Kassia Waggoner

Context

As an extra credit assignment, I asked the students to produce their own visual arguments in the form of a magazine cover. The assignment was given during our children’s unit in which the class was dissecting both cliché and problematic messages presented in children’s films. Most chose to do the extra credit assignment over a particular Disney movie. The example to the right examined the darker side of having Belle fall in love with her captor, the beast. In her accompanying response she discussed how some might view the Beast and Belle’s romance as a means of reinforcing abusive relationships: “If your man is verbally or physically abusive to you, you just aren’t loving him enough.” The image on the left was an interesting look at how women are portrayed in Scooby Doo. By placing Velma on the cover of Maxim, the student points out how even the seemingly “nerdy” character is oversexed. Finally, the middle image, created by one of my male students illustrates that the issue of body image in cartoons is not only problematic  for young women but young men as well. In his response, he discussed how these unrealistic standards imply "real men have muscles" and make men "feel ashamed" to take off their shirts at the pool if they don't look like Johnny Bravo. I was impressed with all the visual arguments I received, and I was equally impressed with the time and energy the students put into the project considering it only replaced one blog grade, which was 3% of their overall grade.

Meeting Goals and Oucomes

Students will be able analyze rhetorical situations

 The project asks students to analyze the rhetorical situation of a magazine cover and how it constructs arguments or the ploys it uses to grab readers’ attention and convince them to read further. Unfortunately sex sells, and students were able to pick up on the rhetorical strategy of using sexual appeal to attract readers while simultaneously constructing their own arguments about how Disney or Universal Studios also use sex as a ploy or an implied argument throughout the film. I believe these covers subtlety suggest how these themes of beauty and sexuality could be problematic for young viewers.

Students will demonstrate facility with the language and analysis of argument.

 While this is not a traditional paper, it does allow students to hone their facility of language because of the specific nature of a magazine cover. They must choose their words carefully in order to attract attention from the audience and the words must concisely explain the main idea of the story while simultaneously leaving the reader wanting more. In some ways, this assignment is more challenging than a paper in terms of analyzing the rhetorical situation.

Students will reflect upon the media’s use of argument in everyday life.

I hope meeting this goal is self-evident. Students were asked to choose a magazine and analyze the strategies it uses to gain readership, paying particular attention to the cover. Students then selected a movie and dissected the messages presented about relationships, beauty, and sexuality. Thus, students engaged with two different types of media and showcased how the media communicates ideas both implied and overt to the public.

Students will demonstrate competency in using sources (primary, secondary, and electronic) in argument construction.

Though there was not an official works cited sheet for this project, students did work with primary materials (magazine and movie) in order to construct their own argument about both industries.