Final Project: Draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17LzGjZsi6nIlvFTxhZ4c6JQMRhhFBDYPCvIvbctJAYg/edit?hl=en&authkey=CM6X7voG

Visual Argument Revision

Revision notes: I changed the title of my Prezi to more accurately match my analysis. I also tweaked my claim and goals within my analysis.            

             In my presentation titled “The End of a Dream,” I make the claim that the American Dream is a delicate and fragile goal in today’s world. Most of us are familiar with the concept of the American Dream and we all strive to reach that promised land of success and prosperity. However, many Americans are also critical of those who have seemingly failed to achieve the American Dream, claiming that those individuals are simply lazy and unmotivated. In doing so, we often scorn and deride those who ask for help in reaching their goals. My presentation aims to remind us that the American Dream is a fragile concept that is often shattered despite our best efforts.

            My first image is of a group of young college graduates smiling triumphantly after what one would assume is their graduation ceremony. For many Americans, graduating from college is the first step towards becoming a true adult and finding a career that will sustain you for the rest of your life. As college students, most of us identify strongly with the goal of graduating and finding a job, thus eliciting some emotions of eagerness, hope, and happiness. The following image is of a young couple surveying the classic American home complete with green grass and a white fence. For many Americans, home ownership has been symbolic of the American Dream, the surest sign that one has made it in life. These two images together are designed to remind the viewer of the common goals that we all share in our pursuit of the American Dream, evoking a sense of fondness, content, pride, and optimism.

            The next series of images are more somber as they depict a kind of fall from grace. The third image is a black and white photo of a man clutching his head in seeming grief as the stock listings loom before him. This image is representative of the financial crisis that we are all familiar with and more specifically, the first step that led professionals like the ones depicted in the second image toward the end of their dreams. The next image is a photo of a child crying as her parents argue in the background, an image that probably became more common as families across America began to feel the stress and pressure from the crisis. These two images inspire not only anger at the financial crisis but sadness and sympathy for those who suffered as a result of the financial collapse. The fifth image is of a young woman looking despondently at a past due bill notice. This is another image that likely became more common as people lost their jobs and livelihoods, thus preventing them from meeting their financial obligations. The sixth image is a cartoon of a man evicted from his home, another image all too common as part of the housing collapse. The fifth and sixth images both evoke sadness and pity in the viewer as they can sympathize with the trials that many Americans were forced to face as a result of the financial crisis. The seventh image shows a long line of people standing in front of a Californian Employment Development Department while the final image depicts a homeless man holding a cardboard sign stating "Will code HTML for food." In conjunction with the previous images, these two photos show that not only do the ranks of the homeless include those who held reputable jobs but that they are still human beings who continue to look for work but simply cannot find any. As a result, the viewer feels not only sadness and pity, but also shame as they realize that many of these homeless were once people well on their way to achieving their personal American Dream.

            Together these images are designed to make the viewer feel sadness and shame with the intent of making them rethink their views on how secure and attainable the American Dream is today. The sadness felt by the audience at the plight of regular people who become homeless combined with the shame felt as the viewer realizes he or she has unfairly demonized human beings who may just have been victims of circumstance translates those emotions to a new belief: the American Dream is no longer something that one can secure through hard work and perseverance, but is now a far more fragile goal that is more vulnerable to outside influences. With this in mind, I hope the viewer can rethink their concept of the American Dream and of how they view people who seemingly cannot or will not pursue that goal.

Photo Credits:

First image: http://www.cs.wayne.edu/~suj/Retention/index.htm 4/4/11

Second image: http://austinpubliclibraryblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/rethinking-american-dream.html 3/30/11

Third image: http://www.world-crisis.net/ 3/30/11

Fourth image: http://nwso.net/2010/05/20/co-parenting-skills/ 3/30/11

Fifth image: http://blog.gocollege.com/the-college-students-guide-to-personal-finance/ 4/4/11

Sixth image: http://www.foreclosuredataonline.com/blog/foreclosure-crisis/foreclosure-crisis-the-booming-foreclosure-crisis/ 3/30/11

Seventh image: http://www.the-iss.com/2010/05/alternate_careers_for_when_the_1.php/ 4/4/11

Eighth image: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/has-the-american-dream-been-outsourced 3/30/11

A Perfect World Without Rhetoric

Lloyd Bitzer presents a theory of situation in his piece "The Rhetorical Situation." I personally found this to be a nice change of pace from the material presented in Edbauer-Rice, Massumi, Brennan, etc. Bitzer writes that "It seems clear that rhetoric is situational" (3) which I agree for the most part. That is, I agree that "Rhetorical discourse is called into existence by situation" (9); Bitzer uses Kennedy's assassination as an example of the situation generating specific types of rhetorical discourse that included an explanation of the events, reassurance that the transfer of government would be orderly, etc. I think overall Bitzer presents a nice theory of rhetorical situation, although it is perhaps a little one-dimensional and it certainly doesn't involve the way we've discussed how affect surrounds us.

Instead, I want to focus in a bit on something Bitzer says near the end of his piece that "In the best of all possible worlds, there would be communication perhaps, but no rhetoric — since exigences would not arise" (13). I have to disagree strongly with this sentiment. It seems to me that communication inherently involves exigence even with Bitzer's definition of exigence as "imperfection marked by urgency" (6). Bitzer's supposed best world sounds, as Professor Davis mentioned in class, a hell. Perhaps I am being too nitpicky on a single sentence but it just seems difficult for me to conceive of any world as being better without rhetoric; I suppose things might be clearer and more direct but I'm sure that life would also be infinitely more dry and boring.

Final Project Proposal

Final Project Proposal

Overview: I plan to do a rhetorical analysis of a television commercial advertisement that is the equivalent of an 8-10 page research paper. This analysis will utilize the theories of various authors we've discussed in class and argue for a specific interpretation of the kind of emotional appeals being made visually and verbally in the advertisement. The final project will be linked to the webfolio and condensed into a 4-5 minute presentation for the class.

Specifics:

1) I will be using Nike's television commercial titled "LeBron Rise" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c) as the focal point of my analysis. I intend to analyze the rhetorical situation surrounding the production of this commercial and inform my audience of the various ways that Nike and LeBron James attempted to appeal to an audience beyond basketball fans. I also intend to use a fan-made edit of the same commercial as a comparison to highlight the different appeals being made (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVCjUG1Mww).

2) I will develop a claim, which tentatively is “LeBron James' commercial is an example of emotional appeals attempting but ultimately failing to change the public's disapproval of James' character and actions."

3) My analysis will involve:

• A visual and verbal analysis of the content of the commercials 
• An analysis of the context surrounding the commercials drawing on outside sources
• Evidence for the claim through the use of one or more of the authors studied in class and other statistics

4) My presentation will utilize PowerPoint as accompaniment to my oral comments. This presentation will be given in class on May 3rd/May 5th.

5) The project will go through an oral workshop on Tuesday, April 26th and a formal peer review on Thursday, April 28th.

7) The final project will be posted on the blog and linked to the webfolio by May 5th.