Tuesday, April 28

We began today by reviewing Logical Fallacies, matching examples to their definitions.

Be prepared for a quiz on this next week.

We then moved on to talk about Logical Fallacies in Cinderella. We identified a few:

1) The glass slipper as identifying object

Premise 1: The slipper will only fit Cinderella's foot

Premise 2: The prince will marry the woman who fits the shoe

Conclusion: Therefore, the prince will marry Cinderella.

You pointed out that Premise 1 was wrong because shoes fit more than just one foot. Therefore, the rest of the argument is fallacious. (And, perhaps, the prince will end up marrying 200 women.)

2) Marriage signals "happily ever after."

Premise 1: Marriage is always a happy thing

Premise 2: The story ends in marriage

Conclusion: Therefore, the story ends happily.

You pointed out that Premise 1 was wrong because not all marriages are happy. Therefore, the rest of the argument is fallacious.

Common Problems in the Analysis Paper

Articles

-          “a” and “the”

-          Use for common nouns

-          Not for proper nouns

Verb Tense:

-          Use present tense when talking about literature/film

Terms:

-          “Hero” or  “Protagonist”

-          “Transition” or “transformation”

Closing paragraphs

-  “break it down for me like I’m 3 years old”

- Show me all the pieces.

- Explain the meaning of each piece and how it ties back to your thesis.

- Think of Kathy’s example

Counter arguments and rebuttals

-          New insight/meaning into the text

-          Think of Carol’s example

Poetic  language/academic  language

-          “the heart”

Outline for 3.2

I.                    Introduction (here’s my claim). I am right because X and Y.

II.                  X. Quote. Explain. What is the meaning and why is it relevant to your argument?

III.                Y. Quote. Explain. What is the meaning and why is it relevant to your argument.

IV.                Counter Argument and Rebuttal

V.                  Conclusion

Project 3: Analysis (and fun with Prezis!)

Ad Analysis Prezi

Logical Fallacy Prezi

Femininity: "Smile, Honey"

Today, we discussed Ann Cunningham's article, "Why Women Smile."

Cunningham defines the Duchenne smile as the real, authentic smile. Or the authentic expression of real happiness.

But she also points out moments where humans/animals smile for different reasons: often out of fear, sadness or embarrassment. She points out that this kind of inauthentic smile is made by subordinates to dominant members. The subordinate is asking that the dominant party be kind/merciful. This is another reinforcement of gender roles.

Last week, we listed masculine qualities as:
active, aggressive powerful strong brave capable attractive to women and dominant

Today, we defined feminine characteristics as:
passive gentle emotional attractive to men subordinate caretaekrs delicate/vulnerable (the damsel in distress archetype)

We then watched several video clips in which gender roles are reversed, noting the moments that we laughed and examining why we laughed.
Most notably, we laughed when men were dominated by women.

Please find and post a [humorous] video here in which women do not perform their gender roles. We will examine these in class on Tuesday.

Please read & respond to Kheyfet's blog post, "Cinderella and Feminism" (link at right)