David Sedaris’s essay, “Us and Them,” is a short story about a society where people are sheltered, greedy, and get all of their information through televisions. After reading the essay, I felt like the story has traces of the novel Fahrenheit 451, where instead of telescreens and big brother, the people watch T.V. all the time instead. The story is about a school-aged kid who has been sheltered for most of his life except for the fact that he, and everyone else, watches T.V. After finding about the Tomkey family, who does not own or “believe” in television, he becomes very interested in their lifestyle. Unlike all of the other families who stay indoors and watch TV all day, they have family values such as talking during dinner and going on trips on their boat. Other neighbors and people around don’t believe that the Tomkey’s don’t have a television and think to themselves, ‘“Maybe they listen to radio, but you can bet your boots they’re doing something’” (Sedaris 1). This gives me the impressions that the author is trying to hint at a future society where everyone is stuck in their own worlds and oppressed due to technology, similarly to Fahrenheit 451.

As the plot goes on it eventually comes to Halloween, the Tomkey family is out on their boat and leaves only gumdrops on the stoop with a sign that says, “DON’T BE GREEDY,” which ultimately leads the kids to put all of the gumdrops in the dog’s bowl next to it. The next day, the Tomkeys oddly go trick-or-treating after Halloween, and the boy now has to give up some of his prized candy. Instead of giving away the “name brand” chocolates which he is allergic too, he stoves it all in his mouth and barely spares any for the family. The boy’s inner thought show his inner greed and narcissism, which may be making a statement that everyone in this society is the same way.

My overall impression of this essay is that it is a work of art rather than entertainment. The essay directly shows how horrible a society would be if everyone was greedy and nosey in an almost sadistic way. A family who enjoys each other’s company is alienated from a neighborhood. The boy would rather eat the candy he is allergic too rather than give it to another family with kids who missed out on Halloween. Each of these shows the negatives of the progression of society, and make the reader fear this type of future situation. Sedaris ultimately makes the reader want to keep and protect the good in society so that one day we all don’t become pigs.

Brian Hartmann

Karlianne Seri

WRT 102.72

12 February 2018

Ethos and Pathos in “be together. not the same” Draft

When Android aired their new commercial in 2014 called “be together. not the same.”, viewers experienced a much different message from the tech giant. Instead of the usual glorification of technology and features used in selling smartphones and software, Android opted for a short cartoon skit in their new commercial. The commercial for the phone operating system company was now a story about school kids, represented as rocks, paper and scissors, and based on the game rock-paper-scissors. It takes place in an imaginary school where initially a new ‘paper’ in the school is picked on by other paper. After a series of events, a group made up of a rock, paper and scissors end up uniting and become friends, regardless of the fact that they are all supposed to be enemies of one another. Although it may just sound like a short kids’ story about being different and helping others in need, Android purposely used this underlying message to show the benefits of their software, which is customizable and available on different types of devices, unlike their competitor, Apple. In the commercial, Android uses ethos and pathos to create a positive message towards the younger target audience, and ultimately, towards their product.

Androids uses ethos to draw viewers into the cartoon skit and to build a positive relationship towards their product. As soon as the commercial begins, viewers hear a loud school bell and see a large hallway. A new ‘paper’ kid is walking down the hall, who is shy and nervous on what seems to be his first day. After getting past the group of scissors which paper avoids, he comes up on a group of paper, who to the paper’s surprise, turn around and tease him. This immediately sets off the viewers ethos alarm, especially for younger people who might have been in this type of situation. Aren’t the scissors supposed to beat the papers up, not the other paper? In an immediate twist, a scissor comes out and breaks up the fight. The viewers concern about the new paper are now satisfied, and now the paper and scissors move on as friends. Android purposely adds this first situation in the commercial to use the idiom of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ towards the scissor and the other papers. Since most kids nowadays always want the new iPhone and not so much an Android phone like the Samsung Galaxy, Android wants viewers to have another look at their choice of phone. The use of the scene of the kids at school is used to draw the younger audience into thinking what phone they choose when the time comes. The audience is ethically questioned on what they would do in this situation and are immediately shown a positive result, building on the overall positivity of the commercial. The commercial then continues on with the paper and scissors after school coming across a group of rocks. Just like in the previous situation, a small rock is being picked on by two other rocks. Since the scissors’ weakness is rocks, he immediately runs, but the paper decides to help the small rock. Android further uses ethos in this commercial by showing how good actions can be further be spread and has the paper who now has confidence scare off the other rocks.

The upbeat nature of Androids’ commercial is apparent as soon as it begins. The audience is hit with the audio of a nostalgic school bell and 80’s rock style music. Pathos is seen when the small piece of paper is being bullied by the larger pieces of paper. These actions cause the audience to feel either sympathetic towards the tiny piece of paper or empathize towards it. Bullying is a widespread issue around the world and it is guaranteed that people have either been a victim or bullying or have witnessed it to some degree. Furthermore, when the scissor comes in and scares the bigger pieces of paper away and essentially saving the tiny piece of paper, it had a pleasing and comedic affect. The audience was relieved that the cute, tiny piece of paper was no longer being bullied and then they were able to laugh that the big pieces of paper were afraid of the small scissors because of the classic game, Rock, Paper, Scissors. Finally, as the new friends paper and scissors come across a small rock being teased by larger rocks, the situation is similar to how the commercial started with the paper. The audience once again feels empathetic or sympathetic towards the smaller rock. This time the tiny piece of paper gets some confidence and scares away the larger rocks to save the small rock and then befriends him. The pathos in the second half of the commercial is similar to the first part where the audience feels poorly towards the victim of bullying, then a sense of relief that he is rescued from the situation followed by the comedic affect that the large rocks were afraid of the tiny scissors because of the Rock, Paper, Scissors game. Android uses this to create the effect of positivity towards diversity, and then use this positivity towards their brand, which supports phone diversity.

Androids initial use of the cartoon skit shows exactly which audience they are trying to win over, teenagers and kids.

For my media analysis, I’m using the commercial below called “Be Together Not The Same.” This commercial came out of Android’s 2014 ad campaign showing a clip of cartoon kids at school. This commercial was made and sponsored by Android themselves (and maybe Samsung), of course, and makes an argument to buy their phones by conveying a series of messages to the audience. The main point made is that all different types of people, even the sworn enemies of rock, paper, and scissors, can still be together and get along. This coincides with Androids operating system which supports all sorts of different devices, phones, tablets, etc., which are all customizable and unique in their own way. Android makes this positive statement to show how being unique and united is better than Apples straight cut phones and system, which are nearly identical.

To make this statement, I will argue that this commercial uses pathos and ethos to attract the audience, who is the general public. The commercial purposely appeals to just about everyone watching, its cartoon style can be more attractive towards a younger audience and the nostalgic music and school scene towards older people. The commercial can even be thought of as a comment on race issues as well. The rock, paper, and scissors stand up for each other regardless of what they are and how they are supposed to act and end up in a much better situation in the end. I will use this as the ethos appeal of the analysis. For the pathos argument, the bullying in the clip makes the audience emotional, a new ‘student’ getting picked on, and a rock kid being teased. And in the end, the audience is happy since the characters stood up for each other. Overall, Android uses this commercial to send a positive message to its viewers in the clip, and in turn, their phones.