TOW #25 Beatles Promo Poster

There is a poster hanging on the wall opposite my couch in my bedroom that advertises the Beatles’ first gig in America on the Ed Sullivan Show, for February 9, 1964. This poster has been displayed in my room for years, and I am constantly looking at it and analyzing it for purpose and rhetoric without even realizing it. This week, I decided that the time might be right to finally formally analyze this special piece of my room décor.

The poster that I own is a replica of something that might have been displayed on street corners and store windows in American cities during the weeks leading up to February 9, 1964. Along with all pertinent information regarding the Beatles' television appearance, the poster contains a black-and-white photograph of the four band members peering over a staircase, and three broadly displayed titles of popular songs. The purpose of the advertisement is clear: to drum up a large audience for the television premiere of the Beatles in America. Upon considering the poster’s purpose, it is obvious that the producer of the advertisement is CBS Studios, the network that the Ed Sullivan Show ran on. CBS’ motive in encouraging viewership of the Beatles’ debut was ultimately to earn themselves higher TV ratings by having more viewers.

The makers of this promotional poster appealed to pathos very effectively by including the titles of three popular Beatles songs. While something like a time, date, and network name might not have generated a strong enough appeal to the audience to gain viewers, including the names of beloved songs certainly did. Just the mere mention of these obscenely popular songs would have incited a response of excitement and interest from the target audience of average American citizens. Though the Beatles at this point in their history did not really need any additional promotion other than simply being themselves, the rhetorical aspects that this poster includes are effective in their goal of gaining the show more viewers.

Goals:

-New and interesting visual text

-Do not list components

-Paragraph breakdown

IRB Intro #4

When searching for my fourth marking period IRB, I thought hard about nonfiction books that I've heard of through the years or had recommended to me by people that I trust. Being someone that has never been a huge fan of nonfiction, finding such a book requires a bit more effort than it does for me to pick up any historical fiction or fantasy novel and be able to love it instantly. In straining my memory and simultaneously looking online for a book I might enjoy, I remembered a recommendation by my eighth grade English teacher, Ms. Dunn, who is one of the most amazing and influential teachers I've ever had. During my eighth grade year she mentioned The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls many times as a book that she had enjoyed immensely and highly recommended. For this marking period, I'm going to finally take up her suggestion and read The Glass Castle. I'm excited to read this book (other than because one of my favorite teachers loved it) because it is a memoir, which is one of the types of nonfiction that I enjoy most. Also, neither of my last two IRBs have been memoirs. I hope to gain the same positive and lasting impression from reading this book that Ms. Dunn did.

TOW #24: Outliers part 2

            The concluding half of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell followed basically the same format and style as the first half. Gladwell continued his method of first presenting a success story and then dissecting the circumstances and factors that helped enable the success to happen. This order of information worked towards Gladwell’s ultimate goal of proving that success is more a result of circumstantial factors rather than personal determination or ambition. Gladwell’s purpose throughout the second half of Outliers remained constant with his purpose in the beginning. Throughout this section the author presented several more examples of success stories with corresponding analysis, including that of his own mother. The interesting examples combined with thorough and irrefutable analysis appealed to Gladwell’s audience of educated and curious American intellectuals.

            Although there were many fundamental similarities between the second half of the book and the first, one of the most prevalent rhetorical devices was different. One device that Gladwell leaned on heavily throughout the end of the book that he had not previously touched on was personal anecdote. Gladwell actually incorporated autobiographical information into the end of the novel by including the story of his mother, a Jamaican descendent of African slaves. Gladwell detailed the circumstances leading up to his mother’s meeting and marrying a British mathematician and leading a much more privileged life than most other slave descendants. The inclusion of this personal information really made it clear to the reader that Gladwell really believed in the conditional view of success that he was conveying to his audience. This was particularly effective in achieving the author’s purpose by having him show the reader how his view on success can even apply to his own life, and presumably the lives of his readers. As I reader, I found this late inclusion of a rhetorical strategy to be one of the most effective aspects of the whole book. 

Goals:

-clear and concise

-accentuate similarities with first half of book without being repetitive

-prove that author's purpose was effective