Rhetorical Analysis of Project 3

Better late than never!

Author

• I'm a hardcore lover of horror movies and I've always been very interested in studying psychology. I'm actually considering changing my major to something more psychology centered right now.

• As of right now, I'm a nursing major with a minor in psychology. But like I mentioned above, I am seriously considering switching to a different major because I've enjoyed every psychology course I've taken in both high school and college. 

• I've actually done some research on how horror films have affected the public's perception on women, although nothing extremely extensive. I think this is helpful though because I know that the topic of how these types of movies affect people is hot topic that people definitely care about. 

• I'm kind of at an academic cross roads at the moment. I'm officially a nursing minor, but I have essentially been on the physiology track this whole time because these paths have some overlap in the beginning. I've been doing some soul searching in the ways of changing my major to something more psych centered, so let's see how this decision turns out. 

• Lately, I follow the election pretty closely as many people do (feel the bern). I'm also pretty passionate about animal rights and the negative affect that massive farming to produce meat has on the environment. I considered picking something in this area as my topic, but most of these types of arguments are HUGE and not something I really wanted to tackle. I also super support medical marijuana, as someone who has personally seen the incredibly positive affects that it has on seriously ill people. 

• I always tell myself that the older I get, the easier it will be to answer the hobbies/skills/how do you spend your time type questions. I don't think I'm the type of person to know myself very well. A few hobbies of mine; I love love love music. I don't know if this counts as a hobby but I spend plenty of time on it. I'm a professional Netflix watcher, and have worked in a clinic at the front desk forever. I love to dance and have danced all my life (until college :( ). 

• I come from a little Costa Rican family, the first to move out of Costa Rica to the US. I feel like I've always been told to work really hard but love what I do, so I think that's always been the motto for me. We were never rich, especially when we first moved here, so I think responsibility has been key in my life as well. I took care of my brother a lot growing up while my mom worked and I've always loved kids, so I think this predisposes me to be interested in child psychology. 

• My mom and dad are both 100% Costa Rican so the culture I grew up in was a little different, but I was also raised here in the US so I'm also very acclimated to American culture. The biggest differences I see that still apply to me are that my mom is still pretty strict with me. American culture is very "set your kids free" when they turn 18, but that's definitely not the case with my mom and family. 

• My access to cultural power is slim to none. I'm a young, hispanic girl in her first year college, which isn't the most respected position to be in. I am a pretty argumentative person (which I've always chalked up to being a Gemini) but it's possible this could also be because arguing is one of the only ways I can be taken more seriously. Hopefully these skills will help me out in the project. 

Audience

• I am a little split on who I'm thinking the intended audience will be. I've narrowed it down to two possibilities; concerned parents of children, or lovers of horror. I figure I can make it an argument that these movies are too violent and are hurting our children, or that the negative affects that these movies may have on kids could be affecting their own kids and maybe themselves as well. The second one is a little iffy, but I could imagine it becoming a question of "is their love for horror hurting their current or future children? What about themselves?" I'm going to let my research dictate the way I decide. If I go with the parents, I can imagine this video essay showing up on parenting or psych websites. If I go with the horror lovers, I can see it coming up on horror movie forums, as well as psych websites. 

• I believe that parents usually agree with this issue, so they're predisposed to agree with me. On the other hand, I don't think that the horror movie lovers would necessarily agree with me, which might make for a more interesting argument. 

• Like I said, parents would be all for this argument. They would agree with the topic, that these movies are too violent and bad for kids, and their concern would most likely grow. Horror movie lovers could vary. They could either agree with what I have to say and maybe develop some uneasiness about their love for horror, or they would completely disagree and maybe even be angered.

• Parents; I can imagine arguing with plenty with plenty of research and statistics. Tons and tons of research has been done on the topic, so it would be easy to cite plenty of instances to scare them. Horror movie buffs; statistics and research will be handy, but I could also include clips of scary movies and make it more interactive. Say I find a study that claims adults are more inclined to act violently after a scary movie, then I play a clip and pose a question to the audience, it could be more eye opening and possibly more of a shocking experience to this type of audience. 

• I can think of many parents who are against their children watching violent media, which includes scary movies. It wouldn't be hard to convince this audience. As I'm typing this, I'm realizing that if I choose the parents I'm going to have to make some sort of spin on it to really make it an argument. I can also think of several people who love scary movies enough that it would be hard to convince them that it could be bad for them, and in that case I will use statistics, like I mentioned before. I'm a firm believer that facts are the best way to convince people.

Purpose/Message

• Parents; the purpose of my argument would be to solidify the belief that these violent horror movies are detrimental to their child's development, and basically get them all riled up in any way I can. Horror movie lovers; the purpose of my argument would be to get then to stop and think about the movies they love so much. Could they be changing or hurting their psyche? Should they choose to continue to watch them or maybe take a second to re evaluate?

• The main point that needs to be accomplished in my argument is a SOLUTION. There are a few proposed solutions, but nothing concrete.

• An important point that needs to be kept in mind that parenting is subjective, and children are all different. Raising ratings and trying to come up with an objective scale will not prove to be successful.

• Kids are important, yes. I love kids. But adults and movie lovers must be kept in consideration as well. They are the ones who but movie tickets and keep Hollywood and films afloat; their perspective has to be included.

• The MPAA (ratings system people) I haven't heard much of a perspective on, except to claim that their scale makes sense and is up to par, so more research needs to be done there; perhaps with specific statements.

Context

• I'm going to be doing a video essay. My audience will expect a voice over, music, plenty of pictures, clips, and maybe some moving graphics. 

• I've never made a video essay before, so this is all new. I'm a little worried because figuring out how to make a podcast was pretty hard, but I have edited footage in IMovie before (my freshman year of high school) so I am depending on my memory of that to help me out a lot. 

• Like I said, I'm not extremely confident in this genre. I have a feeling that this might make for some mediocre cuts and some cheesiness, but I'm going to try very hard for it to not be. I'm arming myself with Youtube tutorials and really hoping for the best. 

• I think that the most effective conventions of this genre are pictures/video and music. Music is essential in setting the tone, and its a visual project so you absolutely need pictures and videos. Videos can easily get boring if this conventions aren't present to spice things up and keep the viewer's attention. 

• As far as historical events having to do with government and this topic, the only I can think of are the rating scales that these movies undergo; by that I mean the criteria that makes a movie PG13 or R. This isn't even necessarily a huge aspect of the argument, since the focus is the horror movie genre as a whole, but it might be helpful to keep in mind. 

• Media outlets covering the topic include; US News, CNN, CBS, and NBC.

• 1st major counter argument: i am working on this i will be back.

How is everyone doing on there blogwork?