Dead Ringers Review By Stacy Cacciatore I watched the Cronenberg film, Dead Ringers this week for the first time, in preparation for this class, and I certainly feel that it hits on what Burke is saying about identification. Beverly and Elliot Mantle are identical twins, played by Jeremy Irons. Throughout the film, they act like … [Read more…]
Night of the Living Dead Review By Stacy Cacciatore In Night of the Living Dead (1968), words are not only unpersuasive, but the lack of communication among the living leads to their demise. As Jancovich (1994) points out in Horror, “the zombies outside are responsible for hardly any of the main characters’ deaths’. Most of … [Read more…]
Get Out Review By Stacy Cacciatore When analyzing Get Out from a rhetorical hermeneutics perspective, I noticed the objectification of the black male body. For example, in the garden party scene, all of the white people are ogling at his body. One squeezes his bicep while another asks “is it true?” referring to the stereotype that black … [Read more…]
In Groundhog Day, Phil, played by Bill Murry, has the opportunity to perfect his persuasive pitch to convince Rita, played by Andi MacDowell, that they are meant to be together. Burke (1962) states: A useful ironic device is suggested for a courtier wearing a mask. Let him disguise himself as someone of inferior rank, … [Read more…]
In Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee, the writer, producer, and director, employs several rhetorical strategies to articulate the primary message in the film, which is that we need to ‘do something’ about race relations in America. The film highlights how American society navigates racial, class and economic issues. Spike Lee uses racial stereotypes to highlight … [Read more…]
In the video Piéce touchée (1989) by Martin Arnold, I conducted a bit of research and found that this 16-minute film is based on an 18-second long segment of a movie from the 1950s. In Martin Arnold’s signature style, that we saw in the two previous films we watched in class (Alone. Life Wastes Andy … [Read more…]
In Simulacra and Simulations, Baudrillard (1994) introduces us to simulacra, which is a copy of something that no longer has an original and simulation, which is the imitation of a real-world process (167). Baudrillard provides an excellent example of simulation by using Disneyland as an example. He states that Disneyland is a play of illusions … [Read more…]
2001: A Space Odyssey, functions as prophetic rhetoric. It’s pretty amazing to watch this film in the year 2019 and recognize the sheer number of technological predictions that came to fruition that had to have been far-fetched in the year 1968. When this film was made, we had not even gone to the moon yet, however, … [Read more…]
I thought I was being particularly insightful when I told my husband a quarter of the way through 2001: A Space Odyssey that I noticed Kubrick seemed to be focusing on the eyes. However, it quickly became clear about mid-way through the movie that the focus on the eyes wasn’t a ‘hidden’ message, yet an … [Read more…]
In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, we meet Jefferson Smith a naïve scout leader who is brought into a position of Senator because it is believed he will follow orders. Throughout this movie, I noticed was that Smith seemed to act more like a boy than a man. One component that wasn’t clear to me … [Read more…]