Writing About Ekphrasis 10

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) commercials are awful. The excruciatingly long footage of depressed, shaking, and dirty dogs and cats is a lame argument. It makes something that is unfortunate feel laughable and out of touch. I always say to myself, “If they can afford a commercial this long, they can probably do just fine without my money.” To preface, I love pets; I just like criticizing commercials. 

All of the argumentative strategies I have learned and sprinkled into my blog entries have been building up to this critique, and what took the cake was chapter 5 of The Weight of Shadows by José Orduña and a blog entry titled “Writing Dramatic Scenes” by Dave Hood. The two pieces highlight the main flaw of the ASPCA commercials – dramatic scenes. 

Effective Dramatic Scenes

The author of The Weight of Shadows illustrates a scene with a young couple and their immigration lawyer. Although the author can not make out all the words the couple and the immigration lawyer are saying, he fills in the details in an extremely specific fashion. For example, on page 84 they illustrate the immigration lawyer: “His pale face would have turned bright red as he informed them that the state might ask questions about their partner’s intimate clothing: what color, what cut, what size,” (Hood). Not only does the author conjure a vivid scene, but they also provide input on what's happening. The author points out the absurdity of the immigration system, arguing the immigration system has a flawed definition of a couple and notoriously idiotic and difficult interview questions. The Weight of Shadows employed dramatic scene techniques that are suggested by Hood, such as stating the location (a waiting room), using sensory details, and using dialogue. 

Advice

Even though there wasn't a big donate button at the of chapter 5 in The Weight of Shadows, the story compels me to advocate for change within the immigration system in America more than the ASPCA commercial compels me to donate toward pets without a home. For ASPCA to construct more compelling dramatic scenes, here are some suggestions:

1. Add more dialogue. A not-so-subtle “donate now,” at the end is nice and all, but adding more dialogue from people who specialize in giving pets a home would be more compelling and an epic ethos move. 

2. Target a specific location ie. homeless puppies in Chicago. This can make donors more comfortable contributing on a month-to-month basis because this will give them decent evidence that their money is going to something concrete. This also targets Hood’s dramatic scene criteria of including a location/setting. 

3. Add some more action. Sad puppies are not convincing enough. Showing mostly volunteers and employees taking care of the animals and giving them nice places to live can be an effective logos move and it targets another Hood tactic, action from characters. 

Works Cited

Hood, Dave. “Writing Dramatic Scenes.” Find Your Creative Muse, 11 Oct. 2013, https://davehood59.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/writing-dramatic-scenes/. 

Orduña, José. The Weight of Shadows. Beacon Pr., 2016.

 

 

 

Writing About Ekphrasis 9

Idolization

         Can idolization be a good thing? In “On Romare Bearden” of Drawing us In the author discusses their love for Romare Bearden. When looking at one of their works the author says, “What I saw was black life presented on its own terms, on a grand and epic scale, with all its richness and fullness, in a language that was vibrant and which, made attendant to everyday life, ennobled it, affirmed its value, and exalted its presence," (Chasman, Deborah, and Edna Chiang 6). A person's art can have the ability to make you feel listened to and understood. It can make thoughts and feelings that are impossible to express feel clear and valid. The author's idolization inspired their creativity by shaping how they write plays. When the admiration of someone sparks creative expression, I think it is very beneficial. The problem with idolization is when the admiration for a person becomes more about the person than the art itself.

Hasty Generalization

           In Everything's an Argument, the author warns readers of hasty generalization, a fallacy of the logical argument. They define hasty generalization as “an inference drawn from insufficient evidence,” (Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz). When idolization goes too far, hasty generalizations can be dangerous. Judgments of a person's or multiple people's work can lead to hasty generalizations. One movie franchise that has remained popular for many years is Stars Wars. One not-so-popular character in the films is Jar Jar Binks. Because many people idolize Star Wars, lots of people are eager to express their opinions leading to many negative comments about the character and actor and ultimately leading him to a “personal downward spiral that led him to almost take his own life,” (Klein). In this instance, people made the hasty generalization of ─ I dislike this character, so I do not like this person. This situation demonstrates how the idolization of people stretching beyond artistic inspiration can result in negative consequences.

Separating the Art from the Artist

             The idolization of an individual(s) can be very beneficial as long as we mainly value their art and are aware that our idols are human with feelings. It is important to take creative inspiration from people we idol and to not be offended personally by the idols' "wrongdoings". When writing or talking about your idol, it is important not to dramatize what you view as mistakes and what you view as marvelous because at the end of the day they are complex individuals.

Want More?

More on separating the art from the artist

Works Cited

Chasman, Deborah, and Edna Chiang. EDs. Drawing Us In. Beacon Pr, 2000. 

Lunsford, Andre, and John Ruszkiewicz. Everything’s an Argument. Eight Edition, ebook, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2019.

Klein, A. (2021, October 27). Actor who played Jar Jar Binks in Star wars says the hate for his character almost led him to suicide. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/07/05/actor-who-played-jar-jar-binks-in-star-wars-said-the-hate-toward-his-character-almost-caused-him-to-kill-himself/  

 

 

 

Art Blog 4

 Pictures I took :) --->

Writing invitation:

“Writing Invitation: Poet Richard Hugo suggested that writers never ask a question that they themselves can answer. Select an image, begin your freewrite with a question and see where that leads you.”(Baugher).

Lincoln Memorial

Why am I unimpressed by monuments? During the summer of 2019, I saw the Lincoln memorial. After climbing a few flights of marble stairs and walking through the columns of the memorial you are immediately greeted by absolute silence and a humongous statue of President Abraham Lincoln sitting upright in a chair on top of a large slab of marble. The chair Lincoln is sitting in looks like a chair from Minecraft, blocky with sharp lines. If you look closely you can see the marble is sculpted to look like wooden planks on the arms of the chair. His face appears essentially lifeless, and it looks like he is looking off into space. His eyebrows show no expression, and neither do his mouth, cheeks, or ears. He is wearing a suit with an oversized jacket adorned with buttons that covers a vest and an additional shirt underneath. His right hand is in a relaxed position and the index finger on his left hand is pointing out and downwards. He is wearing dress shoes and his feet are in a relaxed position with his right heel gently angled. 

Monument Critique

Famous monuments like this one are frankly boring to look at. The monuments I have viewed in person and online do not give me anywhere near the emotion and willingness to dissect that paintings, digital art, or regular statues give me. I am more impressed with my picture of the monument and other people's pictures rather than the monument itself. Perhaps I don't like famous monuments because of the glorification of an individual, or their popularity, or perhaps it's the uniformity of statues that bothers me. Let’s explore these gripes. 

Famous monuments display an individual in the most pristine manner. Lincoln, with his hair perfectly in place and fingertips perfectly round, presents a version of himself that I view as robotic, giving me the unsettling sensation I feel when I view artificial intelligence (A.I.) art. Although the monuments of individuals are 3-D they feel 2-D. Famous monuments never reflect an individual's flaws or quirks which is a key aspect of what makes that person unique. Instead, just like history books, it presents an overly glorified version of them. This irritates me because it aids shallow and delusional thinking. 

The other reason I don’t like famous monuments is that they are, well, famous. The more famous art or an artist gets the further the connection I feel to the art and the more I am wanting to critique it. Although Pablo Picasso has great paintings, because he is a household name, his art feels less personal to me than the art made by a friend. The same can go for just about anything. I am more likely to say, “Maybe they were having a bad day,” to a local restaurant rather than to McDonald's. When something feels like it was made just for you and a small group of people it gives me myself and surely others a higher probability to be forgiving and considerate. 

I can’t think of any other art form that lacks creativity as famous monuments do. All of them look the same and they are all made for the same reason: to honor an influential person. Although many are brilliant in terms of technique, they are all visually boring. I believe the best art makes you question what you are experiencing and for me, acclaimed monuments fail to meet this criterion. The only question it leaves me with is: why do we still look at history through such a binary lens?

Want more?

• Another reason not to like monuments
• and another

Works Cited

Baugher, Jenée. The Ekphrastic Writer: Creating Art-Influenced Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction, ebook, McFarland & Company, Inc., 2020.

 

 

 

Writing About Ekphrasis 8

Making someone see

How can you make someone who is not a lover or knowledgeable see? In Seeing, the author states, “The herpetologist asks the native, “‘Are there snakes in that ravine?’ ‘Nosir.’ And the herpetologist comes home with, yessir, three bags full.’”(Dillard 157). In this instance, the person who loved snakes and was knowledgeable about snakes could see many snakes, while the native could not or chose not to see them.

The statement the author brings up says, “The lover can see, and the knowledgeable” (Dillard 157). Could this pose a problem to arguments? How can you successfully persuade or convince someone if they are not enthusiastic about the subject?

Proposal Argument

One type of argument is a proposal argument. In Everything's an Argument it states, “To be effective, proposals must be feasible—that is, the action proposed can be carried out reasonably. Demonstrating feasibility calls on you to present evidence—from similar cases, from personal experience, from observational data, from interview or survey data, from Internet research, or from any other sources—showing that what you propose can indeed be done with the resources available.” (Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz). To make someone a lover or knowledgeable about the subject of the argument, perhaps you could apply Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz's suggestion and present evidence from personal experience and data. Presenting quality data can help someone understand the necessary facts of the situation, while your personal experience can serve as a pathos appeal and turn someone into a lover of the subject.

Reflection

It is easy to ignore something that you do not love or have no knowledge of. It is necessary for argumentative essays, such as proposal arguments, to introduce and frame arguments with facts and personal experiences. This is something that I want to incorporate into my writing whether I am giving a causal argument, or writing arguments through images.

Want more?

Video about how to write about personal experience in a argumentative essay

Works Cited

Dillard, Annie. “Seeing” The Abundance. Harper Collins, 2016.

Lunsford, Andre, and John Ruszkiewicz. Everything’s an Argument. Eight Edition, ebook, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2019. 

 

 

Writing About Ekphrasis 7

The Falling Child Debacle

           It is difficult to convey a point with just a photograph. Without text or sounds to accompany it, even
art with seemingly clear motives can spark conflicting interpretations. In This is Our World, the author saw an ad in a magazine that “showed a small child high in the air dropping toward the upraised arms of a waiting figure below” (Allison 13). The author interpreted this ad as an innocent child in danger, and her friend viewed it as a safe child. Their conflicting opinions demonstrate that art can evoke contrasting interpretations. The contradicting opinions of the author of This is Our World and her friend are why I think that multimodal writing creates a better argument. If the ad was accompanied by happy music and positive text, then the author's interpretation might be completely different. 

Stereotypes

            Images can aid in persuasion, but should there be a set of criteria to determine the persuasiveness of the image? Criteria can be dangerous. The author of Everything’s an Argument says, “Criteria can also reveal biases we hardly notice.” , and he then gives an example of the news’ strong tendency to report European deaths over African, Asian, And Pacific peoples deaths (Lunsford). Criteria could be just as dangerous when it comes to the criteria of persuasive images. Creating criteria for what makes an advertisement convincing can result in reliance on stereotypes. For example, the stereotype of someone in Information Technology (IT) is a man with glasses. Although an image of this caricature that society has created might be more persuasive to people wanting an IT service, an ad moving away from the stereotype can help chip away at our stereotype of someone working in IT.

An Ideal World

I think that when creating images for advertisements, advertisers should follow what Allison, author of This is Our World says, “Art is not meant to be polite, secret, coded, or timid. Art is the sphere in which that impulse to hide and lie is the most dangerous” (Allison 17). Advertisers need to take risks as an artist would. When crafting images, their message shouldn’t be as open-ended and generic/safe as the ad of the child or a typical IT guy. To create better arguments, I think it is necessary for advertisers to stray away from stereotypical and biased criteria and to make their arguments clear with sound, text, and images that do not shy away from being bold. In my argumentative writing around/with pictures I want to make sure that my photos are bold and more persuasive than the image of the ad of the falling child.

Want More? Here is an article about the banning of gender stereotypes in advertisements.

Works Cited

Lunsford, Andre, and John Ruszkiewicz. Everything’s an Argument. Eight Edition, ebook, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2019.

Allison, Dorothy, This Is Our World. 

 

 

 

Art Blog 3

Us Movie Poster

I love it when a movie is great, but I especially love it when there is a great movie poster to accompany it. One of my favorite movie posters and the poster I will be analyzing is the Us Movie poster. The poster is of Red, one of the doppelgängers in the movie, holding a mask that embodies the face of Red’s doppelgänger, Adelaide. This movie is rather complicated, so if you would like to get a better understanding, click this for a synopsis. 

 Writing Invitation

“Writing Invitation: Behold artwork with colors that thrill you. Focus on the artist’s palette and write with the mood that the colors stir within you” (Baugher). 

An aspect of the poster that I enjoy is its use of color. The all-black background contrasted with the red jumpsuit that Red is wearing is chilling. The way the black background fades into Red’s jumpsuit gives me the feeling of being alone with this character and a feeling of not being able to escape. 

Facial Features

Based on the faces' conflicting facial features, you can draw assumptions about each character's lifestyle. Red’s face has a bag under her eye, exaggerated with dark shadow wrapped around her eye, and barely noticeable eyebrows. On the other hand, Adelaide has red-tinted lips, and defined eyebrows, and does not have eye bags. The difference in facial features suggests that Red lives a much harder life than Adelaide, and the movie backs this up. In the film, Red is Adelaide's doppelgänger that lives her life underground, copying the movements of Adelaide practically her whole life while Adelaide lives a comfortable life with her family. 

The Mask

The focal point of this piece is the mask of Adelaide's face that Red is holding. I usually associate a mask with a facade or a distraction from what lies beneath. The mask perfectly symbolizes this definition. At the end of the movie (spoiler alert), it is revealed that what we thought was the protagonist, Adelaide, might be the bad guy. Adelaide represented as a mask demonstrates that she will be the one who deceives us in the end. 

Get Out Connection

Red has a cold and numb facial expression as a single tear rolls down her eye. The person in this image has an almost identical expression. The image is of the protagonist in the director's previous horror film Get Out. Because the character presented in the image above was the protagonist you could make the connection that Red, the person holding the mask, is the true protagonist. 

Final Thoughts

Exceptional movie posters like this one are interesting pieces of art because, unlike a painting or sculpture, a movie poster is accompanied by a film that fills in the details that you might not understand prior. When I viewed the Us poster before watching the film, the familiar facial expression on Red’s face akin to the main character's face in Get Out drew me in and convinced me that this film would be of the same caliber as the director's previous film. Although I thought the poster was engaging, the details of Red and Adelaide's faces were meaningless until I watched the film and was able to make those connections. From my experience, exceptional movie posters are the ones that not only convince you to watch the movie but also analyze the poster after viewing the film to make those connections. Movie posters are meaningful because they are a representation of a movie's ethos. An exceptional movie poster with intentional artistic choices can lead to unique analysis and reflection that paintings and sculptures can not replicate. 

Works Cited

Baugher, Jenée. The Ekphrastic Writer: Creating Art-Influenced Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction, ebook, McFarland & Company, Inc., 2020.

IMDb. “Us (2019).” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6857112/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2022.