Rhetorical Analysis Reflection

            I learned a lot writing this paper. I was very interested by the subject I was studying however I was having a very difficult time organizing the paper and bringing it all together. I had documents full of ideas and things I wanted to include in my essay but I wasn’t sure how. I sat down and tried to make an outline of my essay but everything still seemed out of place. I wrote the essay but I after reading it, I could tell everything was very misplaced and the organization wasn’t working. I went into my professor’s office hours and looked over the paper. She helped me identity what I was doing wrong. Furthermore, I learned that I was writing the purpose of my paragraphs as the explanation. I changed all of these mistakes and reorganized the paper which helped a lot! I definitely believe this is a more successful paper than the last. I felt more confident about my writing and I learned more effective techniques through the process. I learned when writing a rhetorical analysis, it is important to not summarize and paraphrase the ideas! You need to quote, cite, and write your own idea of the topic. I loved this project because I got to write about something that matters and is personal to myself which made the whole paper easier and more interesting. Overall, I had a positive experience writing this essay!
I commented on Cati Krutilla, Davis Lee,  and Katie Lista's blogs! 

Feedback

The two blogs I looked at were Dee Swartz and Arrack Benson's.  I sent my paper to my dad and it helped a lot! Having another set of eyes look at my writing allowed me to see things from a different standpoint. First, he helped me organize it better. I had some very interesting points, however, they were all scrambled around which made the essay difficult to read. I also had a lot of poor and elementary sounding sentences, which I hadn't noticed before. He also made sure every one of my paragraphs was following the PIE format, I realized that I was confusing my explanation with the purpose in many cases. I plan on going to think tank as well to get more insight!
Here is the link to my essay!

Outline

Link to my outline for #likeagirl paper

Personal Response

For our upcoming essay, we were given the option between three texts to write about. The text I chose to discuss is the #likeagirl commercial campaign. From the very moment we watched the commercial, I knew that this subject was important to me. I had watched the video before yet when I watched it again I got the same feeling of empowerment and the feeling that of confidence in myself and every woman around me I received the first time I watched the video. Growing up, I would hear the phrase "like a girl" used in a negative way. Whenever I would play sports or do any activity with the boys, I would hear that term. I remember I always stood up for myself and other girls when boys would tease me about being a female. This was because I played on an all girls soccer team in a boys league.
When I was in third grade, I joined an all girls soccer team known as "The Mighty Cheetas." During our first season, we won every single game so our coach moved our team up so we were playing girls a year older than us. During that season, we won every single game as well. So, our coach moved us up one more grade level where we were playing teams of girls that were two years older than us. We never a lost a game that season either. Well, our coach wanted to give us a challenge so she enrolled our all girls team in a boys league. Of course, as one can imagine, there was a huge uproar. All of our parents were extremely supportive and wanted us to play in a more competitive league which happened to be against boys. However, the parents of the boys we were playing were furious! They would complain and say things like, "Girls can't compete with boys, they aren't good enough" or "Our boys will hurt the girls!" Despite all of these negative comments, my team still decided to stay in the league.
I remember our first game, our team walked onto the field and we received a large amount of strange stares. Parents would look at one another and whisper hushed comments. We didn't care though, we just there to play the sport we loved. We lost the first game and it definitely put a damper on our confidence. However, our coach picked us up and the next game we won. Then we won the next and the next. Before every single game, the boys would tease us and talk about how we weren't good enough to play them and it was actually very amusing when we would beat them. Eventually, the word about our all girls team playing in a boys league caught wind and someone decided to make a documentary about our soccer team. The documentary is called Kick Like a Girl and contains photage of our team in action, interviews with our players, boys on the other teams, and interviews with our coaches. The documentary was a huge success and was shown all around the west, in places like Utah, Colorado, and even California. Growing up with this experience, I would always stand up for girls when I heard "like a girl" because I had first hand experience of being teased and picked on for being a girl.  This subject is very important to me and I hate the fact that this term in society portrays women as weak, unintelligent, lesser than men, and it places them on a lower standard. "Like a girl" should not be a bad term and the thoughts that go along with those three words should be positive and empowering to all women today.

Prewriting Techniques

For our upcoming paper, we were asked to use a few prewriting techniques to get the juice flowing. The techniques I used were SOAPStone, an outline of information we discussed in class, and an observation and inference chart. I used SOAPSTone because it allowed me to understand the simple knowledge of my essay. I identified the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subjects, and tones. This allowed me to get a better idea of the material and it showed me exactly what I was working with. The outline from class is necessary because not only does it have many questions I can consider discussing in my essay, it has many different view points based on my peers from class. These questions and view points will allow me to look at my subject from a different perspective or give me further insight to what I am trying to argue. Last, the observation and inferences chart allowed me to dive deeper into my material and really think about what the commercial means and why is important.
This is the link for my prewriting strategies
I commented on Cait Krutilla's blog and Davis Lee's bloghttp://davislee97.blogspot.com/2015/10/pre-writing-activities-for-like-girl.html?showComment=1444787107292#c337138001012061600

Sex Trafficking Outline and Reflection

About the essay:

A very strong paragraph in this essay was the fifth paragraph. In this paragraph the writer discusses camera angles in depth and specific metaphors. She references the metaphor of a tunnel and explains that a tunnel can feel like a “dead end.” She further proves her point by writing, “This perspective tool in imaging functions as a visual representation to show that hope in finding a way out of the business-a light out a tunnel-is diminishing.” This allows the reader to relate to the feeling of lost hope. Then, she explains how the circular camera angles and fading scenes to black ties in with the tunnel metaphor and influences the viewers to want to help the victims. In this paragraph, the writer made some interesting points and described how filmmakers use their instruments to make an emotional connection and appeal to their audience.

A weak paragraph was the second paragraph because some of the sentences didn’t make sense or were confusing and difficult to understand. Although the writer made good points, some of the sentences were not well written. For example, she wrote,“Thus, reenactment shocks viewers because fashion shows are no longer representations of an accepted common practice, but instead a means of dominant control and a way to exploit someone’s body in a negative manner.” This sentence is very long it is unclear what the author is trying to say. There were a few of these sentences in this paragraph which made it confusing and hard to follow.

The thesis statement was “Through the use of reenactments and cinematography, Nolot effectively illustrates the dire need for the cessation of human sex-trafficking and appeals to his viewer’s emotions.” The topic sentences of each paragraph related directly to the thesis. In the second paragraph, the topic sentence describes how Nolot appeals to his viewers emotions, specifically by showing that victims are treated as capital objects. The third paragraph topic sentence discusses another angle of emotional appeal by a psychologist known as Melissa Farley. The fourth paragraph topic sentence discusses the use of a video text. Last, the fifth topic sentence discusses specific camera angles and how that allows the author to get his point across. Every topic sentence relates directly to the thesis statement.

Link to the outline of the essay

Observations and Inferences

If I were to write about HONY for my rhetorical analysis I would focus on the contrast of the different cultures represented in many of the pictures. A large part of these photos discuss and represent ethnicities and gender struggles people go through everyday. Those photographed all live in the same central area and lead similar lives with similar stories. I would also focus on the beauty represented by each person photographed. Brandon Stanton acknowledges that struggle and pain can be beautiful and I think that is an important value everyone needs to have and understand.

Observations: S: Brandon Stanton-photographer ethos: portraits young in age motivations extremely passionate,borderline “obsessed” with projects,non traditional career path,goes where things strike him, he takes major risks-he is all in ex.) betting $3,000 in student loans on Obama winning presidency O: tumblr, blog, facebook, book A:those who are on social media or are connected through any type of media today P: to tell people’s personal stories S: people, their life, people of New York T: deep, personal, emotional,

Inferences S: -exterior/interior -anonymity -respeaking the individual's preference  -capture the beauty in the world that is seen in everyday life but not always acknowledged O: -wants lots of people to see it -wants to share people’s stories, he has a message he wants to show A: -those who read want to receive a greater understanding of those around them -each person photographed holds somewhat of a mystery -can be a distraction from people’s own lives P:   -everyone has their own personal story and experiences that others can learn from S: -people are not just what they seem -their stories are far more complex than what others assume them to be despite discrimination based on race, looks, gender, etc.) T: Everyone’s stories are different and have an experienced to be learned from Other inferences: -He want to influence his followers in a positive way and unite and unify everyone. -He wants to show everyone that there is something beautiful about their story and their life -He chooses people he sees on the streets where he thinks he kind find a profound story -The experiences help those appreciate what they having going well in theirs lives. It also allows people to sympathize with one another

SOAPSTone Humans of New York

Humans of New York is popular photo blog by Brandon Stanton that began in 2010 and soon erupted in mass media. Brandon Stanton began his blog by planning to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers and plot their photos on a map. Over some time, Stanton began collecting quotes and short stories from the people he met and placed them beside the photographs he posted. Eventually his blog received over 14.6 million followers on Facebook and 3.7 million followers in Instagram. Stanton’s blog has completely overtaken all aspects of social media. The speaker of the photo blog is Brandon Stanton himself because he is the one taking the photographs and interviews and publishing them. The occasion are objects, events, or people that people see in everyday life but don’t take time to notice the significant beauty of the moments. In a video on Tumblr, Stanton stated, “I try and photograph things that make me happy and I guess my still pictures makes others happy as well.” The audience for his blog are people in the United States who are connected to any social media. Those who watch television, use the internet, or even have an iPhone can easily hear about this blog.The purpose of the photo blog is to focus on beauty in the world that is easily overlooked. It is also to share people’s personal stories and celebrate each and every individual. The subject of the blog is the people’s personal stories. Last, the tone of the blog is deep, personal, amazing, and  directs people to appreciate each other more.

SOAPSTone of #likeagirl

         I watched the #likeagirl commercial and it was extremely inspiring and heartwarming. The commercial is simply about how older adults in society perceive women as weak and incompetent however, young girls in society today believe the term “like a girl” is a good thing. As young girls grow older, they are put down for being a female and learn that the term “like a girl” isn’t used as a positive term. The speaker of the commercial is Lauren Greenfield, she is the one who brainstormed the idea and directed the commercial. The occasion was for the Super Bowl and promoting Always feminine products. However, I believe the occasion was taken a step further than just to sell a product. The creators of the commercial wanted to cause adults in society to understand how they demean females without even realizing it. The audience is clearly for women of all ages. It was also clearly directed towards adult men because it was aired during the Super Bowl and usually more men watch the super bowl than women. The purpose of this commercial was to call awareness to the fact that the saying “like a girl” is a negative term in society. It is demeaning and makes women question themselves. Many people in society don’t even realize they are insulting women. For example, the little boy in the video didn’t think he was insulting his sister but he was insulting all girls. The subject of the commercial was women and girls as a whole. Last, the tone of the commercial was overall eye opening, influential, instructive, empowering, uplifting, and stimulating.

Word Cloud

This is a word cloud I made based on my QRG!

Rhetorical Analysis of Girl Culture

         In society today, the mirror is a big part of a woman’s life. It is a way for women to look at themselves and their bodies and either appreciate it or hate on it. Usually when females look into a mirror, their reaction is not pleasant. This is due to the way contemporary society believes a female’s body should look: long legs, large breasts and a large but, and skinny all at the same time. During adolescence, young girls look at pictures from magazines or watch television shows that depict the “perfect body”. This causes them to judge themselves more harshly when they look into a mirror. Lauren Greenfield’s photo essay Girl Culture shows how mirrors are used my women in society today.

             Mirrors are a way to check ourselves and make sure everything looks good and right. In many of the images shot by Lauren Greenfield, some girls look happy with their bodies and are posing sexually, even young toddlers glancing in the mirror. Others are staring back at their own image in sheer disappointment and shame. The mirror allows girls to judge themselves harshly and easily compare themselves to other females today. The mirror causes people to look at just the physical parts of females, rather than learning to appreciate females minds and souls.

In one of the photos, there is a teenage girl in a dressing room with another one of her friends. Although the mirror is not visible, it is clear the young girl is looking at herself in it. Her hands are on her breasts pushing them up and her expression is very sad and unhappy. The young girl is not happy with herself or her body. While many think a shopping trip with another girl friend is fun, many times it is rather stressful and causes girls to self objectify themselves more. If an article of clothing doesn’t fit just right, it can completely tear down a young girls confidence because it may look better on another.

            In another photo, there is a female who appears to be an exotic dancer. She is holding a cigarette and wearing a costume that is bright pink and sparkly but emphasizes her breasts, butt, vaginal area, and legs. She is standing in front of a mirror simply observing herself in a sexualized pose. Although she is wearing something seductive, she doesn’t necessarily look happy. Instead, her expression appears relatively bland with a hint of sass.  It is very clear she is judging herself yet she continues to dress provocatively. It is clear that being an exotic dancer is her job and although she may not enjoy it, she continues to degrade herself. Lauren Greenfield does a great job of showing that mirrors are not a positive object in society today. Women are constantly checking and looking at themselves but they are usually doing it in a self-objectifying and negative way.

Reflection:
After comparing my paragraph about mirrors in society today to the essay discussing Lauren Greenfield's photo essay, I noticed a few things I needed to change. I discussed two of the pictures in detail however I originally didn't go into any further discussion about what these pictures mean. In the essay, the author described a picture and then explained what was happening in the picture and why. By comparing the two paragraphs, I learned how to take my rhetorical analysis a step further rather than just writing what the prompt was. Good writing takes ideas and analysis a step deeper.

    

SOAPSTone:

            In the three paragraphs above I used the form of SOAPSTone. I identified the speaker (S), that being Lauren Greenfield. Next, I explanted the occasion (O), which was the use of mirrors in society today. The audience (A) is clearly women in all society today that live in the United States. Because of our current culture, women in the U.S.  can understand how mirrors can be negative. The purpose (P) was to show how sad contemporary society is today and how detrimental the affects of the message the public is trying to portray are to young women. The subjects (S) of the paragraphs were the two girls in the photos, the young teenager shopping and the older woman who was an exotic dancer. Last, the tone (T) was disappointment and sad because women should look in the mirror and be happy with themselves and their bodies, rather compare them to unrealistic ones.

I commented on Arrick Benson's post and Cati Krutilla's post

My outline link