Find a commercial on YouTube that you find stylistically interesting (see below for guidelines on selecting a commercial). Write a 1250-1500 word essay where you analyze the commercial according to the rules of “style” as the ancients thought of “style.” In other words, using as your guide the selection on style from Crowley’s and Hawhee’s book Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, identify, analyze, and discuss the elements of ancient “style” evident in the analyzed text. Be sure to make some sort of point about the strengths and weaknesses of the text or of the applicability of this method of analysis.
Here are some things to keep in mind as you work on this assignment:
- First, you need to find a commercial on YouTube. This is easy to do– simply do a search on YouTube for “commercials.” Take some time to find a commercial you think will make for a good analysis. It needs to be a single commercial– don’t use a “top ten” sort of compilation video– and I would recommend that you use a commercial that is one that originally aired on television and not one that was specifically designed for YouTube. It would probably be best NOT to use a commercial that are just graphics and some kind of slogan, like the “Got Milk?” ads. Also, you need to pick an ad that is understandable to a general audience– avoid ads that are overly technical or specialized. You will need to post two or three commercials you are thinking about writing about for this project as a blog post; check the schedule for when this is due.
- You should be as detailed as possible in your analysis of the style of your YouTube commercial. For example, you will probably consider the appropriateness of the commercial, the uses of different kinds or ornaments, figures, and tropes, how the sentences are constructed, the word orders and use of language, etc. However…
- …keep in mind that none of us (your teacher included!) can rattle off the definitions of the many elements of ancient style Crowley and Hawhee discuss in their chapter. In other words, you should consider your audience somewhat “informed” about the elements of ancient style, but you should also quote from Crowley and Hawhee, and give definitions of the various parts of style as appropriate. Indeed, a major part of the assignment is your ability to quote, paraphrase, and explain the readings about style in relation to your commercial.
- Along these lines of quoting from Crowley and Hawhee: be sure to include a works cited page with citations for the materials you cite in your essay. Also, be sure to follow the rules for parenthetical citation that are a part of good MLA style.
- Last but not least, you need to have some sort of point to your essay. The goal here is not to go on a “scavenger hunt” for each and every stylistic element you can find. Rather, you want to make a point about what the applicability of ancient styles to examining very contemporary videos. What does it mean to view these commercials through the lens of the ancients’ definitions of “style?” Are the ancients’ notions of style still relevant today? What is the effect on the reader of the stylistic elements present in the text that you are examining? Do you consider the text successful in terms of style? Why or why not?
I admit that sometimes, I post a commercial to my Facebook wall. Usually the commercials I like the most are funny to me. The first commercial that comes to mind is a Kotex one that absolutely cracks me up. Not sure how appropriate it would be for a paper, however. I think I will have to at least start the reading before deciding on a direction. It was while reading the Plato work that I figured out what I wanted to do for my writing technology project. That could happen again, I’m sure.
This assignment sounds pretty fun. It will be interesting exploring a modern day commercial using the elements of ancient style. I have not read the Crowley and Hawhee text before but it seems pretty intriguing as well.
I’ve only recently begun to think of advertising as literature, and now that I do, I see it all over the proof and examples all over the place! I am greatly looking forward to analyzing a commercial in the terms of style.
I think this assignment will be interesting to tackle. When it comes to advertising one tends to think of “catchy” slogans or ways to get the public to buy their product. It seems to me that a big part of a commercial are the words used, but then in a way they are not, because I would think most of us tone out the words. Grabbing the readers or in this case the viewers attention is the most significant style aspect I would think, having yet to read what Crowley and Hawhee have to say on style.
I like how you say that it is important how words are used in advertising, but also how they are not. It makes me think of medicine or food commercials, how they will tell you a lot of good things, but not say a lot of what is bad.
I kind of did the same thing in my english 225 class except we used print advertisements, but I think this sounds pretty interesting and will make me do some deep thinking.
The big difference with this assignment and what (I assume) you did in 225 Alyse is that for this assignment, you will be applying some of the concepts and vocabulary of ancient style that is talked about in the reading from Sharon Crowley and Deb Hawhee. You’ll see what I mean when we get there.
I believe this should be fun and very interesting. I have a tumblr which is very similar to this blogging site and i post things like commercial and ads on there all the time, along with other things. I think it’ll be funny to see what commercial and ads people pick out for this project.
This paper seems to be a good way to see “style” real life application. I hope that this project will help increase my ability to use different types of style in my writing as well. Though it might be difficult to find a useable commercial…I haven’t actually watched one in a while.
I am a “commercialholic” I am the type of person who watches tv or sports events for the commercials. I look forward to this project especiallly since I rarely use you tube to watch things unless a friend brings it to my attention.
I think this project sounds kind of fun. I’ve already got a pretty good idea of a strange commercial to use. It should be interesting to compare it to ancient styles. I’ve never really thought about commercials in this context before, but it really doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch.
This seems like it should be pretty fun. There are so many commercials that we can search and choose from and I’m sure that we have all had our favorite commercials throughout the years. I am kind of excited about doing this.
This project sounds very interesting. I love making connections from the past and the present. It will be fun to analyze a modern commercial with the old style.
Again, the key thing you’ll see with this assignment is not simply looking at YouTube and finding a commercial to write about. Rather, most of this assignment is really about navigating the reading from Crowley and Hawhee about the complexities of the ancient’s notions of style. In fact, before you start thinking too much about the commercial, I would strongly encourage you to first do the reading and then see if there isn’t a commercial you can find that exemplifies some of the figures and tropes they discuss.
I think it will be eye-opening to look at a modern commercial through the guidelines of “ancient” style. kind of in the same way that I felt plato applied to modern day politics, I think it’s really important to make these connections between past and present. it keeps us grounded. seems like a lot of things in this class make that connection!
I agree. These connections are important not only to keep us grounded, but for us to see where our ideas today came from.
I’m in the boat where I really only notice funny commercials… it’s going to be tough to find something non-comedy-related!!
Already having a degree in Electronic Media and Film, I’m excited to jump right into this particular assignment. I’ve often been very opinionated about commercials and how they may be comical, yet tell the consumer absolutely nothing about the product they are actually advertising. One example of which would be the Superbowl commercials we all hold near and dear to our hearts (Whether or not we are a football fan). If anyone hasn’t already looked into it, some knowledge on media literacy will prove quite handy on this assignment so google it and see what you can find!!
I agree with the point Nicholas made about commercials being vague on the product they are advertising. There are some that I really don’t see the connection. I hope that having a visual comparison will help explain the reading in a different way.
I hate when commercials don’t make it clear what they’re advertising. definitely one of my pet peeves. but that’s one of the media’s devices to get your attention and then just plug their products name so that when do you confusedly wonder about what that commercial even meant, you’re subconsciously remembering their company or product.
This reading is very interesting. The way we as people respond to mainstream culture and let it dictate how we behave or dont behave. It is very true. We like to see what is the “in” so to speak before we do something. Especially women and our shopping habit. Some watch the fall preview fashion shows before they do thier fall shopping. Others just shop by what they like or what appeals to them. Taking this concept and applying it to the commercial project we have should be revealing.
I have no idea what is meant by “Ancient Style.” I have not yet begun the reading, and “Ancient Style” just seems so odd to me, I don’t even know what to expect.
It is a but different for me to be evaluating a commercial instead of a book or story. Does anyone else have experience evaulating visual media?
I actually took a class in high school called “Film as Literature,” and we basically just analyzed films in terms of them being literature (just what the name of the class suggests). It was one of the most interesting classes I took in high school, and we watched some pretty cool movies.
I majored in advertising at MSU. So commercials for me are fun to pick apart and and watch.
I printed off the reading today, so hopefully soon, I’ll start to feel inspired and have some direction for this assignment. I’m a little concerned because I immediately felt some inspiration when we started discussing the writing technology assignment, but I have not felt that with this one. Of course, my immediate inspirations went out the window when I completed the readings, so I think the reading really will be key for me on this one. Although, I must admit, it would be nice to dive into the reading with some direction to see if what I am thinking could work.