Fantasy Theme Criticism

When I first looked at this criticism I thought I would take to There Will Be Blood since I was studying it this semester, but I decided against it for an artifact I feel works a little bit better. That is the advertisement for milk "Got Milk"

It is interesting because it became such a staple in American advertising, and because of that it left it open to symbolic convergence. There have been uses of the this ad to promote other variations of the same idea. The setting theme of these artifacts is now and the past. The places that MLK's message is felt can be taken as the setting for this artifact as well. The character theme of this artifact is MLK himself. Finally, the action theme is the idea of MLK and his goals. The artifact is challenging us to ask if we remember what MLK died for.

On Film Festival

When I went to the On Film Festival, I decided to stop by and see the viewing of Starship Troopers. I did this mainly because I have seen the movie multiple times, but I had never seen it with film professors analyzing it. This really peaked my interest because I always kind of thought the film was just a cheesy sci-fi flick.

The film is about a group of friends who graduate high school and enlist in the military, all getting assigned different posts, but all fighting the "bugs" or Klandatheu. The hero of the film Rico, joins the mobile infantry, which are the guys fighting on the front lines. The movie takes us through the war showing Rico rising through the ranks when they eventually defeat the bugs and save the planet from an imminent takeover.

This film would fit really well with metaphoric criticism since the whole film could be taken as metaphor of conquest. The sick need of nations to dominate another country. We could parallel it with things like America and their conquests or better yet, Britain whose conquest from the 17th-19th centuries were vast. You can also see themes of militarism in this film. I don't know if I take it as the director using it as a satire of militarism or promoting it. Overall I really enjoyed this viewing of Starship Troopers since it opened my eyes to the deeper meanings.

There Will Be Blood

Brief Description

For my upcoming paper, I chose to analyze the artifact There Will Be Blood. There will be blood is a movie by director Paul Thomas Anderson, which was released in 2007. This is a film about a man named Daniel Plainview, who back in the 1880s strikes oil and becomes enthralled in his new found business and wealth, the wealth which ultimately corrupts him. Eventually Daniel isolates himself to the point that he is utterly alone with his wealth, and the greed eventually corrupts him to the point that he kills.
Personal Interest

This artifact personally interests me because film is one of my biggest passions. I have followed film since high school and it has just been something that has yet to fail me. More specifically though, There Will Be Blood is one of my favorite movies. Mainly, since Paul Thomas Anderson is one of my favorite directors. Being that its one of my favorite movies by one of my favorite directors it was only reasonable to choose this artifact.

Significance

The significance of analyzing this artifact is the same as any. It is always good to see what different ideologies or messages certain pieces of art contain. It is good to analyze art and try to peel back the layers to see what message really lies underneath.


Method

The method I chose for this artifact is ideological. There are so many different ideologies in this film that I could write a book on it so naturally I chose this method.

Pentadic Criticism

When you use pentadic criticism to analyze an artifact it is a little bit more controlled, and by controlled I mean there are more rules and guides that are applied to the artifact. There are five elements that can be used to identify and artifact.

5 Elements

1. Agent: The "who" of the artifact. This can be the main character of a story, the person or group a speech is about, or the focus of a work of art.

There Will Be Blood: Daniel Plainview

2. Act: The "what" of the artifact. This is what the agent does/is doing, or wants accomplished.

There Will Be Blood: Drilling for oil and trying to take over different oil deposits.

3. Scene: The "when/where" of the artifact.

There Will Be Blood: Late 1880s in the West where oil is booming.

4. Purpose: The "why" of the artifact. This is the agent's purpose and this is the agent's ultimate goal, why the act is what it is.

There Will Be Blood: Daniel Plainview's goal ultimately, is to accumulate vast amounts of wealth in his greedy manner.

5. Agency: The "how" of the artifact. It is how they accomplish the act, but is not the act itself.

The Will Be Blood: Daniel completes this goal by lying and stealing from others. Using any method possible to accumulate his wealth.



Ratio

The ratio is what the dominant term is and what it affects mostly. Like the agent is dominant and it influences the purpose. That being the dominant ratio.

Ideological Analysis

Although there are many different types of artifacts that can be analyzed rhetorically, sometimes films can be the most interesting, simply because there is so much room to fill the artifact with different ideologies that films can sometimes have up to ten different ideologies. When looking at the film There Will Be Blood, the major ideology that is apparent throughout this entire film is that of the corruption of money and the power of greed.

This film is full of images depicting these ideas of greed and first before anything else you can see it in the title. There Will Be Blood is a title that is saying there will be violence, and more specifically the main character, Daniel Plainview, will do whatever is necesary to accumulate his fortune. Plainview himself is a symbol for greed; he is the epitome of the greedy capitalist, isolating himself until he is alone. His greed ultimately corrupts him to the point that he is a lonely, homicidal, broken man, which brings us to the ideology behind this artifact.

The artifacts drips with disdain for greed. It shows what America has become, this free market where everyone will cut each others throat for the next dollar. Plainview is the symbol for this modern CEO of big buisness and he is used as a criticism for America's way of life. Even the title expresses the ideology that seeps through this film There Will Be Blood and America lives by it.

Ideological Artifacts

Since I am an English major I naturally gravitated towards literary artifacHts. There are obviously millions of different artifacts that I could of picked, but I decided to go for a few that I personally enjoyed.

Artifact 1: Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl". This poem can be analyzed ideologically because the poem pretty much expresses Ginsberg's ideology on life. It expresses his views on being gay in America. It also can be viewed as the credo of the beatnik generation.

Artifact 2: Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. This film is very rich in symbolism and can be taken in many different ways. The main metaphor set up by There Will Be Blood is that of greed and human nature to thirst for excessive amounts of goods.

Artifact 3: Thomas Paine's Common Sense. This artifact touching more on my history minor, it is a symbol of the ideologies that forged America's Declaration of Independence. It was a pamphlet that laid out the absurdities in British rule over America.

These artifacts all can be analyzed for their ideologies, something I hope to do later in this course.

Ideological Criticism

Ideology is is a set of aims and ideas that directs one's goals, expectations, and actions.
The primary components of an Ideology are evaluative beliefs. These beliefs can lead to infinite possible judgments.

Neo-Aristotelian Criticism

Rhetorical theory and criticism in the first half of the twentieth century was dominated by neo-Aristotelian criticism, and was the first formal method of rhetorical criticism created for the purpose of critiquing works of communication.


The three basic steps in analyzing an artifact are 1. Reconstructing the text
2. Applying the five canons
3. Assessing the effects the artifact has on an audience


Reconstructing the text means that you start off by finding some information about the rhetor it is also crucial to look for which type of audience the rhetor is trying to affect.


Applying the five canons simply means apply the five canons which are:

1. Invention or the location of the speech 2. The artifacts origination 3. Style 4. Memory 5. Delivery

Style meaning the language used to create different affects. Memory meaning Aristotle did not analyze memory, but even so it is still considered a canon today. However, most speeches today are read by script or teleprompter, so it is becoming less and less important in analysis as less and less speeches require complete memorization. Finally, delivery means the speakers presentation The critic who is analyzing should figure out if the speech is delivered from memory, reading a script or given spontaneously. Also one should look for movement as the speaker is delivering the speech, where his or her eyes are, and physical appearance.