The Big Easy Analysis

High school is commonly referred to as hell by it’s residents. The reason why is that the social setting is complex and anything told, whether it being the truth or not, is spread around like a wildfire on dry grass. Easy A is a comedic movie about a seventeen year old girl named Olive Pendergast, who is in high school. Olive lies to her best friend about losing her virginity and the rumour spreads around the school. Soon after she also lies about having sex with guys and gets paid to do so causing others to assume she is a prostitute. In anger, she marks her clothes with the letter “A” meaning adultery. She lies for the sake of others comfort throughout the film until finally, someone tries to make her lies a reality. In the end, she tells everyone the truth and finally understands to keep her sex life away from her social life. Through the movie, Easy A, we will be looking through the character, Olive Penderghast, and her relationships with adults, what she is capable of, and her self-regulation.

Methods of circulating ideas have been seen in a variety of forms, these forms utilized as tools to express specific messages throughout the years of American history. Experiencing how the spread of mental concepts and historically significant events coincide has earned the nation its current state. There’s a cycle between media and the primary events in the history of the United States, where an influence bounces between the two of them. When something momentous arises, the common reaction of media tools is to spread the news regarding it. Subsequently, the ideas stirred amongst individuals-as a result of the media-birth a reaction. The reaction brings about more significant events, owing to the fact that the origin of anything monumental

In Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War, the haunting image “Harvest of Death” catches one’s eye with the seemingly endless field of corpses. The jarring facial expression on the figure in the foreground draws one into the narrative of the piece. However, our initial understanding of the image’s narrative is limited to what we can see and what we know of the circumstances surrounding it. While we know it was taken during the American Civil War, by simply looking at the photograph, we cannot know who is depicted. In black and white, it is difficult to even tell what side of the conflict these fallen soldiers fought for. We can interpret the image for our own readings, but we cannot tell what the artist intended us to see or what message he wanted to impart with it. These unknowns, however, are addressed in the related text associated with the image. These short passages can tell us a great deal about the photographer’s intentions and influence the way we read the image. Through the excerpt, we not only learn the intended meaning of the photography, but we also learn about Gardner’s political intentions and the key points he wanted his viewers to note within the image. Published as a pair, Gardner used his text to contextualize his images and inform the way we perceive them. This is clearly illustrated in “A Harvest of Death” and its accompanying passage.

The cartoonist uses the rhetorical and literary devices of symbolism and allusion to depict that technology and media rules over society’s opinions and decisions. The political cartoonist uses symbolism to indirectly state

In his documentative account, Zeitoun, altruistic author Dave Eggers illustrates the experiences of one muslim man, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, and his struggle to respond to and cope with the trials facing society and nature following Hurricane Katrina. By describing the destructive flooding of his home and his neighborhood, Eggers establishes a desperate tone, as a race against time ensues to save what is left. As the physical landscape drastically changes, so do the very morals and establishments that hold society together. Eggers utilizes several rhetorical strategies to highlight the cruel and destructive stigmatization of Muslim Americans in a post 9-11 society, and that in times of calm or chaos, the common man is the same despite the labels

Imagery is one way that writers can protest war. Imagery is usually described and allows the reader to imagine the picture in their mind. “Because your lover threw wild hands towards the sky (Doc A).” This is imagery because in the mind, the picture of a man or woman throwing

Award-winning author and well-known journalist, Dave Eggers, in his biographical work, Zeitoun, illustrates a Muslim-American family’s troubling experiences in a post-9/11, Islamophobic society in the wake of a natural disaster. Eggers’ purpose is to critique the flaws of the American government’s response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in order to reveal the human tolls of its injustice and discrimination. Using ethos, logos, pathos, and imagery, he adopts a poignant yet disappointed tone in order to bring awareness to such negligence and to convince the American people of the consequences of racism. Eggers effectively uses metaphors throughout Zeitoun to provide a better understanding of complex situations throughout the book.

Indeed, in an era where news of all kinds is only a click away, it seems odd that the simple cartoon could once have been the most influential form of media in the nation. However, one must realize that the target audience of these cartoons were illiterate immigrants and the impoverished masses; before exposure to Nast’s cartoons, they had no way to know that their beloved Tweed was corrupting politics at all. In addition,these comics were published at a time when the United States had the highest newspaper circulation per capita in the world; everyone had access to these cartoons (Leepson 54). Therefore, Nast could use his illustrations to turn politics into a tangible, understandable topic for the American masses; in doing this, Nast paved the way for future illustrators and journalists, such as Homer Davenport, who went on to caricaturize corruption just as his predecessor had (Wang,

Everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing on Sept. 11, 2001. But what were you doing on May 2, 2011?

As today’s world increasingly turns towards new types of media to create and circulate meaning, the role of rhetoric is no longer confined to its textual or oral basis. Visual rhetoric expands beyond initial impression and contains deeper implications of existing power hierarchies, ideological messages, and cultural significance. As a result, theorists such as Irit Rogoff, Sue Hum, and Janice Radway aim to reevaluate the role of visuals in rhetoric. Irit Rogoff examines this shift in his work, “Studying Visual Culture.” Rogoff argues imagery is rhetorical because, “Images convey information, afford pleasure or displeasure, influence style, determine consumption, and mediate power relations” (15). Considering images elicit these responses by those who view them, it is assumed that culture shapes and is shaped by vision.

Although the illustrations of a political cartoon surely define its meaning, words can also dictate the overall message of the

Visual practices in this era are key elements for the president in order to enable his ideas to be conveyed to his audience, here he is able to Label individuals as heroes and villains, this is an ideal way of building a relationship with American society since they are bombarded by media to portray a vision of what is right and what is wrong, and usually there are victims and perpetrators. As the article elaborates, two important aspects to the process of visual interpretation, one of them being that the images are interpreted with already existing context; images come with words and historical baggage. Hence, our hero and villain dilemma, followed by visual images are presented as objective and authentic pieces of evidence, “not a representation of reality, but reality itself.” Pg.618

In her article “Depressingly Easy” Dr.Lamberts discusses why depression is a serious issue. She argues that younger people are more likely to experince depression, since rates continue to increase. Our brains are the same size as the earliest humans, but our day to day tasks have changed drastically. Researchers have yet to find convincing evidence that serotonin imbalances is the cause of depression, and despite the numerous treatment options available today, depression rates are higher than ever.

The central theme to this essay will be to answer the question “Discuss the roll that graphic design played in political/social change in a specific period”. This essay will look into what Hitler’s propaganda meant for the Nazis and the population of Germany. Propaganda is the dissemination of information to influence or control large groups of people. In totalitarian regimes like Nazi Germany, propaganda plays a significant role in consolidating power in the hands of the controlling party. (ushmm, 2015) This essay in conjunction will look into what Hitler’s propaganda meant, what methods conducted by Adolf Hitler and the Propaganda Ministry, directed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels use to infiltrate their enemies and commit mass genocide of the

Photographs, drawings, cartoons and videos cover significant political matters. Photojournalists such as Lynsey Addario present critical political issues that affect the world today. In her book, It’s What I Do, she presents scenes surrounding the fall of prominent political leaders such as Muammar el-Qaddafi. The pictures on pages 4 and 5 of her book, for instance, show the struggles that the rebels went through in their quest to dethrone Qaddafi. She quotes Robert Capa, who once said, “ ‘ If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough’ ” (Lynsey 7) which shows that photographs are significant in the world of journalism. A video such as “Shouting In The Dark” reveals the heinous acts done by the government of Bahrain towards its own citizens. In the video, we see the brutal force used by the government to silence the peaceful protesters. People were beaten, shot, imprisoned, and killed.