Are All Disney Movie Ratings Truly Accurate? (Convince Me Blog Post)

        As I was trying to think of a good blog post for the "Convince Me" theme, I started thinking about Disney movies. Whenever people think of Disney, they think about children watching G-rated movies like Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. However, sometimes movies that are rated G or PG are actually scary for young children. Movies like Mulan and Beauty and the Beast (Both rated G) have moments in them that could be quite frightening for young kids. Mulan is all about a war where people are dying and Beauty and the Beast has moments with a beast and a man who is trying to kill the beast. Concepts like death and war don't seem like good topics for an audience of little kids.
        Of course, it is always the decision of the parent to allow their kids to watch movies with specific ratings, but in my personal opinion, I believe that not all ratings for Disney movies are actually correct. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea for children to watch The Little Mermaid and Emperor's New Groove. No, these are the movies that I grew up on along with many other kids. What I'm saying is that these movies should be more realistically rated, instead of being skewed to the lighter rating of things.
        Example A: Spirited Away. I'm not sure how many people remember this Disney movie or have seen it, but I remember it very vividly. When I was little, I saw this movie. It is rated PG, but I would personally give it a rating between PG and PG-13. The movie is all about spirits and humans being turned into animals. What I remember the most though is the spirit that everyone in the movie was scared of: the spirit that ate other spirits. There were scenes with this particular spirit that gave me chills! Of course, I was less than six years old, but still, this PG movie seemed like a horror movie to me at the time!
        Example B: The Princess and the Frog. The first time I saw this movie, I was amazed that it was rated G. The villain in this movie is influenced by evil spirits that go after the main characters, the princess's firefly friend dies, and in the end the villain is sucked through a strange gate because he sold his soul for magic. This is probably the darkest disney movie I've ever seen, and even my mom agreed with me that it was strange that The Princess and the Frog wouldn't at least be rated PG. If I was under ten years old, I would have had nightmares.
        So, the main point of my argument is that not all movies can really be judged by their ratings. I've even see movies rated R that have less violence in them than a movie rated PG-13! You never truly know what you're getting into until you have seen the movie. That's the most reliable way to discover how violent a story is. Once you see the movie itself, you can form your own rating!

President Obama's Speech on Syria (Extra Credit Post)

        Hearing a speech live is completely different from reading one. President Obama delivered his speech in a very persuasive style. I noticed how he used a lot of hand motions, which made him seem more passionate about his speech. When we read the speech in class, it was much easier to pick out all of the writing fallacies hidden within it. While I was watching the actual thing, it was more difficult to critique the wording. Personally, I felt as though the live speech was more effective than the written copy. This is mainly because Obama talked in a persuasive manner and explained every detail in a slow, easy to understand way. Because of this, I believe that people would be more convinced that our government is making good decisions if they watched the speech and didn't read it. Once you read the script, it is extremely hard to not notice any fallacies and persuasive traps. I interpreted the speech in a very different way from when I read it. By hearing and seeing who was speaking, the ideas and explanations were much easier to follow and it was less confusing. This may be caused by the fact that when you are watching a speech, you are using two senses (hearing and sight), while when you are reading, you are only using one sense: sight without hearing. The more senses you are using, the easier it is to understand a concept. Therefore, I conclude my blog post by supporting the belief that Obama's speech was more effective live than in writing.

My Reaction to Pathos, Ethos, and Logos (Class Connection Blog Post)

         To be honest, at the beginning of the school year when we first learned about the concept of pathos, ethos, and logos, I was confused. It was hard to grasp the idea that you had to examine writing this closely to gain a full understanding of its essence. I also wondered how I was ever going to remember which rhetorical device was which. As the past few weeks have passed, though, I've started to get the hang of things. After a while, you start to associate each term with certain ideas and images in your head until they just sort of come naturally to you in a way where you hardly have to think at all. Now, I have a pretty good basic understanding of which is which and some of the ways in which they are used. Lately, I've been starting to notice them in everyday things that I read, and even in some of my classes. Before this year, I wouldn't have even acknowledged these specific styles of writing hidden throughout the world.
        For instance, a while ago, a read a book called Mistaken Identity, written by Don and Susie Van Ryn, along with Newell Colleen and Whitney Cerak. These four individuals worked together to write a novel about the true story of two girls who were caught up in a terrible car accident. One of them died during the accident, while the other lived but was in critical condition for almost half a year. The girl who survived was badly injured and was literally mistaken as the other girl in the car accident (the one who had died). Over time, the girl recovered and the truth came out, but for a few months, everyone's lives were mixed up and there were some very rough patches for everyone involved. To elicit pathos, or emotion, authors use their wording carefully. One wrong word, and the writing can give you an unwanted emotion by mistake. When people use pathos in their writing, they elaborate on the subject while strengthening it with a certain sense of emotion. In Mistaken Identity, the authors used emotion such as hope and faith. They also used hints of sorrow throughout the book, but it was not overused. By using strong feelings of hope and faith, the writing is able to enlighten the reader and give them the feeling that everything happens for a reason, and even when life gets rough, there is always a glimmer of light. Also, since the authors were all family members directly related to the incident, they were able to use the events that occurred to establish ethos, or character. Everyone is able to relate to hardships, and some are even able to relate to such severe hardships as the ones in the book. This shows that the authors were able to successfully use the concept of ethos in their writing. They were also able to employ logos, or reason, efficiently within the book. Throughout the entire book, everything was organized in a way so that the events made sense. Nothing was confusing and all of the elements had a special place. The novel contained knowledge of right and wrong as well as the reasoning behind all of the strange occurrences that took place. No one could have imagined that a mistake as big as this could ever occur.
        Ever since we learned about ethos, pathos, and logos, I've been noticing more and more places where rhetorical devices can be found, just like in Mistaken Identity. It is nice to be able to make connections between what is learned inside of class and in writing samples all over the world. I still have a LOT to learn about ethos, pathos, and logos, but I'm on my way!

Similes! (Rhetorical Device Post)

        The world is full of similes. A simile is a comparison between two different things by using the words "like" or "as". They are used all the time and are very common in everyday writing. For example, someone could say, "The singer's voice was pure as an angel". In this case, the two things being compared are the singer's voice and an angel, considering them both as "pure". Another example might be, "The summer day was like a fiery inferno". This time, a summer day is being compared to a fiery inferno.
        Similes are used all the time in advertising and other forms of media. They can be easily used to elicit pathos through the connections people make with them. This is extremely helpful in advertising because it makes it possible for companies and businesses to draw people in from allowing them to see a sign with a simile or something similar on it. Then, people make connections between the sign and their life, and many people decide to look further into that particular business.

        This picture is an example of a simile used specifically for advertising. It says, "Like that. BUT BETTER". "Like that" is referring to an old computer that is broken down and "BUT BETTER" is referring to a new type of computer that has just come out. When people see this, they will connect it with a personal memory, perhaps the memory of their own computer that is broken or not working in the exact way they would like it to. In this sense, there is a good chance that the person who saw the advertisement would soon buy this computer, therefore eliciting pathos.

        As you can see, similes are used for a variety of writing styles and purposes. They are extremely useful in everyday speech and writing. Without them, the writing world just wouldn't be the same. The simile is a great rhetorical device and I am glad that we are able to use them in our everyday lives. 

A Little Thought About Anne Hathaway (Independent Reading Blog Post)

        So, I just read a short article about the famous actress, Anne Hathaway. It lists many of the roles she has played and the films she has starred in. After reading through it, I realized that I have seen at least six movies that she has played a lead role in. Come to think of it, I've probably seen even more! I remember that the first movie I saw that had Anne Hathaway as the leading role in it was Ella Enchanted. Then, this year, she won a best supporting actress Oscar for her amazing performance in Les Misérables and I could tell that she truly deserved it. Through all of the movies I have seen her in, she is able to change her personality drastically to fit her part exactly.
        This got me thinking about the life of an actor or actress. They must be busy practically every minute studying lines or auditioning for a new part. We always hear the huge roles our favorite actors get while at the same time, we never hear about the roles they try out for and don't get. I then did some research but I couldn't seem to find any news about roles that Hathaway did not get. I looked through biographies and many different articles but I just couldn't find anything. Personally, I find it very doubtful that any actor, no matter how good they are, got every single part they auditioned for. Everyone has certain roles they can play, and certain roles they cannot. Even if the actor is amazing, some parts just don't fit them, usually depending on their age or what they look like. Still, who knows? Maybe Anne Hathaway has had good luck.
       Well, as I was researching, I discovered another article about her that sparked my interest. This article was about how Hathaway admitted that she almost didn't get the role of Fantine in Les Misérables because she was only thirty years old, and Fantine is portrayed usually as an older woman. Yet, she was so amazing in her audition that the producers casted her for the part. She was so into her role that she went thirteen whole days without eating during the production of the movie so that she would looked starved, like the character is portrayed. I feel like this was going too far, since you should never harm your body for a part in a movie. But it was her own choice, and she is her own person.
        Well, that about sums up my long rant about Anne Hathaway and the acting life! I have the links to the two main articles below. (:

http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/annehathaway.html

http://www.ivillage.com/anne-hathaway-admits-she-almost-didnt-get-les-mis-role/1-a-507267