Idea 1: “Super Smash Bros” (Video Game Series)

Currently it is a very popular topic, since there is a new game for this series that is going to come out this December. The pros of this choice its that I feel that there would be a lot to write about, as it is a long running series and a very popular one as well. There are many ways to interpret on, such as why people might have interest in it and why is it doing well as a series. The con is that, it might not be easy to write about because it doesn’t really have much of a story within the game, and there isn’t a particular character that can be focused upon writing the essay.

Idea 2: “Never Turn Back” Crush 40 (Song Lyrics)

This is a song that has a lot of meaning, both based on the video game that this song is from, as well as relating to many aspects in life. The lyrics shows the struggles that people have when trying to move forward and don’t try to look back into their pasts. The pros is that it would be easier to analyze lyrics and interpret the meaning behind it, however i’m not sure if its a good song to do a long analysis on it.

Idea 3: “God is a Woman” Arianna Grande (Music Video)

I feel that this would be a good song to analyze because of the somewhat strange music video for this song, and it would be interesting to interpret each of the different scenes of the song. The cons is that maybe there isn’t anything to interpret, and the scenes and outfits in the video were meant as a stylistic choice and might not hold meaning to it.

Topic Pick: “What Are Words?” by Peter and Evynne Hollens and The Piano Guys

I am choosing this song as my first pick because I find that although I don’t strongly resonate with it, I find its lyrics bring about a truth and reflection that we rearly consider in the words that we say to the people we love. The main chorus of the song, “what are words when you don’t mean them when you say them,” essentially defines the whole song. The song is about how love should be unconditional, and that when we say we love someone, we stay by them regardless of what happens, staying with them forever. I believe the advantage of choosing this song is that it can relate to just about anyone because it doesn’t have to relate to just romantic love, but anything we love, a sport, craft, or family member; the same meaning of love applies to anything, loving it through the highs and lows. The disadvantage is that the song lyrics are minimal if it is relating to anything besides a love relationship.

“Rise Up” by Andra Day

“Rise Up” has become a major inspiration song in the past year and I believe it brings about very strong emotions. The song goes through singing about rising up, how when we fall in life, we must get back up stronger than before and keep going. As the song has been used for a vast number of events to encourage positive attitutes such as perseverance, persistance, and courage, it has also impacted many struggling through a difficult time, giving hope. These influencial moments prove that the song is a powerful one that is relatable to many listeners.

“O” by Coldplay

This song by Coldplay uses the imagery of birds to represent rising above troubles that we may face throughout our journey and to just keep flying on. The birds in the song can represent anything from opportunities, relationships, or physical objects, that come and go, but someday you may fly along with it. The advantage and disadvantage of this song is that the tune is very slow and seemingly a solemn tone, but the song is actually a song of hope so it is a different approach that may go either way. Also, there doesn’t seem to be a clear direction of what the artist was writing about in the song lyrics, therefore it is open for self interpretation.

Do we use a new lens to analyze the text with each paragraph, and how may we connect the different lenses?

Is there an ideal order of the usage of the lenses to analyze the song?

Ori and The Blind Forest (Top Pick)

This is my first choice because I enjoyed every aspect of the game. The advantages of this choice are not having to provide historical context but could be expanded in a way that I feel fits well with the theme. The game features a variety of mixed emotions in which the characters go through and commit to the actions they do. Such examples of these are sorrow we get from the death of a loved one, self-sacrificing love, or blind revenge. However, even though this is something I believe I can write about, I’m not exactly sure what I can connect this to.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I selected this as one of my potential choices because there is no right way to complete the game. When playing, we have the liberty to skip side quests and aim for the completion of the game, or we could take our time casually and explore the beautiful sceneries that the game offers. Like in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, we can take our own route to reach completion. We may decide its necessary to prepare ourselves for harder tasks ahead or to step up and take on responsibilities and duty that allows us to define ourselves as successful. Although this is a very easy connection to make according to the choices we make in life, I cannot think of anything else I’m able to write about.

Don’t Starve Together

This is another game that has much social interaction in gameplay or in lore. Wilson, the protagonist of the game, is entrapped in another world by Maxwell, who controls the world freely as he likes. However, Maxwell unexpectedly loses rulership of the world and loses that power, and ends up in the same situation as Wilson; who is struggling to survive in the harsh environment created by himself. Even though Wilson and Maxwell hold bitter relationships, they utilize game theory to increase their chances of survival. The interaction of these two characters can be related to cooperation that we may partake in. I have a few ideas of what I can analyze in this game, so this could potentially be another choice I can choose from. However, the disadvantages to this text are the lack of context I can present to the audience and choosing an idea that can potentially be written to fulfill the writing criteria.

Questions

How am I going to analyze the text I have chosen?

How do I correlate my sources to analysis?

Main Choice: Xxxtentacions “Look at Me” Music Video

While it’s common for young troublesome black rappers to be outspoken, it’s not common for them to speak out against their own demographics. “X” makes a grisly music video where he speaks against social issues revolving violence and race. The lens to be explored are intersectionality, race, and that of BLM. Cons of this analysis are that the controversial meaning behind it might not be accepted by most, regardless of the rectitude it ultimately aims at holding.

 

Shade Rooms hypocrisy on Bias and Racism

The Shade Room is known for being the “Black TMZ”, covering everything from memes, social issues, news, etc under the lens of the African American community. Being that its demographic holds an unvaried set of values and interests, the Shade Room presents its content specifically and exclusively. Under the lens of race, there is a lot to build off on and compare to other media outlets. The cons is that analyzing things such as memes don’t always allow for a consistent criticism of things.

 

Joyner Lucas “I’m not Racist” Music Video

Joyner Lucas’s messages on race and gender issues are always explicit and for the most part, conclusive. “I’m not Racist” lends itself to be easily analyzed through the lens of race and politics. Cons of analyzing this piece is how straightforward it would be as it doesn’t leave much to interpretation.

Topic Mr. Robot (Top Pick)

  When I first watched the show I was blown away by just about everything. It is set here in New York City, which made it both familiar and relatable for me. There’s a little something for everyone to relate to in the show, from drugs, mental illness, materialism, and more.

Pros: Episodes are about 45 minutes to an hour in length so there is enough content to analyze. The show is a little over 3 years old so the topics are trending with the times.

Cons: So many possible aspects to analyze, hard to choose which ones I’d like to discuss. The show has three seasons that you would need to watch in chronological order to fully understand.

 

Topic Saturday Night Live

  I haven’t watched SNL for that long, maybe like 6 months, give or take. The viewership has declined in recent years but it’s still a great show to get a couple of laughs and commentary on current political issues. SNL is also set in New York City “And live from New York it’s Saturday Night!”

Pros: Saturday Night Live can appeal to many people. Everyone likes a good laugh but not everyone understands politics so in both a good and bad way, SNL makes it simple and fun.

Cons: Sketches cover a wide variety of topics, but they are also very short (average is about 5 minutes.)

 

Topic Soccer in America

  Everyone knows that basketball, football, and baseball are the dominating sports in the United States. However, soccer, or football as known by basically the rest of the world, doesn’t have the dominating presence despite being known to more people in every corner of the world. Why is this the case? What factors are at work?

Pros: The topic has become a big talking point in recent times and it’s a topic that I could easily write a lot about since I’m a big follower of soccer.

Cons: Like Mr. Robot there are so many reasons that could be discussed and it’s about choosing the biggest reasons or the most interesting ones.

My first project pitch choice is the music video “God Is A Woman” by Ariana Grande. The main reason or pro of why I chose to analyze this music video is because there are so many symbolic images included within this music video that I think would be really interesting to closely inspect and break down. I’m planning on using the lenses of gender and religion to interpret the music video since I think this song is mainly focused on those two areas. However, the con of this topic is that it’s kind of controversial and people might disagree with my interpretations. Also, since everything seems to have a symbolic meaning attached to it, I would have to do a lot of research and narrow down my options to only focus on a few of the main points of the video.

My second project pitch choice is the music video “1-800-273-8255” by Logic ft. Alessia Cara and Khalid. The pro of choosing to analyze this music video is that there are a lot of lenses of which I can choose to focus on. One of those would be the sexuality/LGBTQ+ area, which is what the music video chooses to mainly focus on. Another would be the mental health/depression/suicidal area due to certain scenes within the music video and the song’s title, which is the number for the suicide hotline. The con for choosing this is that the music video is shown like a movie and that it would be hard to closely focus on certain scenes without having to reference some scenes before it as background knowledge.

My third project pitch choice is the music video “The Village” by Wrabel. The pro of choosing to analyze this music video is that there is a lot of symbolism in the form of both images and quotes that I can focus on and interpret. I can also interpret this through the gender/transgender lenses through the eyes of young people because that’s the main area that this music video is trying to bring awareness to. The con of choosing this topic is that this music video is also shown like a movie and it would be hard to focus and narrow down on a certain scene without having to reference certain scenes before it.

The option that I chose was the #LikeAGirl Always Commercial because it shows one question being interpreted with two different categories of people. This commercial appeals heavily to pathos and uses the metaphors “Run Like a girl” and “throw like a girl” to show how the stereotype is interpreted in society. The pro to this piece is that it can be analyzed so much and there is so much to write about when relating it to societal examples. However, the con is that it is hard to put into words and describe without having the viewer see the commercial. The commercial itself is an interpretation that my paper will be interpreting.

The second choice I had was the new Subway commercial that is directly opposing McDonald’s. I thought this commercial was so interesting because it includes the McDonald’s sign as a heartbeat and shows that subway is the healthier alternative. The pro is that this commercial is different and creative with its use of the “M” as the heartbeat. This can be analyzed heavily and I can also look at the background behind their feud. However, the con would be that I wouldn’t know what more to write about and don’t think it would give me enough for the paper.

My last choice is the Mountain Dew Ice vs. Doritos Blaze Commercial which includes ethos with Morgan Freeman and Peter Dinklage. There is also a lot to analyze and interpret in the setting of the commercial as well as the songs that are used to represent both sides. The con, however, is that the commercial can get confusing as to what the real purpose is. After watching it a few times, I was confused as to why they used these celebrities and what was the reason for the commercial other than humor.

My top choice for the Rhetorical Analysis paper is the ‘We Will Rock You’ 2004 Pepsi Commercial. This was the first “text” that I thought of when I learned that we would have to analyze something. Even though it may be considered an outdated commercial, thinking about it always makes me feel excited and ready to yell out the famous words, “we will rock you”. One of the many pros is that the Pepsi utilizes a lot of ethos in the commercial by connecting the popular “We Will Rock You” song with well-known celebrities such as Britney Spears, Beyonce, and Pink. Another pro is that I talk about how the commercial resists the stereotype that women are weak and inferior to men. A con is that I am afraid I will not have enough to fill out a 6-7 page paper.

My second choice is Radiohead’s ‘All I Need’ MTV Music Video. I chose this because it shows tons of pathos by using a split screen to compare a white, British boy and an Asian boy.  After watching it, I felt sympathy and guilty about the problems I consider to be “terrible” or “hard”. The pro is that the message of the music video is very clear: to raise awareness and end the exploitation of child labor in countries like China. A con is that I don’t know the band Radiohead that well and am not familiar with their type of music. Are they known to create music videos with an important message, or is it just this music video? I don’t know.

My third choice is to analyze an episode of the now-cancelled ABC show, “Perception”. I am currently watching re-runs of the show. It is about a brilliant neuroscience college professor who uses his vast knowledge on how the brain works to help the FBI solve cases. He is also a paranoid schizophrenic, so when he does not take his medicine (which is most of the time), he acts irrationally. A pro is that the purpose of the show is to raise awareness about schizophrenia and to show the side effects of it. The mental health movement started gain ground around 2012 when this show began so it may not be a coincidence that the show is adding to the movement. A con is that there is not much else to write about the show.

 

Out of the three topics, my top choice is to analyze a music video. Specifically the music video of Pink’s song ” What About Us”. I love the song and watching the music video made me love it even more. Since I never got to analyze the music video, even though I found it interesting, I want to take this chance to do that. Some pros of analyzing the music video are that theres lots of scenes going on and it also correlates to the lyrics of the song which is also interesting. There are lots to analyze such as the people chosen to be in it, the setting, the props, etc. I can’t really think of a con for analyzing this.

The second possible topic to analyze is a commercial. Commercials are very interesting, especially since I’m a marketing major. Just like a music video, factors to consider for analysis are props, people, setting, etc. However, the cons of analyzing a commercial is that there might not be enough context which would limit my analysis.

The third possible topic is to analyze a TV show. I would like to analyze an episode or a season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. This is because there’s always drama going on in the family and there lots to talk and analyze. However, the con would be that there are so many episodes and seasons that it would be hard to choose which one to focus on. Also, each season leads to the next one so I would have to talk about past incidents that happened. because of this, the analysis might seem too confusing for a reader who don’t know or watch the Kardashians.