Reflection Post

As everyone around scrambles to solidify their GPAs with strong performances on their final exams and the humid breeze sweeps across Norfolk, I am reminded that summer is upon us. I, as a student and amateur scholar, fondly reminisce on the last four months, reflecting on the knowledge gained and lessons learned in a class such as Rhetorical Criticism. Into the future I take with me the thought that in an environment overflowing with advertisements and marketing, propaganda and politics, propelled by the intention of control, all messages communicated by humans may be considered rhetoric. All messages between people contain a specific intent, whether conscious or not. By looking specifically at artifacts, or texts such as videos, books, scripts and the like, an individual can analyze the encoded message when armed with the proper techniques of critique. Utilizing such techniques can provide a person with a better understanding of themselves and of the people around them. It can also supply the person with a better understanding of the society they live in and the world around them as a whole. Elevating the human consciousness to create a more self-aware society that understands why things function the way they do and how they function can only improve upon the already established basis and further build towards the future in a more positive direction.

Though it may be difficult to first grasp techniques of rhetorical criticism on a path to a more enlightened environment, learning such criticism can be helpful to all members of society assisting them in contributing positively to the surrounding community, no matter local, national, or global.
In general, a knowledge of rhetorical criticism can be applied to many questions that a person might have in life and a answer, though not always satisfactory, can be concluded from research, study, and analysis. A closer look a gay rights in reference to comments made by politicians, a look at implied messages in the children's film Toy Story, or a study into the messages of N'sync as communicated through their hit singles, can all reveal certain rhetoric as relayed by the rhetor and effectively determine a conclusion as to the views behind the words or images.
One question that I personally have would be about the ideology and justification of war. To effectively come to a certain conclusion as to what that might be, I would have to look through the texts of time and research the views as communicated by those texts and find various themes, ideologies, metaphors, and other language techniques.
In retrospect of the class with all the knowledge of rhetorical criticism, one could most certainly pose any question and develop an answer for it through study of artifacts.

Final Essay Topic

The genre commonly referred to as conscious rap or political rap music holds a prominent role in Hip-Hop music. This sub genre has served over the years a a medium for critique on society. For the second essay that I will be writing, I have chosen to cover two musical artifacts from the genre of political rap. Lupe Fiasco's song "American Terrorist" and Nas's song "America" both lyrically commentate on modern American society, each artist offering their own takes on sociological issues plaguing this particular environment. Both songs seemingly focus on critiques in regards to inequality as related to minorities. I will be using the method of fantasy theme criticism to analyze the settings, characters, and actions as illustrated in the songs and compare and contrast the assumptions and opinions that each artist communicates in relation to these societal critiques.

Fantasy Theme Criticism - "One Mic" by NaS

One of the most legendary hip hop artists of all time, Nas, created one of the most famous, deeply emotional hip hop songs of all time with “One Mic”. “One Mic” covers ideas of the law, death, violence, struggle in impoverished areas and the power of spoken words. The speaker incites certain feelings in the audience through the implementation of images and symbols which can be explored rhetorically with the use of Fantasy-Theme Criticism. Through an analysis of the first verse, one can gain a better understand of the symbols used by the author which communicate the ideas and themes mentioned previously.

Fantasy Theme Criticism requires a look at the characters, setting, and actions taking place within the rhetoric that work together to create a sense of symbolic convergence among the audience so that they may all have a general shared experience of the situation being presented. In the case of the artifact, the first verse of “One Mic”, the setting is shifting, taking place in a non-specified, almost metaphysical location in some cases. The beginning setting is the stage that the speaker is performing on, communicating that he or she is in command with others who will listen. Some of the characters include a microphone, which allows the voice to be heard by many, and a beat, which brings about a sense of musicality to the character speaking in the song. Another character within the first few lines is the individual in front of the speaker. This creates the envisioned action by the listener of a performer on a stage executing a performance of some type for at least one individual. Simply the first two lines communicate a sense of power in the spoken word, immediately establishing the speaker’s views on performing and how the listener should view the potential of such spoken word.

Nas then shifts the focus as he begins to incorporate the violent theme that plays a significant role throughout the rest of the verse. The speaker (“I”) than states that if only he or she had “one gun”. The gun directly opposes the mic in its associated imagery, conjuring up thoughts of the mechanical instrument bringing death to individuals. The deadly character of the gun is then mixed in the same line with the characters of “one girl” and “one crib”. The girl and the crib directly contradict the gun in the homey, family atmosphere meeting the violence encompassed with the symbol of the gun.

The next character introduced, “One God” alludes to the religious tones. The action of the “One God” showing the performer how to do things his “son” did demonstrates the shared reality of the audience struggling to keep a consistently righteous path in a world twisted and plagued by violence. All of the major themes and symbols have at this point been established. More religious symbolism is created by mentioning of the “virgin blood”, having implied Christianity with the God, the son, and the virgin. The virgin’s blood is present hinting at the ever present violence and, as the virgin blood is mixed with 151 proof liquor, the issues of impoverished projects are brought into play. The shared reality of liquor is common among neighborhoods where poverty is prevalent because of the widespread stereotype that a liquor store being present on every corner. Once the individual takes the action and “sips” the religious symbol of virgin blood mixed with the liquor and “flips”, or psychologically changes, then the author progresses into an intensely violent rhetoric. Included in the following lines are references to bullets, the ideas of dead bodies being thrown in the garbage (the character of bodies developing a direct relationship with trash), and the police character as a law that harasses those already burdened by violence.

Immediately after the violent rant of the first verse which continually rises in emotion, the chorus of the song chimes in, as a significant drop in tone is noticed and the speaker reiterates tat among all the religious confusion, poverty, and violence, he or she still only needs one mic in this world. The various symbols utilized by the speaker to communicate violence and injustice are always counteracted with the symbol of the mic and the message that the spoken word of the voice may overcome all the other hardships that the darkest parts of reality in society have to offer.

One Mic lyrics -- Nas

Yo, all I need is one mic, one beat, one stage
One nigga front, my face on the front page
Only if I had one gun, one girl and one crib
One God to show me how to do things his son did
Pure, like a cup of virgin blood; mixed with
151, one sip'll make a nigga flip
Writin names on my hollow tips, plottin shit
Mad violence who I'm gon' body, this hood politics
Ackowledge it, leave bodies chopped in garbages
Seeds watch us, grow up and try to follow us
Police watch us {*siren*} roll up and try knockin us
One knee I ducked, could it be my time is up
But my luck, I got up, the cop shot again
Bus stop glass bursts, a fiend drops his Heineken
Richochetin between the spots that I'm hidin in
Blackin out as I shoot back, fuck gettin hit! {*sirens*}
This is my hood I'ma rep, to the death of it
'til everybody come home, little niggaz is grown
Hoodrats, don't abortion your womb, we need more warriors soon
Sip from the star, sun, and the moon
In this life of police chases street sweepers and coppers
Stick-up kids with no conscience, leavin victims with doctors
IF YOU REALLY THINK YOU READY TO DIE, WITH NINES OUT
THIS IS WHAT NAS IS BOUT, NIGGA THE TIME IS NOW!

Yo, all I need is one mic..
All I need is one mic.. that's all I need
All I need is one mic.. all I need niggaz
All I need is one mic.. yeah

OnFilm Festival - "Testing Hope: Grade 12 in the new South Africa"

One film which supported this hopeful ideology in overcoming bleak realities to be successful was the highly acclaimed documentary “Testing Hope: Grade 12 in the New South Africa” shown on March 25. Directed by Molly Blank, the film set in Nyanga, South Africa follows several young students in their lives at school as well as at home. Recently freed from the oppressive system of inequality known as apartheid, or separateness, South Africa faces a new set of challenges that may have been unseen before the change in policy. Though it is not officially national law any longer, many of the black citizens of South Africa still suffer from inequality economically, socially, and academically, among other things. The same opportunities that exist for their white counterparts are not easily achieved options for many of the children of Grade 12 in Nyanga.

As shown in many shots of the film, the schools are dilapidated with missing or broken doors and windows. Old and outdated technologies serve as further burden for the students to bear. This is directly opposed to the schools that the upper class, white children enjoy closer to Cape Town, with shots showing the students in a nicely furnished air conditioned classroom, each with a computer at his or her desk. The dreary contrasts between the two schools serve the audience’s understanding of how bleak the conditions are for the black students in Nyanga. Given all the trials that young black students must overcome, still more hardships present themselves in the households. The houses that the students go home to are run-down, often nothing more than some tin walls erected to serve as shelter over a dirt flooring. The families seem as broken as the houses, with no sign of a father figure around for the young men and men attempting to get out of the streets and pursue a higher career by means of education.

The high school degree that these students seek only can be awarded once the students pass the Matric Exams with a satisfactory score. The problems they have to overcome in relation to other white students who are better off financially, socially, and economically bring up ideological issues of equality. Therefore, rhetorically speaking, the most appropriate method to analyze this film would be ideological criticism. To precisely pin-point the Ideological themes that the film maker is communicating, a more extensive analysis would be necessary. However in a brief surface level look at the film, it appears that the contrast between the niceties of upper class life as opposed to the life of the black students relentlessly seeking an opportunity for success offers the idea that equality should be for all. The intense focus on the life and struggles of those poor and downtrodden contending for better test scores and a better life for their family communicates that although the laws of Apartheid have been changed, inequality still most definitely exists and a major overhaul in the infrastructure of South Africa is essential to rectify the plaguing problems of inequality.

Pentadic Criticism

According to the text, Pendatic Criticism is concerned with the content of what is being done and what are the motives behind a certain artifact as crafted by a rhetor. This method of criticism is greatly based in Burke's Theory of Dramatism which looks at life as a play where symbols and language are used to formulate thoughts in a neurological need for humans to make sense of the world. The artifact (as a play) is analyzed with special attention to these five aspects:

Agent - Who
Act - What
Scene - When/Where
Purpose - Why
Agency - How

In applying the pentadic method of criticism to the analysis of a university library. In a university library, the Agent would be those who funded the library and the university. The Act would be luring students to come participate in the seeking of knowledge through books, magazines and technologies. The Scene would be where a quiet, plain environment promotes the acquisition of knowledge and the pursuit of higher learning. The Scene is a clear area of tables and chairs, and books on shelves, along with various desks with computers for academic use. The Purpose is to maintain an educational organization focused on higher learning and hold a peaceful environment believed to be best for fueling the eager and curious mind. The Agency would be the individual department in charge of keeping and maintaining the library, most likely the academic department. Also, the Agency could be money itself and/or the actual materials which make up the university library.



The ratios in this artifact of the university library seem to point to the purpose to be the most dominant aspect. In way of applying the dramatist based theory, the purpose seems to take the forefront over all other aspects. Each of the other aspects supports the Purpose of a university library.

Feminism and Swiffer - A Brief Ideological Analysis

The company Swiffer uses a specific approach to marketing their product which speaks to certain ideas about feminism. The commercial featured in this analysis attempts to spin the product so that we as consumers may feel positively about its capabilities and will take the plunge into a new, easier love affair with Swiffer . Yet in taking an ideological approach to analyzing this video with an eye towards feminism, the audience may come away from the commercial feeling much different about Swiffer. This product is designed to make cleaning easier and the viewer is intended to draw this conclusion from the short video advertisement. The commercial consists of a Caucasian woman shopping in what is assumed to be a super market when she stumbles upon the Swiffer product. The display in the store attracted her attention, peaking her interest and causing her to pick up the packaged product. A conveniently placed sales clerk who is also a Caucasian woman, perhaps a bit younger, turns in way of promotion to speak positively about the product. The worker exclaims that the customer will "never go back to your old mop and broom, again".

Upon this revelation, what is implied to be the customer's old mop suddenly "leans" from around the corner of an aisle. A second later a 1970's love song starts to play, more specifically the chorus from the song "Baby Come Back" by the artist Player. The song describes a heart broken man who yearns for his love to return into his life. The old mop and broom are attempting to serenade the woman in hopes of winning back her loyalty from the Swiffer product, however it is to of no avail. After a few shots depicting the woman cleaning in a home, we see the female in the parking lot of the grocery store loading up her car with her groceries along with her new cleaning apparatus.

When viewed from a feminist ideology, this commercial may be considered inappropriate, one sided, or sexist. The Caucasian woman appears to be of middle class social status in her way of dress and her other material possessions such as her furnished kitchen and the car she is loading her groceries into in the parking lot. It is implied by this ad that middle class Caucasian women, or women in general, are the individuals who clean and tend to the upkeep of the home. While this may be true according to the marketing research performed by the company on who to target in their demographics, this attitude still stands in opposition of the many of the struggles of feminism. Complimenting this sexist tone of the advertisement is the use of a love song to attempt to regain a woman's attention. The song is sung by a man, from a male's perspective. When scrutinized one would come away from the commercial thinking that women have a love affair with cleaning, further cementing gender stereotypes that many have dedicated years of their lives to eradicate.

Potential Ideological Artifacts

World:

In the last post, Ideological Criticism was discussed which gives way to the task of analyzing specific artifacts. My area of study, communications, is focused in media and popular culture, therefore I will be making selections tailored to this subject.

One artifact I would like to analyze using the ideological method of criticism is a television commercial by cleaning product Swiffer which was aired several years ago. This artifact would be appropriate for ideological criticism because it is a main stream advertisement that abides by certain standards and implies certain sociological aspects of life that could be examined with a discerning mind.

Another artifact i would be interested in analyzing using the ideological method of criticism would be the music video "One More Drink" by hip-hop artist Ludacris. This music video would be an appropriate artifact for ideological criticism because it communicates an interesting message in a comedic approach. To look into the underlying ideas in this piece of pop culture would be an intriguing venture into a way of living comprised of clubs, revolving around relationships, alcohol, and sex set against a background of hip-hop lyricism.

One last artifact that I could possibly analyze using the ideological method of criticism is the Disney film "Up" by Pixar Animation Studios. An ideological analysis of this film would allow for an intriguing look into the world the filmmaker's created to serve as entertainment for a younger audience. The potential images being communicated to the audience would be appropriately uncovered in implementing the method of ideological criticism.