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.
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Shane,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, let me say I hope I am posting these comments correctly, so I can get credit for it!
I really like the points you stated about "There Will Be Blood". I have not seen that, so I am unfamiliar with it. But the connections made in the above post seem like you really have made good ideologies about this.
I would reccomend using Pentadic Criticism because that is the one that I am most comfortable with, but because of my lack of knowledge about this movie, you should do whatever one you feel will cover more information.
My only concern is that you have enough to write about that will cover 1,000 words. But I'm sure you will do just fine!
~Amber Coponiti
I believe that you should use your artifact, "There will be Blood." You seem to have a lot of knowledge about this movie and that can be very helpful when analyzing. I also always find that using film as an artifact allows you to analyze it in many different ways and directions.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be easiest for you to analyze your artifact if you used the method of ideological criticism. I like this type of criticism because it allows you to apply your own beliefs and be creative in your thinking. If you identify the key elements and then identify suggested elements that might not be so known, you can formulate an ideology and answer a formulated research question through your analyzation.
Looking at your blog posts, it seems as if you're much more comfrotable with ieological criticism. I suggest that you use that method with the movie, There Will Be Blood. I agree with Caitlyn's statement about ideological criticism in how it allows your to apply your own beliefs to your artifact, whereas pentadic criticism is a little bit more concrete. Because you know so much about this movie, I think you'll find it easy to create a detailed, lengthy essay.
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