Most Meaningful Takeaway

The most meaningful takeaway from our group discussion was that in the text “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” there was one particular quote that allowed us to elaborate on our thoughts and ideas and really get to dig deep into the meaning. The quote is:

“Who is to say that robbing a people of it's language is less violent than war?”

The quote touches on the idea that you can not simply just rob someone of their language, it is seen as a much bigger crime. By stripping an individual of their mother tongue ,you are stripping away their identity aswell. That raises the question that if successful in stripping an individual of their language, what will they have left to turn to? This relates to the relationship between language and power as the possibility of individuals being robbed of their language, this would happen in a situation of linguistic imperialism.

The most meaningful takeaway from our group discussion was that in the text “The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts” the concept of how different the atmospheres were for the Chinese girls when they were either at the American or Chinese School. When they were at the American school, the girls rarely spoke unless asked to do so. They felt left out as English was not their mother tongue, hence allowing those whose mother tongue was to have the upper hand. However, when the girls were at Chinese School, they completely transformed into girls who were constantly speaking and participating as they were comfortable with the language and they in turn were the ones that possessed the upper hand. This relates to the relationship between language and power, as we are able to differentiate how different cultures (when put in specific environments )display their power through language, as they are able to adapt much faster.

Linguistic Imperialism

Over the years education has advanced in various forms, linguistic imperialism within education has not only impacted individuals but communities aswell. In the past, linguistic imperialism has been aided by education in the situation where it has helped get the message of linguistic imperialism across. Linguistic imperialism “involves the transfer of a dominant language to other people” - Robert Phillipson. As education develops over the years, so does the linguistic imperialism, there are various forms of courses in which it's linguistic imperialism will advance and change as it is an organic format that needs to grow. Everyone these days no matter where they are on the globe receives the same level of education as anyone else. They take all the same courses, the only difference being that their linguistic imperialism would depend on their global location. For example : if there was a child being educated in France and a child being educated in England and they are both in the same year, they would be receiving the same information except they would be learning it in their mother tongue. Although the concept of linguistic imperialism is not advanced in third world countries as they are in first world countries, it is still acknowledged. In an anglophone world the dominant language of course would be English, this creates a restraint for education as it places numerous countries at a disadvantage. The disadvantage being that not every country is aware of the English language, yet alone able to speak it implying that their education rights are being ripped away from them. Depriving people from the opportunity to receive an education is a horrendous act. That opportunity will allow them to be successful in their older years leading to them receiving good jobs and allowing them to be able to provide for their families. In conclusion although to some individuals and communities an anglophone world is idealistic, it can be improved upon in away that works for everyone. If this idealism is carried out then the extinct of various languages will be closer than we all thought.

Food crisis in Sahel

Oxfam is an international organization, based in Oxford in the United Kingdom, they work with various international communities to find ways to eradicate poverty and free those enslaved by it by enabling them to exercise their basic human rights. In December 2011, a blogpost was posted on the Oxfam website which discussed the food crisis in Sahel.

The blogpost targeted the people living across west and central Africa, informing them that the possibility of a food crisis may strike them in 2012. The post warns the people that if no action is commenced in order to prevent this disaster from occurring then history will repeat itself, yes the repetition of the 2005,2008 and 2010 crisis's will happen again. However, the possibility of more than 10 million people will be affected. It is discussed further that there still may be salvation for west and central Africa, simply by educating others that the mistakes of the past can be avoided by preparing for external shocks.

In general, the key idea of the post is to inform not only the residents of west and central Africa but also the public that the situation must be dealt with, this is done through the use of and the plans that Oxfam plan's to see through. By branching out and reaching the general public they are persuading the public to help promote and support their organization, alongside getting them to donate and invest to their charity. Oxfam's humanitarian aid is clarified in the text along with the goals they hope to reach.

The post creates a very unifying ambience, it does this by referring to both Oxfam and the reader as a team, which breaks away from a business relationship and makes it more of a personal one. Overall the general goal is to inform people of an upcoming natural disaster that could affect the lives of numerous people. This is done through the use of various statistics to make the situation more realistic, an example of this would be “Recent reports said over 5.4 million people (35% of population) in Niger...” By providing such statistics it aids the enhancement of the depressing and saddening reality of our world.

Throughout the entire blogpost the use of ethos, pathos and logos are used to enhance the message of Oxfam's blogpost. Pathos is displayed in the blogpost as the basic description of the entire situation is emotionally effective, due to the general fact that as humans we generally feel empathy and sympathy in these situations. This is done through the use of the photograph placed in the blogpost, it shows an African person riding a donkey in a barren environment, this helps the audience depict the situation and helps draw more attention towards what the people are suffering from and going through. Logos is used statistically throughout the post hence allowing the realization of the serious damage that this food crisis may cause, as numerous statistics are used. Due to Oxfam's reputation, and what they stand for they are seen and respected very highly by everyone, causing the ethos affect to occur.

In conclusion, due to Oxfam being an international organization, who work with various international communities to find ways to cease poverty and free those enslaved by it, they have created a blogpost which would cause people to take action and help those in need simply by using ethos, pathos and logos along with involving their targeted audience. By doing so this will cause the targeted audience to feel like they can make a change in not only our societies but our world aswell, all by stating unification.  

Native advertising

Native advertising is primarily a form in which advertisements are presented, however, its done in a way that allows the add, not to pop out, its camouflaged into the website in keeping with the content, format and style placed on the website. An advantage with native advertising is that readers and viewers do not feel persuaded to view the content, they have the free will to view the advertisement based on whether its something it as either useful or interesting for them, personal choice.

A native advertisement example that I found on the website Buzzfeed was the article ' 10 Historical Girl Problems We’re Glad We Don’t Have To Deal With'. The article targets an audience of women of all ages, due to the fact that it revolves around the concept of 'girl problems' that we do not have to deal with anymore, thankfully the issues they refer to are long gone! In general, it just a humorous light hearted read. The content presented in the article is ten images that contain informative titles that are followed by images that date back to the Victorian years which hold humorous captions. The titles are then broken down into two or three sentences which give a brief explanation about the title . The overall theme of the entire article is a layed back informative humorous article. The tone of the captions are incredibly sarcastic contrasted against such serious old fashioned images creates a huge contrast resulting in hilarity. The article is well structured following an organized picture caption pattern. In conclusion , the Buzzfeed article match's up to being a form of native advertising as it is consistent with the definition.




How powerful is the connection between the effect of social media and the structure of the Hunger Games?

There is a stable and powerful connection between the effect of social media and the structure of the Hunger Games, they do not differ from one another. Social media is a prompt that allows us to share our personal content with the world, and once that begins to get out into the cyber world things begin to shift. For example, If I put up a video on youtube and it begins to receive likes, subscriptions and comments then my self esteem will begin to rise depending on the amount of attention my video is receiving. Now sooner or later what will happen will be that I will become so consumed with the thought of making sure that I am pleasing everyone and doing everything it takes to become “famous”, I will begin to believe that forgetting my morals, heritage and culture, is alright as long as I get what I want. Now the connection of social media relates back to the structure of the Hunger Games as it links back to our everyday lives. The Hunger Games revolves around the concept of ordinary people competing in a bloodbath competition, and the only way to survive is if they get people to like them and sponsor them, in order for that to happen they must drop everything they now and believe in. To get things heated up in the games, the game makers the ones who design and control the games, insure that things never get dull in the arena. This relates back to social media as they are similar in numerous ways. The people competing in the games are just like the consumers of social media, they change everything they believe in just to get people to like and sponsor them no matter the cost. The game makers in our case would be the social media companies as they feed off the amount of money they gain daily due to the amount of likes someone receives on their picture or video. Social media drives us to a point where we begin to question everything not only on social media but also in real life. This needs to be put to a halt, we can not allow social media to control our thoughts and actions, nether can we allow them to drive us to a point where we let go of everything that we once saw and knew as good and turn it into something horrific and unrecognisable.

A critique of One Direction's ' Steal My Girl'

A critique of One Direction's ' Steal My Girl'

Promoted as an everlasting love story saga, One Direction's lead single ' Steal My Girl' music video directed by Benjamin and Gabe Turner, portrays a completely contrasting meaning. The song's lyrics imply's how the boys ( One Direction) idolize this girl who they view as a goddess,and that how with out her their worlds would never be the same as they can not imagine a life without her as shown in their lyrics “I don't exist, If I don't have her, The sun doesn't shine,The world doesn't turn,”. The song also describes how everyone desires to take her away and have her for themselves. Not only do the lyrics display how protective they are of this particular girl but also how they are claiming her as theirs, which is displayed in their lyrics “Everybody wanna steal my girl ,Everybody wanna take her love away ,Couple billion in the whole wide world ,Find another one 'cause she belongs to me”.

The opening scene of the music video consists of One Direction awaiting their director who was portrayed by Danny Devito, who after showing up explains to the band "We're here in the name of art," "We're here to commit ourselves to a higher form of expression." little did we expect that higher form to involve sumo wrestlers, marching bands, zoo animals ,ballerinas and parasols.

Once the music begins and everyone gets into their places, the singing commences and whilst that is happening all the chaos begins to develop in the background. As the music video continues to reveal in front of us it becomes quite clear that it has no relation to the bands lyrics whats so ever. There is no goddess like figure which the band describes in their lyrics “Kisses like cream,Her walk is so mean,And every jaw drop,When she's in those jeans” nor was there a girl in jeans and no display of kissed like cream presented in the video, which may lead to confusion due the fact that if someone had not seen the video they would assume the video to contain that. Along with there not being anyone who imposed a threat towards the relationship.

Although the lyrics made us think otherwise, the music video remains to have some meaning. Each band member seems to teach the audience something meaningful in the end, we are taught to bestow peace, which is shown through the halting of the sumo wrestlers from fighting along with being taught how to stop racism, by having one of the band members dance with the African dancers. A few more lessons that are presented to us through the music video is the depiction of not allowing inhibition fear us and to be confident and independent, along with being shown we should adore and interact with animals as they are just like humans and lastly we are taught the lesson of how love can be spread everywhere even towards strangers. The video is quite deep and it takes a closer inspection to fully appreciate its deeper well thought out meaning. Ultimately the band was able to bring life to the desert including everyone that was there hence leading to the conclusion that life should be lived peacefully, happily and full of color.

Written Task 2

Written Task 2:

Reader, culture and text: How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?

Intended targeted audience( Women): When an intended targeted audience member looks at this advertisement the first thing that would come to their mind is that Blake Lively is prompting the product. By using a celebrity endorsement this not only help's benefit the company, but also the sales of the product. Women will start to think that 'if Blake uses it so should' and that by using this specific product not only will they obtain “invisible coverage” but they will also look like Blake, as according to the advertisement it is achievable. This advertisement would provide hope for the women, as in the advertisement it states that “ You're looking at the first unretouched makeup ad” hence leading them to believe that they can achieve a flawless look just by using the makeup forever professional foundation.

Unintended targeted audience: When someone from the unintended targeted audience such as someone with a critical eye, views this advertisement the first thing that they would note would be the promotion of insecurity and image consciousness. They would view this advertisement as something that would make women feel insecure about their complexion, and that if they do not match their airbrushed model then it would lead them to just feel uncomfortable in their own skin. Along with stating that there is no such thing as a “unretouched make up ad” as every advertisement is either photoshopped or retouched to the company's specific image and desire. Displaying that the company is not only providing and selling a product that contains false hope for customers but also one that imply's that by purchasing their specific product you will be able to achieve the goal they have set. Furthermore the advertisement would be seen as something that would make women feel horrible about their complexion, and that the consideration of beauty advertisement's be taken under critical viewing in order to be more aware of the harmful messages being directed towards women everywhere.