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.