The Dictator

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gqM0IVhWOo

The trailer for "The Dictator" starts out showing political leaders all over the world and then concentrates on the dictator from Wadiya. It shows his life in his home country then moves to the dictator deciding to come to America. At first he is shown around as a political leader but then later on is kidnapped and gets his beard cut off and from this no one is able to recognize him. Next he adapts to the life in America and obtains a typical low wage job at a local deli shop.

How are the perceptions of Americans towards Middle Eastern people portrayed in the helicopter scene?

In what ways are people in the video stereotyped?

How do stereotypes seen in this video affect people in society today?

How is the role of a dictator over exaggerated?

What differences are apparent between the two types of government?

Alejandra Arnott
Isaac Cascioli
Eric Mizelle

Old Spice Commercial

This advertisement for Old Spice deodorant displays a slippery slope fallacy by suggesting that if you wear that particular brand of deodorant, unimaginable things can happen. In the clip we see this take place as a Scrawny boy transforms into a bulky in-shape man just by “listening” to Old spice deodorant. At the end of the commercial they display the deodorant as if it were a trophy with a label that reads "Believe in your smellf". Essentially depicting that Old Spice deodorant is the best kind of deodorant and that it would be life changing if you buy it.

· How does this commercial stereotype man and portray their wants in life?

· How are the words “Believe in your smellf” represented in the clip?

· In what ways does the clip demonstrate burlesque techniques?

· Do you as an outsider think the creator of this commercial did a good job at advertising the product? Why?

Dr Pepper Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iuG1OpnHP8

This Dr Pepper 10 commercial is made to look like a action movie that is made for men as well as the actor stating that Dr. Pepper 10 is a mans drink only for men. Lasers, guns, ninjas on motorcycles and explosions are seen in the commercial to portray a action film, along with the star of the film drinking Dr Pepper 10 and calling it a manly drink. The commercial then ends with the a shot of the soda and the words next to it saying "It's not for women."

1. How does this commercial try to appeal to men over women and why do you think it tries to do that?

2. Do you think its good advertising to say that this drink is not for women, and call it a drink for men? Will they lose women customers?

3. How does this stereotype the interests of men and what they like to see in movies/tv/commercials along with what they like to drink?


4.What if the commercial had been opposite and instead been about showing a "chick flick" with Dr Pepper 10 being a drink for women and not men? Could it be as good?


Jacob Young
Yi Zhu
Jerry Turjanica

Direct TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7udQSHWpL88 

The slippery slope is an emotional rhetorical fallacy used in satire, as an argument to suggest that one thing leads to another in a drastic and often times negative fashion. Direct TV has a series of commercials that demonstrate advertising through use of the slippery slope.  In this commercial a chain of horrible events ultimately leading to "waking up in a road side ditch," all stem from not having Direct TV, but dealing with the hassles of cable television. Overall, depicting in a comedic way that, if you had Direct TV, you wouldn't be waking up in a roadside ditch.

1) In what ways does this interpretation of the slippery slope represent our immediate reaction to a frustrating situation before we're able to rationally analyze it?


2)Why might the narrator start out with a practical sequences of events (being on hold, becoming frustrated), then shifted toward unreasonable ones? (Waking up in a ditch) 


3)When the clip references "being tough," as a result of the eye patch they show a group of larger men in baggy attire, where as the man with the eye patch is wearing a matching sweat suit with a tennis racket at his side.  How is this associated with being tough? How do we categorize one as "tough" just by looking at them?


4)The makers of this commercial creatively use the "slippery slope" effect to add comedy to try to persuade anyone that owns cable TV to switch to Direct TV. At what point in the series of events that take place does the story line seem unrealistic? It what other ways might this be effective in advertising?


Nicole Camloh
Anthony Denis
William Bryant

Family Guy Clip

ghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YOh-rpvjYg

This is a clip from a Family Guy from season 5 episode 17.  In the video, Lois is running for office and is trying to convince uninformed voters to vote for her. She uses several simple persuasion techniques to make her seem better.   This clip uses satire to try and show how political parties try to fool voters into believing what they say.

How does this clip portray the problems in todays political debates?
In what ways does Family Guy use satire to address a serious problem in politics?
In what ways does the clip show how people behind the actual candidate control their actions?
How are undecided voters portrayed compared to how they are in real life?  Is this portrayal accurate in its description of voters?

Justen Wright
Mingqing Chen
Derek Yahnke

Kardashian Parody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZjZzFDb_x4&feature=endscreen&NR=1

A parody is a form of satire that pokes fun directly at one specific target, and in this case it's at the Kardashian Family.  The television show, Saturday Night Live, put on a skit making fun of the recent divorce of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries after they had only been married for three months.  This divorce was the cover story to every popular magazine on the newsstand and is still continuously talked about in these tabloids.

Based off of the clip, how do you think reality TV is affecting American culture, and is it getting out of control?  Why are celebrity divorce stories and other celebrity tragedies becoming cover page news over more important issues?

How do the actors and actresses in SNL portray each member of the family to the public eye? Would you say this is an example of burlesque?

And, how does Kim's divorce relate to how other women view marriage and divorce? Are celebrities their influence? What about from the man's perspective?



Alex Casola
Paige Laudermilch
Shen Jin

Scary Movie Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0zAlXr1UOs

This movie trailer is advertising a movie called "Scary Movie," which is a part of a sequence of movies. The movie mocks the plots of several movies including,War of the Worlds, The Grudge, The Saw, The Village, and more. It satirizes the familiarity of movie plots and certain aspects of those movies.

In what ways are the movies within Scary Movie satirized? Give examples.

Why do you think the creators chose those movies as ones to satirize?

How have the creators done a good job at satirizing the movies within Scary Movie? Have they done well? Why?

Stephanie Tronolone
Adam Todoran
Joann Chandler 

Mega Millions Perspective Political Cartoon

http://www.cagle.com/2012/03/mega-millions-perspective

Haider Kareem
Samantha Warwar
Lisa Young

This political cartoon draws attention to the national economic situation and governmental spending/debt issue by presenting how average, middle-to-lower class Americans view and treat $540 million in comparison to how the Federal Government views and treats $540 million. We notice that the image on the left depicts innumerable blue-collar Americans in street clothes lined up at a tiny gas station to buy lottery tickets in hope of winning the $540 million jackpot, while the image on the right depicts a luxurious, expensive government building with no one visible. The captions illustrate that average Americans view $540 million as a jackpot while the Federal Government have no trouble spending the same sum of money in a little over one hour. These contrasts bring up questions about the problems with governmental spending and debt, the "rich get richer while the poor get poorer" conundrum, and tension towards the Federal Government. Who does the cartoonist think would be more responsible with or deserving of $540 million and why? How does the cartoonist view the spending of the Federal Government? What impression is the cartoonist trying to make on average Americans reading the cartoon? Federal Government workers?

Office Space Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBV9WkfZdvw&feature=relate

This trailer advertises a movie called, "Office Space." In it, a regular white-collar employee of a large corporation mounts his own revolt against his infuriating 9 to 5 lifestyle. From the trailer, we can see that the makers of the movie produce humor by satirizing corporate america. The minor irritations of the office environment are highlighted comically as evidence of what can make the workforce a frustrating and demoralizing experience.

In what ways is narrative progression created in this trailer? Does the trailer tell a story, provide us with an idea of the plot, etc.? Provide some examples of how the trailer's content tells us about what this movie is about.

How might the makers of the movie want us to feel about the main character? How have the makers endeavored to make us identify with Peter's experience of the workforce?

Based on what we see in this trailer, how have the movie's creators employed setting and space to represent the frustrations and/or restrictions of the workforce? Provide some examples.