TOW #25: Divergent Movie Review

Yet another Dystopian movie was recently released a few weeks ago, featuring a girl and her journey in a society where everyone is told who they are. "Divergent", which was a novel in a trilogy before in was shown in the movie theaters, was written by Veronica Roth. In a movie review written by a New York Times publisher named Manohla Dargis, "Divergent" is just another dystopian movie that will never amount to assisting women in their breakthrough of strong and adventurous roles in movies. Through the use of comparison and negative word choices to imply that writers and directors have been attempting to put women warriors on the pedestal and use a female as the strong lead role, but "Divergent" doesn't help this cause at all.

Throughout his article, Dargis consistently juxtaposes Roth's "Divergent" with Suzanne Collins's "The Hunger Games". While they are both set in a dystopian society, the plots are very different; Collins's book is much more violent, while Dargis argues that "divergent" was rather "anticlimactic" (Dargis 1), which didn't allow the true nature of Tris's (the female lead) courage to shine. Additionally, the female lead in "The Hunger Games" doesn't really have much time for romance, as claimed by Dargis, but the fact that Tris keeps wondering why her male instructor pays attention to her really puts the stereotypical teenage girl right back in her place. Using this juxtaposition allows the audience to make comparisons in their minds, and better understand where Dargis comes from.

Dargis also uses a method of negative word choices. For example, he uses "ill-served", "uncomfortable", and "anticlimactic" when describing the plot, characters, and movie itself. Each of these words clearly carries a negative connotation, which makes the audience think worse of the movie.   Because the amount of negative words compared to positive is such a high ratio, the positive ones are barely noticed, and the negativity is retained. Not only did he negatively describe the plot, but he did so with the characters, including the female lead. By doing this, he underscores the ineffectiveness of Tris as the main character, which completely takes away from the writer's goal of creating this new era of female warriors in movies and books.

Although I thought this movie was very good, maybe a little bit long, I must agree with Dargis in that Tris was not a good representation of female warriors of the 21st century. Through the use of comparison and negative connotations, Dargis attempts to inform his readers of the flaws within "Divergent", and convince them that it does not effectively display the breakthrough of women's lead roles in action/adventure movies.

TOW #24: Non-Smoking Ad

Nowadays, most people know that smoking is detrimental to one's life. It's both surprising and disturbing, especially, to witness an adult smoking around children. Not only are the children watching their "role models" smoke a cigarette, but they are also absorbing that nasty second hand smoke. This was an ad that appeared on a billboard that told people to stop smoking near children, if at all. The image uses allusions and an emotional effect in order to display to its viewers that secondhand smoke has a great effect on children, and can cause them to have health problems as well as the person actually smoking.

It's amazing what the effect of a child can do for an image. The picture of the innocent little girl plastered on the billboard automatically drawn the viewers' attention. Without even thinking, the billboard bring in the effect of an appeal to pathos, one that touches the hearts and consciouses of its audience members. As the billboard reads "Children of parents who smoke, get to heaven faster", it's hard to interpret the message wrong. Children are affected by the smoke that their parents bring into the household, and could essentially affect the health and life of the child as well. The Child Health Foundation does a great job of making sure that people get the message by basically telling its audience that children can die because people are being ignorant and smoking around young kids. The little girl portrays every young child in this situation, and the cute look on her face will touch the emotional strings of the audience every time, making the message that much stronger.

Interestingly enough, the ad also alludes to a religion. In the Christian faith, halos are widely used to represent angels. Angels are usually representative of people who have already died. This ad was clever, in that there is a halo above the little girl's head, but the halo is formed by the smoke around her. This is not only a bit horrifying, but it tells the audience that she is going to "heaven" for the wrong reasons. She shouldn't have a halo of smoke around her head, because it isn't she that smokes. It is her parents. It almost brings about a sense of unfairness, as the girl isn't committing the crime, but she is going to have to pay the price. Both the work heaven and the halo contribute to this allusion, which overall may make the ad easier to understand for the audience.

In conclusion, the ad is effective. If anyone saw this on a billboard, they would feel bad for the little girl, and understand that smoking does not just effect the person with the cigarette in their hand. Through the use of religious allusions and an emotional appeal, this ad effectively displays the horrors of smoking and the terrible effects it can have on children with parents who smoke.

IRB Intro: Devil In the White City

For my next IRB, I have decided to reread a historical nonfiction book called, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I have read it in the past, but I remember liking it, and have decided to read it again for rhetorical purposes, as well as the fact that I know I will enjoy reading it. The book takes place during the early 20th century, and revolves around a "fair", that takes place in the heart of Illinois- Chicago. at this time period, there was dancing and parties and women who found their independence, and overall, it was a time period of innovation and recreation. As the fair is being built over this time period, there is a murderer on the loose in Chicago. Like the wind, he is heard but not seen. He moves swiftly without a trace, and no one suspects him because he is a doctor. This not only adds a more intriguing plot to the book, but also provides the reader with insight about the downsides of the glamour and fabulousness that was the early 1900s.

I predict that the author will definitely utilize a dark tone throughout the book. As the book takes place in a fast-moving setting, Larson will have to sneak in the ominous tone in order to encapsulate how mysterious and dangerous this new serial killer was. Because the killer was one of the first to ever cause the death of a high number of people, it was a shock to not only Chicago, but to the entire nation. Many women and children were killed, and it was, as it says on the cover, madness. Larson will also need to change his tone throughout the book because each chapter changes topics. I mean this in the sense that one chapter will take place somewhere relating to the building of the fair, and the next will relate to the killer. The building of the fair should be more of a rushed feeling and less dangerous, but the killer's chapters should obviously be darker.

I can also predict that the author will definitely use references and maybe even allusions. Because this is a historical focus, I figure that these references will support the author's story, and give the story more of a background. It will also establish more credibility for the author, while also giving context to the reader.

I have read this book before, and I know it is good, but I feel as though reading it again for a different purpose will give me an even better understanding of how the author thinks, and maybe even make me realize things about the book I hadn't noticed before. I'm excited to read it again, and I hope it's worth it!