Ask the Internets Part 1,037

[icepixie]

I'm on a hunt for interesting photographs, paintings, drawings, PSAs, images in general, and, perhaps, even short YouTube videos that I can collect together and give to my 101 students as choices to write a rhetorical analysis on. (If you're not up on your Aristotle, this is essentially a 1,000-word explication of what argument you think the image is making and how it's making it via subject matter, composition, color, pathos/ethos/logos, etc. etc. etc.)

Anyone got some favorites I can add to the list?

Current ones I'm considering are:
- this photo of New York, New York in Las Vegas
- Lange's "Dust Storm at the War Relocation Authority Center..."
- at least one William Wegman photograph
- Tim Davis's "Searchlights"
- one of Layla Essaydi's Converging Territories series
- Roe Ethridge's "Great Neck Mall Sign"
- #2 (both images) in Yeondoo Jung's "Bewitched" series
- Florien Maier-Aichen's "Untitled (2005)"
- others I can't find online, but which are in a book called New Perspectives in Photography (I particularly like an Anna Gaskell photograph that's sort of a modern take on The Wizard of Oz)

Comments

[icepixie]

I'm looking for anything you think an 18-year-old could write a thousand words on. For example, for the "Great Neck Mall Sign" one, you could say, "Ethridge's photograph reveals the declining emphasis on libraries and learning in American society because of the placement of 'library' on the sign (among retail shops) and its similarity in font to 'liquors.'" Or for "Bewitched," "These images suggest that the viewer's ordinary life has the seeds of transformation in it. The girl in the photograph is in the same position, but her surroundings have changed entirely..."

You can do that kind of thing for most any image, but since this is freshman comp, I'm going for the blindingly obvious. :)

Some of those shadow photographs are very nice!

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's tough for me to judge. I got about 1200 out of compare/contrast "blue" and "green" once. I did my rhetorical analysis on my current icon.

Flickr has an "interestingness" stream, it seems.

These caught my eye:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/guybatey/3666906691/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13thwitness/3667868722/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/discarted/2295807682/

If you are able, allowing your students to use an image related to their areas of study (when possible) might be helpful. Are there an array of likely majors where you're teaching?

[icepixie]

I did my rhetorical analysis on my current icon.

Really? Do you remember what you said its argument was? (I'm having trouble figuring out what you could claim about it beyond that it's calming or theraputic due to the colors and design, but that could be failure of imagination on my part. We're supposed to steer them away from writing about the image's context or historical/cultural significance; that's for the second paper.)

That last picture you linked is pretty nifty--plays with your expectations of Superman as a force for good. (He is giving a smoker a light, isn't he? I'm not entirely sure.)

I'm giving them the option of doing it on an image of their choosing as long as they let me vet it first. (I'm less worried about them bringing in, I dunno, porn or whatever than I am about them having an actual idea of how they're going to analyze it rather than just thinking it's a cool image and not getting any further than that, then writing a terrible paper.) I'm compiling this pool because I don't want to have to approve 44 different images.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Really? Do you remember what you said its argument was?

No, I don't, sorry. I will check my files to see if I still have it, but I think it's been lost. It was a horrible essay.

That last picture you linked is pretty nifty--plays with your expectations of Superman as a force for good. (He is giving a smoker a light, isn't he? I'm not entirely sure.)

I think so, yes. It might be a light for a bong; I can't tell. I'd love to see an analysis of it.

I'm giving them the option of doing it on an image of their choosing as long as they let me vet it first.

Great! I had friends who had to choose an image from an art exhibit at school that was rather disturbing.

I'm compiling this pool because I don't want to have to approve 44 different images.

Very good idea. I hope the kids will be inspired by what you have available.

Also, #3 in this set might a good one: http://photofreedom.livejournal.com/153791.html

[icepixie]

I think so, yes. It might be a light for a bong; I can't tell. I'd love to see an analysis of it.

I'm totally adding it to the image bank. We'll see if anyone chooses it.

Great! I had friends who had to choose an image from an art exhibit at school that was rather disturbing.

Yeah, I am all about the options; I hate being dictated to. Their final paper is going to be on any issue they want.

Very good idea. I hope the kids will be inspired by what you have available.

Me too!

Also, #3 in this set might a good one: http://photofreedom.livejournal.com/153791.html

Those are very nifty indeed.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Very cool!

Hey, are your B5 discussion posts and fic all tagged? I would guess they are, but haven't had time to check. I need to write a couple of papers and am currently bribing myself with fun stuff (like going back through your posts!) so I actually finish these papers.

[icepixie]

Aw, my LJ is bribe material! Yay! :)

Everything B5--discussion, fic, graphics, etc.--is indeed tagged "babylon 5." The few Crusade posts are tagged "crusade."