Course Recap for Monday, October 10th

Carrie Analysis

We finished the movie Carrie and then we reviewed your answers to the homework questions. When doing an analysis it is important to look at several different elements of the piece. For the movie, Carrie we looked at the film's characters, themes, lighting, symbols, shooting methods, score, and overall story line. Then we all created potential thesis statements for the movie by first asking ourselves a question about the film and then attempting to answer using our knowledge of the film. For instance I posited the question:

• Why did de Palma choose different lighting for Carrie throughout the film ranging from soft, flattering light to sharp, harsh lighting?

Then taking into account everything we talked about in class, I answered the question:

• De Palma chooses to light Carrie differently throughout the film sometimes using a soft, flattering light and other times a sharp, harsh lighting to show that there are two different sides to people and under the right circumstances people can flourish and become something beautiful and good or they can be oppressed and enraged and become something ugly and evil.

Everyone shared their thesis statements then we looked over the assignment sheet for Project 2.


Project 2 Analysis

You will be doing an analysis of a creative piece of work of your own choosing. Your final paper will be four pages long and must feature four sources. See Project 2 Assignment Sheet in Class Documents for more details. You must have the piece you plan to analyze chosen by Monday, October 17th.


"Friend Game" by Collins
We discussed Collins piece "Friend Game" about the suicide of Megan Meier. We looked at how Collins analyzed the various aspects of Myspace and a Myspace profile and how they may've contributed to Megan's death. She talked about everything from the process of creating a profile to what a Myspace profile looks like on the screen. We were also introduced to our first rhetorical mode of persuasion: pathos. Pathos or emotional appeal appeals to an audience's emotions, needs, and values. By starting the piece at Megan's funeral and giving us vivid descriptions of the girl before her death Collins appeals to the reader's feelings of sympathy.

Homework

• Read "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin (see Class Links)
• Read "Cult Movie Review: Carrie" and "Horror, Femininity, and Carrie's Monstrous Puberty" (see Class Links) When you hit the link you should be prompted to sign-in with your Bronco-ID.  After that click on either Full Text or PDF underneath the title to be able to read the piece.
• Start thinking about the piece you might want to analyze for Project 2 (Due Monday Oct. 17)

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