TOW #19 - Visual Text: The Good Dinosaur

The teachers told us that we're allowed to use movies for our visuals TOW, so I decided that Disney would be a good one, because we're always seeing new Disney movies, and this one for The Good Dinosaur particularly stood out to me. Of the recent Pixar posters, this emotion and pathos-oriented style seems (at least to me) the most effective one for older audiences, and should be used more often by Pixar because of its ability to draw the audience and represent the emotions established in the movie, creating an excitement among the older consumers in seeing another touching, fun Pixar movie.
When appealing to a bigger audience than merely children, Pixar should promote its unique quality of emotion to audiences. Almost every single Pixar movie is funny, at least slight action-filled for the kids, and sentimental. The movie posters that I see used most often around movie theaters and online are the ones with a lot of things happening at once, which has the intention of making the movie seem exciting and interesting. However, with so many different types of movies coming out, it's hard for adult or teenage customers to find appeal in a movie that's merely action-packed at a children's level. The aspect of Pixar movies that keep bringing fully-grown individuals back to a theater full of five-year-old kids is the emotion and warmth that they give. The dim-lit, affectionate emotions captured in this poster makes this movie seem different from other ones and draws the audience better. Because the poster was able to show that emotion other movies probably can't deliver as well, older audiences are now more likely to choose to watch this movie. Not only did the established pathos draw older audiences, but so did the simplicity of the poster.
The simplistic and concise nature of the poster appeals to older consumers, who are more likely to be focused and favor simplicity, compared to little children, who love splashes of color and lots of action. In posters for movies such as Inside Out and Zootopia, or even the alternate poster for the Good Dinosaur, everyone is looking at different things or doing different things, so the eye doesn't exactly know where to look or what's the main context and why everyone is acting that way. In the poster above, it's clear that two unlikely friends - a dinosaur and a human - are travelling together in a caring manner, looking at the same place and struggling through the same adventure while depending on each other. The message is clearly stated, the basic context is set, and the audience knows what to expect from the movie.
The main audience of Pixar isn't adults or teenagers, but children, so it's understandable as to why styles like these aren't used as often as the bold, crazy poster styles that most Pixar movies are promoted with. However, this style definitely captures the nature of Pixar that makes the audience keep coming back for Pixar movies, and also makes clear to the audience what they're in for. Most times, the audience is in for good fun and good tears, and to keep appealing to older consumers, Pixar should make their movie posters and promotions similar to this style.

TOW #18 - "Why Do We Teach Girls That It’s Cute to Be Scared?"

     As someone who read the Divergent series in middle school, articles about fear interest me pretty well, because everyone has some type of fear, and there are countless quotes about courage or fighting those fears. The article Why Do We Teach Girls That It’s Cute to Be Scared? by Caroline Paul written for the New York Times talks about fear under the light of gender. By laying her personal experiences are a brave female that contrasts with stereotypical girls and adding specific research, Paul asserts that girls should be raised and encouraged like their male counterparts to reach their potential of being just as courageous as their male counterparts.
     Paul starts off her essay with her personal experience as a female firefighter to break off the stereotypical image of easily-scared girls and demonstrate that someone raised to take risks have the power to fight their fears. She informs the readers of her adventures of having "pulled a bloated body from the bay, performed CPR on a baby and crawled down countless smoky hallways" (Paul 1). She gives credit to her mom, who had told Paul, “I had been so discouraged from having adventures, and I wanted you to have a more exciting childhood” (12). Although these are daunting tasks that not everyone might be willing to perform, she proudly lists them as her accomplishment and gives the readers a specific example of someone who was able to break the mold of a typical, fearful girl. She then expands it to a more scientific, reputable source to prove her examples true and factual.
     In addition to providing personal anecdotes, Paul adds scientific researches to establish logos and to prove that she isn't the only female capable of fighting fears and not being easily scared of objects or situations. She cites a study based around a playground fire pole, "published in The Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology and showed that parents cautioned their daughters about the dangers of the fire pole significantly more than they did their sons and were much more likely to assist them" (10). This shows that she's not an outlier, and that many girls, when given the opportunity, can be just as brave as she is.
     When parents see that precious girl running around, it is easy for them to worry about her safety. However, Paul claims through her personal anecdotes and the studies that she cites that risk-taking, injury, and the resilience to work through their failure is an important process to prepare for the real world, and boys and girls should equally be encouraged to fight their fears so that they can reach whatever possibility ahead of them.

TOW #17 - New, Reading-Heavy SAT Has Students Worried

Last week, the juniors and sophomores received their PSAT scores, and the new PSAT that we took reflected the redesigned PSAT that people have been talking about. Collegeboard redesigned the SAT for various reasons, and there has already been many discussions about its seemingly dramatic changes. This New York Times article written by Anemona Hartocollis reveals a potential issue of the new design that could enlarge success gaps between the privileged and the underprivileged through its use of statistics and quotes from authority figures.

While describing the new redesigned format, Hartocollis lays the potential problems that led to Collegeboard's decision. According to studies, "Competition for market share has been growing, and in 2012, the ACT surpassed the SAT" (Hartcollis 8). This shows through numbers how the decisions came about for Collegeboard, and also establishes logos for the readers to know.

In addition to adding statistics, Hartcollis also adds quotes from authority figures to lay the potential damages of this redesigned format. According to experts, "Chief among the changes, experts say: longer and harder reading passages and more words in math problems. The shift is leading some educators and college admissions officers to fear that the revised test will penalize students who have not been exposed to a lot of reading, or who speak a different language at home — like immigrants and the poor" (2). This shows the problems that would be exacerbated by this new change of the SATs. Because she quoted an expert on the issue, she could establish ethos through this quote as well as clearly show readers what the new SAT could bring.

This was a mainly informative article that addressed the reasons behind the new change and the potential outcomes of this new change. Through the use of statistics, numbers, and quoting authority figures, Hartocollis shows that the new designed SAT could harm students coming from underprivileged backgrounds.