The Photo Essay

My audience includes everyone in this class and the teacher.   I believe this is a perfect audience because it reaches men, women, and two generations.  The context of my presentation in class will be my photo essay on my computer, where everyone in the class will walk by and study my work.  I think that my essay will be well evaluated, I think my topic is relatable and interesting and I think that I will present it in a way that is both inviting and educational.  The argument in my essay that is developed is that gender roles shouldn’t define us and that we can break the ones that are present in our lives. I want my audience to think about the gender roles that they feel they have to follow, and also the gender roles that they expect others to follow. I want the audience to feel like I’m not trying to drastically change their ways, but make them really think about how they live their lives.  I need to gather more pictures with more variety. I have an idea of what I want to do with them but am not completely sure. I need to make sure I present them in a way that is inviting and not too convincing, just enough to make the reader take time to think about what the pictures are trying to say.  In the end, I want to show the reader that anyone can do anything regardless of gender stereotypes. People shouldn’t be limited to what they do just because of the anatomy of their body.

 

In my original design plan, I was determined to present an argument to the reader that was both inviting and educational. I believe I did that because not only did I present my argument in a way that invites the reader to not only read it but get involved in it, I also informed them as to what the issue was. I think my pictures did a good job of putting the image of gender role reversal in their heads. Also, I believe that I kept my presentation was laid back enough where it wasn’t too convincing or bias, I kept an open mind, which is what I wanted to do.  I think that this essay will make the reader think about gender roles in general but also the gender roles that they see every day and that they feel they have to follow.  I think the reader will feel that they can do anything they want to do, regardless of what sex they are. I also think that my presentation will perhaps convince the reader to break the gender roles present in their lives.

 

 

 

My Experience with the Photo Essay

Since this is my first photo essay I've ever done, I find myself sort of stuck and confused as to what to do next. I'm just kind of wondering if what I'm doing is right and I'm not sure exactly where I could go to see if I am correct. I feel very confused sometimes while constructing my essay. I think I'm doing good, but I have no idea. Honestly, I haven't decided if I like or dislike the assignment yet. It's nice to be doing something different than just writing 10 pages on a certain subject, but then again it's so new where I feel like I have no idea what it is supposed to look like.  I am just not sure of what a really good photo essay consists of and I still don't understand the entire assignment. I'm confused about the narrative I have to write at the end. I decided to present my photo essay in a power point format, so I don't know if I'm okay in doing that or if it'll just be completely wrong and unacceptable.  I did like taking the pictures though. At first, I struggled as to what I wanted my pictures to portray and then ideas started popping into my head. It was fun to tell my brother to start cleaning and doing various household chores so I could get pictures for this project.  In the end, I just want to know if I'm okay in making a power point or if it needs to be a word document. This whole project is just starting to stress me out.

Rhetorical Analysis of About-face

Katie Wisniewski

College Writing 2

Rhetorical Analysis

About-face: Women in Society

 Everyday people visit millions upon millions of websites. When an internet surfer first encounters the about-face website, many thoughts start running through their heads. Their eye is first caught by the title of the website, About-face, which is presented on the top of the webpage. This leads the reader wanting to know more about this organization and what they do, just by looking at the name.  About-face seems to be a website about women in the media and how they are portrayed in society. The main point of this website is to show women and girls how to resist the negative messages of social media in today’s society.

Many women these days struggle day to day about their self-image. Women are getting less self-confident, and this is mostly because of the messages being sent to them through social media.  This media is telling girls and women every day that they need to strive to be better and look better.  But these message aren’t being sent in a positive way. Instead they’re being sent through criticisms of these stars we look up to and hate that is being spread through various means.  This makes women stop and think: if these beautiful people are the ones that are being called ugly and fat, what does that make me? This website wants women to be empowered by who they are, and to not change themselves because of what media is spewing in their ears.

 The text on this website’s home page is very limited. Instead, you are presented with multiple options that would redirect you to more information.  Once you click on one of these options, you are taken to information that better explains that segment of the website. This as an effective way of displaying text and visual together because finding out more about certain categories is the reader’s choice.  There are endless choices on this website. Some include signing a petition, looking at certain galleries about “winners” and “offenders”, getting involved, and lots of information about taking action and getting more information about the website and women related problems in society. The author wants you to get involved in the website and explore your options while finding out about their views.  The audience would be young women who are self-conscious or worried about their image compared to that of society’s perfect image.  They want to change women’s views that they have about themselves and the people around them.

About-face uses many strategies to tug at the emotions of the reader. With their “Gallery of Offenders” they strive to make the reader feel upset or mad with the offenders. This option is presented in an inviting way-they are showing a famous artist and are asking the reader why he would be an offender, which makes the reader wonder. After getting redirected, they ask the reader multiple questions about Robin Thicke and how his video for “Blurred Lines” would be detrimental to women in society. By making the reader upset, they are encouraging the reader to take action or get their opinion heard. Showing the reader a familiar face that they may have once looked up to and telling them that they have offended women in society has a huge impact on someone. 

This website shows extreme credibility. First of all, the website is directed towards women in  our society. It would only be appropriate that since it is directed towards women, it is also published by women. When clicking on an option to find out more “about us”, the reader is presented with a picture of multiple women. These are the women who run this organization and this website, so the author isn’t being held behind closed doors. After this, one could read the story of how the website got started. Here, they explain where they got the idea for this website, and why they want you to get involved. Overall, they are very justified in contributing to this website. The people behind about-face are very relatable to what is being said on the page.

The overall layout of the website is very organized and inviting. They use many colors to help direct the attention of the reader. You first see the title of the website, and underneath it, is the main issue on this website, which is the message “Don’t fall for the media circus”. Also, all of the different options on this website are out in the open, and are not overwhelming, there are only about twelve different redirections on the page. They also utilize many different pictures of well-known celebrities, which let the reader know that they are involved in modern social media.

Overall, the text and the visuals work together very well. Not only are they both presented in an open and inviting way, they are all related to one another. The pictures that are used to back up the text are well related and emphasize what the text is trying to say.  The visuals are almost placed as invitations to the text, as one needs to click on the visual before they are presented with the full textual information.  If all of the text was just displayed on the home page, the reader would get overwhelmed with too much information and most likely not read any of it. Without the text, the visuals would just be a lot of pictures of different women and celebrities. Without one another, the text and visuals would not be beneficial to the website.

In conclusion, there are many aspects that make up a successful webpage. When someone on the internet comes upon About-face, they can learn many things about women and society. I believe that this website truly is about empowering women to ignore the negative strains the media have on society. By utilizing many rhetorical appeals, this website is very successful in presenting their information and persuading the reader to take action.  Viewers of this webpage are very encouraged to change not only their outlook on women in society, but someone else’s.

 

Works Cited

http://www.about-face.org/