Back to Harry and ownership

I read an interesting article today about J.K. Rowling filing a law suit to stop a fan fiction writer from publishing a Harry Potter book. It made me think of the chapter in Convergence Culture where Jenkins writes about authorship and fan fiction. Take a look at the article: Lawsuit

Ethos and Law schools

*This blog is mainly for me to write about topics I am already thinking about for the project so bear with me.

Ethos is the perception that an audience has of the speaker. When it comes to law schools or any university for that matter, ethos is very important. The perception of Harvard as a top school is well known. Most of that perception comes from Ivy League schools being top notch regardless of which school it is. These schools are the oldest and most prestigious so they are known to be the best.

For universities such as LSU, the defining ethos has been one of change. In the early years, LSU was known as a military institution, and the law school has not been around as long as those of Ivy League schools. In order to change the perception of both the university and the law school, the university uses campaigns to inform the audience of the achievements of the university's students or faculty. One way to do this is a website. For instance, LSU Law's website boasts being a top school for graduate studies in law. They are currently ranked 15th overall and 2nd in public schools. They are redefining their ethos as a school that offers top of the line education.

Going back to the subject of Harvard law, their website has no in your face boast about the accomplishments of students. Instead, there is a small section to the right of the page that is titled "Spotlight." This spotlight does not highlight the fact that Harvard Law was ranked as the second best school in the country behind Yale Law or that the average Bar passing rate is among the top in the country. There is no need for them to boast these accomplishments. They already have a definitive ethos as being the best and therefore have no need to establish that perception to the public.

Fairytale Feminism

Although all fairytales can be read with feminist criticism in mind, I would like to address what Hart and Gilbert refer to as "mythic conventions." (3) This semester I am taking a Grimm fairytale course, and we have recently read the Grimm version of "Sleeping Beauty." The Disney version that most of us saw as children is what I believe Ruthven is referring to when saying the typical story line of a fairytale is one with a passive princess who awaits her prince to awaken her. Here she is represented as symbolically dead without a man in her life.
However, in the Grimm version that theclass just read, it is questionable that the young woman even needed the young man to awaken her. There is no mention that a kiss is needed to wake her, and the young man does not arrive to bring her back to life before the designated time before her awakening is scheduled. She is to sleep for 100 years and he arrives just at those 100 years are up. I am not sure what to make of this. Jack Zipes believes that Disney saw women as helpless without men (comatose) and wrote his versions with that in mind. My question is, did Disney's versions portray women as more reliant on men and was it because of the culture of America at the time, or have fairytales always portrayed women as creatures that are living in comatose state without a male figure? (think about evil characters that were women as well)

The Nature of Rhetorical Criticism

Concepts: What is rhetoric and the process of studying rhetorical criticism

In the study of rhetorical criticism, one must begin with understanding what rhetoric is. Most think that rhetoric means "empty, bombastic language" or "ornamental speech that constains an abundance of metaphors."(p.4) Foss describes rhetoric here as "the action humans perform when they use symbols for the purpose of communicating with one another." (p.4) There are four important dimensions in visualizing rhetoric: 1) rhetoric is an action, 2) rhetoric is a symbolic action, 3) rhetoric is a human action, 4) rhetoric functions to enable us to communicate with one another. (p.4)
Rhetoric as an action is the conscious choice that we as rhetors make to communicate and how to do so from our communicative options. Foss explains rhetorical action with an example of a man who does not exercise regularly and plays tennis for the first time in a while. The man chooses to inform his opponent that he is out of shape. This was his choice to communicate this information, but his red face and labored breathing are not conscious choices made by him to communicate his condition. They are communicating to the other player that he is out of shape, but the changes in his bodily condition are not concious choices. (p.4)
Rhetoric as a symbolic action refers to the symbolic sign that is a human creation. It is indirectly connected to what it refers to, i.e. "chair" invented by someone to describe the object that one sits in. (p.4-5)
Rhetoric as a human action is when humans use non-rhetorical or natural objects to communicate something. Another aspect of rhetoric as a human action is that animal communication is not rhetoric. The term "rhetor" here is a human designer, creator, or producer of rhetoric, i.e. speaker, writer, architect, or filmmaker. (p.5)
Rhetoric enables us to communicate with each other through a variety of ways for a variety of reasons. We can use rhetoric to persuade others, as an invitation to understanding, and as self- discovery. Rhetoric is the process by which our reality comes into being. "Reality or knowledge of what is in the world is the result of communicating about it." (p.6)

So what is rhetoric limited to? According to Foss, rhetoric is any message, regardless of which form of communication it is, and may be studied critically. He lists examples of rhetoric such as architechture, dress, and furniture. Do you agree or disagree? What are other examples of rhetoric that he does not list?

Process of rhetorical criticism:
Process of investigating and explaining symbolic acts and artifacts in order to understand rhetorical processes.
3 primary dimensions:
1. Systematic Analysis- engaging in the natural process of encountering symbols and trying to understand how they affect us in a more systematic way
2. Symbolic Acts and Artifacts- act- "executed in the presence of the rhetor's intended audience"
artifact- "the text, trace, or tangible evidence of the act"(p.7)
The object of rhetorical study is often the artifact because the act is not something that can be easily studied.
3. Understanding Rhetorical Processes-understanding how symbols or artifacts are used rhetorically
What does the rhetorical artifact teach about the nature of rhetoric?
Rhetorical criticism contributes to rhetorical theory.
Rhetorical theory- theory-"tentative answer to a question posed by someone seeking to understand the world" (p.8)
Final outcome to the process of rhetorical criticism is not theory but the "contribution to the improvement of our abilities as communicators and consumers of symbols." (p.8)

Overview sort-of

As I was reading the Conclusion chapter to Jenkins's Convergence Culture, I couldn't help but relate certain aspects of media to some of Jenkins's references. He writes about what Chris Anderson calls "The Long Tail" (252). This is basically when entertainment companies make a greater profit by keeping more diverse titles in circulation and offering them for reasonable prices through the Web where web users can compare prices and get the better deal. I read this and thought of companies such as Netflix and Blockbuster where you can order a movie or tv series DVD online and have it delivered to your home. Most of these online renting websites offer a wider variety of shows. Amazon.com is also a great place to find a wide variety of hard to find shows that one can buy. Just the other day, a friend of mine was searching for the old Zelda series on DVD. She found them through Netflix. This is a great example of what Jenkins calls a "savvy media consumer, who will actively seek out content of interest" (252). You aren't going to walk into Target or Best Buy and find this series, you have to go to the internet and search for it. These companies allow you to find what you are looking for through media systems, and they are also making a profit off of those who are taking advantage of the ability to buy these shows.
Another thought I had was about fanfic with the same concept of older television shows. For instance, a friend of mine wanted to see the beginning of Salute Your Shorts, a show that aired in the 90s on Nickelodeon. He went to YouTube and found entries from fans that enjoyed Nickelodeon's shows from the 90s so much, they made tribute videos for them. Fans of these shows weren't completely happy with the original productions, they wanted to create something based off of what there was available. (256)

Some links to fan sites:
http://johnnorrisbrown.com/classic-nick/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c71iRvyJdzE&feature=related
http://www.netflix.com/

Voting Naked

When I first read about voting naked, I never thought of it as Jenkins first describes it (233). I thought of it as being very open and exposing oneself to the public with your political opinions. I feel as if many Americans do not say who they are backing politically because they do not want to debate their reasoning behind their political views. Jenkins writes that one of his friends was appalled that he could be friends with Republicans, and his friend even accredited the Republican party to the Nazi Regime (235-236). I believe that when we openly discuss our political views, we are undressing ourselves for our audience. We are opening ourselves to "attack politics" where anyone can attack you just for speaking about your political choices. I agree with Jenkins that in order for us to vote naked and feel comfortable about it, we as a culture must find a common ground and "listen and learn from each other" (239).

Harry Potter Ponderism

In today's culture, children are using online sources to expand their imaginations in ways never seen or done before. When I was young, I would imagine in my mind what kids today write on blogs or pages like Heather Lawver's. The one similarity with children of yesterday and today is the lack of imagination being used in the classroom. Children today have to wait until they get home from school to let their minds run wild. They go home and get online so that they may begin to write their stories. The fan fiction that they create is how they express themselves. On page 183, Sweeney Agonistes claims that fan fiction is a useful resource for surviving high school. I agree with this notion. What better way for teens to understand the complexities of high school than to write about it in a way that no one will criticize. There are no teachers to put a stop to whatever is being written because it goes too far into someone's imagination. Of course there has to be someone to make sure that no one is writing violent scenes that could occur in a high school hallway, but that is the great thing about writing online. Everyone can read these stories and most young writers just want to show their talents and their minds through their stories. Technology has brought about a new revolution for children-- education. Children can use these fan fiction sites to learn about themselves and expand as writers more than any classroom could do for them.