TOW- Documentary: BULLY

As a teenager, it's astonishing to know suicides are in the top five leading causes of death for teens. At first, I thought, how could that be? I'm a relatively happy person, and I could never think to do such a thing; however, after watching "Bully", I understand what goes through the minds of the kids who make that decision, and this documentary has made a huge impact on my life and the way I will treat others in the future. Throughout the documentary, the director utilizes exemplification and a notable emotional appeal in order to make the audience aware of the dangers of bullying, and how it impacts more people in more ways than we think. 

Even at the beginning of the documentary, the director utilizes exemplifcation. In fact, the first few scenes feature a father talking about his deceased son who was bullied to the point of suicide. This use of an example at the start of the movie is extremely effective because it immediately places the audience at the scene of the consequences of bullying. Exemplification also provides intrigue for the audience. Immediately, I wanted to know more about bullying and where this movie was going to go. Even the second scene follows another boy who is being bullied, and shows the hardships he faces and the people he has to deal with jus tot get through one day of school. It's heartbreaking to know that kids actually go through this every single day. To me, it's almost as traumatizing as being bullied. 

There's no way the director could  have made this documentary as effective as he had without the use of an emotional appeal. The fact that in the first thirty seconds of the video, there is a father crying about his dead son is just the beginning of the rest of the emotional video. The emotional effect not only pulls the audience in, but allows them and provokes them to feel sympathy for these kids who are being bullied every single day. It's a tragedy, and the more people that are aware, the more that can help stop the bullying. It's amazing what emotions can do. I, for example, cried at least four times throughout the documentary, and call me a girl, but I know for a fact that some of the boys who watched it cried as well. The documentary hits hard on emotions, and it is one of the best strategies in getting the director's point across. 

This documentary will forever be one of the most moving things that my television has ever shown. I loved it. I hated it. I accepted the fact that I have bullied others in my life, but at the same time, I've been bullied. It taught me the dangers of even calling someone a name behind their back. Through the use of an emotional appeal and exemplification, this documentary shares and makes people aware of the dangers of bullying. 

Reflection TOW

Well, it's been a great year in APELC, and I'm proud to say my writing has definitely improved, along with my TOWs. I noticed, specifically, improvements when I looked back at my analysis of images. At the beginning, I wasn't really sure how to rhetorically analyze an image or a visual text; in fact, I didn't really know that images could serve any rhetorical purpose at all. As I learned throughout the year, however, my analysis of visual texts became much better and much more sophisticated. I think I have definitely mastered analyzing these types of texts. They are also my favorite, and I find it extremely interesting that a simple picture can convey such a large message.

Although I feel I definitely improved, there is, of course, room for more improvements. I still have not mastered rhetorically analyzing short, non-fiction texts. I have become much better at it, but finding the author's theme, message, or purpose is something I still struggle with this. I struggled with it much more at the beginning of the year, and these TOWs helped me by exposing me to tons of different types of writing, which allowed me to try and find messages of different authors and different passages. I had also never really been too into non-fiction before now, but discovering intriguing newspaper articles and even biographies have been two advantages of doing these TOW assignments over the course of the year.

TOWs were definitely one of the most time-consuming, yet beneficial aspects of this class. At first, I didn't really understand how they were going to help, but I found it so amazing that after just two or three of the entries, my writing began to change and develop. The success that I've had throughout APELC during this year is reflected by the improvements in my TOWs. It's cool to look back on the ones from the summer before junior year and get a gist of how much I really did learn this year. Thanks TOWs!

TOW #26: Argument Against Headphones (NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09FOB-medium-t.html?_r=0

Since before I can remember, headphones have been a part of any music-lover's daily lifestyle. They're easy access to a world of different music when an escape is needed. There are hundreds of different types of headphones: some that stick to the ears for runners, and some that even cancel out all noise around the person wearing them, besides, of course, the music being played. The question is, though, do headphones effect us more negatively than we are aware of? In 2011, Virginia Heffernan wrote an article for the NY Times about whether or not headphones were a good source of entertainment. Using statistics and exemplification, Heffernan convinces her audience that headphones are bad for society.

Heffernan begins her essay with an extremely effective statistic that sets the tone for the rest of her essay. By stating that "One in five teenagers can't hear whispers or rustles" (Heffernan), she automatically focuses the audience's attention on the fact that hearing problems are an incontrovertible effect of wearing headphones. the statistic is not only enough to grasp the reader's attention, but also more than enough to make a solid point, and make the rest of her argument believable. Heffernan also uses statistics when writing about how that number of teens losing hearing has jumped immensely since 1944. This not only supports her last statistic, but ends the introduction paragraph leaving the audience wanting to know more about why headphones are so bad, ultimately strengthening the argument. 

Through the use of exemplification, Heffernan connects to her audience, which is an important factor when trying to convince them of something. For example, she uses this strategy when explaining how exactly the headphones work. In some ways, this is actually ineffective, because she does use some jargon such as "diaphragm" and "conversions and compressions". Overall, though, this is good because by explaining the processes technically, she is giving herself more of a knowledgable status, and letting the audience know that there's no arguing with the science of the headphones. This essentially strengthens Heffernan's argument. 

Heffernan does a great job in explaining the headphones situation to her audience, and she convinces them with ease with her tactics. Through the utilization of statistics and exemplification, Heffernan is able to show her audience why headphones are bad, and make a clear, and strong, argument backed up by pure fact. Her argument is so good, it's almost unarguable.