded Warriors Project helps soldiers who come back from the armed forces suffering from both physical and mental afflictions. They get their message across through their Facebook page, stating the current events that are going, reporting policies that are being changed, and posting articles. They sometimes post videos as well of loved ones seeing family members they have lost, along with news of their events that everyone can take part in. Sam then did a presentation on overlapping genres, in this case, musical correlation to film. Music adds something to film, the themes of certain movies being iconic and essential to the film. Music accents what we are meant to feel about certain storylines or characters. It helps us connect with those aspects of the film. She says that the montage is the perfect example of this, such as in Up, where the music changes to represent the characters’ feelings throughout time as they age.
After, there is another presentation by Brittney on planners, specifically Passion Planners. The website includes all of the different planners along with videos about them and what different people have done with their planners. The company uses Instagram to post videos, a lot of the times calligraphy videos, which are satisfying to watch. The site has a “What Is It?” page to explain why it is different, letting you set your goals, track your workouts, and plan out your week, while also giving you space to do your own planning. While Brittney likes this planner, many people in the class, including Mat, are skeptical that it’s just a normal planner, but overpriced and successful due to marketing.
Mat reminds us that there is no class next week, just conferences. He reminds us that are papers are about communities, so they do not necessarily have to be scientific research papers, and that our papers will most likely involves ourselves, and we are encouraged to use the “I” pronoun. Opinions based on facts are the fundamentals of this research paper, so we cannot shy away from opinion, as long as they are supported. Mat also reminds us that “Consider the Lobster” is our model text for this paper, so pay attention to that if you are looking for inspiration. We then break into our small groups to go over our first drafts and read them to our group members.
After this, we started discussing ethos, pathos, and logos. Logos is about logical, ethos about credibility, and pathos about emotion. We were reminded of the “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” ads, where one relied more on ethos and the other pathos, and the different effects that these ads created. We then watched a Dove campaign video on perceptions of personal beauty and how the way we view ourselves is not others view us. The ad begins with a feeling of ethos with a FBI sketch artist explaining the experiment that is about to take place, but there is no real way to tell if there is bias present, and there probably is. All of the women were obviously screened first to make sure that they had insecurities about themselves, and the end image is a woman hugging a man, implying a correlation between beauty and relationships. There is a lot of pathos in play, including the music playing in the background and the women crying when they see the pictures of themselves. The second commercial we watched was about an Ikea lamp being left in the rain, with the directors making the lamp seem like a pet rather than an object. The commercial ends with a man telling you you’re crazy for feeling bad for the lamp, making fun of the pathos in ads. Mat makes the point that advertising works, and for the reasons that we see in these commercials.
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