Pop Culture Analysis First Blog

Mean Girls is a classic teen comedy film.  The screenplay was written by Tina Fey.  Her inspiration was the novel Queen Bees and Wannabes, written by Rosalind Wiseman.  The main character of the movie is named Cady Heron.  In the beginning of the movie, she is an innocent girl from Africa.  During her high school years, her family decides to move to the United States.  She begins to attend North Shore High school and is struck with culture shock.  She is forced to adapt to her new lifestyle as quickly as possible.  The most popular group in in the school is nicknamed the Plastics.  They take Cady under their wing.  Then, the ring leader of the group betrays Cady.  Cady makes it her goal to get revenge on her.

Tiny Fey’s purpose for writing Mean Girls was to show viewers how much a person can change depending on their surroundings.  Her audience is teenagers and parents.

In this paper, I will analyze the transformation of Cady.  I will also look at the difference between Cady’s parents and Regina’s parents, and the effects they had on their children.  To conduct my research, I will use the USC upstate library data bases.  I will try to find information about modern teenagers and compare it to the ones in the movie.

I choose to do my pop culture analysis on Mean Girls, because it is one of my favorite movies.  It also references many social issues in society.  Some of these issues include girl on girl crime and the morality of teenagers.

My claim for this assignment will be that Mean Girls accurately depicts teenage life.  My data is that in most high schools, there is a group of popular kids who practically run the school.  There are also multiple cliques that are defined by the similar interest of the people.  My warrant is that recent studies have shown the usual tendencies of high school students.  Most of them show that teenagers in Mean Girls and teenagers in real life are not that different.  Teenagers are easily influenced and guidance is essential to their development.  Some people could say that the movie is just a work of fiction and does not represent modern life at all.  While this could be partially true, it is difficult for a writer to write about something that they do not know about.  There had to be some background information for this movie to be made.

Summary and Analysis Self Reflection

Writing a summary and analysis paper, was a new experience for me. In previous classes, most of my teachers expected me to retell the events of a text and give my opinion on it. They never really asked me to analyze the author’s techniques.  Through my summary and analysis paper on In Defense of a Liberal Education, I was able to look deeply at the author’s techniques.  I had to ask myself if the author did a good job conveying his message to the readers or not.  Did Zakaria motivate his readers to want to preserve the liberal arts? I looked for clues from chapter three of his text which is entitled “Learning to Think,” (Zakaria 72).  I analyzed his structure, diction, anecdotes, imagery, symbolism, and research to make my decision on whether Zakaria accomplished his goal.  After days of analyzing, I concluded that he did make an effective argument. His use of many different techniques helped to make a clear message for the reader.  His text was persuasive and effective. 

Once I decided that Zakaria accomplished his goal of motivating his readers, I began writing my paper. My teacher informed me that the essay should be about ten percent summary and ninety percent analysis.  Therefore, my first paragraph was a brief summary of In Defense of a Liberal Education.  My second paragraph was a summary of chapter three of the text.  Then, I began my analysis.  In the next three and a half pages, I talked about why I thought that Zakaria made an effective argument. I included direct quotes to back up my statements.  I included the quote, “I realized that coming from India, I was pretty good at taking test and regurgitating things I had memorized; I was not so good at expressing my own ideas” (Zakaria 73).  From this quote, I was able to make the connection between a liberal arts education and a skills based education.

Zakaria’s text accomplished the goal of trying to convince readers to preserve the liberal arts.  His stance on education was evident throughout the entire book.  His message was effective and persuasive.

Questions For Close Reading

When I read the third chapter of In Defense of a Liberal Education, I first noticed the passion in Zakaria’s tone.  Next, I noticed the organization and structure of the chapter.  Zakaria states the three main achievements of a liberal education.  In the next few paragraphs, he breaks down each achievement.  He uses heavy detail to show the reader the importance of each skill.  These two noticings complement each other because Zakaria showed his passion through the way he tried to help the reader understand his message.  He used a special style of organization to ensure that the reader was well informed.

Zakaria uses the words “central virtue,” (72) to describe the importance of liberal education teaching a student how to write.  By using these descriptive words, Zakaria is able to help the reader understand that writing is the most valuable skill a student can learn.

When Zakaria talks about the three main achievements of a liberal education, I think of a three layered pyramid.  I imagine learning to think is at the top because it is the most important in the author’s eyes.  Speaking is in the middle and learning is at the bottom.  I find the way that he organized his points extremely interesting.

Near the middle of the chapter, the Zakaria’s tone switches.  He is still passionate, but he goes from expressive to informative.  Zakaria starts to reference modern day experts and moguls to boost his credibility.  He uses the words of Steve Jobs when he writes, “It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing” (82).  Steve Jobs is explaining that there needs to be many different types of education.  Zakaria agrees with this point.  By adding the words of Jobs, Zakaria is showing the reader that many people have the same ideas that he has.

Zakaria writes, “The value added is in the brand- how it is imagined, presented, sold, and sustained” (83).  He is trying to tell the reader that an item is only as valuable as the story behind it.  This is a great point.  Something is only sellable if a person talks highly about it or has an interesting meaning behind it.

Chapter Three Summary and Analysis of In Defense

Chapter Three Summary and Analysis

In chapter three of In Defense of a Liberal Education, Zakaria talks about the main three things that a liberal education helps a student achieve.  At the beginning of the chapter, Zakaria writes, “the central virtue of a liberal education is that it teaches you how to write, and writing makes you think” (73).  He tells the reader that liberal education teaches a student how to write.  He believes that in order to write, you must think first.  Therefore, if liberal education teaches a student how to write, it also teaches them how to think.  Next, Zakaria says that liberal education teaches a student how to speak.  He notes that if a student understands their own mind, they can use “articulate communication,” (Zakaria 75) to express their thoughts.  Liberal education teaches a student to speak by helping them effectively express their thoughts.  Lastly, Zakaria believes that a liberal education teaches a student how to learn.  Zakaria writes, “the understanding of how to acquire knowledge on my own” (78).  He is talking about his own experiences with understanding how to learn.  He believes that a liberal education forces a student to learn how their brain works.  Therefore, they are able to understand which type of learning is best for them.

Near the middle of the chapter, the tone of the text switches.  Zakaria starts off by expressing the reasons why a liberal education is important, and what it helps a student to achieve.  Then, he switches to a more informative tone.  He starts to use opinions from prestigious psychologists to back up his argument.  Zakaria uses views from Howard Gardner when he says, “there are at least eight kinds of intelligence” (79).  This relates to Zakaria’s point about learning.  Gardener acknowledges the many different types of learning.  A student chooses a method of learning that is most effective for them.

This chapter relates to Zakaria’s argument as a whole because he talks about the main achievements of a liberal education.  He believes that this type of education teaches a student how to think, speak, and learn.  Zakaria believes that these skills are three of the most important things for a student to learn.  His goal is to preserve the liberal arts.  He gives good stable points as to why people should work to save it.  He also uses opinions from experts in order to boost his credibility.

The Power of Words (Digital Story)

Literacy Narrative Self Reflection

Literacy Narrative Self Reflection

This literacy narrative assignment has made me realize how much I actually enjoy writing stories.  I learned a lot about myself through this project.  I have always known that beginning a paper was hard for me.  The speech was no different.  I had countless obstacles while trying to formulate my speech.  Once I found the right topic, the speech was much easier to write.  Now, I know the steps I need to take to ensure that I can complete my papers with ease.  I need to take a couple days coming up with an idea.  I need to revise and make sure that I am writing about something that I have interest in.  Once I come up with a good idea, the writing process becomes much simpler.  I feel like I have always known this about myself, but writing it in the literacy narrative helped me to acknowledge it. 

The literacy narrative was quite fun to write.  I was writing a story.  I just had to talk about my own experiences.  Writing in first person helped me to make a personal connection with my audience.  In the past, I had written very few papers in this style.  The idea of writing a paper in first person seemed foreign to me, but I enjoyed it.  I felt like I was actually talking to the reader.  I would enjoy writing other pieces like this one. 

I also had fun reading my other classmate’s narratives.  It was interesting to read about their experiences with literacy.  We all have had experiences in our lives that helped us to change our views on reading or writing.  Most teenagers do not talk about subjects like this.  It can be seen as weird or not cool.  By writing these narratives, we realized that we all had similar literacy experiences.  I learned a lot about my peers through their papers.   

Freedom in the United States

Freedom in the United States

Freedom means being able to be completely, one hundred percent yourself without fear that someone will judge or try to stop you.  Today, in the United States, the people are partially free.  People are encouraged to express themselves.  Freedom is often advertised in America.  We label ourselves as the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”  While the United States is somewhat free, we have laws and guidelines that may prevent people from being true to themselves.  For example, gay marriage is not legal in every state.  The laws in our country are necessary.  They help to maintain order and peace.  Even with laws in place, the United States stills reigns supreme as being one of the freest countries. 

“At age sixteen, we had to choose one of three academic dreams: science, commerce, or the humanities” (Zakaria 23).  This quote is from Fareed Zakaria’s In Defense of a Liberal Education.  Here, he is demonstrating how the education system worked in India.  In America, students have the freedom to choose from an extensive variety of majors.  According to Zakaria; in India, they are only given three options.  They are forced to choose a career cluster at a young age.  Paul Krugman believes that education is partly responsible for America’s success and freedom.  He says, “If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be ‘education’” (Krugman 122).

Some Americans take their country’s freedom for granted.  They argue that United States is not free enough.  They believe that the country’s unfairness is creeping into their careers.  Gary Gutting says, “Fair treatment for writers and artists is an even more difficult matter, which will ultimately require a major change in how we think about support for the arts” (Gutting 125).  He thinks that certain jobs are given more attention than others.

The United States gives a great deal of freedom to its people.  The country aims to please its citizens and tries to give them as much leeway as possible.  There are laws in place, but these guidelines help to maintain order and safety.  Some American citizens argue that America is not free.  Although the United States cannot grant total freedom to its people, it gives a lot more than other countries.