Paper 1

This paper 1 essay will focus on two different texts that are grounded on a similar basis. The first text is a very visual ad published in 1922 hence centers itself through a colonial lens. It is trying to sell their audience an ideal and tropical holiday. Unlike the first text, the second text draws away from pictorial elements and is rather portrayed through a news article published in the business section of the Miami Herald in 2007. These two different text types already portray major differences as the news article develops a more serious tone than the pictorial and encouraging ad. This is also seen through the paramount importance of the time period of each text which creates a heavy influence on the interpretations and situations during these times, consequently leading to a post-colonial and colonial viewpoint from the different texts. This paper/essay will concentrate on comparing and contrasting both these texts through the elements they portray, specifically the audience which is not only the same but it also grounds the underlying foundation of both these texts which then develop the content, tone and mood and style in which each portray their piece according to their audience and what message they’re trying to bring across to them. Both texts have the same audience but contrasting purposes in order to persuade their point of view to their audience.

When establishing the audience, both texts target a similar audience in a sense that is more upper class people who obtain power within society and are hence able to prevent or make a change, in the case of the second text or being able to purchase a summer vacation in terms of the first text. The advertisement aims wealthy and social elite as it also says “Only First Class Passengers Carried.” The second text targeted towards American and European retirees coming to the Caribbean islands yet because it is an article at a local newspaper in the business section, one can determine that it also targets the general readers who are interested in business in order to inform them about the issue.
Yet the purpose of the texts differ greatly especially when identifying the fact that both texts have almost over 90 years apart hence setting a colonial and post-colonial perspective as well as that both the text are of different types which usually means they have different purposes towards their audience. The first text focuses on persuading and to advertise the Fleet Ship and trips to people of higher class and thereby marginalizes the middle and lower classes. Consequently, the second text tries to persuade the readers in order to reveal the plights of the islanders and evoke a sense of sympathy for the seeming colonialism that is occurring in that particular region.

The first text is a very straightforward advertisement named “The Great White Fleet” which was originally a battle fleet hence by using the name it sells to the audience and makes the fleet sound reputable and also includes some sort of nationalism and as well as relating to using this name of the Great White Fleet as creates an ethos in terms of persuading them through using a credible and historical source. The advert then goes on to discuss the summer and cool weather and mainly includes visual to express their message. In contrast with the first text, the second text is an article that focuses on the particular case of a man named Jiménez who has lost his home. The main message of what they’re trying to get across with the whole idea of squatters vs. developers and their stance on swaying the audience towards a more liberal viewpoint. Also title referring to squatters take on developers already sets the theme of a competition between the two groups of people, one pitted against the other.

The tone and mood of both texts differ greatly due to their purposes and content of each other. For the first text, one sees how they’re clearly speaking to their specific target audience which in this case is the higher class making it very accessible for them unlike for the middle or lower class which sets an exclusive tone. It sets a happy and enthusiastic mood in order to encourage their audience to go on these summer trips.  When naming countries such “Jamaica” and “Panama”, a very foreign and “touristy” tone is used making them want to explore and see new places also they’re targeting people who usually go on these sort of trips. Unlike with the article where we see the tone consisting of two main aspects; when in regards to the “squatters” one sees an indignant tone at the situation and when looking at the companies of developers and real estate agents, we see a tone of annoyance at their money grubbing actions that have displaced and harmed so many less fortunate. For readers who in some relate to this or are emotionally evoked by this set a mood of rage and annoyed. Additionally the diction throughout the article such as “squatters” or “poorest” creates a very pitiful and sympathetic attitude from the readers.

In order for adverts or articles to appeal to the readers, the persuader has to be able to use elements in order to engage and persuade them with what they’re trying to say. When looking at the first text, one sees it’s very visual and the pictorial elements take up at least 2/3 of the page. The title “The Great White Fleet” is the name of the cruise ship. It uses ethos as it is named after a popular US Navy Battle Fleet therefore illustrating a sense of patriotism.  It also emphasizes the word “White” by making the word itself in white, in contrast to the black background which could also be a reference to the white community as during that time period they had the power and wealth (higher class) to afford this. The image placed at the bottom of the advert is of women and men put across as very elegant with the women wearing fashionable hats and arched necks which plays on the intention which is so that audience can visualize themselves in that position and actually be persuaded by what is being sold to them. Like in present days, this ad uses marketing techniques by placing “Reduced Rates for Summer Cruises” in bold, making it eye catching and considering that the tie is summer the font is emphasized which is easily appealing to the consumers. “Sailings, every week, from New York, Boston and New Orleans” highlights the accessibility of the cruise ships. Furthermore, serving from top capitals only emphasizes the exclusivity of this cruise. Moreover the ad uses techniques such as glittering generalities almost in a sense to create a “brotherhood” towards the specific targeted audience. In addition its uses ethos – “United Fruit Company” - reliable company. In opposition to the first text, the second text is structured merely as an article. The title of the text is “QUATTERS TAKE ON DEVELOPERS” thus setting the theme of a competition between the two groups of people, one pitied against the other. Throughout the article, certain negative diction such as “shacks” “scavenged” “rough” “cracks” is utilized to convey imagery of the poor and urban setting. The newspaper article then gives a testimony which appeals to the audience’s sense of pathos as it elicited empathy for a man who seems to deserve rightful ownership of his property. The article overall creates an overwhelming sense that the story is being perceived from a post-colonial perspective; multiple indicators of this are in the diction “occupy these once-isolated isles”, “threaten to displace hundreds of low-income residents”, “charges of colonialism”, “homes have been burned and been torn to the ground” which are all techniques in order to evoke the readers emotions.  It also uses statistics to its advantage; especially the statistic of $1 billion dollars greatly contrasts the $1 wage cited earlier in the passage that greatly emphasizes the lack of wealth they obtain. Throughout the article, many techniques are visible such as testimonial, plain folk, card stacking, source manipulation, and glittering generalities as well as using literary devices such as Imagery, weighted diction, Alliteration, hyperbole. All of which were used in order to sway the reader towards a more liberal viewpoint and be able to inform and persuade the audience of the issue.

Overall, summing up, one sees how both texts are essentially grounded on a similar basis but have different approaches based on their purposes. Through the stylistic features each individual text has used, one sees how they are able to persuade the audience. Therefore it is visible how their tone&mood, purpose and structure contrast to convey their particular message. 

English Paper 1

Paper One- Commentary Structure 

English Paper 1

1^st Paragraph: Introduction

•          Give a broad overviews/ background
• -          Establish both the text that will be examined
• -          Touch on how/what they essay will focus on+ from which stance

2^nd Paragraph: Audience and Purpose

•      Text 1: audience and purpose
•    Text 2: audience and purpose e.g. reveal the plights of the islanders and evoke a sense of                        sympathy for the seeming colonialism occurring in the area
•     Links between both and how the audience that is targeted is the same/similar but the purpose     in the message they’re conveying differs between the two texts
•    Also make address the time periods that each text was produced in and the effect it has on the   purpose and audience – post colonial vs colonial perspective

3^rd Paragraph: Content and Theme

• -          Text 1: main message it tries to convey and if takes on certain stances – tries to sell their audience an exotic place for vacation home
• -          Text 2: main message and what they’re trying to get across with the whole idea of squatters vs. developers and their stance on swaying the audience towards a more liberal viewpoint. Also Title referring to squatters take on developers already sets the theme of a competition between the two groups of people, one pitted against the other

4^th Paragraph: Tone and mood

• -          Text 1: uses target audience as a clear way to establish tone and because they’re trying to sell an idea or vacation home and as well as through the visuals it sets a happy and enthusiastic mood in order to convince their audience to purchase these vacations. Tone also mainly focuses specifically and narrowly to their target audience- closer sense of communication
• -          Text 2: regards to the “squatters” we see a tone of indignancy at the situation we have forced them to. This results in a mood of pity. Annoyance at their money grubbing actions that have displaced and harmed so many less fortunate. Also with a mood of rage from the audience.

5^th Paragraph: Style and structure + (Literary devices/ features)

• -          Text 1: the ways the text has been structured- visuals are the main focus and attention of text in order to relate in a more direct way with their audience. Certain diction used and the main reference to “The Great White Fleet” -> use of ethos
  
        Emphasis made using certain fonts and colors- more appealing to the audience
        Techniques used such as empty claim, ethos, glittering generalities etc
• -          Text 2: unlike the first one uses imagery in a verbal manner also due to the fact that it’s a news article in the business section also therefore the style and structure follow one of a news article. It uses Testimonial, Plain Folk, Card Stacking, Source manipulation, and Glittering Generalities to manipulate the viewpoint of the reader
  
        Lit devices included- Imagery, weighted diction, Alliteration, hyperbole

6^th Paragraph: Conclusion

• -          Justify the introduction
• -          Establish how the task was examined
• -          Restate the thesis made at the beginning

Introduction

                           This paper 1 essay will focus on two different texts that are grounded on a similar basis. The first text is a very visual ad published in 1922 hence centers itself through a colonial lens. It is trying to sell their audience an ideal and tropical holiday. Unlike the first text, the second text draws away from pictorial elements and is rather portrayed through a news article published in the business section of the Miami Herald in 2007. These two different text types already portray major differences as the news article develops a more serious tone than the pictorial and encouraging ad. This is also seen through the paramount importance of the time period of each text which creates a heavy influence on the interpretations and situations during these times, consequently leading to a post-colonial and colonial viewpoint from the different texts. This paper/essay will concentrate on comparing and contrasting both these texts through the elements they portray, specifically the audience which is not only the same but it also grounds the underlying foundation of both these texts which then develop the content, tone&mood and style in which each portray their piece according to their audience and what message they’re trying to bring across to them. Both texts have the same audience but contrasting purposes in order to persuade their point of view to their audience.

IB Learner Profile Propaganda: Open-Minded

Rationale

This propaganda poster aimed to promote open-mindedness and and portray it as a key basis in order for the succession of this world. This was done by using techniques such as glittering generalities whereby we tried to appeal to the audience through pathos through diction such as "embrace" "globalize" and "value" all of these words would portray good ideals, it is a way to bring people and make them appreciate our different identities and how all of this leads to the globalization of the world hence the globe at the top of the page. The main image of the poster is one that associates to the brain and the mind and it has rays coming out of it which in our case represent our ideals, value and identities etc. that we have to embrace as a whole world again shown through the use of a globe. A quote was placed towards the top of poster stating: "A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open" this was said by a famous and well known American musician and although might not have too much credibility, his name is still recognized and the quote itself is very creative. A rhetorical directed at the audience is placed at the bottom right above OPEN- MINDED written in massive caps, the question is also written in red to stand out more and really make the readers question themselves. Different fonts are also used to stand out more.

Propaganda 4 Corner Reflection

“The term propaganda always refers to a negative message”

Before exploring the actually statement in depth it is essential to understand the definition of propaganda. In Latin propaganda  meant “things to be propagated and which ought to be spread” and a general definition of propaganda is a specific type of message that is presented in order to directly influence opinions or behaviors of people rather than providing an objective statement or information.  The term itself has been through quite a lot of history, because in original state, propaganda was a neutral reference and used in a more positive connotation in order to promote more favorable and affirmative influence on the audience such as creating propaganda on public health or encouraging people to vote or encouraging people to report crime and like the article given to us in class about the British and Russia, we see how they used propaganda in order to promote peace rather than encourage war.

Hence, I disagree with the statement above but I do believe that as time passed on, many people took advantage of the influence propaganda can make on people and started using  it to promote more negative concepts and therefore it acquired a more negative connotation by association to its manipulative nature. Now in the world of media, propaganda is seen as a political and bias use of techniques in order to promote a certain set of beliefs and ideas. Such as when watching the documentary in class of Americans depiction of the Iraq war, one sees how different types of propaganda had been used to implement their own ideologies and influence the audiences’ perception of the situation.
As well as when examining the article of Jessica Lynch, the US perception of the war was presented in a more positive light by the means of that propaganda used of her rescue.
So overall I disagree with the statement because I don’t believe that it has to be referring to a negative message but nowadays I do believe that people use it to mislead and deceive people through promoting negative message in order to convince them or influence their perception of a certain situation. 

Rationale

The article that has been chosen is one published by Fox News clearly showing a negative image of Islam and portraying them as a threat and uses false statics to prove its point, especially coming from a news outlet that considers itself bias towards the Republicans. This will all be examined through Bill Maher who has a strong perspective on Islam and this article shows support towards his beliefs.
This pastiche will hence alter the perspective and rather show Islam in a more/too positive light and bias to Islam because it wont show their flaws and it'll use correct statistics to prove that people shouldn't be generalizing a whole religion and that the Western media plays a big part to the reason there are such problems with Islam and showing negative image of western culture,

LOOKING INTO BILL MAHER

William "Bill" Maher is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, media critic, and television host. As a TV host, he is known for the political show Real Time with Bill Maher(2003–present). Maher previously hosted a similar show called Politically Incorrect

The article that will be examined is by Fox News:

Important notes from article:

•  Published by Fox News- a very known American news outlet that is known for its bias and promotion of the Republican Party.

• Discusses the young school boy Ahmed, who produced a homemade clock and brought it into school and justifies the action of him being arrested as normal because it’s natural to be more scared of a Muslim holding a case and how thinking like that only leads you to be called an “Islamophobe” or a “racist”

• “According to Pew, a majority of Muslims in several countries consider stoning a woman to death a legitimate punishment for adultery.”

• “Muslims surveyed in 24 of 37 countries where the question was asked believe abortion to be morally wrong.”

• “Three quarters or more in 33 of the 36 countries where the question was asked believe homosexuality to be morally wrong.”

OWN PASTICHE 

Islam- A misunderstood perspective of a peaceful religion influenced by the westerns and their media 

Islam, one of the world’s youngest religions putting it at about 1400 years of age has had a lot of criticism during the last couple of years, specifically after the tragic incident of 9/11. Looking at tragic events, recently an intelligent and eager 14 year old with high ambition produced his own homemade clock to take into school to present to his teacher who immediately felt threatened by his actions and called the police on him. Quick background check… the young boy was named Ahmed Mohamed, he was a dark skinned boy, Sudanese (Arab) and most importantly, Muslim. The teacher did not bother to communicate with the boy before having him arrested and quickly rushed to the assumption that he was a “threat” to the school.

When looking at the portrayal of Islam in Western media, there are so many misconceptions on their behavior and their Islamic actions. After the slaughtering and beheading in Saudi, there have been a lot of talk about the stance of whether Islam is actually a religion of peace or rather a religion that promotes violence. When talking about the stoning of woman only 14 out of 50 major Muslim countries still follow this old fashioned action but that doesn't mean it is supported. The majority of Muslims are against these actions even within these 14 countries and have started organisations and protests to stop these inhumane actions. Not all Muslims promote such actions!

When looking at abortion and homosexuality, many people manage to make it seem as though Muslim takes an evil uptake to these issues when in fact the majority of anti-homosexual protests occur by Christians and the western culture because like the majority of religions in the world, Islam is not the only one that disagrees with homosexuality and abortion! Also looking at a topic that was of great talk was genital mutilation, again, western media portrayed it as a Muslim ritual when in fact it has nothing to do with Islam, it is a cultural problem that does not reflect on the entire population of Islam or any part of it.

When referring to ISIS or other attacks thought to have occurred by Muslims, the Western media has the tendency to generalize a religion of 1.57 BILLION PEOPLE as terrorists or rather correlate Islam to a religion of violence and threat yet when a white man shoots children in a school or people in a cinema or three Muslims at a parking lot, this clearly doesn't reflect the Christian or the white culture but rather is seen as a "psychological illness"
As well as that, a report released by the FBI showed that out of all the terrorists attacks that have occurred in America, 6% only were perpetrated by Islamic Extremists and hence over 90% of terrorist attacks were actually carried out by non-Muslims ....Talk about threat.