Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/nickandnorahsinfiniteplaylist/low.html

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is a movie that came out earlier this month.
Audience: The audience this movie is targeting is late teens to mid twenties who love music, and more specifically, less main stream, indie music and that life style.
Argument: It is a little unclear, but I think that it's showing how these kids are just like you (audience) while at the same time showing how their lives are appealing and almost glamorous at times.
Ethos: This movie would appeal to its target audience because the actors it uses, like Michael Cera, embody this kind of lifestyle in the movie as well as in real life. The audience would be able to relate to him and other actors because they would be familiar to them, while at the same time being a celebrity.
Pathos: The main appeal the emotion in this trailer is its use of music. Music takes a main role in the movie which would resonate with the audience who also takes music seriously. The singers and songs used would very much appeal to the audience.
Logos: I think that the logic in this trailer is the idea of "they're just like you". It is targeting a specific kind of teen/twenty-something, and they would, naturally, want to see something that they could relate to.
Effectiveness: I think this movie would be successful for all the reasons mentioned. The audience would appreciate music and actors they like and relate to. The movie emphasizes music, something that is important to them. The only thing that might now work is that it could be somewhat of a generalization of this group of people. Maybe not all would like it.

This piece is called "The Curse of Poverty" and I believe the argument is a call to action; to realize that poverty is a problem and needs to be addressed.

Audience: The audience would be Americans who feel a duty to aid in the fight against poverty.

Ethos: The painter uses ethos by using Martin Luther King Jr. as one of the main parts of the painting. Since he is such a well known person, people will recognize him and relate to him and his history. Also, the text in this piece are quotes and phrases from King himself. It is using his face, accompanied by his image. I believe these together are powerful. Also, having the text above, in a cloud like shape, symbolizes hopes and dreams, something to aspire to.

Pathos: This painting appeals to one's emotions by evoking a sense of duty. We have a historical figure and his famous words will call us to act. The subject, poverty, is also very emotional and would cause people to stop and listen.

Logos: This ties to ethos and pathos. By using such a famous and respected historical figure, it is logical to read and believe the words painted. The subject of poverty implies suffering and the need for help. Logically, another's suffering requires our help.

Effectiveness: I believe this painting is successful in getting its message across. It is drawing attention to a social problem, uses a famous figure recognizable to Americans, and call for action.

technology and alienation

While researching for my paper, I read an article about technology and alienation and what kind of effects technology has on mankind. It will be a good reference for my paper as I am writing about how personal communication devices such as cell phones and e mail separate us from our immediate surroundings.
audience: the audience for this article was clearly an academic one. The people would most likely be experts in the field and are probably reading with knowledge already.
argument: it seemed that it was saying that technology does alienate man, but there were some parts that were kind of vague. He was addressing counter arguments, I suppose, but the author sometimes made it seem that he was arguing for those instead. Not always clear.
The author appealed mostly by using logos, as most of his references were past researchers who have done studies in this field before. It was effective for his academic audience because they are likely to respond to this most.
effectiveness: I thought that this paper, on the whole, would have been effective. However, I think his lack of clearness on certain things, mostly the way he dealt with counter arguments, would be confusing to the reader.

Encounter in the Mall

I was walking in the mall one day when someone in a kiosk stopped me. They had a new product that they wanted to sell along the lines of "clean flix", it was a dvd player that filtered your movies according to violence, language, and sexuality.
argument: The salesman said that too many movies now a days have inappropriate content and many people would like an alternative: movie filters that cut out, skip over, mute parts of movies they do not want to watch.
audience: The audience he assumed he was talking to was probably a very conservative mormon. (I did not fall into this category. I thought his product was kind of silly; if you find a movie offsensive, don't watch it. He even said "why do I have to watch a movie just because the director says so?" A little ridiculous to me.)
ethos: To his assumed audience, he probably seemed credible, a mormon man who was knowledgable in his product, intelligent appearance.
pathos: He would probably appeal to the emotions of his desired audience because he made references to the mormon church and religion.
logos: This would go along with pathos. If you appeal to one's religion, it will seem very logical to them.
effectiveness: Again, for his assumed audience, he would have been successful. I did not agree with him, but I not as conservative as most and do not feel movies need to be changed. If you don't agree, don't watch it.