Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Assignment 2: Usain Bolt Celebrates Early
Audience: The audience for this parody of Usain Bolt's 100m gold-medal run is viewers of the 2008 Summer Olympics, and potentially other athletes that were critical of Usain's early celebration before he finished. They also allude to Bella Karoly, the former coach of the US Gymnastics team who was a commentator, so the audience is also viewers of the gymnastic competition.
Stance: This video parodies and exaggerates Usain's early celebration. It also points out how good of an athelete Usain is, and how he dominated his competition.
Purpose: The purpose of this video was to cast Usain as an athlete who does not have good sportsmanship. In the video, he starts celebrating as soon as the race starts because he knows he was going to win, which criticizes his cocky attitude. Overall, the video ridicules how outrageous Usain was in celebrating before he finished, even though he finished in world record time.
Genre: This video takes a the form of a fake sports broadcast, and interview with Usain.
The argument that Usain probably shouldn't have celebrated early is effective because they parallel these exaggerations with his actual celebration, and the viewer sees that his actual celebration was not far off of the exaggerations.
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There is an ethos appeal, because of the format of the fake news broadcast that is trying to lend legitimacy to their parody. They are trying to increase the reputation of the entire production.
ReplyDeleteThere is also an ethos appeal, to encite anger at Usain for the way he disrespected the other athletes.
Lastly, there is a logos appeal in the fact that the video exaggerates logical moves that a sprinter would make during a race, further admonishing Usain for his behavior.