Supersize Me Documentary analysis

1. What is Spurlok’s message about fast food?

Through Supersize me, Spurlok wants to portray how damaging Mc Donald's can be. We have the responsibility to maintain a healthy lifestyle and avoid eating junk food in a daily basis. It's main purpose is to show how bad habits Americans have acquired and how significant Mac Donald's is in their life's. Most kids know the Mc Donald's song but not their countries National Anthem.  It's aimed at all of us who have once eaten at Mc Donald's or people who are regular consumers; this makes the audience feel disgusted and guilty. However people would not eliminate Mc Donalds from their diets just because of watching Super Size me but still the idea will be left in their heads and they would probably reduce their intakes. 

2. How does he try to prove his message’s validity?

He proves his message validity by showing interviews with experts, such as doctors, regular controls of how his health deteriorates as his Mc Diet progresses. He also includes his girlfriend which, in contrast is vegetarian and portrays a healthy side of the story. We can see that he his in good health conditions before the diet when he exercised and ate a balanced diet. The detailed tracking down in his visits and cholesterol checks, etc make his message seem more valid. 

3. What does he do as a director to make you believe his message?

He interviews many doctors which recommend that Mac Donalds shouldn't be eaten at all, not even once a year. We can also see his progress of weight gaining and difficulties start to appear. He feels more sleepy and tired. Also the fact that he is being warned from his nutritionists that the Mc Diet can be really harmful due to the amount of fat the meals contain, makes the audience nervous about what could happen and that the damages could be irreparable. In addition, he points out that even Mc Donalds salads are unhealthy, he said that they contained sugar and that they were even unhealthier than a big mac. This is shocking because normally you would think that a salad is better therefore your order one, but in reality it's worse than a hamburger.

4. What flaws do you see in his strategy?

I think that the main flaws are that he is not very realistic because Mac Donald's can be obviously very unhealthy if you supersize every meal and reduce all kinds of physical activity. It is not appropriate at all if you eat with that frequency. Nevertheless I think there are many other factors which contribute to American's obesity and I don't think that many people would eat at Mc Donalds more than 1 or 2 times a day continously. Also the way Spur lock goes from a super healthy diet to a greasy diet, that sudden change in your body will surely have big impacts. The supersize me option is another flaw, because if a normal american decides to go into a fast food restaurant, nobody is demanding you to order the biggest unhealthiest option. You can easily go to a simpler option. 

The art of metaphors

2.

• Silence is people's loudest cry

• Stars are humans who need darkness to shine 

3. A dead metaphor is: A figure of speech that has lost its force of imaginative effectiveness. Through frequent use. It is not a creative metaphor anymore.

"An example of a dead metaphor would be the 'body of an essay' In this example, 'body' was initially an expression that drew on the metaphorical image of human anatomy applied to the subject matter in question. As a dead metaphor, 'body of an essay' literally means the main part of an essay, and no longer suggests anything new that might be suggested by an anatomical referent. In that sense, 'body of an essay' is no longer a metaphor, but merely a literal statement of fact, or a 'dead metaphor.'"

(Michael P. Marks, The Prison as Metaphor. Peter Lang, 2004)

Development of Rap and Hip Hop

Rap

The history of rap has its roots since the day of slavery. It was developed especially in African American urban communities. They used rap music to represent the pain and mistreatment they experienced in their personal life's. Rap is spoken word poetry. Rock and roll played an important role in the birth or rap music. Black people wanted to demonstrate society how important they were as well as white people. They weren't going to let them feel inferior. "Im black and Im proud" became a universal anthem for the black power. Also Rap is used to describe life often in areas like "the ghetto", because rap music also developed in this poverty areas. 

"Keep in mind when brothas start flexing the verbal skillz,

it always reflects what's going on politically, socially,

and economical/y." --Musician Davey D

Rap can be interpreted by most people as a form of expression in they daily life's, which includes racism, sexism, violence, drugs and war. However others might belief it's a vulgar form of music, specially not a good influence for kids as most rappers/artists include many swear words in their songs. Millions of people enjoy rap, it depends upon your taste and if you grew up influenced by it. Nevertheless, lyrics might be inappropriate in some cases. 

Some of the most recognized Hip-Hop/Rap Artists

Gangsta rap is a different type of rap which is associated with urban street gangs and is characterized by violent and tough talking. One of the most influential bands described as gangsta rappers are the NWA.  

Now a days rap is getting more commercial. Which means that artists are just making their songs to get money out of them. Some rap artist such as Nelly and 50 Cent think of rap as just a business now and are doing as many commercial tracks to sell cd’s.

Furthermore, rappers express their personal issues throughout their songs. This can be a way of relieving their stress and problems. They experience hard and difficult situations about life, most people feel identified with their songs because they might be going through the same situation and it gives them hope, which is why they like their music.

Raps Future

The rap industry is growing at a fast rate, political issues are also being addressed in some of the artists songs and in the media. For example recently Lil Wayne has a song over Kanye West’s beat for “Damage is Done” where he briefly discusses the event of Hurricane Katrina.

What is Hip Hop Culture?

"Hip Hop is the constantly evolving spirit and consciousness of urban youth that keeps recreating itself in a never-ending cycle"

Hip hop and rap are very similar, it's difficult to define why are they different.  Some of the main differences are musical features, culture and message. Also their musical features are different. For example Rap is a combination off rhyming an poetry to a musical beat, while hip hop music includes rhythm, blues and beat boxing. Some people say that “Rap is something you do, but hip-hop is something you live.” They first developed in New York City in the 1970s. 

Most of the best known hip hop musicians are male, however woman started rapping in the 1980s.  Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah and MC Lyte were among the first. 

 

 MC Lyte

Mc Lyte is an American rapper, she gained fame in the 1980s. She was the first solo female rapper to release an album with 1988's called Lyte as a Rock. Apart of being a rapper, she was also an actress. Her first song was called "I cram to understand you" I think she was trying to show how being in the shoes of someone else feels. 

                                    

Opinion

I personally think that the music you listen to defines who you are. Rap can be seen and interpreted in many ways and it depends on the type of rap you listen to. For me it might mean some bunch of words that are not even understandable but we can't judge that because for the artist it can be something significant and powerful. If you read carefully the lyrics of many rap songs, they show a deep meaning and they even include many similes and metaphors. It could just be the way they release their anger and fears, their way of projecting their pain and most of the time we won't understand if we haven't gone through the same situations.  We shouldn't judge rap because of the stereotype it has been given of drugs, sex, violence and money. Some artists content might have a different point of view which can be positive in some cases. We should learn from the positive aspects rap demonstrates. I don't listen to rap music because I think people have degraded it's meaning, artists from the 1970s and 80s did rap because they felt the need of expressing their feelings and emotions, most of the rappers now just want to sell records to produce money. They are giving music another meaning and they are doing it without the passion.

Bibliography

http://www.helium.com/items/427343-the-history-of-rap

http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how-did-rap-start

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1993/4/93.04.04.x.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-rap-and-hip-hop.htm

Island Man Commentary

Island Man by Grace Nichols lived in Guyana until she was eight years old and then she immigrated to the UK. Her poem projects how Nichols feels very identified with “Island Man” as she remembers the sound of the oscillating waves compared to the roar of the urban traffic in London. The poem is short and it can be divided into two different sections, one being the Caribbean dream and the other being the London reality. The poem includes different line lengths used to create rhythm and rhyme but also to specifically show that the poem sideways represents tall buildings just like the city. Besides it does not include punctuation to allow the poem to flow easily.

At the start of the poem the reader might question if the Man in the island is consciously awake because he seems dizzy and confused as “island man wakes up/to the sound of blue surf”. We can interpret this just like if you’d be awakened by your alarm clock in the morning and you have just been dreaming but you suddenly wake up in a completely different room which is not yours and you feel confused because a minute ago you were in a different world and it takes you a moment to recognize where you are. Also this stanza is an example of sensory image. Nevertheless, the man then feels he is where he should be, for instance, “the steady breaking and wombing” the word wombing relates to “womb” which can be associated with motherhood. This is a positive aspect because the man feels he is at home therefore feels secure and content like you would feel inside your mothers womb even though he might have been woken up and found himself disorientated.  

Furthermore, in the second verse it jumps from being in a relaxed place like the womb to the “wild seabirds” this shows that the man is now clearly awake and he can hear and see the “fisherman pushing out to the sea”. There is a repetition of the “s” sound, therefore sibilance in this stanza and the next “the sun surfacing defiantly”. It is also an example of alliteration because it is giving the sun human qualities like “surfing”. The word defiantly represents that the man does not want the sun to rise but it is going to happen anyway, this can be like a clue to tell the man something is going to change and that the peacefulness of the island might come to an end. In addition, the use of colours like “blue” and “emerald” represent how the island is precious and valuable to him and also it creates imagery of the gradual change in colours you would normally see in the Caribbean Sea. The final line “he always comes back        groggily groggily” shows a gap, this could have been done in purpose by Nichols to show that he is moving to reality and if you see the poem side ways it shows one of the tallest buildings which can represent that he is closer to the city.

On the second section of the poem, there is now a transition between the island and the city. The first stanza “ comes back to sands” the words come back link back to the island because they are repeated to the last stanza. The man feels the need to go back to the “sands” feel the texture and the warmth he is unable to feel now that he has moved to the city. In contrast to the nice colours “blue and emerald” in the city Nicholls decides to interpret it as “grey metallic soar”. This links to the dull weather of England but also the word metallic symbolizes stiffness and coldness, it gives the impression of industrialisation and worthless in comparison to the valuable emerald. There are a lot of words in the second section that are associated with nature to describe the city. This is a juxtaposition of the city parallel to the island.

It is clear that the man is not enjoying London and that he feels fatigued by the traffic, for instance, “dull North Circular roar” is a very busy highway in London and Nichols might have changed the word “road to roar” on purpose to explicitly show how travelling through this road feels like. It’s impressive how she is able to play with the words making the reader vividly imagine them. Another example is “his crumpled pillow waves” the word pillow shows how at least when the man goes to bed at night it reminds him of the soothing waves that he left behind and this is all he possesses in the foggy city of London.  This has also got connection to the “island man heaves himself” because we can interpret he is finding it difficult to get out of bed and survive “another London day”, this last line has been left separate to the rest of the poem to represent how the man feels, lonely and misunderstood but he has got to deal with it as it is his normal reality.

All of the literary techniques used by Grace Nichols make the poem full of emotion and by then end the reader can feel what the Island man is feeling. The techniques enlighten the poem even though it is only a few verses long it manages to represent what moving away from your own fantasy means. Finally, the poem makes you reflect what it means to have a major change in where you live and to leave your roots behind.

Half-Caste by John Agard

The writer of the poem Half-Cast, John Agard wants to deliniate how the term Half-Cast which in other words mean "half pure or racially pure" was used in the British colonies in an attempt to "classify" colonies. John Agard wants to remark how the use of this term is very offensive not only to himself by being a west-indian person but also to many other people who felt oppressed during that period of time. By using different figurative language techniques such as, rhetorical questions, tone, the use of language, etc. He is able to give the reader the idea of a fed up and ferocious society. It makes us realize that most people who use this term say it without even thinking about what it really means. The poem overall is very powerful, in the sense that is shows how the use of language can be so remarking and used to control, hurt, overcome and demean people. The poem is written in the exact same way the writer talks, in non-standard english and the words are spelled exactly as they would sound, this contributes by making the poem sound more resentful. 

Agard's use of language in the poem starts by sarcastically apologizing of being half cast, "Excuse me/ standing on one leg/ I'm half-caste". This is completely contradicting because obviously Agard means completely the opposite. He explicitly uses irony to show the stupidity of the racist attitudes making them sound stupid, for instance, "I half cast human being/ cast half a shadow"here Agar means that  he is a full human just like everybody else, he is not less or inferior. The term "Half- Cast" shouldn't even make sense because "you must come back/ tomorrow/ wid de whole of yu eye/ an de whole of yu ear/ an the whole of yu mind", evidently you can't be half a person and at the end you'll be what you are.   More over in the poem their are certain phrases that are echoed and repeated  (e.g Explain yuself) along which builds a kind of pattern and rhythm in the poem. This repetition is a successful way of strengthening the impact of his argument because it makes the reader feel guilty and responsible for the unhappiness of the writer. The use of commands helps Agard to point his thoughts directly to the reader and make the poem confrontational. In addition, the mixing of two type's of english, as lines like "ah rass" are mixed with standard english "I'm sure you'll understand"  and two types of cultures is used to show that it is a good thing to mix things because as a result they can be original as the poem shows an original sound. Imagery is used by Agard to help him prolong his ideas, these are mainly done with comparisons in other words metaphors with famous artists (Picasso and Tchaikovsky) the effect of this is to create the image that even important people who have become an impact worldwide had to use things such as paint "mix red and green" which involve mixing to do something outstanding and beautiful. It makes the reader reflect that without Picasso having mixed his colours his canvas wouldn't have been the same. The same thing happens with Tchaikovsky, his "half-cast symphony" wouldn't turn out the same if you wouldn't mix a "black key/ wid a white key". Even the simplest of things turn out mixed, it is just that sometimes we don't realize and pay attention enough like the weather. 

The use of rhythm and rhyme in Half-Cast, is used by Agard to proudly show his caribbean heritage. His poem has a unique type of rhyme to make the poem more humorous and fluent. Nevertheless rhyme is only used in some parts of the poem such as "wha yu mean/ a listening to yu wid the keen". The rhythm of the poem is very spontaneous but also helps the reader to understand Agard's culture better, it should be heard and read aloud. It also helps the poem sound more challenging and threatening by the way the poem is arranged by cutting the sentences into smaller fragments so they can sound more sharp and angry. The effect both the rhythm and rhyme cause in the reader points out that you should stand up confidently of what you are and that you should make yourself be respected by everybody else because everyone deserves so. 

Finally, I think John Agard has successfully managed to use his poem as a tool to stand up for all those people who were and are being oppressed today. It manages to show that by using terms like "half-cast" can be devastating to those people who should be treated equally. In the end, no one is pure because genetically talking it is impossible to be pure race, you will always be a mixture of something. However Agard shows us with beautiful and realistic examples of life that mixed things are around us everywhere and there is nothing bad in them. Without a mixture of something the product wouldn't turn out as good as it could be. The poem also helps us conceive that words should not be used thoughtlessly without knowing their real meaning. Hopefully the poem has also helped people to stop using racist terms because it doesn't work for anything it just produces anger and pain of feeling inferior. 

RACISM One flew over the cuckoos nest research

THE CYCLE OF RACISM
In Kesey's novel there exists a clear cycle of racism which starts with Nurse Ratched at the top, were she is superior than everyone and respected. Then comes the aids which are below Nurse Ratched and finally to Chief Bromden. This cylce goes on throughout the development of the whole novel. The novel is set in an insane asylum in Oregon, late 1950s. We can assume this in part because of Chief Bromden's memories.

When viewing the set up of the jobs at the ward, the whites are on top. Nurse Ratched and Doctor Spivey have the high paying, education required, profession. Below them are the black aids with the low wage dirty work. Below them is Chief who cleans up what the aids won't do such as washing bathrooms and changing catheter bags. This establishes order in the ward based on race.
What was going on at that time? 

In spite of the mandates outlined in the newly amended U.S. Constitution, freedom and equal rights were not readily bestowed upon African Americans. Throughout this period, education was withheld from people of African descent. In some states it was against the law for this segment of the population to learn to read and write. Tremulous disappointment and disillusionment stirred African American people to continue to challenge this system of segregation.

CHIEF BROMDEN:
A good example is the narrator of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chief Bromden. He appears to be an insane patient at a mental hospital who hallucinates about irrational mechanical people and a thick fog that permeates the hospital ward where he lives. In reality, Bromden's hallucinations provide valuable insight into the dehumanization that Bromden and the other ward patients are subjected to. Ken Kesey, in his writing of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest brings out his racism in the novel.

 The Aides in Kesey's novel, who are also called "black boys," negatively portray blacks as inferior to white people in society. The aides had a poor, rough childhood growing up as seen by their lack of education as seen in the quote "`Why, who you s'pose signed chief Bromden up for this foolishness? Inniuns ain't able to write'" (191). Their aides' hatred of the patients stems from their rough childhood. They are also cast as irresponsible and unable to carry out simple jobs. This is evident in the quote "`I'll take him. He's always untying his sheet and roaming around.'" (147), when Turkle, the night-shift aide, lies to the nurse in charge at night by saying that Bromden untied his sheets, when Turkle Irresponsibly untied Bromden's sheets for him.

 On the morning of the fishing trip on Nurse Ratched's ward, one of Ratched's aides called Bromden illiterate because he was half-Indian. The General statement made by the aid, which was in the quote "`Why, who you s'pose signed chief Bromden up for this foolishness? Inniuns ain't able to write.'" (191), describes Kesey's racism toward Indians. The quote reflects how Indians in Kesey's novel are portrayed as illiterate. Bromden also represents the Indians as imprisoned at the mercy of white people.

In Kesey's novel Indians, such as Bromden's father were forced to hand over their land to white people. The Indians' land was very important to them and being forced to give up land was essentially giving up their freedom.

INFO ABOUT AUTHOR:

 IN 1959, KEN Kesey, a graduate student in creative writing at Stanford University, volunteered to take part in a government drug research program at Menlo Park Veterans Hospital that tested a variety of psychoactive drugs such as LSD, which was legal at the time. Over a period of several weeks, Kesey ingested these hallucinogens and wrote of his drug-induced experiences for government researchers. From this experience, Kesey wrote his most celebrated novel, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, and began his own experimentations with psychedelic drugs. His goal was to break through conformist thought and ultimately forge a reconfiguration of American society.   As Kesey put it: "What we hoped was that we could stop the coming end of the world." By 1966, when Kesey had been apprehended as a fugitive from the law, he denounced the curative powers of LSD as temporary and delusional, but nothing he said could stop the psychedelic era that was about to explode in San Francisco.

The inspiration for One flew over the cuckoos nest came while working on the night shift (with Gordon Lish) at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital. There, Kesey often spent time talking to the patients, sometimes under the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs with which he had volunteered to experiment. Kesey did not believe that these patients were insane, but rather that society had pushed them out because they did not fit the conventional ideas of how people were supposed to act and behave. Published in 1962, it was an immediate success; in 1963, it was adapted into a successful stage play by Dale Wasserman, and in 1975, Miloš Forman directed a screen adaptation, which won the "Big Five" Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), Best Director (Forman) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman).
RACISM IN THE 1950s?

Prominent figures of the african american civil right revolution

Racism was a lot more prominent and deemed socially acceptable within society. There was racial segregation meaning that blacks and whites were socially separated. They weren't aloud to take the same buses, attend the same cinemas or even drink from the same water fountains. It was illegal to go against this, an example is when Rosa Parks, a middle-aged black women, refused to give up her seat on the bus in 1955. She is today, seen as a very influential civil rights activist. Times have changed and progressed a lot with better cultural understanding, and though there are still racist people in the world, it is generally seen as unacceptable within society to be racist and hold anything against a person purely for the race, religion or ethnic background. The only reason that people are racist is out of ignorance and over time people have been more educated and have a greater understanding and acceptance of others



MOVIE AND NOVEL DIFFERENCES:





The most notable difference between the film and the novel is the story's point of view. In the novel, Chief Bromden is the narrator who reveals the story of the battle of wills between Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy. In fact, Chief arguably is the novel's hero who undergoes the most notable changes in the novel. While detailing the events in the mental institution, Chief reveals biographical information of his own life before his institutionalization. We learn that Chief is a paranoid schizophrenic, a war veteran, and a half-breed Indian whose white mother conspired with the U.S. government to emasculate his proud father, an American Indian whose name Tee Ah Millatoona translates as "Pine-That-Stands-Tallest-on-the-Mountain."

The filmed version discards Chief as the story's narrator, discards the background story of Chief, and relegates his character to a secondary — albeit important — character to McMurphy. In the film, McMurphy is clearly the hero.

Chief's delusional episodes of witnessing the inner workings of the Combine and its fog machines are eliminated in the film in favor of scenes written that omnisciently expand on McMurphy's character and his background, as well as expand on his charitable nature.

In addition, Chief eventually becomes fully communicative in the novel while muttering only one phrase — "Juicy Fruit" — in the film. This explains how McMurphy is able to bring Chief along on the fishing excursion in the novel, a detail not explained in the film.