Creating a Rhetorical Revision

Final Evaluative Experience
The argument I presented in my proposing a solution essay was the fact that TCU students are put into a bubble regarding real life preparation and cultural awareness. The specific audience I was writing towards was the faculty and department heads of the school, in order for them to consider my solutions to the issues; such as incorporating classes within majors that were more focused on what students would actually be doing after graduation, expanding study abroad programs, and increasing funding for more culturally aware events. 

In turning this into a visual ad for mainstream culture, I decided to switch my audience to the students of TCU. I made a prezi which can be interpreted as what would be a commercial broadcasted to the student body. The visual starts with an image of the TCU campus with the mission statement "to educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community".  This mission statement is the core of how TCU defines itself, however they are not staying true to their identity and that is the center of my argument. The next image zooms out to show Texas and the location of TCU. The images surrounding the campus picture are ones that a student could relate to such as a classroom, backpack, and campus photo. This is meant to show that the campus life of TCU has encompassed the students within its confines, and that it lacks the awarneness of the outside world. When explaining the limited study abroad opportunities, the image then zooms over to europe, which shows the main locations for the study abroad trips within TCU curriculum. It then zooms out to the map of the entire world with the words "But what about the rest of the world?" visible. And finally, the last image is of graduation at TCU and the mission statement is repeated once again, except this time the words "global community" are highlighted. This form of a visual would be a brief, short and effective way to reach out to the student population of TCU to make them aware of the issue and the solutions that should be made. 

I learned several things through the rhetorical process of this visual to the problem and solution of TCU students remaining inside a bubble. In order to appeal to the students, I wanted to make it clear what the issues were, and provide images that would be effective and simple to the overall problem. By having the map setting, it was a visual way to show that the outside world can be neglected when we are within campus. By incorporating the mission statement, it was a way to show that the core values of TCU are something that they are not staying true to and that something needs to be done to solve this. The fact that the last image showed a TCU graduation and the specific words "global community" highlighted was a way to visually reach out to the students to further expand on the point that once we graduate, we should be prepared for the world. 

College Students Living in a Bubble

Article:  http://www.policymic.com/articles/5584/do-college-students-live-in-a-bubble


Do College Students Live in a Bubble?

There is speculation that colleges today are not doing enough to prepare students for the "real world" and are instead giving them a false illusion of what it means to be on your own. Some believe the current generation is spoiled by the “bubble” they live in at college and will be unable to cope with the world they enter after graduation. This is a problem that needs to be considered. The article mentions the solutions The Association of American Colleges and Universities has come up with based off of surveys, including "an increased emphasis on integrative learning, intellectual and practical skills, personal and social responsibility, and knowledge of different cultures". Colleges are not doing enough currently to prepare students, especially with cultural awareness of the world outside of campus, and more generally, the United States. "People think students live in the safety net of college and do not realize what lies ahead. For example, students leave college ready to take more classes instead of take a job. Just as elementary school readies students for middle school, college readies students for grad school". I think the best solutions for these problems would be to integrate certain classes within majors to prepare them for exactly what they will be doing or dealing with, including or sponsoring more internship opportunities, and including cultural awareness seminars or speakers from different countries to promote international knowledge and education. All of these solutions would propose ways for students to see past the bubble they are in on college campuses, and provide a better bridge to the "real world".

Zero Dark Thirty: Movie Review Evaluation

Article:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/movies/jessica-chastain-in-zero-dark-thirty.html?_r=0&pagewanted=2


This article is a New York Times movie review of the Oscar winning film, "Zero Dark Thirty". The movie is about the search and eventual killing of Osama bin Laden. I thought this was an interesting review because it focused on one aspect of the film, the torture of detainees in questioning. The overall evaluation focuses on the approaches the director took to explain the story, and how they can be interpreted by the viewers. It explains how the representation of torture is a controversy today and how society has different stances or opinions on the matter. The review states that "The abuse scenes are crucial to “Zero Dark Thirty” because they serve as a claim — one made cinematically rather than with speeches — that these interrogation methods are unreliable when it comes to producing actionable information". By setting this criteria as a way to evaluate the film, the review describes how the movie is set up in a way to be interpreted by the viewers. The criteria set up may be the overall message, the way it was filmed, or how the director put this controversy into scenes within the movie. I think that the author effectively matched the film being evaluated to the criteria established by fully explaining their thoughts on its portrayal. The review of the actors and film work supports what the movie was all about. It is clearly a positive view of the film, but with a full analysis of what that entails. The director, Kathryn Bigelow and her work is described as "unexpectedly stunning, at once bold and intimate: she has a genius for infusing even large-scale action set pieces with the human element". This review efficiently establishes criteria and evaluates the movie based on their claims. 

Music Piracy Argument

 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/website-pays-950-000-for-pirating-the-beatles-20110328

The argument that is being made in this article is the issue of music piracy and what should be considered illegal vs. legal. In this case, a website called BlueBeat run by Media Rights Technologies was shut down by a federal court for selling MP3s at a low price without permission. They were selling music from bands such as The Beatles, Coldplay, and Radiohead. This was before The Beatles music was released on iTunes, and the songs were going for as cheap as 25 cents. Ultimately, they agreed to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit for $950,000, however before that they attempted to claim that they were doing nothing wrong because the songs were not the originals. The argument presented in the article makes it clear that this does not stand in court. The controversy present in this argument is what actually defines something as piracy, and whether certain actions are illegal or not. On one hand, anything that is a version of a band's song that is illegally distributed should be a cause for punishment, but some may argue that if it is actually not the original of the song that it is fair game. The stasis of this argument would be in between the opinions of what piracy truly is and what the consequences should be. In my opinion, I think that both sides of the argument have their reasons, however in court, anything that is from an artist or band that is illegally distributed will most likely lead to some sort of settlement or punishment. The argument that copies of music that are not the originals are not piracy has too weak of a justification to stand in court.

"Citizen Soldier" by 3 Doors Down

This music video by 3 Doors Down, "Citizen Soldier", attracted me because I thought it was an interesting and meaningful way to portray the purpose of the song. It uses the ideas of ethos, pathos, and logos to be persuasive and rhetorical. The sense of character and credibility or ethos, is an effective way to reach out to the audience. The beginning scene shows contrast between young guys in an innocent lifestyle passing the football, to the transition to the life of a soldier. It reinforces the idea that soldiers have unselfish motives and go through a lot in order to protect or serve the country. The words that appear periodically throughout the video give credibility or portray trustworthiness to the ones that serve. For example, the words "I'll be there to help", "I fired the shot that started a nation", and "I am an expert and a professional" are a few that display the bravery, trust,  and credibility of a soldier. Emotional appeals or appeals to pathos, are also a powerful way for influence in this music video. Even just the contrast of color from the "normal" life to the war zone is effective. Saving the little boy, the soldier kissing his ring before charging, and rescuing the fallen soldier are all ways that could emotionally appeal to someone to convince them that being a soldier displays bravery and respect. Logos also works to be persuasive. There are no exact facts given, but the video uses artistic proofs to get the point across or appeal to reason. The use of different war scenes, including ones from different times, might appeal to someone logically because we already know the history. Ethos, pathos, and logos are all used in this music video in a convincing way.