WEEK 3, COLUMN 3
Speaker:
The speaker is Meghan Daum. Daum's voice is retrospective throughout the article. She is confident throughout the article by stating her opinion with well developed details and evidence.
Occasion:
The world has a tendency to idolize movies for wrong reasons. After watching Woody Allen's movie "Manhattan," Daum realizes how immature the movie actually is. She was "idolized this movie all out of proportion."
Audience:
The article speaks to people of an older age, but especially middle aged movie fanatics. In the beginning of the article, Daum emphasizes her age and the date of the movie. She gives hints like these to make it seem as if she is trying to catch the attention of middle aged - elderly readers who have seen the film "Manhattan."
Purpose:
In almost all her OP-Ed’s, Daum has a casual yet informative way of presenting her arguments which are a majority of the time, centered around her opinion. The purpose of this article is to open the eyes of readers to not fall for societies overall image of a subject. Daum feels as if Woody Allen is mocking societies injustices, and that he needs to be called out on it. She uses many examples such as "Keaton's character pronounced Van Gogh "Van Gock." She used terms like "textural" and "negative capability" and sounded like a first-year art student rather than a seasoned journalist." For readers who have the background of seeing the movie, they slowly start to conform with her opinions due to her fantastic, accurate references. She establishes a high ethos, which also helps with persuading the audience of her views against Woody Allen's mockings of social injustices.
Subject:
This article deals with the unjustifiable ways social media depicts real world problems. Daum used plenty of direct quotes and personal anecdotes to support her theory. She claims that Woody Allen's immaturity with his production is just one of the many examples of our blindness towards the real meaning of these problems we face in society, today.
Tone:
Daum has a casual tone throughout her articles. This helps all types of audiences understand her writing and make it easier to appeal to the difference age/education levels of audiences. Daum is very critical in the article, which makes people take her writing on a more serious level, rather than her other casual opinion editorials. She also carries her argument with a broad perspective, making it possible for the audience to easily formulate an argument or agree with her argument.