Prompt from professor below. Please include questions in your paper.
Communication Criticism
This Method Application Exercise invites you to practice applying the framework of metaphor criticism (as outlined in Foss, Ch. 9, and discussed in lecture). This artifact is a motivational speech/video titled, “Humanity vs. COVID-19: Motivation During the Coronavirus” posted to YouTube on April 10, 2020, by Jeremy Anderson. Anderson is the spokesperson for his family’s non-profit organization, “Next Level Living, Inc.” Anderson is an author and motivational speaker who travels across the country giving motivational speeches, primarily to students and teachers.
First, watch the artifact in full at least once. Then, review the prompts and questions at the end of this post and watch the artifact in full at least once more, taking notes to help prepare you to respond. Finally, create your own thread with your responses to the questions.
Artifact:
Instructions for your thread:
1. First, provide a vivid descriptive overview of this video. Use precise and illustrative language to describe what you see/hear in this video. Aim for a concise but detailed descriptionyou shouldn’t include every detail of the video, but you should include enough detail to enable someone who hasn’t watched this video to understand its content and style based on your overview.
Then, respond to each of the following questions. Use elements from your overview to provide evidence (direct quotes and/or vivid descriptions) from the video to support your interpretations and explanations/reasoning in your own words to unpack the meaning and significance of the relationship between your evidence and interpretations.
2. What is the sociopolitical context for this artifact (e.g. what was happening during and leading up to April 2020 that likely informed the creation of this video)? Do not simply state facts hereattend to the emotional, psychological, and material conditions that defined (and continue to define) this time period.
3. According to Foss, metaphors are “modes of communication in which meaning is generated by making comparisons” (p. 285). Discuss at least three significant metaphors that you see and/or hear in this artifact and identify the tenor and vehicle for each. Use the principles of frequency and intensity described by Foss (pp. 293-294) to help identify significant metaphors.
4. Using your response to question 3, explain what these metaphors are doingin other words, what implicit meanings/attitudes/assumptions/beliefs are being expressed by these metaphors and why? What ideologies are being promoted/resisted in these metaphors and why? How and what are these metaphors asking us to think/feel/act?
5. Metaphors shape our perceptions of reality. Some metaphors are so powerful and well-established that we don’t even recognize them as metaphors (e.g. “argument is war” or “time is money”); yet, if we use different or alternative metaphors, we may experience reality differentlywe could even imagine a better or more just world. What alternative metaphors can you think of for some of the dominant metaphors expressed in this artifact and how would these alternative metaphors help us see the topic/issue being addressed in better or more productive ways?
