P1: Text 2 Textual Analysis Holiday Homework

On December of 2011, the blog post Food Crisis in Sahel was posted onto the website Oxfam International, discussing the possibility of an evolving food crisis in 2012. The convention of this piece of text can be identified as a blog post residing from a website which advertises the international organization OXFAM. This text can be identified as a blog post residing from a website based on some of it's design and literary elements such as sub-headings, hyperlinks, and use of language directed towards a specific audience. Throughout the text, various stylistic and literary features can be found as a means of developing a strong and compelling textual analysis.

Throughout this piece of text, keeping the intended audience of the writer in mind is essential in order to create a well-founded textual analysis. This blog post is principally directed towards those of the Western world who maintain a balanced and wealthier lifestyle. This statement is supported by quotes found throughout the text used to appeal to individuals who aspire the same thoughts and values shared in the post.

Literary elements of the text suggests that it's readers are involved as the writer engages with the audience in sentences like, "By investing now in earlier and more cost-effective actions, vulnerable populations can be protected from the worst impacts of the coming crisis at a much lower cost than if we waited." The "we" in this sentence not only refers to the company as a whole, but also towards its supporters and followers.

The purpose of this blog post is to inform, educate, and discuss the public of the issue at hand and pursue further engagement with the targeted audience. The writer uses statistics, expresses his/her thoughts in first person, and compare and contrasts changing statistics over the years. In addition, this blog post allows the public eye to acknowledge the writer's words and aim towards the topic.

In summary of the content shown in this piece of text, it is a blog post containing opinionated columns directed by the International Organization OXFAM. This specific blog post is directed towards advertising the topic of world hunger, allowing the public eye to acknowledge the current food crisis in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa. Key ideas discussed in the text are some of the reasons causing the shortages of food as well as OXFAM's response to the problem at hand.

The basic concept that is presented throughout the blog post is the determination of OXFAM to help support this crisis as well as allowing supporters to acknowledge the issue at hand.

The tone and mood of this blog post can be justified by identifying some of the contributing literary elements within the text. Firstly, in reference to the audience and purpose, the grammatical structure of the blog post is set in first person "we", suggesting that the writer is apart of the group of individuals working for OXFAM, automatically creating a very personal tone.

Throughout the text, the use of statistical evidence is used to support the subject (i.e.: "5.4 million people in Niger, some 1.7 million people in Mali, etc.). The relevance of the relationship between dates and statistics is further discussed throughout the blog post, for example, "(...) the pas food crises in 2005, 2008, and 2010, which effected more than 10 million people.".  

The overall tone of the blog post in general is very direct and aims to be informative and objective towards the topic. The use of headings to separate the information in an organized fashion is effective as it allows the audience to remain focused on what they are reading.

The use of literary devices in the blog post is effective in delivering the intended message towards the writer's readers. Throughout the text, the author intends to appeal to their audience by using various cases of ethos, pathos and logos. Firstly, the use of ethics and logic is used in this excerpt from the text, "According to national warning systems, cereal production is down compared to the five year average, with Mauritania and Chad showing deficits of over 50% compared to last year." By clearly stating their research and statistics, this builds and implies a sense of trust between the author and their audience. The audience will furthermore rely on the information they were given by what seems like a reliable and outside source.

Pathos is used effectively throughout the text to convey specific emotions towards the audience, drawing their attention further into the text and it's meaning. By appealing to the audience's emotions, the author is allowing them to interpret what they are experiencing in their own way. In the text, under the sub-heading "What Oxfam is doing" , the author writes about the sad situation at hand and how they are trying to help improve it. They use words like "most vulnerable, poor, crisis" to appeal to the emotion of sadness and empathy.

Throughout the blog post, the structure of the text, the author uses an effective combination of text and graphics, quotes, and valid subheadings aiming towards the focus and understanding of the reader. The writer's use of sociological and political attitudes throughout the text is effective as it supports the author's intentions in grasping their audience's attention, allowing them to possibly contribute their own thoughts and values towards the topic.

When the reader first opens up the blog post page online, they are confronted with an image of individuals on animals traveling across what seems to be a desert. The woman that we first see in the image is staring at the camera in a serious manner and looks disturbed and disappointed. Not only does this image appeal to the audience's emotions but also is an effective strategy in beginning the article and identifying the topic discussed. Directly below the image and title of the post, a quote says, "The humanitarian response must tackle the underlying causes of crises like this to prevent them recurring.". This quote has the ability to draw the reader in and make a distinct connection between the title of the blog post and the quote. In addition to this, it is an effective us of "Cause and effect", presenting the problem to the readers as well as ways to solve the issue at hand. 

In addition to the graphics displayed, the author uses effective typography allowing the reader to distinguish several areas of the text and focus on what they are reading. The use of large font letters for a quote and bold headings compliments the writing and provides and organized and clearly focused reading format for the reader.

In conclusion, the text Food Crisis in Sahel can clearly be identified as a blog post that can be found on a website due to its consistent design and literary features (i.e. hyperlinks, subheadings, ...com, etc.) Throughout the text, the intended focus audience and purpose is clearly shown as the author engages with their audience (those of interest in the topic) by using the grammatical tense of first person. The theme of the text remains persistent throughout the entire blog post and allows the reader to grasp onto key concepts and basic ideas found in the text. Additionally, maintaining a clear and focused structure throughout the blog post benefits towards the readers' understanding and reliability as the writer discusses the topic in more broader terms. In summary, the blog post provides a strong and foundational textual analysis through the use of it's stylistic convention and effective utilization of literary devices. 

Generation Like: Reflection and Critical Response

 Empowerment- a word you hear a lot when kids talk about social media. Does social media really empower people?

Earlier this week in class, we watched a documentary known as "Generation Like" that addressed the subject of advertising and entertainment in the media. Throughout the documentary, we had to chance to have a further insight on the world of social networking and the relationship between the producers and consumers of social media, as well as outside influences used to target and appeal towards a specific audience. One of the main points that was addressed several times throughout the documentary was one of "self-empowerment" and the possibly that social media can actually empower people's daily decisions online.

"Your consumer is your marketer"

When one is confronted with social media, they automatically become apart of a much larger aspect of the world that technology can identify us with. As a means of becoming more socially and culturally aware of the world around us, we take on the responsibility of being apart of the social media/networking community worldwide. How do we take part in this you may ask? What do we do exactly that makes us so important and essential to social media? What links us? One of the most common uses for social media today is advertising, as a means of reaching a broader audience and allowing companies to engage with their consumers on a higher and effective level. The worldwide web contains a never ending list of ways to interact with each other and broadcast people's identities. This could be through simply sharing a photo, a song of interest, or advertising yourself on websites such as YouTube or Twitter. When it all comes down to a simple answer, we use social media to advertise who we are along with our beliefs and values. This sense of empowerment comes from within and is branched out to a much wider audience.

Tyler Oakley is an international worldwide web sensation who advertises himself by sharing his interests, thoughts, and basic identity through commonly known websites such as YouTube, Twitter, etc. His audience reaches out to him by watching these videos and possibly even being inspired by what he does. At times, Internet sensations such as Tyler are offered the chance to sponsor certain companies, such as Doritos, as a means of reaching out to a larger audience and putting their name out there. Looking at this situation from the YouTuber's side, it gives Tyler Oakley a sense of responsibility knowing that has the power to influence people's thoughts. Producers often use this pipeline of connected pieces as it allows their audience to market the product even more due to it's recognition.

In conclusion, the point that I'm really trying to get across is that social media most definitely has the power and judgment to empower us. We put ourselves out there to share our thoughts and values with a larger community, in this case, advertising our interests and beliefs. We feel the responsibility from within to create online identities and profiles with the intention of reaching out to a much larger audience; a particular audience with specific interests. Social media uses it's users as their marketers, as they will be the ones who will ultimately make a identity out of them, provide personal feedback, and eventually influence other members in the media.

A Critique of Eminem's "Stan" and Music Video

Being one of the leading rap/hip hop artists of the 21^st century, Eminem continues to engage, empower and connect with his fans. Back in 2000, the release of Eminem’s third single “Stan” on the album The Marshall Mathers LP peaked number one on the top hits charts worldwide.  The song itself tells the story of a fictitious character named Stan who claims to be Eminem’s biggest fan. In hopes of showing his affection and dedication to Eminem’s music, he writes a series of letters to Eminem, found in each verse of the song, gradually and progressively becoming angrier at the lack of replies he receives. The song itself is very much powerful and delivers a sense of Ethnicity and Community. 

The video opens with the sound of loud rain and crashing thunder that surrounds the window of a house. As the camera zooms in, we see Stan’s girlfriend laying in bed, pregnant, who then gets up and rushes to the bathroom which is locked. On the other end of the bathroom door, Stan is inside bleaching his hair in hopes of resembling his idol Eminem. After continuous pleading to let her in, the two get into an argument, ending a loud slam of the door, furthermore symbolizing anger. As soon as the door slams, the music begins with a verse sung by Dido; this verse is sung several times throughout the song between pauses.

In the first verse, Stan walks down to what seems to be a broken down basement, sits down at his desk and begins writing to Eminem for the third time, hoping that he will write back. He expresses his devotion through lyrics such as “I know you probably hear this everyday but I’m your biggest fan (…) I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man.” Stan also empathizes over personal family loss such as the death of Eminem’s Uncle Ronnie. Rain and thunder can be heard in the background as well as the sound of rough pencil scratching on a page throughout the video.

As the song continues, in the second verse Stan’s voice tone is elevated as he expresses his anger  and frustration over the fact that Eminem hasn’t replied to his letters. Thus, “Dear Slim, you still ain’t called or wrote, I hope you have a chance, I ain’t mad – I just think it’s F***** UP that you don’t answer your fans.” Stan mentions his personal struggles and expresses how he relates to his idol’s pain sometimes; “ I even got a tattoo with your name across the chest. Sometimes I even cut myself to see how much it bleeds (…) I can relate to what you’re saying in those songs.” He then goes along to talk about his little brother, bringing back a memory of when they both waited outside Eminem’s concert in hopes of meeting him. He expresses how his brother Matthew might be  of an even bigger fan than himself, and shares his hurt feelings and disappointment in Eminem’s character.

The third verse is portrayed as an audio recording of Stan in his car as he is driving under the influence, with his girlfriend in the trunk, in the midst of committing suicide. The thunder is becoming progressively louder and at this point, Stan is in rage. He refers to Eminem in a mocking way by saying, “Dear Mister-I’m-Too-Good-To-Call-Or-Write-My-Fans.” And clearly states that this Is a bold, suicidal act when he says “this’ll be the last package I ever send you’re a** (…) I’m in the car right now, I’m doing 90 on the freeway. Hey Slim, I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare me to drive?” As Stan vents further, the car speed begins to speed up, symbolizing the anger and rage in his voice. By the end of the tape, Stand realizes that he will be unable to send the tape to Eminem, aka Slim, resulting in a deadly crash into the river.

The fourth and final verse opens with Eminem sitting at a table writing belated letters back to Stan. As Eminem writes, he apologizes about the inconvenience of not meeting him or his brother. As this is being said, the image of a funeral arises furthermore displaying the irony of the situation. Flashbacks occur of moments mentioned in Stan’s letter, as well as Eminem’s advice and help for Stan, “You got issues Stan, I think you need counseling.”  Further on into writing the letter, Eminem mentions a news story that caught his eye and says, “I just don’t want you to do crazy shit. I seen this one shit on the news a couple weeks ago that made me sick. Some dude was drunk and drove his car off the bridge and had his girlfriend in the trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid and the car they found a tape, but they didn’t say who it was to.”, Only to realize that the news story was about Stanley’s death. “Come to think about it, his name was…it was you. Damn!” After Eminem’s final words, the music stops as well as one final thunder strike.

“Stan” is a very literal music video that tells the story of the lyrics and displays the meaning and intention of every verse towards the audience. This kind of music video has a direct relationship with it’s lyrics, which creates a “beginning and end” effect while watching the visual interpretation of the song.

Written Task #2 Blog Post

Power and Privilege 

How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?   

When analyzing advertisements, it is essential that one takes in the context of the time period in which the particular ad was advertised. Towards the late 1800 and early 1900's, society's views on African Americans were negative as they were seen as a minority group in comparison to the "whites" of society. As this growing stereotype has continued to emerge in our daily lives in various forms of media, we as individuals cannot help but be exposed to this reality in the way society has shaped our thinking and views on racism found in advertising today.

An advertisement made in 1875 by N.K. Fairbank's Company advertises there product "Fairy Soap". The advertisement features two young girls, one African American child and the other a "white" child. The text found at the bottom of the advertisement says, "Why Doesn't your mama wash you with fairy soap?", the white child asks the African American young girl. This is a malicious line and a subtle proposal from the "white child" to the  young African American girl to wash with Fairy Soap so that she can be as white as she. As previously said, the context in which this advertisement was advertised is relevant towards that topic of interest.

When looking at the characters in the advertisement, we notice a significant difference in the way each is represented. The white child addresses the other, she is dressed in elegant clothing with neatly rolled up socks and clever looking boots. She seems very much clean and is holding a bar of Fairy Soap in her hand, whilst the rapper is on the ground next to the other child's feet. When we look at the young African American girl, she is dressed up in old dirty rags and barefoot, whilst holding onto her ripped and tarnished clothing. As the young girl who is advertising the soap is "speaking" the African American girl gives her a questioning and despised look as to what she is saying, therefore expressing her "cluelessness" in the situation. Therefor the purpose of this advertisement is clearly a direct hit on the African American community labeling them as a minority group and enforcing a "dirty", "uncivilized and uneducated" stereotype upon them.

In conclusion, this particular advertisement is a perfect representation of a particular social group in society. When looking at the context of the advertisement, during the late 1800's society's views on the African American community were shaped as viewing them as a minority group in comparison to the whites of society. When looking at this topic with a broader vision, the way in which a particular social group is represented is merely dependent on society's beliefs and values on ethics; the difference between what is thought to be right or wrong.

FOA Reflection

I presented my first FOA on possible signs of evolving racism found in the media over the years. I was to Identify the prominent signs of racism that are targeted towards African American minority groups that were found in advertising and social media, by presenting a series of advertisement in which I felt established direct connections towards the topic of racism. I chose to explore my topic by making a presentation consisting of 3 advertisements from 3 different time periods: the late 1800’s, late 1900’s and early 2000’s.

Throughout my presentation, I was able to meet a series of learning outcomes I had set out for myself. For example, being able to clearly identity the link between the audience and purpose of certain advertisements as well as being able to connect text types and language use as a means of communication in order to appeal to a certain community.

The overall feeling of my presentation was well structured and organized as I felt confident in front of my peers, presenting my collected information. By the end of it, I did feel successful, although there were some things that I would have changed If given the chance to do it all over again. For example, I would have shortened the notes that I brought up to the board to read off of as I felt like it was a distraction from my presentation. I knew my content rather well, meaning that I didn’t need to read off my script the entire time, but ideally, I should have brought a smaller script up to present with me.

I believe that everything we do in life is a learning experience not only for us, but for others around us. While completing this activity, I have come to a shocking conclusion that racism is still present in advertising today. Although signs of prominent racism remain subtle, It was still a shock to me and made me question society’s motives and ethical ways of living and thinking.

Overall, I felt confident and pleased with my first FOA next time, and know for sure that preparation and motivation is key to delivering clean and efficient work.

Advertisement and Culture: What does it all mean?

Lately in my Language and Literature class, we have been discussing the world of advertising and what effect ads actually have in the culture and society that we live in. Most of our focused on this topic has been narrowed towards finding hidden messages in ads and identifying their intent towards it's audience. In the wise words of Arthur Asa Berger, "There's more to advertising's message that meets the casual eye." In order to investigate this topic even further, we were divided into groups and given a task to analyze an add and present it to the class.

This is an advertisement from the USA Army. Although there is no direct indication of the year that It was published, we can assume that It is rather recent based on our knowledge of current events such as the War in Iraq (American troops currently fighting).  The intended audience of this advertisement is rather obvious as it is targeting American citizens and encouraging them to join the army in order to develop acceptable job qualities, making their chances higher in getting a job later on. Those interested in this particular profession surely must have military experience and a fighting passion to defend their country.

Both sociological and political attitudes are used in this advertisement which help reflect a certain message towards their audience. We can clearly see that the soldier in the image is striking a bold gesture, more significantly, currently in battle as the photo is being taken (the intention). As the image shows strength and boldness, this delivers a positive and encouraging reflection towards the advertisement's audience, with the intent to make it's spectators proud of their country. In addition, the advertisement promotes further awareness for those around the United States by bringing light towards the issue of war and it's relevance and importance in our present day world.

As for the content and theme of this advertisement, it follows the subject of war, roughness, boldness, and most importantly, independence. This can be reflected upon the reader by directly looking at the "message" being delivered while looking at this advertisement (i.e.: the characters, the objects, any determining factors).

Personally, my group and I did not agree with the use of space and organization in this advertisement as we found that there was a poor use of axial balance within the advertisement. While we were presenting, we used the example of "If we were to see this on the street, we wouldn't think it was an advertisement advertising the army."

As previously mentioned, the advertisement's audience can get a very direct idea of the ad's intentions by looking at it, without having to search for specific "hidden texts". In this image, we see an American soldier leaping from one rock to another. While he is doing this, he has a strong help and bold expression on his face, we assume that he is in the middle of battle. He holds his gun high up in the air majestically. Looking further into detail, the gun is very close to the sun, also having a possible hidden symbol of "strength" (Example: the sun is hot and we see it as a striking  and empowering element of life, the weapon in his hands delivers this message as well). All in one, this creates an encouraging and rough ambience.

Following the fact that this is an advertisement, there is of course some kind of information or text found within the ad itself. At the bottom of this image, there is a small paragraph providing the reader with further information on the add's intentions. The text displays information on the benefits of joining the army in the US in terms of what this experience will bring you later in life, and how it will positively benefit you. There is slogan at the end saying "ARMY. BE ALL YOU CAN BE."as well as a vague claim that stands out within the text, "The best place to start a business career isn't always in business." There statements may or may not push the reader to inquire further on the information they were given, but will certainly leave them remembering words or expressions that stood out.

In conclusion, I definitely think that this advertisement marginalizes a particular group of people in society. In this case, the army is seen as marginal importance, influence, and power in our everyday lives.

Work Hard, Play Hard

They say that If you work hard for something, you'll eventually get it. Lets look at some common everyday examples. Say you're working at the office, you've been filling papers all week, collecting your bosses coffee every morning and at some point you just feel out of it and just worked out to your limit. But at the end of the week, when you receive that pretty little envelop with a pay check inside, you know you've done well and that all that hard work was definitely worth it.

So here are, living in a world where "Money is everything" , and the strive for success actually gets us places. In fact, where would anyone of us be today if we didn't have a goal to reach every step of the way. You wake up, goal number 1, you get out of bed, goal number 2, you get ready for school/work, goal number 3, and the list goes on. The strive for success comes with the great inner responsibility to push yourself to run that extra mile to achieve your goals. We work hard, do our best, and set our eyes on a goal. The question is, are we always rewarded in the end? NO.

Once students graduate from their hardworking years of university, one of their first goals is to find a paying job that will financially support them and rewards them with the lifestyle they need. The question here is, is there a certain age that we need to be to begin being paid for handwork? And, why has society agreed upon working adults getting paid and not young students?

Right now in the United States of America, based on statistics there are 81.5 million students in school (not yet graduated). Although this is a rather large number, this doesn't mean that all of those students are succeeding in school. In fact, 80% of students in the United States are not adequately prepared for the next most important chapter in their lives, University. 90% of cases have shown that when success is encouraged, performance is improved. "Success is everything". My question to the public is, if most of the working population is driven by success, why isn't everyone being rewarded with money? In this case, I am talking about students.

Getting paid as a means of being rewarded for handwork is a very reasonable deal. If students were to be paid for getting good grades in school, this would ultimately leave them hungry for success, resulting in an on-going pattern of setting a positive "goal". Scientific and psychological studies have shown that most of the teenage population will most likely do something knowing that they are getting something in return. If a student wasn't doing so well in school and were "lacking off", this would give them a chance to act upon that and put in effort for good results and, eventually, be rewarded. Call it a selfish act, but in the end we all have to fight for ourselves.

Shocking statistics have shown that 65% of Americans would live on a deserted Island all by themselves for an entire year for  1,000,000.

If students were to be paid after receiving good grades in school, this would not only push them further into the strive for success but a valuable lesson would also have been applied to our young learner's minds; working hard and making good choices does have its results. A sense of mature responsibility would also have been gained by learning the importance of being financially independent. For example, appreciating the value of money and not always begging mom and dad for toys.

As you get older and eventually attain a job, you obviously receive a salary that is paid to you regularly. When I say job you're probably thinking about accountants, doctors, pilots and actors. I am trying to explain to you a reasonable reality. Students are eventually workers, who do what they are told (most of the time) and apply their knowledge at school for 7 hours a day for a week; the same amount of working hours as any other adult. So why aren't they getting paid? Some may argue that it's because their young. Let me ask you this, how does that a bad thing? The younger you start, the faster the lives of our financially independent growing youth evolve.