Toni Morrison Interview

I am using my out of jail pass for this annotation.

Four Modes Analysis II

4. Rhetorical appeals

Movie
Ethos: The Bride's feelings of revenge which are the reason why she decides to go to Japan. Also her desire to see her daughter again.
Pathos: The Bride's commitment to do what she thinks is right.
Logos: Uma Thurman's character goes to Japan, therefore she knows how to speak Japanese.

Song
Ethos: The feeling of being thankful and happy
Pathos: The value of gratitude
Logos: Part of the lyrics are in Japanese

Book
Ethos: The desire to learn more about Japanese culture
Pathos: The understanding of other cultures and how they influence American society
Logos: The citations and stats use in the book to prove his research

5. Explore and evaluate rhetorical appeal in the presentation

To be able to give a good presentation the audience has to feel a connection with the subject, so the rhetorical appeal is essential. For example the audience can feel a connection with Kill Bill since it is well known and the character is an American (Pathos) who knows and is interested in Asian cultures. Mr. Robot became a cultural icon, used in movies and commercials showing how a song with Japanese lyrics can become an American hit; it may be because of the song's happy tune (Ethos) and catchy lyrics. Finally Japanamerica was written by an American author(Pathos), explaining how Japanese animation has affected his country's culture by giving factual statements (Logos) produced by research and study.

6. Discuss how this presentation could be used to teach your audience about the topic

My topic is how Asian cultures influence American Society, what better way to teach it that by using material of their own popculture. First I can show how in Kill Bill aspects of Asian cultures such as food, martial arts, music and cities are present and are a big part of the film. Second the song Mr. Robato shows not only how the band was influenced by the culture, but many other Americans, since the song is an icon played on movies, commercials and T.V. Shows.

Four Modes Analysis I

1. Describe the visual and textual elements

Movie: Director and writer Quentin Tarantino, used Asian martial arts(Hong Kong and Japanese Samurai) as the basics of Kill Bill. For example, "The Bride" (Uma Thurman) is skillful in these arts. Also The Bride travels to Okinawa in Japan to obtain a Katana from a sword master, and to kill O-Ren Ishii who is also responsible for the church massacre. Kill Bill was made in two movies, but Tarantino also produced an anime film which tells the background story of O-Ren.

Book:Kelts explains how Japanese culture, especially anime and manga influence America's popculture.

Song: For starters the song title and part of the lyrics are in Japanese and it has become a popular icon. Many have heard the song and it has been featured in Movies and TV Shows. The meaning of the song is not entirely related to the topic, but the band was definitely influenced by Japanese culture.

2. Overall argument

Movie: Kill Bill's plot shows how the Director was influenced by Asian cultures.

Book: Japanamerica is about how Japanese culture especially Anime and Manga had and still influences America's society.

Song: The use of Japanese language in the song and the mention of a Japanese icon such as Robots show how the band was influenced by such culture.

3. Explain audience

Teenagers and young adults of any gender interested in popculture or Asian studies.

Four Modes

The following fictional elements represent and are prove of my research topic: The influence of Asian cultures in American Society.

First the movie Kill Bill by director Quentin Tarantino

Second the book JapanAmerica by Roland Kelts


Third the song Mr.Roboto by Styx

JRock in America

Another topic in my paper is the role of Asian music in the America Society; one of the most popular genres of Japanese music is known as JRock.

There is one organization (started by Japanese artist Yoshiki) that works to promote this genre and keep the fans together known as JROCKREVOLUTION. The organization also holds concerts and serves as an agency for many Japanese artists who want to become famous in the United States.

Anime in America

One of the topics in my research is the influence of Japanese Animation and Manga in America.

In youtube you can find the Anime Documentary it explains the start of Manga and Anime and their influence in their home country and the world.

Anime documentary part 1
Anime documentary part 2
Anime documentary part 3
Anime documentary part 4
Anime documentary part 5

Random Acts of Kindness

After clicking all around the website I found the stories of different people who committed small acts of kindness. They were really small things like looking for a little brother's toy or staying with a friend in his house.

With a roommate like mine I do random acts of kindness all the time, like helping her with her Japanese homework to making tea and taking care of her when she is sick. I do enjoy helping her, because when I need it she is there for me too.

One million monkeys typing

The one million monkeys website lets you add on to stories started by other writers.

The story I choose went through a lot of changes; first it was about the main character telling a stranger a secret, then the main character discusses how he or she made some mistakes and was the genius in the junior class. From then the story changed to some time machine that can only go backwards and not forwards, so the character has to live his or her life all over again.

My snippet put the story back into track and gave it a start to a story
http://www.1000000monkeys.com/snippet.html?branch=14810

The Simpsons' Critique

The Simpson's has been one of the most popular shows in the Fox Network for more than 9 years. The cartoon represents the life and troubles of a middle-low class family and their neighborhood; they are the representation of a normal American family. The Simpson's is more than a cartoon; it is a "sarcastic critique of mainstream American life"(The Simpsons as a Critique of Consumer Culture).

The characters in the show besides been the representation of power (Burns as Capitalism), the place of men and women in today's society (Homer and Marge), the failure of public schools (Bart) and rationality (Lisa); they faced the same issues as today's society, for example money, politics, family and religion.

I remember when I was a kid my mom would not let me watch the Simpsons since I was "Too young to understand"; I used to ask myself what is there to understand in a cartoon. Now that I am older I understand what my mom meant; to be able to watch the Simpsons an individual should be aware of the problems in our society. In the other hand my younger brother started to watch the Simpsons earlier than I did and he was able to understand. It seems that the younger generation is more exposed to the troubles of our world than older generations were.

Works related to the Bell Jar

The Bell Jar shows sex and the real world from a woman's point of view. Another book that describes the same topic is Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho.

Eleven Minutes tells the story of a Brazilian girl who is tricked to work in Sweden as a prostitute. The book also explains her point of view on the world and how she gives up love.

Here you can read parts of the book

http://books.google.com/books?id=5YHsw6V-wr8C&dq=eleven+Minutes&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=Q8vcSei_O5XItgfbzpGGDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#PPP1,M1