The Gaze

Today in class we discussed the concept of the visual gaze.  Now understanding what it is, I realize how important these rhetorical gazes are in writing. If you want your message in your writing to connect with the readers, you need to pull out a certain gaze that your audience has experienced.  A good example: right now in our country, tension is fairly high about the upcoming election. But when a picture of the flag or a bald eagle is present, we all connect through this gaze! This picture brings our country together and makes us stronger.    





In class we named a couple of different gazes which include, the consumer gaze, the traveling gaze, the religious gaze, and also the cultural gaze.  Im sure there are many more different kinds as well. I like Prof. Marchant's example of Romeo and Juliet. This was a good example of the cultural gaze. They have made different movies with different settings, but they all have the same plot of Romeo and Juliet. The producers hopes for these shows is that the viewers will be able to connect easier with movie this way.  It will be very helpful to take these gazes into mind as we prepare for our next writing assignment.

The Cause and Effect

Today I thoroughly enjoyed discussing cause and effect in class. The cause and effect occurs in all stories, it happens in our daily lives! because of our actions, or even lack of, we have outcomes/ effects. An example is our essay we are writing in class, we work hard correcting the essay and polishing it, in hopes that the effect will be a good score.  in our writings, using this tool will help the reader understand the story better. Quite often like in a movie, we can tell what the effect is going to be from the cause, before it actually happens. we connect with the stories and movies this way.
The Professor really made this concept really click for me when he gave us his example of The Ticket.  Its amazing how far back he can link all the causes and effects from the car reck clear to him speeding to get to  the hospital. We can use this tool for any story or life event that occurs. Until today, I never realized how much of our lives are filled with cause and effect situations.

Peer Review

I think peer review is very important especially when it comes to essays! I think it is great to get a second or even third view on your story. It helps me to understand what works and makes sense, and what doesn't. This last review really helped me strengthen my story.
 Its neat being a peer reviewer. Today I was in a group with two other individuals whom I had no idea of anything about them. Reading these stories gives me glimpse of who they are.  I am able to connect with others in the class by their experiences. Its neat!

rhetorical tools

In the Narrative Structure we read, Mary Frances Zambreno makes a number of good points that are used even in current narratives today.  One of my favorite things that Mary mentions, and we even discussed in class was use of a gap.  I love story lines that make the reader think and dig deep into the story.  These gaps in the story can often leave an unsettling feeling for the reader, its these times we don't know what is happening with the characters. Examples of this are even seen in movies like Harry Potter (which we discussed in class) in the end we don't know what happens in those 14 years after school, but we can make small assumptions based on what see the 14 years later.
Another thing I noticed was how Mary was able to tie in her points with actual quotes from the stories she is talking about such as Aurthor and the  knights at the round table. When she does this it makes her points so much stronger then standing alone. We discussed in class of why these stories that Mary is talking about are repeated so often. Repetition itself is a rhetorical device, people and an audience are more likely  to remember certain quotes or events when things  are repeated. 

Narrative explanation

Today in class we learned the essential elements of a narrative. We learned about different tools that can be used to help elaborate the story.  The tool that stuck out to me the most was flash-backs, and looking forward towards the future. Flash-backs allow the readers to be able to learn more information about what the author is trying to get across in the message. Looking toward the future will allow the reader to understand the authors goals and what they are wanting to accomplish and how they will get there.

I love the tv show The Good Guys. In this show it is about two cops in Dallas, Texas who stumble upon crime cases. The director added in a lot of flash backs to help the viewers understand what is happening. In the show when the characters (i.e. the detective, and sergeant Stark) stumble upon a case, the screen freezes and says something like "six hours before" and then it shows the criminals in their act before the cops come. Then there is a fast forwarding transition back to the present where the two characters are trying to figure out what took place. Flash-backs are a creative way to help the audience understand more detailed information.