This blog addresses provides potential topics for my research paper. Using the documentary film Where to Invade Next, I chose three topics that I found interesting and that would make a good argument about how America can improve as a country. In Blog #9: Summary and Rhetorical Analysis of Where to Invade Next, I have written more information about the film. Below, I have provided a research question and brief argument about each topic.
Topic #1: Free college tuition in America
Topic #2: Better education in America
Topic #3: More benefits for jobs in America
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This blog post focuses on the documentary film Where to Invade Next which features Michael Moore traveling to different countries. Below, I have provided a summary and a rhetorical analysis of the film. I will explain what Michael Moore learned from the various countries he visited and how ethos, logos, pathos, telos, and kairos are established. In the documentary Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore interviews people of all different countries in order to gain insight on how their societies work and compare them to America’s government system. First, Michael traveled to Italy to learn about the working benefits their citizens receive. He learned that Italians usually get eight weeks of paid vacation every year and women get five months of paid maternity leave. Similarly, Germany has only a thirty-six-hour work week and once their shift is over, they are not allowed to do anything work related. Their goal is to create less stress, which actually allows them to be more productive. In France, Michael learned that all schools, no matter how poor, get gourmet lunches everyday and get an hour to eat. Michael visited Finland where he discovered their secret to being the best country in regards to education. There, the children go to school for only four hours a day and have little-to-no homework. In addition, the teachers’ priority is the children’s happiness. In Slovenia, college tuition is free and some Americans even go there for education because tuition here is astronomically high. Crime is also handled much differently in other countries. In Portugal, there are no laws against drugs and no one is arrested for using them. When Michael went to Norway, he visited some of the prisons where he saw that the conditions were much different than the ones in our country. The prisoners were free to roam around the building and they each had access to a tv, books, a library, a pantry, and many other luxuries. In Tunisia and Iceland, women are equal to men and have more opportunities to advance in society. At the end of the film, Michael shared what he learned while he was at the Berlin Wall. He said that he was optimistic that America can overcome impossible obstacles in a short amount of time, just like how the Berlin Wall eventually fell. Many of the ideas the other countries had were all inspired by America’s ideas. We may have strayed away from some of them, but Michael suggests that we search our “lost and found” to further develop the way our society functions and how we treat people. How does Michael Moore establish ethos? In the film, Michael Moore does not establish ethos well when he is interviewing people from around the world about their lifestyle. The majority of the film is him asking questions to other people and then they give their answer. However, it is clear that Michael Moore has Democratic beliefs that Republicans would not agree with. For example, in Italy welfare is a “good word.” Michael replies that welfare is a “bad word” in America which implies that Republicans do not like increased taxes to provide welfare for the government. His questions to the people he is interviewing were focused largely on Democratic views that would support their political arguments, rather than asking questions that would support both parties. He established some ethos by letting other people talk throughout the film, however, Michael Moore himself is very biased. How does Michael Moore use logos? Logos is used in the film when Michael presents factual information to the audience. He uses the statistics of other countries and compares them to America. For example, he compares the tax rates of France and America. Michael is showing that even though France’s taxes are slightly higher, they include a lot more benefits unlike America. Another example is when Michael addressed the rate of crime after someone is released from prison. In America, 80% criminals usually end up back in prison within five years. However, in Norway, only 20% of criminals go back to prison. Michael’s use of logos thoroughly informs the audience of factual information. How does Michael Moore appeal to pathos? Michael appeals to pathos many times throughout the film by using video recordings taken during difficult times American history. For example, when the film shows the Norway prisons, American clips of police brutality and mistreatment of prisoners were shown. When the audience sees this, they most likely develop an emotional response to these videos. This emotion helps the viewers formulate an opinion about how governments should operate in addition to ethos and logos. What is Michael Moore's telos? Michael Moore’s telos is to discover the resources and successful ideas that other countries have and bring them back to America. His goal is to show the audience that we do not need an army to take away resources from other countries, but rather, we need to look for ways we can improve as a society in a peaceful manner. What is the kairos of this film? The kairos of this film is in modern time where a lot of changes are happening in America. The documentary was released in 2016 which is the year when the presidential election was approaching. The year before that, gay marriage became legal and now more and more states are legalizing marijuana. The timing of this film is very significant to its impact. Because so many changes are occurring, Michael Moore wants people to realize that it is possible to make more changes to fix the many problems we have in our country. He knew that now is the time to take action on new ideas before the issues in America become worse. This blog is an overall reflection about how my English Composition I class is going at this point in the semester. Below, I have provided insight about the progress I have made these past eight weeks and what I look forward to in the future. Please also refer to Blog #7: Life-Choice Memoir Process Reflection to learn more about my progress with my Life-Choice Memoir and the Reflective Writing video. In addition, I have also composed a brief video reflection summarizing the text written below. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think of the video! How did you feel about English Composition before the semester started? How do you feel now? Going into English Composition I, I was very excited. I had recently decided to major in English and I had been looking forward to gaining more knowledge about how to improve my writing. Now, I am ecstatic about the amount I have learned in just a few short weeks. The class is so engaging and the blogs really help me to create my formal assignments. I especially enjoy the writing sessions and how much work I am able to produce with free-writing. The first time we did this activity, I felt so accomplished and embraced the messiness of my unfinished work. In this class, how do we define composition? In class, we define composition as “combining two or more communicative elements to make meaning.” In this class, we write so we can [fill in the blank with a substantial answer]. In this class, we write so we can get our thoughts down on paper and eventually develop an incredible piece of work. The first step of the writing process is formulating ideas and writing as much as you can down. Then, you take the parts you want to include in your draft and revise them. After a lot of revision and getting feedback from others, your writing will improve dramatically since you first started. What have you learned thus far about yourself as a writer? As a writer, I have learned that my writing does not have to be perfect initially. In high school, I used to think that everything had to be structured and completed. Now, I know that writing is supposed to be messy and it’s okay if it is unfinished. I have learned that I am not limited by how I write as long as I take the time to revise and work hard to improve. As a writer in this class, do you feel as if you are improving? How so? Since the start of the semester, I definitely feel like my writing has improved. Before, it took me so long to develop one page of quality work. It was like pulling teeth out because I felt like everything had to perfect like I said before. Now, with free-writing, I can easily get 500 words out in fifteen minutes. Even though it’s not my best work, I go back and add more description. My ability to “show” has also improved. Before, it was very hard for me to develop a scene for the audience. While I was writing my life-choice memoir, I think I used more description than I have ever used before on a formal assignment. This is a really good feeling because I know that in future, it will only get better. What are your three primary English Composition I goals for the rest of this semester? My three primary English Composition I goals for the rest of this semester are: 1. Revise my life-choice memoir a little bit each day 2. Read more of my classmates’ work and comment on their blogs 3. Have more people read my work and ask them how I can improve Here are the first 350 words of my Life-Choice Memoir! I definitely need to make revisions, but I decided to share some of the work I have so far!
The circular button of the elevator lit up a dull yellow when I pressed the number two. Once the metallic silver doors slid shut, the elevator began to ascend. Reaching into my pocket, I made sure I had a pencil and a notebook ready to go. My peers were all nervously discussing what medical units they would be observing for the week. “So, Molly, what unit are you on?” Emma asked. “2 East,” I stated with a nervous smile, “You?” “MedSurg,” she replied. I nodded not knowing what else to say. Below me, I could feel the elevator coming to a halt, causing me to lose my balance a little as we were suspended in the shaft. The shiny doors slid open and I stepped into the hallway. “Good luck,” Emma shouted behind me. Giving her a quick thanks, I turned toward the sign with arrows pointing in different directions to figure out where I needed to go. For the most part the hospital seemed strangely quiet. I imagined there to be more hustle and bustle. The sign pointed me to left so I ventured toward 2 East. Even though I was wearing baggy teal scrubs and white tennis shoes that gave me blisters, I still felt like an outsider compared to the faculty. It was clear that I was a high school student by the lost look on my face. After passing a hallway filled with abandoned beds and closed office doors, I finally made it to the medical unit. This is where the hustle and bustle I expected was. At the nursing station, women in red scrubs were typing on the computer and talking to their co-workers. Others in blue scrubs were standing in various parts of the dim-lit hallway and typing on their portable computers or counting pills. Doctors in white lab coats were weaving in and out of patient’s rooms, constantly putting on hand sanitizer as they did. My feet felt like they were plastered to the floor, not knowing where to go or who to talk to. Timidly, I approached the nursing station trying to grab someone’s attention. This blog features my reflection about my Life-Choice Memoir that I am currently writing. Included below is my process of writing and how it has helped or inhibited me over the last few weeks. The video Reflective Writing helped me realize that by reflecting on my writing, I will become a better writer and make good revisions to my memoir.
Who did you work with to compose your life-choice memoir? Was this a good approach? To compose my life-choice memoir, I did not really work with anyone. For some reason, I am very private about personal writing and do not like to share it unless it is really good work. I did discuss some ideas with my boyfriend about what to write. He came up with some life-choices that I made, but they weren’t choices I was very passionate about and that I felt I could write about. While I do not like people reading my unrevised work, I think I should allow more people to read what I have. They can give me good feedback and tell me where I can improve in my writing. What rhetorical mode and genre are you using? For this formal assignment, the rhetorical mode is narration and genre is creative non-fiction. I am writing a true story about myself and incorporating description so that the audience can visualize what I experienced. When did you write this project? Good approach? I usually write in the morning or in the early afternoon on weekends. For the most part, my head is clearer and more focused at this time. Also, during my lunch break in between classes on Mondays and Wednesdays I find time to write. I think this is a good approach because my writing is better during these time periods and I am more efficient compared to doing it late at night. Where did you write this project? Good approach? The first draft I wrote was in various places throughout my house such as my kitchen or bedroom. However, since I am one of eight children this might not have been the best approach because it was hard to concentrate in my busy household. However, I did not really like the topic of my first draft and ended up changing it. My second draft I wrote at my boyfriend’s house while he was cooking dinner. I think this was a better approach because it was quieter and my writing flowed better in this environment. Why did you choose to write about your chosen topic? Good choice? Choosing my topic was very difficult because I felt like I had a lot of potential options. Originally, I was expanding on my personal narrative from my fifth blog, “Life-Choice: Should I Stay or Should I Go?”. It was about a friendship I decided to break off because it was toxic and causing me a lot of pain emotionally. There were some high stakes since we were both part of a large friend group and I knew that if I ended things with her, I’d have to leave the whole group to not make things awkward. I wrote 1000 words for it and I did not like it at all. I thought it was kind of boring and I could not get a decent amount of description from it. Therefore, I began brainstorming for new ideas and decided to write about the time where I decided I did not want to go to nursing school. There were high stakes involved because I had already applied to many colleges and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. It was a very stressful time and there was a lot of pressure when I made that decision. I remember the day I made my decision very distinctly and when I started to write it, the story turned out so much better and more descriptive compared to my first draft. How did it feel to write this narrative ("during, after, and since")? Do you have any "if only" moments that can help you revise the draft? While writing the new version of my narrative, I felt really good about the work I was producing. My writing seemed much more descriptive and the words came easily to me which was an amazing feeling. I’m not quite done yet since I had to start over, but I definitely need to work on how I want to incorporate my “telling” moments and what kind of background I want to give to the story. How will you revise your narrative? As stated in my previous answer, I’m not done with my draft yet because I changed my topic. However, from what I have, I would like to add more description and start writing my “telling” moments. I want to make the reader be able to picture what I was seeing through my scenes and understand the choice that I made by not going to nursing school. |
Molly ZahnerI will use this blog to post my informal writing assignments for my English Composition I class. Archives
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