How commercials get you to buy things (LD)

When we received this assignment to discuss a literary device in a blog post I was a little bit less that ecstatic. Let's be honest, I love to analyze texts with the best of them but I couldn't imagine how I was going to fill a whole post about my great love for anastrophes and alliteration.
I began to consider other places that literary devices could be used that were not texts or poems written by dead, white guys. Then it struck me. We see literary devices all the time when we're watching TV. Commercials are full of imagery, and alliterations. Literary devices are used to persuade us to buy certain products. Let's look at a few examples.
Allegory: a story or picture that holds a greater meaning within itself

At first glance this super-posh kitchen just represents a super-posh kitchen. However, the reason people would go out and buy components of this kitchen if it was shown in a commercial would be because it is an allegory for wealth and sophistication. The commercial promises (inaccurately) that if you own this kitchen you will become a wealthy, sophisticated person. This is all implied in the glossy counter tops and the cool hanging lights. Allegories are necessary for persuasion. If the commercial said this outright it would seem unreasonable, but when our subconscious's recognize the allegory, we often believe it.

Amplification: adding detail to a description in order to increase its worth







                                                                                                                                                                        Although most car-buyers don't understand what all these uber-fancy descriptions mean, they know they sound important and that what really matters. What sounds better: "I'm buying a red car" or "I'm buying a shiny new crimson Ford with large horsepower, deluxe air-conditioning and a great radio". It doesn't matter if the "deluxe air-conditioning" is the cool air you feel when you roll-down the windows; What matters is the description. If a product sounds good, it is going to sell.

Analogy: a device that helps to establish a relationship based on similarities between two concepts or ideas.


Analogies are used all the time in commercials. Have you ever seen  a mop commercial where they show a comparison of your current mop leaving mud behind and the mop they're trying to sell you leaving everything sparkly white? That's an analogy. It works to show a certain product as being above it's competition. The audience understands that whatever vacuum or shampoo they used to like is now considered sub-par and must now go to the nearest meijers to buy the new, better product. 
The commercial industry has a lot of ways of convincing people to spend money. This is why DVR is a good investment.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Thoughts on "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (PR)

When I learned that one of our blog posts this month would be a poetry response I immediately thought of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. In our AP Lit poetry unit and in my Hope College poetry class, Eliot's poem has always stood out as my favorite. I actually skyped my sister who was living in India and read it to her. It's that good. So I really like the poem but what do I, as an amateur literary student, have to say about it? It's been analyzed by scholars for decades and already has been examined in every possible angle. Since I like lists (they add an illusion of order in a chaotic world) I decided to list everything that I adore about The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

Link to the Poem:  http://people.virginia.edu/~sfr/enam312/prufrock.html

1.) It's dramatic without losing its wittiness:
 The poem tells the tale of a man who is struggling with untold love, self-consciousness and mortality. Eliot could easily have explored these themes in very obvious and sentimental ways but he doesn't. The love life problems are never talked about outright but only hinted at with mentions of "perfume from a dress" (65) and forcing "the moment to its crisis" (80). The reader can understand that Prufrock is self-conscious to his mentions of his thin legs and bald spot. His issues with mortality are brought up with characters like Lazarus and Hamlet along with morbid symbols like yellow fog and seductive, murderous mermaids. Without these features Eliot's themes would belong more in People Magazine than the greatest poem of all time.

2.) The literary references make me feel intelligent:
 There is no greater feeling than to learn about something or someone in class and then be able to connect what you've learned to other aspects of your life. Wow, I just sounded really nerdy. However, it is true that understanding references or difficult words makes one feel good about oneself. I like that Eliot added in such references as Lazarus, Michaelangelo and Hamlet because I can connect what these outside references add to the entire meaning of the poem. Lazarus and Hamlet are characters involving resurrection and death, both of which Prufrock is contemplating. Michaelangelo was a talented artist and the fact that women were discussing them shows that the women are educated and classy. This intimidates Prufrock. It's cool that I can understand all of this just with a little outside help from the Bible, Art History and English class.

3.) Eliot understands flow:
Perhaps what puts The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock above some of my other favorite poems is its smoothness and unique ability to flow. Flow is a bad descriptor, but I can't think of a better word. Flow is what makes the rhythm of the poem feel like crashing waves and flow is what makes you keep reading the poem even after you realize it's ridiculously long and you kind of want to take a break and get a snack. You can't stop mid-poem because that would break the incredible flow. Flow is also what makes reading the poem soothing and calm even as the narrator deals with some pretty big issues. Eliot made the poem sound so beautiful that he was able to entice an audience to read a difficult poem that dealt with difficult subject matter.

This blog post did not even begin to cover the loveliness of this poem so be sure to look it up so you're able to enjoy it as much as I  have. Eliot is great.  He also has three heads which is pretty cool.

Really Sherlock, really? (IR)

For my independent reading assignment my group decided to read two of Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes books: A Study in Scarlett and The Sign of the Four. I was psyched about this assignment for a lot of reasons. I love mysteries, I've had Sherlock Holmes books sitting on my bookshelf for years and I figured that it would be a nice enjoyable read. Everything was all well and good until I actually started reading. The writing was fine, but what frustrated me was the author's racism, and the portrayal of women. Yes, the Sherlock Holmes series was written a time where there was a lot of racism and sexism and general misunderstanding of everything but I don't think that is an excuse for some of the portrayals in these mystery novels.

Portrayal of different races:
 
The Sign of the Four is a mystery about stolen treasure taken from India. The Indian characters in the book include two Sikh men and a native from the Andaman Islands named Tonga. The Sikhs are portrayed as greedy and evil as they put together a plot to steal treasure and kill a white man (*gasp) in the pursuit of stealing it. Meanwhile the main white villain is shown as merely a pawn in their plan who was too scared to cross them. The native, Tonga is shown as ugly, unintelligent and blood-thirsty. Although there are many deaths in The Sign of the Four they are never committed by a white man. It is little three-foot Tonga with his his blowgun that does the dirty work. When the white villain returned from India with Tonga, he made money by parading Tonga around as the devil and getting paid for "beating up the devil". Super racist? Oh, yes.

Portrayal of women:

A sexist portrayal of women can be seen in both A Study in Scarlett and in The Sign of the Four. In A Study in Scarlett  a man avenges the death of his fiance and her father. His fiance, Lucy had worn away in depression and sorrow after being married off to a bad man while her true love had been unable to save her. I found myself thinking, why couldn't have Lucy saved herself? If she was such a catch, supposedly she'd have some brains right? But no, Lucy died of sorrow because she was too weak to stand up for herself and a good strong man needs to go and avenge her death.
In The Sign of the Four we finally are introduced to a strong female character. Her name Miss Mary Morstan and her father was one of the ones who died in pursuit of a large treasure. Mary holds up well throughout the mystery and information on various killings, never crying or showing weakness.Watson thinks strength is hot and decides he wants to marry her. He goes on about how strength is almost that of a mans. Sherlock on the other hands says that no woman is to be trusted. Ever.
Really Sherlock, really?

Understanding the draw of horror movies (horror blog post)

Ever since I was a kid, I've hated anything to do with horror. I'd purposefully fall asleep whenever my friends were watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Jaws or whatever at a sleepover and until I was about 15 I refused to read anything more frightening than Harry Potter. Last year when we read "In Cold Blood" in AP Lang I had to space out the horror so that I'd have a week or so to recover between chapters. So I've been stuck with the question why it is that I detest horror and so many other people like it. I did some internet research and found a few answers from Dr. Glenn Sparks from Purdue University.
Sparks argues that people enjoy or dislike horror movies because they are wired differently. Some people enjoy adrenaline rushes (also the people who like roller coasters) and some people do not. For example I was driving in white-out conditions this morning and sliding all over the place and I was scared to death. I did not enjoy driving. However, my sister and a few of my friends would have gotten a kick out of living on the edge and seeing just how much my poor little Prius could take.
Me this morning:





People who like horror movies:


Sparks argued that the other group of people who enjoy horror movies are the people who crave danger and adventure in their lives. These people are able to live out escapes and machete-fights without ever having to leave their homes and also without ever facing real danger.

So basically there the world is classified into types of people and finding out whether someone likes horror movies can tell a lot about the person. Besides telling whether or not they secretly crave danger or are an adrenaline junkie, willingness to watch horror movies and to put oneself in scary situations can show whether or not someone is able to meet their fears. Or that their fears may not be found in horror movies. Horror movies often play off the universal fear of death and those who go out of their way to watch horror movies may be more okay with death than the rest of us, have twisted suppressed minds or perhaps they just like to be scared. I've researched a lot and I still can't fully understand why people choose to spend time being scared and watching people get chopped up into bits. I guess everyone's different and that makes life interesting. Until it gets a little too interesting...
 
Yeah, a raccoon is about as scary as I can take.                                                                                                                                                     

Incest in Hamlet! What fun!

For this weeks assignment we were told to write about something to do with Hamlet that we have not fully covered in class. I thought talking about incest would be fun! Most of these ideas I claim wholly as my own so they might not actually be correct. Actually, who am I kidding? Shakespeare was a twisted guy...I'm totally right.

1.) Claudius and Gertrude:

The relationship between Hamlet's uncle and mother is the most obvious example of incest in the play. Only two months after Hamlet's father died, they got married. This made Hamlet quite angry and uncomfortable. He can be quoted in his angsty soliloquy as saying that "She married. (Gertrude) O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!" (Act 1) Marriage between in-laws was looked down on at that time by the Christian church because it was considered incest. The fact that it was so speedy after the late King Hamlet's death did not help.

2.) Polonius and Ophelia:

Before you go all crazy on me for this one, hear me out. I am not claiming that Polonius and Ophelia had a sexual relationship but I am claiming that their relationship went a bit further than the average father and daughter relationship. Hamlet refers to Polonius as a "fishmonger" throughout the play, implying that Polonius acts as his daughter's pimp to gain power. It is true that Polonius does consistently push the theory that Hamlet was driven mad by his love for Ophelia. His control over his daughter and her love life can also be seen when he warns her to stay away from Hamlet because he will not be a committed beau. Ophelia always listens to him. She is completely dependent and seems to make no real decisions of her own.  When Polonius is killed, Ophelia is driven mad with grief. She sings songs about dead lovers and flowers. It is true that some think the lover in the songs is Hamlet, yet one of the songs describes the dead lover as having a white beard. They were not sexually involved but I do think that Ophelia had very complex feelings for her father and the line between father and love-interest is shown as being very blurred when she descends into madness.

3.) Hamlet and Gertrude

So I'm absolutely positive that there is nothing physical going on between these two but I do think that Hamlet talks WAY too much about his mother's sex life. I think he has a bit of an Oedipus Rex complex. Of course he couldn't really do the killing the father part of the complex since his Uncle did that for him...Perhaps there's a bit of jealousy in Hamlet's despise for Claudius. Perhaps his need to avenge his father comes from his guilt that he has some serious mommy issues.

What is lost by turning sadness into salsa dance? (Tragedy)

Dear fellow scholars and lovely anonymous readers,
I'm sure you are all familiar with William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and are most likely familiar with the musical adaptation "West Side Story" with Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins. Upon it's opening, "West Side Story" was an instant hit. People felt they could connect to the musical more than the play because they understand gangs and gunfights. Most audiences did not have first-hand knowledge of family feuds and sword-fights. The bests parts of "Romeo and Juliet" are included in "West Side Story". The musical has humor, love and death.  

Yet, what is lost by turning sadness into salsa dance?


 The Depth of Characters:
Although "West Side Story" has parallel characters to "Romeo and Juliet" (Tony is Romeo/ Maria is Juliet) the characters also have their differences. "West Side Story" can be seen in under two hours while reading "Romeo and Juliet" really well can take days. Since the musical has less time to present the characters, they also have less time to add depth to the characters. Tony is shown as a young man in love, yes, however, his songs do not hold the poetry that Romeo's lines do because A.) They are quite repetitive (Maria!Maria!) and B.) Let's be honest, no one can write quite like Shakespeare. Also "Romeo and Juliet" does have characters used for comic relief but not to the extent that "West Side Story" does. I can think of three "West Side Story" songs off the top of my head that have no other purpose than to make the audience laugh. I really think this draws away from the sense of tragedy in the end. There was too much laughter to distract from the sadness at the end.

The Death of Characters:
 I think the main difference between the deaths in "Romeo and Juliet" and the deaths in "West Side Story" is that in "West Side Story" the Juliet character (Maria) doesn't die. What's up with that? Tragedy, according to the lovely long packets that Ms. Pyle assigned us, is when characters are taken from a high place to a low place. In "Romeo and Juliet", Romeo and Juliet are taken from being happily in love to...dead. Great ending. Yet in "West Side Story", Maria doesn't die. She has a life ahead of her. She has a chance for hope, for love, for children. Therefore, I declare that "West Side Story" is not a perfect tragedy because it doesn't have a perfect tragic ending. 
The ending also tries to say too much about gang-life. The whole musical is a social commentary on immigrants, gangs, and how in the end all our young people will destroy each other. Basically. This distracts from the tragedy of it all. It makes people think beyond the characters and into the real world. 

What is gained?
Lets be honest. Our generation has the attention span of an ant and can sit through a musical full of lights, dancing and gunshots more easily that one of Shakespeare's plays (No matter how eloquent the prose may be. It does work as a good social commentary although I think that distracts from the tragic aspect of the musical. Also the dancing is great. Super great.
 

A closer look at Victorian tea time (CC)

In AP Literature and Composition, my class just read "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde. "The Importance of Being Earnest" presents a lot of social criticisms on the Victorian Era and satirizes just about everything one could think of to satirize. A lot of the acts in this play occur during "tea-time". This idea of tea-time was used in the Victorian era by those in the upper class for two main reasons. 1.) It broke up the long break without food between breakfast in dinner, as at that time, lunch was non-existent. 2.) It provided an excuse for socialization. It was perfectly acceptable and polite to invite friends or even people of the opposite gender (*gasp) over for tea. Since all the characters in "The Importance of Being Earnest" were part of the upper class their tea consisted of muffins, cake and pastries. "Tea-time" for the lower classes would more likely have meat, cheese and whatever they could come up with for a small mid-afternoon meal.

Tea-time for the upper class:


Tea-time for the poor:

 

Tea-time is still very much apparent in the lives of Europeans today. Aprilynne Pike captures this love of tea in her book, Illusions, by saying“As far as her mom was concerned, tea fixed everything. Have a cold? Have some tea. Broken bones? There's a tea for that too. Somewhere in her mother's pantry, Laurel suspected, was a box of tea that said, 'In case of Armageddon, steep three to five minutes'.”

 The Queen of England often has over important people to tea to socialize. It's used as an excuse to wear large garden hats and gossip. There are also a lot of rules of how to drink, eat and talk while attending a tea with someone. In "The Importance of Being Earnest" Oscar Wilde highlights these rules by having his characters continually break them. Algernon eats all the finger sandwiches before his guests arrive and Cecily serves Gwendolyn things she doesn't want to show her anger. In "How to read literature like a Professor" the author remarked upon how sharing a meal with someone (or a Tea) can create a feeling of intimacy or friendship. However when things go badly in a meal (or tea) it symbolizes conflict and hidden animosity.

 

Fun myths about the discovery of tea:

Some say that in 2737 BC the Emperor of China, Shennong, was drinking some boiled water when a few leaves from a nearby tree flew into it. He decided he liked the taste and popularized it.

Another more gruesome tale says that Bodhidharma, the founder of Chan Buddhism, accidentally fell asleep for eight years. When he woke up he cut off his eyelids out of anger with himself and the eyelids fell to the ground and turned into tea-bushes.

I'm not making this up. I kind of wish I was.

 

On a different note, I'm going to include some recipes of things upper-class people would eat during Tea-time in the Victorian age:

Simple Petit Fours

Recipe Type: Cake, Afternoon Tea and High Tea, Dessert
Yields: 20 to 24 petit fours
Prep time: 30 min

Ingredients:

1 (16-ounce) frozen Sara Lee® Pound Cake*
1 jar raspberry jam
2 cans Vanilla Frosting
Cake frosting paste (your choice)
Wilton Pearlized Pink Sugar Pearls (see photo on right)

* Available in the frozen section of your local grocery store.

Preparation:

Using a sharp knife, slice the pound cake horizontally into three (3) layers.

Spread raspberry jam over the top of two (2) layers only; placing one layer on top of the other layer. Then place the 3rd layer on top and cut the cake into approximately 1-inch squares; set aside.

Heat one (1) can of vanilla frosting in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds (it should look like the consistency of heavy cream); remove from microwave and stir. Stir in small amount of food coloring paste, of your choice, to make a pastel color. NOTE: I use a toothpick to pick up a small amount of paste and add it to the frosting. Use a fresh toothpick each time you need more paste because you don't want frosting in your paste. The liquid-type food coloring will dilute your frosting and that's why I use the paste. Repeat with the second can of frosting, using a different food coloring paste of your choice. NOTE: You may need to reheat your frosting to keep it at spreading consistency as the fat content of the frosting causes it to thicken fast.

Over a cookie sheet or the bowl, hold each petit four on top of a large fork and drizzle the warm frosting over it to completely cover. Place on a drying rack and top with three (3) small Pink Sugar Balls or decor of your choice. Set aside to let dry and the frosting to harden.

Place in pretty cupcake cups and store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Makes approximately 20 to 24 petit fours.

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Cucumber Tea Sandwich (Please get the book reference ;))

Recipe Type: Sandwich, Afternoon Tea & High Tea, Cucumbers
Yields: 8 whole sandwiches
Prep time: 10 min

Ingredients:

 

1/2 seedless cucumber, peeled and very thinly sliced (about 32 slices)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup coarsely-chopped watercress leaves
16 slices best-quality white bread*
Salt to taste
1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts

* Choose the best-quality white or wheat bread as possible. Never serve end slices. Freezing the bread before cutting and then spreading makes for easier handling.

Preparation:

Place cucumber slices between layers of paper towels to remove excess moisture.

In a small bowl, combine butter and watercress; spread on one side of each slice of bread.

Lay cucumber slices onto the buttered side of eight (8) slices of bread. Sprinkle the cucumbers with salt. Cover each with 1 tablespoon alfalfa sprouts and top with the remaining slices of bread, buttered side down.

Carefully cut the crusts from each sandwich with a long, sharp knife after the sandwiches are filled. Cut the sandwiches in half diagonally and then cut in half again. If desired, decorative shapes can be made with cookie cutters.

Yields 8 whole sandwiches or 16 halves or 32 fourths.