TOW #14 - Neighbors

It seems almost a little bit silly, doesn’t it?  A TV service provider is airing commercials on TV about their TV service.  That’s like advertising a Toyota Corolla in the cabin of a Honda Civic.  However odd the concept of this commercial may seem, Direct TV delivers a fantastic visual text that is extremely effective.  In Direct TV’s new advertisement “Neighbors”, the writers utilize a play on words and common references to the westward expansion of America in order to evoke laughter in the audience and thus make their audience more inclined to purchase their service.

Most of all, this commercial is funny.  The word play truly made me chuckle the first time I saw this advertisement and every other time I’ve seen it since then.  The premise of this advertisement is that there is an old time settler/pioneer family living in a modern suburban neighborhood.  The settler family “settles” for cable while the modern neighbors all have Direct TV.  The father is in is front yard plowing the dirt when his son comes out and asks his superior “why can’t we have Direct TV?”  His father replies along the lines of “Son, we are settlers, so that means we settle for cable.”  This word play of “settler” to “someone who settles” is quite clever and one that I had never thought of before.  It’s ingenuity and cunning structure made me laugh.  By making me laugh, Direct TV achieves its goal because I now buy in to what Direct TV is saying.  I am on their side, and now much more inclined to listen to what they are saying with seriousness.

This commercial also utilizes common references to the settlers’ well-known (and stereotyped) way of life.  Including quotes such as “Hey Jebidiah, how’s it going” “working the land, hoping for a fertile spring” makes the audience laugh while watching the commercial.  These obviously exaggerated and stereotypical remarks are funny but remain civilized and not offensive or rude.  They merely serve the purpose of making the audience laugh to get them much more eager to listen to Direct TV’s service proposals, which they end the advertisement with.

TOW #13 - Ice Cream's Identity Crisis

There’s not much better than sitting in front of the TV, spooning some ice cream into your mouth, and not having a care in the world.  But wait.  Is that really ice cream you’re eating?  In his article “Ice Cream’s Identity Crisis”, Dan Barry explores how Breyer’s, one of the most trusted ice cream brands for years, has started turning “ice cream” into “frozen dairy dessert.”  Barry utilizes the rhetorical devices of humor and expert authority in order to show the audience what has changed in food production in America.

            In this unconcerned piece, Barry makes jokes and uses a sarcastic tone throughout his essay to maintain the lightheartedness of the article.  This is about a trivial subject and there is no greater deeper meaning to this piece.  Barry simply wants to give his readers a laugh and maybe make them think twice about what they consume every day.  Barry, in a somewhat exaggerated sense of outrage, writes, “Remember the old schoolyard song?

I scream,

You scream,

We all scream for frozen dairy dessert ...” (Barry 2).

Inserting this clever little joke makes the reader chuckle to themselves, then presents a more serious (although still by no means grave) concern: the changes made to the food industry simply for profit.  Is Barry arguing that Breyer’s needs to change their policies?  That the FDA must enforce stricter regulations?  That we should stop eating frozen dairy product all together?  No, of course not.  He is simply making an observation that the reader can take with a grain of salt; Barry won’t be upset or disrespected if the readers continue to indulge in this fake ice cream product.

            Barry also employs an expert authority to give his argument some credibility.  He says himself he is no food expert, so he enlists the help of one in order to prove that he has a valid point.  Barry quotes a spokeswoman from the FDA to demonstrate that there are small, yet substantial, differences between “ice cream” and “frozen dairy dessert.”  But, as I have described earlier, Barry isn’t making a super passionate plea or argument; he is simply writing a fun article.  With that said, any argument, even one made in jest, requires evidence to be read as intellectual literature, and Barry provides that here with expert authority.

*This is the thrid installment of my project of exploring Dan Barry’s writing.  Barry is, of course, a reliable source.  He is columnist for the New York Times and he writes about sports (among other things) and how they affect our lives.

TOW 12 - How Soccer Explains the World (first half)

I have just completed the first half of my second IRB How Soccer Explains the World.  In this book, Franklin Foer attempts to chronicle the theory of globalization by using the extended metaphor of soccer.  It seems like a very interesting book and, since I love soccer, I think it would be a really cool juxtaposition between the seemingly trivial sport of soccer with the large idea of globalization. 

The writing by Foer in this book is fantastic.  He uses mostly a narrative style of writing, and it is simply splendid.  He uses quotes very effectively and brings in lots of different ideas and evidence to support his argument.  I’ll give you an example of a passage:

“Starting in the 1980s, the soccer hooligan widely came to be considered a leading enemy of the West.  ‘A disgrace to civilized society,’ Margaret Thatcher once said.  Based on a death toll- more than one hundred in the 1980s- the English were the world’s leading producer of deranged fans, but they were far from alone.  Throughout Europe, Latin America, and Africa, violence had become part of soccer’s culture.  And even in places where violence had long accompanied soccer, it became more widespread and destructive in the eighties and nineties.  The Serbian fans were merely a bit better organized and much better armed than the rest of the world” (Foer 13).

As you can see from this passage, Foer is an enthralling writer that captures an audience.  Although this may stem from my interest in his topic, I really enjoy his writing.  I think his use of specifics (of course he gets into a lot more detail in the following chapter than just the excerpt I presented) combined with quotes create a great read.  Foer travelled to most of the places he writes about, and he recorded most of the conversations he had there.  He then puts in direct quotes from villains, officials, and some players which add greatly to the storyline of the book.  These give his characters life, something nonfiction books often fail to accomplish.

My only negative comment about this book is that the relationship between soccer and globalization seems a bit stretched at some points.  It feels a little bit like Foer is using this just as a gimmick and the relationship is not as evident as it seems.  When I look closer at the text, I realize there are some logical fallacies and I don’t quite see how soccer mirrors globalization- it seems to me that soccer is a benefactor of globalization.  Hopefully in the second half of the book Foer ties up these loose ends. 

TOW #11 - Onion Explains: International Drug Trade

For my TOW this week, I analyzed a visual text authored by The Onion in the form of a video.  This video dealt with explaining how international drug trade works.

The international drug trade is one of the most complex and layered problems facing America today.  Respected news agency The Onion recently released a video explaining the multifaceted issue to a wide audience.  Of course, The Onion is a satirical magazine that satirized the stereotypes of the international drug trade and the politicians who propose often-ridiculous ideas on how to limit this behavior.  Through the use of allusions to pop culture, and a serious tone in a professional manner, The Onion effectively satirizes this current event.

In the opening few seconds, the authors put up a picture eerily similar to the scenes of TV’s smash hit Breaking Bad in order to create a relatable form of satire for the large audience.  If The Onion used very advanced, wonky satire, no matter how clever or funny it may be, the audience will not understand and thus will be rendered ineffective.  The authors must use clever and creative ways to make fun of this issue, but it also must be somewhat ubiquitous so that at least most of their audience will understand the jokes presented.  By satirizing the stereotypes about the drug trade, many of which come from America’s obsessive viewing of Breaking Bad, from the platform of a television show, The Onion creates an effective and powerful satire that the entire audience can appreciate.

Throughout the 3 minute long clip, the narrator uses a professional-sounding tone and the images to go along with it are realistic and serious-looking.  By making the appearance as such, The Onion avoids making their satirical piece seem petty, silly, or goofy.  Yes, they are producing a fake story in order to elicit laughs, but they also understand that this is a serious issue and there is some merit to the message behind the video.  The video at one point states something along the lines of “in order to combat the drug trade, the US government should simply let American’s know of all of the household products that can get them just as high as commercial drugs.”  This satirizes some politician’s views that legalizing more drugs will slow the illegal drug trade and be a benefit to society as a whole.  So while The Onion developed this piece jokingly and with jovial intentions, they also were prudent enough to not make the entire issue a joke.  They had substance behind their humor.

Tow #10 - Here’s What Your Part Of America Eats On Thanksgiving

In his article “Here’s What Your Part Of America Eats On Thanksgiving”, Walt Hickey employs the rhetorical devices of humor and statistics in order to achieve his purpose of explaining a recent poll to his audience.  In this article, Hickey tells his audience about a recent poll that explained the different types of Thanksgiving foods that are eaten around the country and how they differ from region to region.  This was merely an informative, light-hearted read that was meant to be almost like a fun fact; there is no deeper life meaning to this article.  However, that doesn’t mean that Hickey didn’t utilize rhetorical devices to help achieve his purpose.

Hickey creates a funny article to establish a light-hearted tone and make the audience laugh since this is a piece about the holidays and he doesn’t want to burden his audience with dry, boring, or melancholy tones.  Hickey’s humor is mostly just concerned with a few short sentences that make the reader laugh.  He writes, “Meanwhile, New England is losing its mind over squash, with 56 percent demanding it on their table, compared with only 18 percent of the nation as a whole. This is, by far, the most confusing finding of this whole pursuit. Did Gronk endorse squash or something?” (Hickey 1).  This allusion to the NFL and a pop culture icon in Gronk makes the reader chuckle to themselves.  Another example is when he says, “Still, after dessert, the nation unites around that most American of traditions: buying shit” (Hickey 2).  The use of blunt and unexpected language makes the reader laugh out loud after reading this sentence.  Again, the use of humor is designed to simply keep a light tone in the article and have some fun.

One a more serous note, Hickey uses statistics to convey his point.  Since his article is centered around a recent poll, it is obvious that he uses statistics from this poll in his article.  BY incorporating specific stats, he creates credibility in his work as well as allows the stats to speak for themselves.  The numbers tell the story, and Hickey simply puts in a few words here and there to make it cohesive and attractive.

 

TOW #9 - A Kenyan Runner Maps His Way Home

Kenya is a country in East Africa plagued with corruption, poverty, and misfortune.  But out of this dust, stories of success has been created.  In his article “A Kenyan Runner Maps His Way Home,” Dan Barry explores one of such stories.  He writes about Kelvin Serem, a 21 year old student athlete at Lafayette University.  Serem is a good track runner- not an Olympic quality athlete like we come to expect from Kenya, but certainly an impressive runner.  He was born and raised in a small Kenyan village that had no electricity, plumbing, Wi-Fi, or modern appliances.  Barry recounts Serem’s story from poverty to a prestigious school in Iten, Kenya, to a prestigious American high school, and finally to Lafayette University.  Serem is now part of an international organization, named in his honor, dedicated to building schools in Kenya.

Barry’s purpose in writing this article is rather simple; this isn’t a call to action, or an ideological argument for or against something, but rather simply a narrative of a success story from Kenya.  Barry utilizes direct quotes in his article for two reasons. First of all, by including quotes, Barry establishes ethos since he directly quotes Serem.  This makes for a believable and reliable article.  Secondly, this creates a personal relationship between Barry’s subject, Serem, and his audience, the readers.  If the audience can, in a sense, get to know Serem, his story is much more enthralling and appealing.  For example, Barry writes, “‘Why Serem?’ he says. ‘I had never been to a city. I had almost lost hope in life. Why, why, why?’” (Barry 2).  This quote appeals to pathos for the audience, but it is extremely effective because it doesn’t come from the author, it comes directly from the source.  It is much more powerful than Barry simply writing “Serem had lost hope.” 

*This is the second installment of my project of exploring Dan Barry’s writing.  Barry is, of course, a reliable source.  He is columnist for the New York Times and he writes about sports and how they affect our lives.

IRB Intro Post #2

For my second IRB, I have chosen to read How Soccer Explains the World: an Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer.  I found this book by accident- I was bored and simply looking through a bookshelf in my homeroom and this caught my eye.  I love soccer, and ideas about global interaction interest me.  Ergo, I decided to read the introduction to this book and found it delightful.  The book primarily uses soccer as a metaphor to discuss the idea of globalization.  I think I will thoroughly enjoy this book since it is about two of my favorite subjects.