The Old Spice-The Man Your Man Could Smell Like commercials are examples of post hoc fallacies. The man in the commercial claims that, "Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady." The man is seen on a luxurious boat holding "tickets to that thing you love" and diamonds, then he rides off on a horse. Using Old Spice body wash does not lead to these luxuries: Money leads to these luxuries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE
Barack Obama's "Don't Know Much" TV Ad is an example of an Ad Hominem fallacy. The ad shows a quote from McCain saying, "Economics is not something I've understood as well as I should have," and shows a statistic that McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time. This makes the audience identify McCain with Bush, and many people have a bad picture of Bush. The ad attacks McCain's character by aligning him with Bush and questioning his intelligence through the quote and the song playing in the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X9LypdiQFo
The Keith Stone and the Bride commercial advertises Keystone Light Beer and is an example of bandwagon and post hoc fallacies. Keith Stone is a smooth-talking guy who wins over the ladies when they are in trouble. The end of the commercial states, "Keystone Light. Always smooth, like Keith Stone." This commercial shows that you should drink Keystone Light in order to be smooth like Keith Stone. The effect of drinking light beer will make you a smooth talker and desired by attractive women.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNz0kdGLX-E&feature=related
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Logical Fallacies Revealed
The 1991 Michael Jordan and Spike Lee Nike commercial "It's gotta be the shoes!" attempts to explain the reason why Michael Jordan is the best basketball player in the universe. Spike Lee, or "Morris Blackman" in the commercial, comes to the conclusion that Michael Jordan's secret to success is his Nike shoes. Thus, the logical fallacy presented in this ad is the Post Hoc fallacy: Michael Jordan is the best basketball player in the universe because he wears Nike shoes. If this were true, anyone who wears Nike shoes could be the best basketball player in the universe. If this were true, I'd stop wearing New Balance shoes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abr_LU822rQ
The 1992 Gatorade "Be Like Mike" commercial shows many of Michael Jordan's amazing basketball moments and Jordan interacting with kids. The song in the background is sang by children, and is full of the hope that one day they can "Be Like Mike". This commercial presents a bandwagon fallacy. In large text, the phrase, "Be like Mike. Drink Gatorade." delivers the final touch to the bandwagon fallacy. Gatorade wants consumers to join in drinking Gatorade with Michael Jordan, and everyone who wishes to be like Jordan should drink Gatorade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AGiq9j_Ak
This ad shows a very thin girl posing in very little clothing with the phrase, "If it were easy, everyone would be thin." The statement basically means everyone must try hard to be thin. This is an example of a forced hypothesis fallacy, because there are many factors that contribute to whether a person is thin or not. Many people do not have to try at all to be thin because their metabolism is naturally high and prevents them from gaining weight.
http://pinterest.com/pin/279363983104953603/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abr_LU822rQ
The 1992 Gatorade "Be Like Mike" commercial shows many of Michael Jordan's amazing basketball moments and Jordan interacting with kids. The song in the background is sang by children, and is full of the hope that one day they can "Be Like Mike". This commercial presents a bandwagon fallacy. In large text, the phrase, "Be like Mike. Drink Gatorade." delivers the final touch to the bandwagon fallacy. Gatorade wants consumers to join in drinking Gatorade with Michael Jordan, and everyone who wishes to be like Jordan should drink Gatorade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AGiq9j_Ak
This ad shows a very thin girl posing in very little clothing with the phrase, "If it were easy, everyone would be thin." The statement basically means everyone must try hard to be thin. This is an example of a forced hypothesis fallacy, because there are many factors that contribute to whether a person is thin or not. Many people do not have to try at all to be thin because their metabolism is naturally high and prevents them from gaining weight.
http://pinterest.com/pin/279363983104953603/
Diction in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses a regional diction to construct race in a controversial look at the antebellum South. All of the characters in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have distinctive ways of speaking, but there are glaring differences between the prescribed diction of blacks and whites in the novel. The audience is allowed to see into the narrator's mind (Huckleberry Finn) and not into the minds of other characters. Huckleberry's thoughts are more intelligent than his communication, and the audience is able to place more trust in him than other characters because they can see this intelligence. All the audience sees of the black characters in the novel is their poor language skills and whites' perceptions of them. The reason we are able to distinguish the race of characters is because of Huckleberry calling Jim and the other blacks "niggers", which carried the connotation of a black individual when the book was written. Once Huckleberry makes this distinction, we are able to see differences in the ways that characters in the novel speak. Huckleberry is no master of proper English, but there are huge differences in the way he speaks and the way Jim (his black friend) speaks. Although Huckleberry uses many double-negatives when he speaks and ends many sentences in prepositions, readers easily understand what message Huckleberry is trying to convey. On the other hand, when Jim speaks, readers must carefully decipher what Jim is saying because his diction is so complex. Twain creates new words by writing the word the same way that Jim says the word: for example, "He's been shot in de back. I reck'n he's ben dead two er three days. Come in, Huck, but doan' look at his face-- it's too gashly" (Twain 59).
By making it more difficult to understand Jim than Huckleberry, Twain portrays Jim as the more unintelligent individual. Other black characters in the novel speak in the same encoded way that Jim speaks. The slave Jack from the Grangerfords is not given full English words when Twain writes his speaking roles. He shortens and creates new words for Jack's speech: "You shove right in dah jist a few steps, Mars Jawge; dah's whah dey is. I's seed 'm befo'; I don't k'yer to see em no mo'" (Twain 113). Twain's use of regional diction allows his audience to be submerged in the racial situation of the antebellum South, while at the same time criticizing the institution of slavery and racial stereotypes.
By making it more difficult to understand Jim than Huckleberry, Twain portrays Jim as the more unintelligent individual. Other black characters in the novel speak in the same encoded way that Jim speaks. The slave Jack from the Grangerfords is not given full English words when Twain writes his speaking roles. He shortens and creates new words for Jack's speech: "You shove right in dah jist a few steps, Mars Jawge; dah's whah dey is. I's seed 'm befo'; I don't k'yer to see em no mo'" (Twain 113). Twain's use of regional diction allows his audience to be submerged in the racial situation of the antebellum South, while at the same time criticizing the institution of slavery and racial stereotypes.
“The Most Interesting Blog in the World”
"The Most Interesting Man in the World, on Happy Hour." Yes, we can all hear the distinctive, deep voice introducing guys to the man that we all should aspire to be. "The Most Interesting Man in the World-Dos Equis" ads present potential customers with situations that are intended to inspire them to drink Dos Equis. But, what else are the ads attempting to inspire people and, in particular, men?
Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World" wears nothing but the finest. After all, he probably runs a sweat shop in Cambodia in his spare time, which produces his amazing clothes from unicorn hair. What does his apparel get him? As you can see, if you are the most interesting man in the world, wearing the most attractive clothing in the world, you placidly ignore the beautiful woman staring at you from your right. This ad presents a man in a position of notoriety, claiming the attention of beautiful women while smoking the most interesting cigar in the world. At least this ad makes it seem like it would be the most interesting cigar in the world.
His face is smug. He knows he is the man. He knows that he is the man who has the attention of the girl that the man next to him longs to have eye-contact with. Not only does this ad present "The Most Interesting Man in the World" as desired by women, the ad also presents him as a man other men aspire and desire to become. His face is almost like a taunt, saying, “Don’t you wish you (or your man) was as interesting as me?” And, as he says this, he telekinetically picks up his Dos Equis and takes the most sophisticated swig ever imagined.
The “Happy Hour is the Hour after Everyone from Happy Hour has Left” slogan on the ad portrays “The Most Interesting Man in the World” as also one who does not enjoy cheap drinks. Or, he doesn’t enjoy uninteresting cheap drinks. Like a Vodka and Sprite. I bet he’d never drink a Vodka and Sprite. He chooses to stick around after happy hour; the drinks are full price and the cheap college students have left the building and gold-diggers for his sole enjoyment. When you order drinks after happy hour, apparently, you are not allowed to drink them. No one in the ad has touched their drinks; there are too distracted by “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” OK, the guy on the right is technically touching his drink, but he hasn’t had the intestinal fortitude to take drink before “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” So, basically, this ad is saying if you want to be a man: wear nice clothes; spend money, but don’t partake; wait till the “cheapies” have left; and grow a “mean” beard. You’ll have the ladies going crazy, because they obviously have one type and one type only: “The Most Interesting Man in the World” type.
http://www.romston.com/wp-posts/09-08-20-The_Most_Interesting_Man/staythirsty.jpg
Monday, December 5, 2011
Death by Situational Irony
This political cartoon creatively uses a variety of visual rhetoric to show the irony behind Muammar Gaddafi's capture and death. Gaddafi referred to those who opposed him as rats and threatened to kill those who opposed him. The artist's choice of caricature and setting show Gaddafi as a rat caught in a trap, much like the way Gaddafi described and threatened his opponents. The caricature of Gaddafi includes a rat with curly human hair covering its body. The rat is a fusion of a rat's body and an elongated representation of Gaddafi's face with rat whiskers to further the resemblance to a rat. The choice of caricature shows Gaddafi as dirty and dehumanizes him. The trap itself is a substitution representing the rebel militia and National Transitional Council who captured and killed Gaddafi. This reverses the roles prescribed by Gaddafi when he called his opponents rats: Gaddafi is the dead rat and his opponents are the trap that killed him.
Other objects in the cartoon further allude to his capture and depict Gaddafi as a rat. Gaddafi was captured by a rebel militia after he had taken refuge with several of his bodyguards in a drain underneath the road. Through cartoons and popular imagery, we associate rats with crescent-shaped holes where a wall meets a floor. To tailor to Gaddafi's unique situation, the artist made the hole that the rat in the cartoon came out of is circular like a manhole. The wall in the cartoon is made of stone or concrete, alluding to the composition of the road that Gaddafi hid under. The iconic signs of the golden gun and the Gaddafi hat make it clear that the rat in the trap is a caricature of Muammar Gaddafi. The reality of the situational irony is made more apparent and is easier understood after viewing this artist's depiction of Gaddafi's death.
Other objects in the cartoon further allude to his capture and depict Gaddafi as a rat. Gaddafi was captured by a rebel militia after he had taken refuge with several of his bodyguards in a drain underneath the road. Through cartoons and popular imagery, we associate rats with crescent-shaped holes where a wall meets a floor. To tailor to Gaddafi's unique situation, the artist made the hole that the rat in the cartoon came out of is circular like a manhole. The wall in the cartoon is made of stone or concrete, alluding to the composition of the road that Gaddafi hid under. The iconic signs of the golden gun and the Gaddafi hat make it clear that the rat in the trap is a caricature of Muammar Gaddafi. The reality of the situational irony is made more apparent and is easier understood after viewing this artist's depiction of Gaddafi's death.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Men as Mice in Maus: A Survivor's Tale
Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale is a graphic narrative-biography based on the author's relationship with his father and his father's experience as a holocaust survivor. Before I get into the metaphor analysis, I'd like to point out this is one of the most enjoyable and interesting books I've ever read. I even like it almost as much as the Harry Potter series! With that important and pertinent information aside, let us discuss the many metaphors present in Maus.
The most apparent metaphors in Maus are the representations of people as animals. Jews are represented as mice, the Nazis are cats, the French are frogs, Poles are pigs, and Americans are dogs. Spiegelman chose certain aspects of the different nationalities, religions, and races present in this narrative and their role in the Holocaust to determine what animal to assign that group. Spiegelman chose animals that have stereotypes associated with them when these animals interact with one another. At one point in the book, Spiegelman's father retells an incident where he acts like a Polish person in order to avoid being captured as a Jew. Spiegelman illustrates a mouse wearing a pig mask to show that the only actual difference was the way that his father looked. Readers are able to see the dangers of classifying people within these rigid lines, as in the way the Nazis persecuted the Jews as a whole during the Holocaust.
The Jews represented as mice is to be mainly from the perception of the Nazi regime. To clarify, representing a Jew as a mouse is something that would seem fitting in the mind of the Nazis. Mice are dirty, scared, nuisances to people, and need to be exterminated. People don't get attached to mice (normally) and can distance themselves from the death of a mouse. Jews are shown tortured and killed throughout the narrative while a smirking cat with a Nazi uniform paces in the background, taking pleasure in the pain and suffering of the Jews. Mice are always victims, and Spiegelman represents the Jews as helpless mice during the Holocaust. Many things that Vladek and his family did during the Holocaust are similar to the actions of a mouse. His family hid to avoid capture, only to eventually be captured and killed or sent to a concentration camp. Although readers have many negative perceptions about mice, there is a more important quality in mice that I believe Spiegelman highlights in the narrative. Mice have a remarkably strong will to live, just the way Vladek described the efforts of the Jewish population to live after being captured by the Nazis. Vladek sold his belongings, worked many jobs in the concentration camps, and did everything he could to keep himself and his wife alive.
Relationships between the animals in the narrative are similar to the interactions they have in real life. For instance, Spiegelman chose to represent Jews as mice and Nazis as cats knowing that cats chase and kill mice in real life. He chose to represent the Americans as dogs knowing that dogs chase and (given the opportunity) kill cats in real life. Spiegelman did more than metaphorically designate characteristics about each of the animals to people. He applied relationships between animals to relationships between the good, the bad, and the victimized groups of the Holocaust and World War II.
The most apparent metaphors in Maus are the representations of people as animals. Jews are represented as mice, the Nazis are cats, the French are frogs, Poles are pigs, and Americans are dogs. Spiegelman chose certain aspects of the different nationalities, religions, and races present in this narrative and their role in the Holocaust to determine what animal to assign that group. Spiegelman chose animals that have stereotypes associated with them when these animals interact with one another. At one point in the book, Spiegelman's father retells an incident where he acts like a Polish person in order to avoid being captured as a Jew. Spiegelman illustrates a mouse wearing a pig mask to show that the only actual difference was the way that his father looked. Readers are able to see the dangers of classifying people within these rigid lines, as in the way the Nazis persecuted the Jews as a whole during the Holocaust.
The Jews represented as mice is to be mainly from the perception of the Nazi regime. To clarify, representing a Jew as a mouse is something that would seem fitting in the mind of the Nazis. Mice are dirty, scared, nuisances to people, and need to be exterminated. People don't get attached to mice (normally) and can distance themselves from the death of a mouse. Jews are shown tortured and killed throughout the narrative while a smirking cat with a Nazi uniform paces in the background, taking pleasure in the pain and suffering of the Jews. Mice are always victims, and Spiegelman represents the Jews as helpless mice during the Holocaust. Many things that Vladek and his family did during the Holocaust are similar to the actions of a mouse. His family hid to avoid capture, only to eventually be captured and killed or sent to a concentration camp. Although readers have many negative perceptions about mice, there is a more important quality in mice that I believe Spiegelman highlights in the narrative. Mice have a remarkably strong will to live, just the way Vladek described the efforts of the Jewish population to live after being captured by the Nazis. Vladek sold his belongings, worked many jobs in the concentration camps, and did everything he could to keep himself and his wife alive.
Relationships between the animals in the narrative are similar to the interactions they have in real life. For instance, Spiegelman chose to represent Jews as mice and Nazis as cats knowing that cats chase and kill mice in real life. He chose to represent the Americans as dogs knowing that dogs chase and (given the opportunity) kill cats in real life. Spiegelman did more than metaphorically designate characteristics about each of the animals to people. He applied relationships between animals to relationships between the good, the bad, and the victimized groups of the Holocaust and World War II.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Romantic-Comedies.. Thanks and Gig 'em
It is typical of romantic-comedies to have most, if not all, of the drama revolve around or involve the leading female character. Women involved in drama? It's a shocking claim, I know. Some examples, such as the classic battle between the father and the daughter's boyfriend, the male lead chasing the female lead, and the once womanizing male character renouncing his old ways to win the girl all provide support to this sound, and might I add, credible argument.
The epic father-future son-in-law battle is consistently used in romantic-comedies and often the major conflict in the film. Take Meet the Fockers, starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) is introduced to his soon-to-be fiance's father, Jack Byrne (Robert De Niro), is ex-CIA counterintelligence. Because of Jack's disapproval of Greg's occupation as a nurse and feelings that Greg is unworthy of his daughter, Jack constantly tries to belittle Greg and find fault in him. Greg does an excellent job digging an even deeper hole for himself through many failed attempts at fitting in with the family. The conflict culminates to a final showdown with the two men facing off across a lie-detector discussing Greg and Pam's (Jack's daughter) relationship, and Jack ultimately gives Greg his blessing to marry his daughter.
This battle over the prized daughter appears in Crazy, Stupid, Love as well. (For those who have not seen this movie, skip this paragraph and continue reading at the next. Actually, skip the next also. I'd hate to be a lowly spoiler) Cal (Steve Carell) will not allow his friend/relationship coach, Jacob (Ryan Gosling) to be in a relationship with his daughter, Hannah (Emma Stone). Cal does not approve of their relationship until the end of the film because he has seen Jacob's womanizing ways.
Womanizing is a popular theme in the genre of romantic-comedies. In Crazy, Stupid, Love, Jacob sleeps with (this is a very rough estimate) hundreds of girls prior to ultimately falling in love with Hannah. Cal is actually coached by Jacob in the ways of picking up women solely to have sex with them, and Cal is successful if you agree that the practice of womanizing can have a successful ending. Another example of a womanizer-gone-soft can be scene in the romantic-comedy 50 First Dates, starring Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a womanizer prior to meeting his future wife Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore). Henry stops his womanizing ways in order to try to win over Lucy, and devises new ways to meet her everyday since her medical condition causes her to forget her memory overnight.
The last point relinquishing of womanizing ways ties into this next example, which is the typical inclusion of the boy chasing the girl in romantic-comedies. This applies to all of the films provided above. Cal tries to win his wife back and Jacob pursues Hannah in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Henry Roth faces a lot of adversity in chasing Lucy in 50 First Dates, with challenges ranging from shear persistence to winning over Lucy's father and brother. Greg comes back Pam's house to try to fix their relationship in Meet the Parents. The list of examples could go on and on because this is such a popular and important aspect of this genre.
The epic father-future son-in-law battle is consistently used in romantic-comedies and often the major conflict in the film. Take Meet the Fockers, starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) is introduced to his soon-to-be fiance's father, Jack Byrne (Robert De Niro), is ex-CIA counterintelligence. Because of Jack's disapproval of Greg's occupation as a nurse and feelings that Greg is unworthy of his daughter, Jack constantly tries to belittle Greg and find fault in him. Greg does an excellent job digging an even deeper hole for himself through many failed attempts at fitting in with the family. The conflict culminates to a final showdown with the two men facing off across a lie-detector discussing Greg and Pam's (Jack's daughter) relationship, and Jack ultimately gives Greg his blessing to marry his daughter.
This battle over the prized daughter appears in Crazy, Stupid, Love as well. (For those who have not seen this movie, skip this paragraph and continue reading at the next. Actually, skip the next also. I'd hate to be a lowly spoiler) Cal (Steve Carell) will not allow his friend/relationship coach, Jacob (Ryan Gosling) to be in a relationship with his daughter, Hannah (Emma Stone). Cal does not approve of their relationship until the end of the film because he has seen Jacob's womanizing ways.
Womanizing is a popular theme in the genre of romantic-comedies. In Crazy, Stupid, Love, Jacob sleeps with (this is a very rough estimate) hundreds of girls prior to ultimately falling in love with Hannah. Cal is actually coached by Jacob in the ways of picking up women solely to have sex with them, and Cal is successful if you agree that the practice of womanizing can have a successful ending. Another example of a womanizer-gone-soft can be scene in the romantic-comedy 50 First Dates, starring Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a womanizer prior to meeting his future wife Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore). Henry stops his womanizing ways in order to try to win over Lucy, and devises new ways to meet her everyday since her medical condition causes her to forget her memory overnight.
The last point relinquishing of womanizing ways ties into this next example, which is the typical inclusion of the boy chasing the girl in romantic-comedies. This applies to all of the films provided above. Cal tries to win his wife back and Jacob pursues Hannah in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Henry Roth faces a lot of adversity in chasing Lucy in 50 First Dates, with challenges ranging from shear persistence to winning over Lucy's father and brother. Greg comes back Pam's house to try to fix their relationship in Meet the Parents. The list of examples could go on and on because this is such a popular and important aspect of this genre.
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