Author: jstein2

This is a poster for the film Austin Powers. Pictured on the poster is Mike Myers’ titular character, Austin Powers. This poster, while not very complex, does a great job of summing up the essence of the film. Like the film, the poster is fun, colorful, and just makes you smile.

One of the main elements of this poster is its use of color. The shades of red, yellow, and orange that appear in the background are fun colors. They put the audience in a happy mood. This is perfect considering the movie is a comedy and aims to have the viewer in that exact type of mood. The blue color of the title, tag line, and outfit all match. This creates a sense of unity on the poster. Your brain automatically associates all three blue things with each other. Usually, the color blue is associated with sadness. On this poster, it is not the case though.

Analyzing the Austin Powers on the cover, you can already see what type of person he is. He clearly is a very happy person. He is seen smiling and doing some sort of obscure dance move. This also portrays his sense of confidence. He doesn’t care what you might think about him or his sense of style. His sense of style is clearly outdated. By reading the tag line at the bottom of the poster, you can tell that he is from 1960’s. This sort of velvet jacket might have been more widely accepted back then. The viewer can also tell from the tag line that Austin Powers will be brought back in the 1990’s. Although not that far apart, the two decades were very different times.

The words in the background of the poster really give the audience a sense of Austin Powers’ 60’s mentality. Words like “groovy” and “saucy” were words more commonly used in the 60’s. Someone in the 90’s most likely wouldn’t be using those words. Austin Powers, like many people in the 60’s, was a free spirit. Everything about this poster, from the font of the letters to Austin’s appearance convey this message.

In the end, this poster achieves it goal of creating a fun mood that gets audiences intrigued. This poster is very minimalist compared to posters one might see today, yet is very effective at doing what it aimed to. From this poster alone, the viewer can tell that Austin Powers will be a fun and goofy movie.

Long story short: They Are! And they are influencing your political beliefs without you even realizing it.

There’s good news though. You can prevent this.

The movies are such a big part of modern American culture. They are seen by vast numbers of people all around the country. Directors, screenwriters, and producers can easily slip in any sort of message they want to in their films. A seemingly nonpolitical comedy film could have an underlying message hinting at a social or political issue. For example, when I was watching Why Him?, I didn’t think of it as having any political message. After all, it was a James Franco comedy. After watching it a second time, I started thinking that maybe the film was hinting at a social divide in the present world.

This led me to see where else political messages have been found in popular films. For example, the movie Avatar, which was the number one grossing movie of all time for a while, was not just a science fiction movie. It paralleled an issue in America that often gets overlooked. The plot of the movie is very similar to what happened when white people started colonizing North America and the implications it had on the natives.

That might not have been something you ever realized. Here’s how you can become more aware in the future. The most basic way to look for a political message is by breaking down the movie into what can be seen as the most basic summary of the movie’s plot. Using Avatar as an example, one could say the film is about humans going to a place that is not theirs to take resources from the natives and tension arises between the two groups. This basic summary somehow starts to sound more political or controversial than looking at the movie as a whole.

Why should you care? Politics are becoming an issue at the forefront of American society. The political divide today is arguably larger than ever. With another presidential election in the near future, it is imperative that all voters vote for who they believe is the right choice to lead the country. With outside influences from all over, including the movies, our political decisions can be swayed in one direction or another. By becoming aware of all of these political influences, it becomes clearer to make your own decisions, not the decisions that others want you to make.

My plan is to talk about how movies are subtly influencing politcal opinions. I want to start with a popular example that people may not have realized was political. From there, I will explore how these political influences are being worked into the films. I am nervous about the sources that I have found because most of them aren’t directly related to my topic. I hope I will be able to create solid connections between my sources and my thesis.

I decided to stick with the topic of political influence in film. I think this topic is very important because both politics and movies are big parts of American culture. Whether you have realized it or not, films can be influencing your political decisions by pushing certain political agendas on the audience. Sometimes, this political influence isn’t so apparent and you, the audience member, get subconsciously influenced. My research will look into how exactly politics is being woven into the film industry and how the audience member can pinpoint when/where it is happening.

I want to research how movies can persuade political views. Sometimes when a movie isn’t even about politics, it can still send a political message or even mirror the current political climate. Both the movies and politics are a part of everyone’s lives, so this research can be beneficial for everyone.

Sure, the colonization of the moon or Mars sounds fun, but what does this mean for Earth? When the colonization of some other planet occurs there will be great hope that the human race will progress. Eventually, people are going to want to move to this new planet to escape what seems like a doomed Earth. With a bright future ahead in space, Earth will eventually become run down and uninhabitable. Space colonization only leads to Earth’s demise and chaos.

Have you ever seen the film Wall-E? If you haven’t, the general idea is that humans eventually move to space because Earth becomes one giant dump. This will happen to our Earth if space colonization ever occurs. Currently, there are many campaigns to try and save the planet. This is because we don’t have another planet. When we can eventually move to some other planet, there will be no need for these sorts of campaigns. Why would we need to save the planet if we can just move on to another when this one goes to trash? Eventually, the fictional film Wall-E will become the animated documentary of Earth (minus the fact that there would still be plants on Earth).

This video will show you exactly what would happen if humans suddenly packed up and left Earth. (It is actually very interesting)

Before we know it, there will be no need for some government organizations. We will have no need for the Environmental Protection Agency. Their job is to make sure the planet will be here for years to come. The thing about space colonization is that we won’t need this planet for years to come. By the time Earth is gone, we’ll already be moved on to Mars or some other planet. Once we know that we can just transfer over to another planet, we will just end up destroying planets at an unprecedented rate. We will have no need to look after these new planets either if we know that something new can be obtained easily.

Before we know it, the day will come when we board the ship and head off on our one way trip to Mars. We’ll hop off the ship onto martian soil and then what? Countries will no longer exist on this new planet. Establishing a government will be virtually impossible. Chaos would erupt. There would be no law. Outer space would quickly become the new wild west.

After carefully examining the impact that space colonization would have on our glorious Earth, it is safe to say that full space colonization would in fact lead to Earth’s demise.

By: Jake Stein

Ben Schlusser’s essay “Progress Built on Wasteland: Electronic Consumerism & the Dangers of E-waste” explains how e-waste is affecting everyone. His essay is very affective because of his use of examples and his extensive knowledge of the subject.

Schlusser selected quotes that not only support his claims very well, but they also draw out his readers emotions. One example of a quote that he pulled out was the one about the Chinese farmer. After e-waste started getting dumped outside of his village, his sheep started dying, his plants withered and seven of his neighbors died of cancer.

Schlusser demonstrates his extensive knowledge of the subject by leading his readers into the subject with a great amount of information. He proves that he is knowledgeable before going into depth on the subject.

Schlusser’s work on the e-waste subject was pretty good. There were no major flaws, however it could have been improved. Schlusser is very good at picking out emotional quotes. He could have implemented more of these in his essay to really grab the reader’s attention.

Analysis by Jake Stein

Thesis: The author puts his thesis right at the beginning. From the first paragraph, the reader can tell that the essay will be about the ecological impacts of the technology industry.

Target Audience: This article is written for just about everyone who can comprehend it. The subject matter has effects on everyones lives. Technology is prevalent in our culture, therefore, this article is meant for everyone.

Logic: The author includes information from various sources throughout the text. He also uses current examples of companies and how they relate to the e-waste problems presented.

Ethos: The author shows his audience that he is a reliable writer because of his clear understanding of the topic and his sources to back him up. He doesn’t seem to doubt his argument.

Pathos/Kairos: By giving examples like the farmers in China, it plays upon emotion. It makes the reader feel bad for the poor farmer who is having difficulties with his crops because of the massive amounts of waste polluting the area. The author uses examples like this throughout to play on emotion. It is not manipulative in any way. He is just stating facts about the unfortunate scenarios brought upon by the pollution.

The argument being made in this essay is a rational one. He is trying to argue the fact that the e-waste is creating harm to environment. He has many pieces of evidence to support his claims, making this argument very rational.

Could a movie make me cry? This question had me thinking all day. I had never cried during a movie before, not even during sad movies, but I thought that a comic book movie might make the emotions come out. I had become emotionally invested in the entire franchise, over twenty films. After watching the decades worth of films, I had a strong feling that Avengers Endgame would make me cry. But how would I manage to hide the emotion from my friends? Something so human had me pondering all day.

After getting into Jared’s car, his dad asked if any of us had any last minute predictions. “Someone big is going to die,” I stated, finally accepting that one of my favorite heroes would finally meet their end.

“Yeah, but who?” Jared asked with his eyes still glued on his phone. He was reading theories online, just as I had been doing earlier, avoiding spoilers at all costs.

“Your guess as good as mine,” I said as the car made its way to Ethan house. When we got to Ethan’s house, he came into the car and almost spoiled the movie for us. Jared’s dad screamed at him and Ethan was startled. Next stop, the theater.

We were nearing the theater, so I figured that I better warn everyone about my probable emotional outbreak. I told them very bluntly. I braced for humiliation, but was pleasantly surprised. Ethan told me he felt the sam way as me. Jared didn’t even seem phased by my admission. His dad glanced at me through the rear view mirror and gave me the nod of approval. I had bottled up so much anxiety for nothing.

When the movie started and an emotional scene occurred, I felt the tear build up in my eye. Immediately, I turned to see my friend’s reactions. Ethan was halfway through wiping a tear from his cheek and Jared was already full on sobbing. It wasn’t just my friends showing emotions, it was the entire theater. Grown men were even visibly distraught. I spent all day being anxious for nothing.

The anxiety that I felt ended up leading me to this great realization. It is perfectly acceptable for a man to show emotion, especially when he is truly passionate about something. Seeing other young men, and even grown men, cry over a comic book movie taught me that suppressing your emotions is pointless, because more than likely, someone else is feeling the same way too.