TOW #19: Nonfiction Piece

In the editorial entitled “Another Year, Another Oscar Whiteout”, The LA Times Editorial board, apart of a very successful newspaper distributor located within Los Angeles California, discusses the fact that the Oscars have gone two years in a row without nominating a single person of color for any of the four acting categories.  The editorial board discusses how outrageous this is due to the number of movies present within the years 2015 to 2016 that involved tremendous directing as well as acting by people of color.  The board then proceeds to argue that this lack of diversity is due to a lack of risk in the film industry on “unfamiliar talent”.  This is then brought into the defense that  due to the election of Cheryl Boone Isaac as film director of the Academy, there may be a broader spectrum of diversity brought into the Oscar Academy Awards in the future.  While it is not believed that this will be an instant change, it is believed that there will be a wider range of diversity brought into the voting process of which films become nominated for the categories due to more “viewpoints and sensibilities to bear when voting”. While I agree this may be true however, I believe that these viewpoints may not change at all in certain cases.  While the president of the academy may be African American, it is not correct to state that because of that change, there will be more of a change in which films are brought into the nominations.  That is not something that can be decided by the Academy in all scenarios.  The problem in itself would be the lack of diversity within films, however, I believe that in recent years film industries have been doing a great job at bringing that diversity in.  While there is still much work to be done, films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there were actors of very different diversity.  While the Academy must make an effort as well to increase this diversity, the problem must not be blamed solely on the Academy.  Yes, it is very questionable as to how and why films such as Creed and Straight Outta Compton did not get nominated for any awards, however, it is also very unquestionable as to why films such as Mad Max and many others were nominated for such awards.  In order to see this increase in diversity, there must be an effort put in by both the Academy in nominations, as well as the film industry in increasing their own diversity through directing and cast.

TOW #18: Nonfiction Piece

In the editorial titled “Young Voters, Motivated Again”  by the editorial board at New York Times, the topic of the involvement of young voters in the current election is discussed.  Within the editorial piece, the editorial board talks about exactly why there has been such a large involvement in the presidential race by young voters compared to past elections.  This is because of the appeal that the current candidates show towards the youth.  Ironically enough, Bernie Sanders, who is the oldest of the candidates, manages to pull in the most youth support.  This is due to Sanders ability to deliver his message of creating change within the nation.  This message echoes to the youth, who crave such change within the United States, and enables them to become apart of the campaign.  The Editorial Board enforces this point by using ethos in order to validate their point of view.  By quoting sources such as Harvard, The Editorial Board manages to credit their argument as to why the youth have gained such an interest in voting.  These sources cause the audience, consisting of Americans who may be interested in the current voting trends or who are the least bit curious as to where Sanders support has come from, to take the word of the editorial board.  Because of the effective use of ethos within this editorial piece, I believe that the editorial board does a great job at backing up their point, however, I do not believe that the editorial piece did a good enough job at crafting an argument.  While the editorial board succeeds at telling their audience why the believe their is such a high increase in youth support in the current election, they do not succeed in explaining their views on what the increase means.  In order to make the piece more opinionated, the editorial board must discuss what they believe the increase means, not discuss why it has occurred.  These are my thoughts on the editorial piece “Young Voters, Motivated Again”.

TOW #17: Visual Text

In this visual text, we see the issue of child obesity at stake.  While the author of the image is unknown, it is clear that the image is meant to be projected towards parents in the United States.  This is due to the use of well-known American food corporations as well as the use of a baby as the center focus of the visual text in order to represent that the issue starts with what the parents allow their children to look up to.  In this case, the objects that children loom up to are displayed on a mobile over the crib, including corporations as well known as McDonald's, Coca Cola, and Kraft.  This shows our audience that we as the citizens of the United States put these corporations on a pedestal  or in this case a mobile, and allow our youth to look up to them as if we depend on them.  Other factors that are involved in this drawing are a varying use of bright colors which elaborate just how little attention we pay to the issue of child obesity.  We refine the issue to the point where we do not see the problem that is being faced to our youth.  These bright colors represent the light-hearted attitude to which we present these issues to the public.  Not only are bright colors used in the image, but the image is also portrayed in a similar context to that of a children's book.  This further emphasizes that the issue is something that constantly faces our youth.  Overall, I believe that this visual text does a great job at portraying the complexities of the issues of childhood obesity due to the usage of factors such as symbolism as well as different tones of color.