Topic Proposal #3: Visual Articulation Project

For this assignment, I have decided to be creative and do the visual articulation project. I wanted to take a song lyric from one of my favourite musicians John Mayer. His lyrics have always captivated me and I believe there is a lot of meaning behind them. I love how his lyrics make me think beyond the song to relate to life lessons and this will help me to visually articulate what I believe the lyrics represent.

I have two possible lyric choices. One is from the song "No such thing":

"I'd like to think the best of me is still hiding up my sleeve. I'd love to tell you, stay inside the lines. But something's better, on the other side"

The other lyric comes from the song "Bigger than my body":

"Someday I'll fly, someday I'll soar. Someday I'll be, so damn much more. Cause' I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for".


The first lyric is about how society tells us to all be the same and act a certain way, but that it's more fulfilling to be unique and think outside of the box. This stresses the idea of individuality. In terms of visually articulating this lyric, I see the image as having lots of color and brightness. I had the idea of an image with two frames, one frame of something boring and dull, and the other of the same image but made to look vibrant and fun.

The second lyric is about overcoming obstacles and being the best you can be. It's about personal growth and proving people wrong. I see lots of symbols in this image such as the sky and wings. I could do a collage of images that represent reaching higher limits.

I am not sure which quote to choose! I think both could make for an interesting project. Any suggestions on which one will lend me a better overall argument? Thanks so much!

Blog Post #4: The Walden Games

For this blog post, I searched through my personal collection of images and stumbled upon this photo taken from my old summer camp. Every summer, we had a camp-wide competition called Walden Games. The camp was divided into four teams: Holland, Great Britain, Japan, and Greece. For two days, the entire camp wore only yellow, red, green, or blue and competed in various challenges in order to be the ultimate winner of the games.

This image was taken at what we call the "break" of the games. The campers are woken up late at night, and taken to a big field where the opening ceremonies begin. The photo has a "W" which represents Walden, the olympic rings, and the number 31 commemorating the 31st anniversary of the games. The break's purpose is to get all of camp pumped up for the next two days. I think this image represents intensity and strength, two qualities that must be present during the games. Walden wants to promote a competitive, spirited, and high energy environment where every camper feels part of a team and has a desire to succeed and put their physical abilities to the test.

The person in the photograph is one of the team captains and is posing before the fire display with his arms up in the air. His stance looks like a sacrifice, as if he is giving himself over to the games entirely. The powerfulness of this image is the fact that it wasn't staged or constructed in any way. Fire represents power and intensity and definitely set the scene for the games to come. I can see this image being very effective on the camps website or brochure in terms of advertising for the camp. It would show off one of Camp Walden's most intense, fun, competitive and enthusiastic events of the summer.

Blog Post #3: Maxwell House Commercial

For this blog post, I will analyze the Maxwell House coffee commercial below. The strategy that is used in this commercial is simplicity and the idea that it isn't supposed to be a commercial at all (when we obviously know that it is).

The commercial begins with the statement:"Instead of watching a Maxwell Coffee House ad, how about we take an optimism break?" This intrigues viewers because they are being told that what they are watching is not a commercial, and thus not trying to sell them anything in such a blatant way. This makes viewers more open to the message. The video of the young girl is significant. This was originally a YouTube video that someone posted of their adorable daughter singing a happy song about how she loves her life, her house, and her family. She does a cute dance and jumps up and down. It was popular because people enjoyed watching the happiness of this innocent child. The commercial ends with the line: "Optimism is contagious. Share it at brewsomegood.ca". This ending line is where the commercial urges people to buy their product. Drinking Maxwell coffee will restore the optimism in your life and make you as happy as this little girl is.

The commercial is taking advantage of pathos. Audience members are supposed to feel a deep connection to the cute girl singing about the happiness of her simple life. The ad functions to remind us all that we should be grateful for what have and that its not about the products we buy, but the people we're with and our attitude towards life that is important. Maxwell's brand wants to distinguish itself from a brand such as Starbucks, as it wants to appear simple and affordable in comparison to Starbucks sophisticated, luxurious appeal. Maxwell's ads are supposed to just make sense to viewers. Maxwell is confident of the quality of their product and as a result, their ads go beyond the actual product and simply equate the brand with a way of life.

I liked this commercial because I enjoy watching the cute girl sing her song. I do think its effective in the sense that it attracts viewers to be open to the message by coming off as "not an ad". However, because I watched this video online before it was a commercial, I have a hard time believing the message connects to a brand of coffee.

Topic Proposal: Rhetorical Analysis #1

For this essay, I chose to analyze the popular comic strip "For Better or for Worse".  I found this strip very humorous but also recognized the argument it was giving off.

http://www.68k.org/~spraints/comics/20050417/

The argument revolves around the idea that the technologies we rely on everyday hinder our ability to communicate with each other and ultimately distance us from reality, rather than keep us connected to it.

The character in this comic spends her whole day on the phone, to the point that she is engaging in actions mindlessly, such as putting on her jacket and finally arriving at her guitar lesson. She has no idea how she ended up there because she was so involved in her phone conversation. This is obviously an exaggerated situation but it is a very relevant and valid argument in my opinion. The character spent time communicating with someone while on the phone, but did not pay attention to the person she was face-to-face with, which I can assume is her mother. The comic is playing on the idea that we only talk to people who are out of reach, and this is somehow more meaningful than a conversation in person.

I will explore other techniques used in the comic, such as the layout, color, shading, arrangement, intended audience, cultural significance, and tone. I will look into the author and see if this adds to my argument. This comic strip successfully appeals directly to a young as well as old audience. An older audience would definitely find the humor in this situation probably having experienced something similar. A younger audience can laugh at themselves and realize that they have probably done something similar to this.

I'm interested in knowing if I'm on track with my argument! 

Thanks for reading