Two Ways a Woman can get Hurt

Eli Pardue
1/30/07
AP Lang. Comp.
LaMags

Two Ways a Woman can get Hurt

Jean Kilbourne argues that men and women in the media are misrepresented as sex symbols and tools. However, she argues that the advantage is taken over women much more than it is men.
Media advertising has for a long time chosen to appeal to either women or men specifically. In the latter part of the 1900's and into the current decade, specific appeal has begun to range into the overtly sexual. For products appealing to men, attractive half naked women are more often than not used to sell you the product. Even with preteen audiences, such as as an old Pepsi commercial that shows a group of young boys ogling Cindi Crawford as she displays a can of the refreshing drink, attractive women with sex appeal are used profusely.
The advertisements get worse. in the late nineties, MTV used an ad that just shows a women with exposed breast. just below her bosom is the word "bitch." In Europe, advertisements are used that actually show men attacking women, supposedly because she is wearing a specific pair of jeans. Other acts of violence toward women are used. They even get to the point where women look purposely submissive and sexually inviting. Such tactics are still used today, even going so far as to encourage young women to tease and act submissive.
Kilbourne argues that when these advertisements range into displaying violence towards women, that violence will soon become more socially acceptable. In addition, advertisements that encourage women and young girls to act in a submissive,teasing manner further promotes sexual harassment and violence when resisted. This is shown well in her argument through the use of many court cases and media stories as examples of abusive behavior. A three year old girl was accused of being sexually suggestive by a Canadian judge when sexually abused by her babysitter. he was let off without charges. Other like cases have received media attention, such as when a six-year old pageant queen was referred to as a preteen by the media regarding a sexual scandal. Other victim accounts of sexual harassment are increasingly usual in public schools. It is difficult for many gilrs to walk down the hallway without being sexually harasse, verbally and physically.
I personally agree with the assessment made by Kilbourne, but I think that she places much too much responsibility for these actions on the media, rather than the people who actually did them. She fails to seriously take into account male adolescence and how it is much more intense in certain people. Beyond male adolescence, the perpetrators know full well what they are doing and if asked will certainly know that abusing women is wrong. The fact that they do it anyways can be attributed to the media. Because of this, exploitation of both men and women in the media needs to be recognized.

rhetorical commercial

Eli Pardue
1/29/08
AP Lang. Comp.
1/29/08

Blog 1/29/08

During commercial breaks of the show American Gladiators on NBC, I saw many commercials that utilized many different rhetorical strategies. One that caught my eye was a commercial for a Toyota SUV.
The commercial shows a family in the countryside at night. It shows an elderly man, possibly a grandparent, and a young child looking together through a telescope. There was also a smiling mother. The commercial emanated feelings of security and peacefulness. It does this through the dark, quiet use of nature as a background, and the body language of the people. The peacefulness and security that the SUV apparently offer appeal to our sense of pathos because we want to have feelings of security and peace.
Running off of the nature theme, an overdubbed voice states that the best quality time spend with a family is not in front of the television. Combined with the nature theme, this statement declares that the SUV will bring families together (as shown with the grandparent and grandchild) with quality time that they may not have had earlier. This approach is especially effective because it is aired during a family television show. Assuming that it is a family watching the show, the commercial tells them that they will have better outdoor quality time with the SUV.
Lastly, at the end of the commercial, it shows the grandchild sleeping in the backseat. This shows that the SUV is comfortable. It may have been redundant to display the comfort of the SUV, but this also displays its convenience. It shoes that the SUV is diverse enough to go from the rough outback wilderness to a car as comfortable as a family minivan.

Eli Pardue
1/16/07
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

Student-Directed Play Review

Over all, I thought that all of the plays were very well done for two first time writer/directors, Henry Johnston and Elise Lockwood. The first short play was perhaps the most emotionally forceful and provocative. It displayed the (if brief) troubles and confusions in the life of a young woman with two fathers. The fore-stated setup is provocative enough, but it was made all the better with the outing of the main character as a lesbian. I was truly shocked and found it quite admirable that a sophomore in high school would have the audacity and bravery to write/direct such a play. I enjoyed the scene in which the romantic feelings that Tina Talercio’s character had for the main character came into view. Incorporating their relationship into “risk” helped portray that the relationship had more meaning to the two characters.

The second play, If Books Could Kill, was by far the most complex and difficult to comprehend. Honestly, the extent of my understanding of the concept the writer put forth is skin deep. To me, it was simply a play about a competition that a rude bookstore clerk forced a donator into in order to re-obtain her script. I assume with the very impressively long monologues that JP Mershon recited, there was more to it. It was nonetheless a great display of acting, especially by JP. I enjoyed it as I saw it, but have not retained any of the messages it conveyed.

The only piece written by Henry Johnston was excelent. I felt like one of the few in the audience who understood the “SHUT UP JIM” line (Homestead Manor). It was pure humor, and provided some much needed comic relief after the first two plays.

My favorite skit was the last. Acted by Daniel Hellman and Tony Minott, who played two alien scientists, it was about the most warped and hilarious rendition of the creation of Earth I have ever heard. The two scientists were working on an experiment-us. They had apparently created the Earth and were observing and controlling the environment the primitive inhabitants were living in. The creation of God (formerly Dog), Jesus (apparently an alien, silent librarian), Alexander the Great (alien military commander) and religion were all portrayed as last second ideas to prevent the two scientists from getting in trouble with their commander. Hilarious and utterly insulting to many.

I felt one thing that is my greatest criticism. It felt as if the intention of all of the plays was to irritate as many people as possible, rather than to entertain. The first one was entertaining and provocative but certain scenes were uncomfortable enough to the point of smothering the entertaining value. The last act was a playful attack on Christianity, which speaks enough for itself. I think that if more focus in the directing was put on the desire to entertain rather than to be provocative, the plays would have been a greater success.