Posts Tagged ‘narrative’
Food Network Star is a show on Food network, that puts a group of professional chefs up to the challenge of becoming America’s next Food Network Star. At first glance you would imagine that this television show was just like any other food competition, bragging right and title holding show like, Hell’s Kitchen, Top Chef, etc. However, the interesting element about this show is that it is very similar to a reality tv show, in the sense that contestants become so caught up in the show and how their lives become affected by those who they are competing against. Most certainly, the average viewer would recognize that this show is slowly becoming a reality tv food drama. The contestants are strategically coming up with ways to get “knock out” the weakest and strongest competitors each challenge. The competitors seek to prove to both the judges, their fellow contestants and America that they are worthy of claiming the title of th next Food Network Star. During the process, we see the true intentions of the contestants, some may encourage their fellow competitors to keep up the good work, while others seek to be on top regardless of who they step on. ‘Its a dog eat dog kinda thing’ most people may say however, when did Food Network Star become such a reality show. Seasons before didn’t have this much drama and rivalry among the contestant. Is this what the Food Network show was aiming at this season? If so, they have hit it! Claws are beginning to come out, people are being put to the test by their fellow competitors and true intent is becoming more and more evident.
This show allows us to think of the conventions of “reality” television shows. Are they only to be viewed as “reality” tv or should we label other shows, very similar to others within the same genre, as reality tv? This show in particular strays away from the narrative conventions of typical food competition shows. It’s not longer about the food and the competition, its more so now about who can “knock down and knock out” their fellow contestants at all cost. Like crabs in a barrel, only the best of the best will prevail. Sad to say but we can consider how this show is unconventional in this way.
Media represents narrative, argumentation and image structured cinematography within a single text. The synthesis is the connection and function of all these three components of a text combined. The synthesis allows us to look at all the components as a whole. We can look at the film in terms of what the story is, what rhetorical nature of the film based on conventions and the intratextuality and intertexuality of the film. The narrative of the film is a story of a man seeking repentance for accidentally taking the lives of seven people. He does so by donating his organs to seven strangers.
The argumentative aspect of this film is whether or not this extraordinary story can be seen in “reality”. Of course there are quite a number of organ donors who “give life” to people who they may not even know. However, is this particular story as real as it is on a movie theatre screen as it is in reality. The story, the characters, setting, diegetic conventions and film editing and experimentation influenced how the audience “reads” the film as a single text. A casual viewer may never really pay much attention to these critical aspects to formulate interpretations of what system of signifiers and signifieds at work. The film 7 Pounds and the visual metaphors, signifiers and rhetorical conventions allow the audience to look beyond just what appears on the screen. We are given free rein to analyze all aspects of the movie. Its more than just the story of a man seeking forgiveness for what he did, more over, it is a film about the same man realizing how each moment of his life is worth more than just living. But, could we also argue that this theme is very typical for the majority of Will Smith movies? I must agree that there is the recurring theme that most Will Smith films have, but are all of them conventional or even be considered “realism”. Image-constructed cinematography plays a critical role in how images evoke emotion and influence our own perspectives.
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Post #13- 7 pounds (Narrative)
Posted on: June 10, 2011
The Film 7 Pounds by Gabriele Muccino starts off with the story of Ben Thomas played by Will Smith, who causes a car accident while texting and driving. The accident kills six individuals and his fiance. He tries to redeem himself for what he did by saving the lives of seven people. He will determine who gets his organs based on whether or not they were worthy of receiving them. He donates his organs to six strangers and his brother. However in the end he commits suicide by placing his pet box jellyfish in a bath tub filled with water. His friend Dan ensures that hios vital organs are delivered to their rightful new “owners”. This film follows the conventional cinematic film style, it has characters, a plot, specific setting and narrative. The genre, however of this particular film is not very “cut and dry”. The film is just seen as a drama of some sorts. Its story line and plot appears to be that of a drama.
The trailer begins in first person narration, with Ben (Will Smith) being the voice over. This allows the audience to relate to the narrative at a personal level. We, as viewers, are able to placed ourselves in “his shoes”. However, as the plot is being told in the trailer, the narration shifts from first person to third person. Other characters in the film tell the story through their own narration. This aspect of the narrative is very much conventional.
If we look at the film itself and the narrative that the film has, we notice that there are multiple interpretations and signifiers (along with their signified) the audience have formulated. With relation to the interpretations, one may think that this film is just another “saving the world” drama at the expense of the main character. Others may argue that this film as a mystery film; the audience may not know what the main character is up to, what will he do next, what his motives could be. One thing that I took note of was that the film had a similar idea of Shakepeare’s Merchant of Venice (man who pays his debt by giving a pound of his flesh).
Word Count:363
Post #5-(Argumentative)
Posted on: May 26, 2011
Rhetorical argument within narratives is usually seen as being very
believable. The storyline often captures the attention of the audience. The
more persuasive the argument, the people tend to believe it based upon what and
how it is being presented. Paradigms are relevant to how they, narratives, are
being revised in terms of what genre we can classify or categorize a particular
style or technique. In the case of the clip below from the ABC Family’s hit
series Pretty Little Liars, the scene in the hospital gives the
illusion that Hanna is seeing the deceased Aly in her room. Aly reappears to
check on her because she wanted to make sure she was alive but she begins to
play on her emotions about what really happened the night of her death. Then,
she disappears to some unknown destination.
As we can see, the idea or type of style behind this scene can be view by
the audience as being somewhat of a mystery; others may view it as a bit
science-fictional, a drama or a mixture of both. The paradigms of this TV show
are so interchangeable that we, as viewers cannot only see this show in just
one particular light. That is the most interesting thing about paradigms; the
signifiers are a part of some defining category. The composition of the rhetoric
would make a difference because if the narrative would be affected by the style
in which the authors wrote it. It can be understood that if Aly were to just
come back and all was well again, that would leave viewers confused, or if Aly
would have killed Hanna when she went to visit her. However could this mean
that, this is what makes a mystery, a mystery? Well, certainly it is dependent
upon what each person considers a mystery to be, personally I would be lost if
Aly had decided to reveal her secret that she was alive. Notice that when the
scene first started, it appears that Hanna is hallucinating, and then it
reverts to her appearing to be very real.
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How can we really know if this news clip was meant to be real or fake? The clip looks real, not staged, the news reporter and the announcer both look credible. The clip starts off as being quite funny, it incorporates graphics for the effect of the bats coming out of the Christmas tree. The narrative in this film unfold by telling the story of a local Christmas tree farmer and a housewife that purchases fake trees. The questions that are being asked are “What makes a Christmas tree real or fake?” and “Which is better?”
Looking at the report you can clearly tell that it is fake. The report is giving a false representation of what news in reality is. It has some level of truth in it because it aims at giving credible stories from both the farmer and the housewife. They both are talking about things that are happening in the “real” world. By this I mean that in the event that you buy a real Christmas tree, there could be a chance that a bat or some animal could be living in it and could go unnoticed by the farmer that sells it. However, notice that the story is being told in a certain way. The people being interviewed and the interviewer are behaving in different ways.
The irony of it all is that this news report is trying to get the question of whether a Christmas tree is fake or not, answered, but the report is clearly fake. It is quite interesting to know that documentaries, news reports, photographs, paintings and other forms of media such as these are being presented as narratives in light of them being fake. Then, can we ask this question, Is it fakery if we dont have the crediblity to back it up? Who made these expertists, well expertists?
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shawn20009 