Mersaulting

Incident 2 – After a dog foolishly approaches mine and Kelly snaps at it, the owner calls it back hysterically. Apologising to me for the inconvenience.

The sky was lit by a dim orange light that rested on the clouds and the smell of the winter air I knew so well rolled around me. Kelly was walking happily on a leash beside me, tugging on it occasionally in the hopes that I would set her free.  Our path was crossed by a round, lady and what seemed like her meddling, old poodle. The mutt jolted towards us and I stepped in front of Kelly in the hopes of stopping her from injuring the dog.  I just really didn’t want to hear the lady complain to me about Kelly’s behaviour. Despite my obvious annoyance and Kelly’s distressed stance the poodle kept pushing and the lady didn’t seem bothered by it. So I stepped aside and continued walking in a calm manner. Not to my surprise, Kelly snapped at the poodles wagging tail and whilst whimpering it scurried back to the old lady. She inspected the poodle in worry and I felt the need to apologise, but I changed my mind because after all it wasn’t my fault. The lady should have seen that it was an uncomfortable situation and should have called the poodle back to protect it, so in reality it didn’t matter to me. The poodle seemed fine.

Incident 3- someone getting mad at a child for not looking left and right before crossing the road

I walked to the bus station to wait for the number 5 bus.  I do so whenever I need to go to the grocery store for my mum to be able to cook the lunch I desire. I wasn’t in a hurry but I turned the corner just to see the bus approaching the station. At that moment a child made a break for it and darted across the main road without checking the street for oncoming traffic.  I watched the mother squeal in despair as the kid barely made it across without getting hit. Not only did he not manage to catch the bus, the mother seemed furious as she herself reached the other side of the road.  At the top of her voice she screamed at her child, lecturing him about road safety and repeating the same question over and over again. ‘’How many times have I told you Todd?! Always look left and right before crossing the street!’’ Upon being done with her lecture she threatened him about the consequences that were to follow if he did that one more time. The child looked up at her with teary eyes as she finally stopped shouting at him. Something changed and she embraced him, telling him all was to be fine. Just then the next bus came and we all got on board.

Climate Change

India Unveils Climate Change Plan - The Guardian 
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/02/india-pledges-40-percent-electricity-renewables-2030

''World’s third biggest greenhouse gas emitter says it will source 40% of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources, ahead of Paris climate summit''
A few months before the Paris climate conference India has come up with a goal which they wish to achieve by the year 2030. They wish to decrease their dependance upon the use of fossil fuels by 40%. They wish to replace this use of fossil fuels with natural energy and methods which do not release CO2. Therefore as their population is expected to rise from 1.2 million to 1.5 million by the year of 2030, their gas emissions do not increase drastically with that. Hence they will help lower the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.

''It is the last major economy, following 140 other countries including China, the US and the EU, to submit a climate change plan to the UN before international talks to reach a deal on tackling global warming in Paris this December.'' Being the last country to come up with their plan for the future, we can assume that India was in fact having a hard time trying to come up with a deal which would benefit their country as well as the whole planet. We can assume that India heavily depends on the use of fossil fuels to drive their economy forward, hence coming up with a way to give up the use of fossil fuels and at the same time move forward as an economy was hard for them.

'' Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), focuses on clean energy, including solar power, which the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has already strongly backed. It also promised to plant more forests by 2030 to absorb carbon emissions.''  India has recognized the fact that just decreasing their use of fossil fuels will only postpone the speed at which our planet is warming up, therefore they have presented their plan of planting trees to not only help decrease the rise of greenhouse gasses but to try and decrease their levels overall.

COP21: India signals willingness to cut coal for climate cash- BBC news http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34989719

''Dr Ajay Mathur said coal would be restricted if there was help to pay for "more expensive" green energy.''

India has made their wishes very clear at the cop21, they are more than willing to contribute to the global warming crisis, decrease their fossil fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions, provided that they are given sufficient capital to drive their economy forward. With the large increase in their population they count on the development of their country. 

''India's need for coal is driven by the huge numbers who do not have electricity, estimated to be around 300 million people.'' As I have mentioned earlier, India's main reason behind the use of material such as coal is the need for development. Even though the price of solar energy had decreased by a large amount, it is still believed to be twice as expensive as coal. Therefore India has proposed to stop the burning of coal if they get sufficient funds for renewable energy. They say that if they had the money, they would rely much more on wind and sola power than on cheap resources such a s coal.

SAAB

SAAB CAR ADVERTISEMENT ANALYSIS

How Does SAAB Create a Sense of Desire Amongst its Customers With This Advert?

The picture advertisement aiming to grab the attention of future car owners portrays the new SAAB SUV in a bright light. Succeeding at conveying an overall theme which speaks to its demographic, allowing the advert to create desire and that jump to action. It does so with its use of diction that all contributes to one main theme. The theme of speed and precision. Secondly, the overall positioning of each factor on that advert aims to attract attention and speak to the main theme. The colouring, use of objects in the background and positioning of the light all work towards making  the car look divine.

This advert grabs the attention of its demographic using complementing diction, to convey an overall theme of the car. On the top right of the page we see SAAB’s slogan, stating ‘’Born from jets.’’ Introducing the fact that this SUV was made by the same company that used to make jets. They portray this as a positive factor because typically jets are known for their speed  and motility. They use transference to shift the precision hallmark of a jet onto their SUV.  Below the picture of their vehicle we see a description characterising the car as ‘’An SUV with altitude.’’ The theme of speed and precision is carried on throughout the advertisement. The use of the word ‘altitude’ again brings back the image of jets and depicts  the idea of high altitude, elevation and peak. Suggesting that this is the peak technology in its market and is the best you can get.  The reference to jet technology later on suggests that SAAB makes great engines which are fuel efficient but fast. As described by ’optimises fuel efficiency* without sacrificing performance.’ On the other hand, besides talking about technology they focus on the experience and end their description with a short a powerful sentence stating ‘Enjoy your flight.’ Again referencing back to the elegance, precision and speed of jets which is unusual for SUV which is what makes this product stand out to create desire.

Secondly what this advert excels at is positioning. As I have mentioned before the SAAB logo is on the top right corner next to which, sits their slogan. We can assume that this advert was positioned on the right hand of a magazine because as soon as a reader would turn the page, the first thing that they saw would have been the SAAB logo. Secondly the car was photoshopped into an airplane storage room that again portrays its speed, power and precision by relating back to the jets. The car is also turned sideways allowing the viewer to see the cars main features, not only the front nor the side, but both. The windows positioned on the ceiling all lead towards the car, dragging the readers attention toward the car itself. Lastly the whole advert is mostly black and white, the only fraction of colour is in the logo. This helps the logo stand out even more, bringing attention to the company. The lack of colour makes the car appear elegant. The picture portrays an absence of emotion, not only making the car look slightly dark and mysterious but it makes it look ‘cool’. The elegance it portrays can also be connected back to the speed and precision.

In conclusion SAAB succeeds at attracting the attention of its demographic by  the positioning of the lights in the background, the positioning of the logo and the choice of colour for the advert. Not to mention the picture of the car model itself attracts attention. It develops desire mostly by comparing it to jets and using transference to shift their qualities onto the car. This is what truly makes the reader want such a product.

What Leads the Reader to Perceive Mersault as a Viceral Character?

‘INTRODUCTION’

Mersault portrays a lack of emotion throughout the book. With events such as the death of his own mother or a marriage proposal seem almost completely indifferent to him than any other mundane events. We can see this, already in the first sentence of the book. ‘’Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.’’  The fact that he does not know when his mother died hints that such an event has no particular effect on him, conveying that he simply does not care. Not that he doesn’t feel the love towards his mother, as through the book he often brings back memories, but that this event is equal to any other in his mind. This points to the fact that life itself is a meaningless drift through time in his mind.  This lack of emotion presents him as a careless and almost evil human being, due to the fact that in the eyes of others he feels no grief. In reality the reader knows that Mersault in fact does not feel any particular emotions towards other people and life in general. However the carelessness that he feels towards the life of others, rather than his own, particularly shines through in his particular situation. This later on in the book, leads to the court making wrong assumptions about him.

Besides the lack of emotion, Mersaults character is strengthened by his straight forward and completely honest replies. The main reason for why other people see him as an outsider is the fact that he does not make an effort to hide his lack of emotion.   ‘’He was just going up to the coffin when I stopped him. He said, ‘Don’t you want to?’ I answered, ‘No.’ He didn’t say anything and I was embarrassed because I felt I shouldn’t have said that.’’ His behaviour is dominated by his senses meaning that he will always portray what he feels according to his surrounding and not the emotions which he lacks. His plain honesty often surprises people because with his replies he breaks society’s moral values portraying his lack of emotion. He often realises that what he said was wrong or immoral however he will never choose to lie about what he feels just because others find it unusual. This honesty drives the whole story because he himself does not realise that such lack of emotion is unusuall however people which do not know him, only see the lack of love which he gives out at his mothers funeral. This is why he ends up with a death sentence.

Lastly besides his lack of emotion, what drives Mersault is also the fact that he cannot distinguish between what is good and what is bad. He can be classified as amoral, which is what the court fails to see.  Upon being proposed to and being asked to write the letter to Raymonds girlfriend, he simply agrees because he ‘’didn’t have a reason not to.’’ Whatever he does is based on how he feels at the moment. He lives in the present and fails to judge whether his actions are moral or whether they will affect his future self in a negative or positive way. This again connects to his lack of emotion and leads him into committing his crime as well as to contributing to Raymonds neglectance of his girlfriend.

In conclusion Mersault does not mean to do anything bad or immoral, however his lack of emotion and instinctive way of thinking leads him into situations one would not like to find himself in. Others perceive him as almost as a monster, because of his lack of emotion towards others. However the reader knows that there must be something wrong in his mind, health-wise, because he fails to care about his future and cannot tell whether whatever he is doing is right or wrong. His honesty reflects all this, to other characters in this book, most of which perceive it in the wrong way.

Liz, newspaper comparison

What newspapers do you think each of these stories is from and why?

Consider the way each story is told,

• headlines
• syntax
• diction
• ideas

1.Revealed: the truth behind 'sweet little old tax rebel'
- Article from the independent
- is a centre - left wing newspaper
- Mostly in support of the old lady
- sophisticated language because its demographic is mainly middle class men

2.I'll go to prison, says council tax woman rebel, 83
- Article in the Daily Telegraph

- paragraphs are about 2 or 3 sentences
- has a right wing bias

3. Rebel pensioner: I'd be a fool to pay council tax

- Article in the Daily Mail

- Its demographic is mostly middle class
- simple language
- short paragraphs

4. How an 83-year-old woman became a council tax martyr (with a little help)

-Article in The Guardian

-Left wing newspaper
-Sophisticated language: 'martyr' 'exemption'
- In support of the lady

Editorial nr 5

The Guardian view on Hungary and the refugee crisis: Orbán the awful

''Budapest is making life harder for people fleeing war zones''

''set himself up as a bulwark against a generous-spirited, pan-European approach.''

''have been hounded by policemen ready to spray them with tear gas.''

''callousness of this government''

''volunteers distributing aid in Budapest''

''bullied the media''

''needs to be tackled head-on''

''hold him accountable for trampling on Europe’s values – now is the time to do so.''

This article talks about Hungary's prime minister and his passionate hate towards the refugees. Without a doubt this article is against the words which he said, this is because that is what the audience wants to hear. People reading the Guardian want to hear that Orban is a disgrace and that something should be done to change his behaviour and help the refugees. The readers of the Guardian want to read that the rest of Hungary is in fact helping the refugees and that people disagree with Orban's opinion.

Editorial nr 4

The Guardian view on Cameron’s refugee plans: small numbers, big distractions

''calculation continued to come before compassion''

''PM talks as if aid and armaments can end Syria's agony.''

'' providing only for one year of support for refugees who will likely be here for five years''

''he had thoughts on the military front that might somehow enable more Syrians to stay home.''

''Britain’s refugee policy puts cold calculation before any impulse to reach out''

This article states that the prime minister isn't willing to take in 20,000 immigrants right at this moment but that this number is the target set over the next 5 years. Meaning that this article is against the decisions of the prime minister because instead of reaching out to help the refugees it 'puts cold calculation' on the first place. Meaning the PM is trying very hard to find another solution instead of just accepting more refugees into Britain. This again talks to the target audience of the newspaper because most people reading the guardian strive to help the less fortunate.

Editorial nr 3

The Guardian view on Britain and refugees: the welcome must be warm, but also organised

Again, the word 'migrant' isn't even used once every single time they use 'refugee' instead.

'Welcome'- used 4 times
This article I feel is heavily biased towards portraying Britain in a bright light. Since the guardian is a  British left wing newspaper, they will always take the side of the ones believed to be less fortunate because this interests their audience, in this case they will take the side of the refugees. This short article is trying to portray Britain as the ones which are willing to help all of the refugees. Even though they are not willing to take in as many refugees as Germany is at the moment this article focuses on the few things which Britain  is doing. To reassure the reader.

Hence it also lists how Britain has accepted groups of people in the past with open arms. Portraying generosity. The title also states that welcoming refugees must be 'organised' as if trying to come up with reasons why they aren't accepting masses of people. Which shows that in reality Britain is worried just like most of the EU.

Editorial nr 2

The Guardian view on refugees and the EU: time to sort the leaders from the led

Words used

hounded

refugee- 14x

migrant- 2x

Now this article mostly aims at creating a sense of empathy towards the refugees to make the reader feel sorry for them and to help the reader see how the EU is being fairly selfish. This also explains why the word 'migrant' is only used twice whereas the word 'refugee' is use 14 times. 'Migrant' almost seems as an offensive term to use hence 'refugee' is used more often. This shows that The guardian sees the refugees as people and believes that they should be given another chance. This is also backed up by the use of the word 'hounded' which paints a picture in the readers head of the police being the bad guys. Again, developing that sense of empathy. This way the guardian targets their audience, which is the left wing as it goes against the EU and their principles. It stands against Europe's fear of their culture being changes by the mass amounts of refugees coming in. This is nicely summed up in the last paragraph where it states that the 'large' numbers of refugees coming into Europe  are still less than a third of the 1% of Europe's total population (500 million people). Hence stating that the reason of worry amongst politicians is pointless.

Editorial nr 1

The Guardian view on the EU response to the refugee crisis: a challenge it has failed to meet-Editorial

As The guardian is a left wing newspaper we can assume that the article will most probably be targeting the decisions of politicians regarding the refugees and try to create empathy towards them. This is already more than obvious in the title, already at the start of the newspaper article the author clearly conveys that it was the EU's fault for not being well prepared and not the refugees. Hence the ''a challenge it has failed to meet.'' This way The Guardian targets all of the people which feel empathy towards the refugees and claim that the EU could act towards helping them instead of stressing about how they might influence the future.

crisis- used 3 times in the article

migrant- 8

refugee- 10

immigrant-0

fail-5

blunder-1

From this word count we can see that the article in a way is supporting the refugees and is targeting Eu's horrible decisions. In other words pushing the EU down for not taking the right action choices which , in the guardians point of view, is helping the refugees best they can. That way they succeed at targeting all the people which feel sorry for the refugees.

Smart Electric Drive Advertisement

SMART ELECTRIC DRIVE ADVERT

How does this picture succeed at grabbing the customers attention?

This Smart Car advertisement aims to build desire amongst its target market, in the hopes to raise the companies sales. The advert is aimed at people of the business class which are aware of the problems our planet is facing today, however that do not have major funds. The advert achieves desire with the use of language by applying a logo, slogan, transference and jargon. Besides language the advert seizes layout, colour and  positioning to its advantage. All of this is aimed at breaking through the clutter and grabbing the customers attention.

Firstly, we can assume that this advert was placed in a magazine on the right hand page. I presume so because the ‘Smart’ logo is placed in the bottom right corner.  Suggesting that it is on the right page because it will be the first thing that clasps the readers attention as they turn the page, right away drawing them into the brand.  Furthermore the logo being the first thing that an individual sees leads them to connecting everything else that appears on the page with that particular brand. This leads to that sense of community and ,specifically, meaning.

Secondly, a huge aspect of this advert is the Slogan. One which connects to the overall theme of this commercial and yet again succeeds to grasp the readers attention. It does so with the use of transference and repetition. The Slogan starts with mentioning the name of ‘Benjamin Franklin’ which immediately establishes interest and almost passion amongst the scientists and admirers of Franklin. Which is exactly who the product is aimed at, people who care about the environment and are aware of the benefits which electricity has to offer. Ones which are more than likely to know who he is. To further develop this interest into desire ‘Smart’ intelligently repeat the whole idea of Franklins discovery in the last line. ‘Move over Ben’ With this quote they suggest that they have taken his discovery and developed it further. Smart completely interlaces their product with Franklins discovery of electricity and connect it to the theme of redevelopment and discovery. Hence they succeed at grabbing the attention of their target market and creating the desire.

On the other hand, the product is not only aimed at people aware of the environment and science but at ones which cannot afford to have a better car.  For the readers whose attention Smart could not grab with the slogan, they manage to do so with the use of colour and placement. The car itself is placed directly in the middle of the page, which in fact is all dull and grey. This automatically makes the car stand out to the reader. The dulness of the background brings the car forward. On top of this the car is coloured using only primary colours, ones which strike the eye most. The simple idea of using complimentary colours will always draw the reader in, even if they have no idea who Benjamin Franklin is. The purple swirls that surround the car portray it as a new invention. Yet again making the car stand out and seem special. Even though Smart most probably never sold their car in Blue and Red, they have specifically chosen these colours to be in the add. For the sole purpose of grabbing ones attention.

In conclusion, Smart has used numerous techniques to stand out and develop desire. They have used Slogans and elements such as positioning and colour to target every possible person who would potentially be interested in buying their product. This, most probably increasing sales due to the fact that their commercial targets a larger number of people. Even though the car is not beautiful, bringing the company more money.

Mercedez Benz Chicken Advertisement

Analysis of the Mercedes Benz Chicken Commercial

The commercial which Mercedes Benz created upon announcing the ‘Intelligent Drive’  contains a number of different techniques which introduce the new suspension system to its audience and develop desire. The advert is simultaneously persuasive and comparative. It sparks an interest right at the start and only towards the end develops the desire.  The commercial grabs the viewers attention by using contrast and develops interest by interpreting humour and hooking music.

Firstly the commercial sparks an interest amongst its audience by opening the add with a chicken starring into the distance. Not only does this increase intensity but the silence the commercial opens up with provokes the viewer to stay and wait to see what will happen. The unusual sight of the chicken in a lab already makes the audience wonder what purpose it has. The silence is then broken by the start of an almost addictive song which begins with the vocalist whispering. ‘Three, two, one’  The countdown can be heard within the first second of the add, grabbing the attention of the remaining few people which were not moved by the sight of the chicken. No person would quit a video after a second of watching it and once the add reaches the countdown I guarantee 99% of the people watching the add will stay to watch the whole thing, as human curiosity  is not overcome easily. This gives the commercial time to play out completely and create that desire amongst the audience.

Secondly, after the advert has the audiences attention it moves onto  developing interest. Again the creators have used the song to their advantage. ‘’Upside down, boy you turn me.’’ They have lined up the movement of the chicken on the screen with the lyrics in the song. The chicken was positioned directly in the middle of the screen. Using the rule of thirds  which make the chicken seem less significant. This gives the movement of it more power and it also makes the lyrics really stand out. This develops interest because the audience will start wondering what the purpose of it all is and what the meaning behind the chicken could be. Besides that, the audience this car technology was aimed at is people of the higher class, most of which have never lived among chickens in their life. Adding to the wonder and connecting with the theme of almost magical stability. This is because most people would not have known that a simple and dumb animal could do something amazing like that, which makes it funny.

Lastly the desire is developed towards the end of the advert where we see the slogan and lastly, the logo appear.  The slogan ‘’ Stability at all times. Magic body control.’’ Is placed on the top right side of the frame, which brings me back to the rule of thirds.  Because the slogan is positioned on the left it means it has the most power, besides that it is also placed slightly upwards, again, portraying power. Making the words really stand out. The juxtaposition of the word ‘’magic’’ and ‘’body’’ connects with the idea of the chickens (something natural) and the laboratory. It becomes clear after the Mercedes logo appears that the chicken was a representation of their cars. It also reveals that Mercedes took something natural and used it to create  something almost magical, which is their new suspension system. The use of chickens as a comparison simplifies the new suspension system and how it works for the audience which are not car engineers, helping them picture what this technology is all about. This understanding develops desire because this is something completely new which seems to be almost fictional and if you have a Mercedes you can experience it yourself. It would be like experiencing the supernatural.

In conclusion, the designers of this add caught the viewers attention, developed interest and lastly desire. All of which will lead, not only their old customers but new ones to go ahead and buy their car to try out the new suspension system as they now believe it is what their driving experience is all about.