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Liza McKenna

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Liza McKenna

I'm from Pittsburgh and I'm a sophomore studying Marketing and Economics.

Comments Here:

Michael Chiang: I really liked your speech. The pacing and teh pauses between each point really helped teh structure and made teh main points clear. I like the youtube videos that you used, and not awlays leaving it up on the projector. I liked the content of your speech too, how everything was clear and concise.

Caitlin Leahy: You had great eye contact and you really knew the material. The speech had a conversational quality which was really good but I think you could have been a little bit louder. You made great points but watch out for verbal fillers. Great job!

David Oh: Your speech was very relaxed and easy to listen to. You were calm but a little bit more volume would have been nice. However, you were very clear. Your speech had great structure to it and you explained everything so clearly. Good Job!

Whitney Trompeter: You had really good eye contact and the speech was really easy to follow. It was a little polished in teh beginnings, but improved as the speech went on. At times you spoke a little too fast, but you were definately enthusiastic and it was a good speech.

Michael McKenna: You had good eye contact and a really strong credibility statement. Your transitions were not very subtle since you told us exactly what was going to be discussed in each coming section of your speech. You may want to try working on creative ways of transitioning from point to point. Good job overall!

Jess Mannion: Your speech was filled with great facts and credibility, that were projected with confidence! Work a little bit on your projection as well as making your speech feel more like a conversation. Overall though, great job :-)

Laura O'Neal: Liza, you seemed really confident when you were presenting, which helped solidify your credibility. Your topic is really unique and your speech kept me interested, your layout made sense and like Whitney said, it was easy to follow. The only advice I'd give is to rely a little less on the notecards. Good job!

John Galvin: Hey Lia you did a great job on your speech. Overall you had a good pace ot the speech, so it flowed very well. You did say "um" a few times in the beginning but got over it after a while. That being said, you had good eye contact with the audience and had many quotations in the speech, which really established your credibility. Nicely done.

Siama Manzoor: Hi Liza, good job overall. You had solid background information in your introduction. You clearly included all necessary parts of the speech, but it seemed a little structured. You also tended to read straight from your note cards, but you still maintained some eye contact. Nice work!

Enrique Ortiz: I thought your speech on the American President was very well done, and thoroughly researched. Overall, the delivery was a good one, and you had excellent eye contact throughout the speech. However, you were somewhat monotone and perhaps this might have occurred as a result of your going first. Next time, I think you will be able to control that, and augment the quality of your delivery by continuing the excellent connection with the audience.

Scot Brown: Good use of notes (look at, but not read from them). The biggest problem with your speech is that you focused entirely on the context within the film, and did not draw any connections to the American political situation outside of the film. With any film, but especially one about contemporary American politics, it is impossible to come to an understanding of the work without addressing society at the time.

Quan,Zou: Your speech is as good as the movie. During the speech you spoke fluently and your contents towards the movie was deliberately arranged which was wonderful. By hearing your speech, I found a deeper meaning of this movie, but you should also mention more about the political problems facing in the society nowadays. Overall, good speech.

Ryan Wendt: Your speech was well done and well thought out. Your visual aid was good, only you seemed to become a little quieter and distracted when you presented the video clips. That's really very understandable however. Good job.

Speech 1 Outline

**I. ****Introduction II. ****Audience III. ****Constraints IV. ****Exigence V. ****Conclusion **

A. Attention Getter/Preview- Has anyone in here seen the movie “The American President”?

1. For those of you who have not it is a movie, which was released in 1995, starring Michael Douglas as the president, Andrew Shepherd.

2. The president in the movie is a widower who begins to date environmental lobbyist, Sydney Allen Wade played by Annette Bening.

3. Their relationship takes a toll on his approval rating which drops from 63 down to 41 and with an upcoming election he must defend his presidency and convince the nation he still deserves the job for four more years.

B. Topic- Today I wish to address President Shepherd’s press conference speech which he gives towards the end of the movie.

C. Credibility/Thesis- Having seen the movie several times and now researched reviews from the year of its release I feel I can successfully identify for you the audience, constraints, and exigence for the speech.

D. Transition- Because this is a speech within a movie I would like to begin with the varying audiences for which it is intended.

A. The overall audience for the speech within the movie is the American public as a whole.

1. The speech is given at a press conference so President Shepherd is specifically addressing several members of the press and the public for which they will report it.

2. More specifically President Shepherd is addressing voters.

a. An election is coming up so the President is mostly trying to reach out to voters and convince them that he is the best man for the job.

B. A second more specific audience he is addressing is his competition, Senator Bob Rumsen.

1. Throughout the movie Senator Rumsen is attacking President Shepherd and it is time for President Shepherd to fight back and show Rumsen that he has been listening and is ready to talk.

a. Many of Bob Rumsen’s attacks have been on Shepherd’s character, largely stemming from his relationship with Ms. Wade, who is the next audience.

C. As the subject of many of Rumsen’s attacks Ms. Wade’s reputation has been hurt and President Shepherd sat by and did nothing.

1. The press conference speech is a time for the President to finally stick up for her and show her he has taken her advice because she along with several members of his staff have been urging him to step up and combat Rumsen’s attacks.

2. The couple had also recently had a fight because he broke a promise to Wade to send a bill requiring the burning of fossil fuels to be cut back. In his speech he tells the nation he is throwing away the crime bill and is backing the fossil fuels package, letting Ms. Wade know that he has not backed out on his promise after all.

D. Another audience within the movie are the members of his staff, who, like Ms. Wade have been requesting throughout the movie that he stand up against Bob Rumsen.

1. By finally fighting back he is showing his staff that he is back to his old self and ready to win again.

E. Lastly, the audience of the speech also consists of the viewers.

1. Viewers want to see him as a strong character and because it is a romantic comedy he must also stick up for his girlfriend.

Transition- These audiences are also the reason for some of the speech’s constraints.

A. The first constraint stems from the fact that he is the President.

1. Such a role means that he must remain serious and polished.

2. He is running again so he must not offend potential voters.

B. He must also avoid leading the country to believe his decisions are being swayed by Ms. Wade.

1. The country already disapproves of their relationship so he does want to defend her honor but still show he is in control.

C. Even though the speech is addressing Bob Rumsen and his attacks President Shepherd must be sure not to stoop to Rumsen’s level.

1. He wants to defend himself from Rumsen’s character attacks but must himself not attack Rumsen in return or else he may look as bad as Rumsen.

Transition- Rumsen’s attacks are clearly a strong reason for the speech and are addressed throughout it.

A. The main reason for the speech is the upcoming presidential election and more specifically the character attacks from Senator Rumsen.

1. President Shepherd loves his job as President which is shown to viewers throughout the movie but the American citizens in the movie fail to see his dedication because he refuses for so long to speak against Rumsen’s attacks.

2. He believes at first that the problem will just go away on its own but Rumsen does not quit and Shepherds numbers continue to fall leaving him no choice but to stand up for his presidency.

a. New York Times author Frank Rich describes the speech as the moment in the movie when President Shepherd “suddenly retrieves his spine, stands up for right and engineers a foreign-policy triumph just in time for his re-election campaign.”

B. Another reason is a recent fight with Ms. Wade.

1. As New York Times writer Michael Wines put it, “the president is faced with a terrible choice: embrace the shining idealism of his political millstone of a girlfriend or shun her and stick to his old legislative agenda.”

a. In the movie he denies throwing out the crime bill for her, but clearly it worked because she runs back to him after the speech.

Transition- The ending speech is in fact so good that it surely inspired New York Times writer Janet Maslin to say that “the presidency receives such a fabulous facelift from Rob Reiner’s glossy new romantic comedy that Mr. Douglas can probably expect write-in votes a year from now.”

A. Summary-The speech Andrew Shepherd gives in the movie is a great conclusion to the build up throughout the film.

B. Thesis-Today I have talked to you about the intended audiences of the speech, the few constraints, and the exigence.

C. Closing- Hopefully now you will be ready to hear me speak next time on what he actually said that was so moving as to win him the girl and the job.

Bibliography

Maslin, Janet. “Film Review; A Chief Executive in Love in the White House.” The New York Times. 17 Nov. 1995. 7 Feb. 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3015107706&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3015107709&cisb=22_T3015107708&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=17&nodeStateId=411en_US,1,16&docsInCategory=52&csi=6742&docNo=8 .

Rich, Frank. “Journal; Hillary Clinton, R.I.P.” The New York Times. 29 Nov. 1995. 7 Feb. 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3015107706&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3015107709&cisb=22_T3015107708&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=17&nodeStateId=411en_US,1,16&docsInCategory=52&csi=6742&docNo=5.

Wines, Michael. “Hollywood Finds a Presidential Role Model.” The New York Times. 12 Nov. 1995. 7 Feb. 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3015107706&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3015107709&cisb=22_T3015107708&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=17&nodeStateId=411en_US,1,16&docsInCategory=52&csi=6742&docNo=10.

Speech Two Outline:

I. Introduction

A. Attention Getter/Credibility- Last time I began by asking who in here has seen The American President and only about two of you had.

B. In analyzing the speech I feel seeing parts of it will help you follow my argument so I will show a few clips to allow you to see for yourself some of the things I am referring to.

C. Preview- Since I have already explained the reason for Michael Douglas’s speech in the movie I will now get further in to the content.

D. Thesis- My focus will be the success of the speech based on the development of a strong ethos, the use of parallelism to provide style, and the ease at which the speech can be followed thanks to its delivery.

Transition- The ethos displayed throughout his speech in fact begins earlier in the movie.

II. Ethos

A. Michael Douglas’s role as president throughout the film is already setting up an ethos for the audience.

B. Director Rob Reiner in fact saw that Douglas could convey a strong ethos when selecting him for the role.

C. Reiner was quoted in the Herald Sun as having said Douglas “brings a tremendous intelligence and warmth and charm to all his characters.”

D. The original actor picked for the role of President Shepherd even dropped out according to the Herald Sun because of the “dramatic speech at the end of the movie,” a part Douglas could handle.

a. Even as he walks in to the press conference he is humble and tells people to remain seated.

1. It is important that he treated that audience as equals from the beginning because as our text stresses when listening to a speech “judgments about a speaker’s character are made quickly.”

b. Within the speech one of the first things President Shepherd conveys is his expertise at being president.

c. He has had experience in the White House and therefore understands the job better than his opponent, Rumsen.

d. He is so clear in displaying his expertise on the topic that he actually calls out Rumsen on the issue and even references the exact time he has spent in office.

1. This clip is just the beginning of how he develops his ethos.

(clip from :15- :41)

E. He then goes on to develop his ethos even farther by gaining the trust of the audience.

a. The fact that Michael Douglas is playing a trustworthy president is done very purposefully because one reason for the film according to a quote from Rob Reiner in the New York Times was “a way of starting to restore public confidence in public officials.”

b. In the speech Douglas makes a few comments I picked out in particular that really show a level of sincerity and honesty that I feel capture the audience’s trust.

c. When he talks about Bob Rumsen at one point in the speech he actually admits that he didn’t understand what Bob’s problem was at first.

1. By admitting that he did not understand something he is showing the audience that he is like them in the sense that he doesn’t have all the answers.

2. This allows the audience to better relate to him.

d. Shortly after that he explains that he has only loved two women in his life.

1. The fact that he is willing to share his feelings like that shows the audience a more personal side to his character, in a way showing that he trusts the audience enough to share those feelings helps to in turn gain their trust.

Transition- Gaining the trust of the audience is very important for a political figure but it does not mean anything if you cannot get the audience to remember anything you said.

III. Style

A. Because this speech is within a movie it is certainly meant to entertain so style is a very key aspect as Jay Stone of The Ottawa Citizen points out by saying “The big close-up of Douglas making the speech is meant to stir audiences to applause.”

B. Throughout the speech President Shepherd specifically uses parallelism to more strongly convey his message.

a. He uses the repetition of the word “serious” saying that there are “serious problems” and “serious people” needed to solve them on three separate occasions.

1. This repetition really helps to strengthen his argument that Bob Rumsen is not worth taking seriously.

2. By repeating the word I feel he really shows the audience the importance of a serious leader so that they would walk away remembering that Rumsen is not serious and therefore not qualified to run the country.

b. Twice in his speech he also uses parallelism by repeating the same word at the end of phrases.

1. Once he says he was too busy keeping his job he forgot to do his job, ending both clauses with the words “my job”

2. An even better use of this device is when he is discussing the Bill of Rights and lists several verbs all followed by the word “that” shown in this clip.

(1:40-2:00)

Transition- That clip also gives you a sense of his strong delivery as he gestures with his arm, pauses for emphasis, and varies the volume of his voice all of which help listeners remain interested.

IV. Delivery

A. As president Andrew Shepherd has a very large audience with different levels of understanding within and outside the movie.

a. Writer Barry Koltnow points at that “movies should not just be about politics; they should be about entertaining, and this one does entertain first” so some viewers of the movie may not be interested in politics and the American public does not necessarily know all the political terms he may use.

b. He does a very good job of explaining what some things are and keeping listeners on track by walking them through certain parts of the speech.

c. For instance he explains that he will be sending a bill to congress which he calls resolution 455.

1. The general public would never know what that means by simply stating the number 455 so he goes on to say just what it is and its significance.

d. Previously in the movie Bob Rumsen had made mention of President Shepherd being a member of the ACLU which viewers may not have understood.

1. During the speech President Shepherd admits that he is a card-caring member but that he views it as a good thing since the ACLU works to defend the Bill of Rights.

2. Suggesting that Bob Rumsen does not support the Bill of Rights could really hurt the way Americans could possibly view him as a presidential candidate.

e. At one point in the speech he really helps listeners to follow his point by saying that Rumsen is interested in “two things and two things only” and then listing the two things and even counting it out with his fingers.

1. You really can’t miss what two things he is talking about shown here in this clip.

2. Before I show the clip though also notice that he uses the word “serious” as I talked about earlier.

(2:16-2:41)

Transition- Without a strong delivery like he gave the speech would have been meaningless.

V. Conclusion

A. Restated Thesis- In fact without his ethos, stylistic choices, or clear delivery the speech would have disappointed movie audiences and could never have fulfilled the expectations of all of its audiences.

B. Summary-All of these aspects made for a speech that was both entertaining and effective.

C. Closing- I hope that through my two speeches I have sparked some interest in the movie and now maybe more of you will go out and watch it.

Bibliography

“Douglas A Man For All Seasons.” Herald Sun. 14 Dec. 1995. 24 Feb. 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3141771335&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3141771339&cisb=22_T3141771338&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=29&nodeStateId=411en_US,1,8&docsInCategory=2&csi=244784&docNo=2.

Koltnow, Barry. “Douglas Heeds Basic Instinct.” Herald Sun. 26 Dec. 1995. 24 Feb. 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3141743528&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3141743533&cisb=22_T3141743532&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=244784&docNo=1.

Koltnow, Barry. “Why Mike was Prime Candidate.” Sunday Mail. 31 Dec. 1995. 24 Feb. 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3141800705&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3141800711&cisb=22_T3141800710&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=244790&docNo=1.

Stone, Jay. “Movie Review: Politics and Romance do the Hokey-Pokey.” The Ottawa Citizen. 17 Nov. 1995. 24 Feb. 2008. http://www.lexisnexis.com/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3141826344&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3141826348&cisb=22_T3141826347&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=16&nodeStateId=411en_US,1,8&docsInCategory=1&csi=8363&docNo=1.

Zarefsky, David. Public Speaking Strategies for Success. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2004.

Paper 2:

The movies people watch as children tend to stick with them forever. With lovable characters, happy endings, and often remarkable soundtracks Disney has turned several movies in to classics. The Little Mermaid is just one of their many animated films that seek to not only entertain children but teach them a few things as well. Entertainment is the main objective but upon closer examination the story is full of life lessons that child viewers may not even realize they are learning. The film provides great entertainment but may be sending some of the wrong kinds of messages to impressionable children, especially young girls.

Voice is very important to this piece. As an animated movie the film is able to give a voice to animals that normally can not speak and to mermaids who do not even exist. The main character is the young mermaid, Ariel, who is the main voice of the story, often through her beautiful singing. Her friends also talk which includes not only other mermaids but Flounder, a fish; Sebastian, a crab; and Scuttle, a seagull. The humans and the sea witch, Ursula, talk in the film as well but a few characters do not. Prince Eric’s dog, for example, does not talk. One may notice that the other animals do not talk to the humans either, Scuttle squawks when around the humans even though he speaks to Ariel. So perhaps it is a matter of animals keeping their ability to talk a secret. In real life children often come in to contact with dogs and know they can not talk. Perhaps not giving the dog a voice makes him a more realistic character and makes the imaginative undersea world more believable. If in the movie the animals refrain from talking to humans then perhaps in the mind of children mermaids and talking animals could still exist under the sea.

Ariel is emphasized from the beginning as having a beautiful singing voice. King Triton’s daughters perform a concert towards the beginning of the movie. The girls are entertaining the crowd with their dancing and singing. In the scene they are strongly objectified. They all have perfect hair and tiny waists that represent an unrealistic ideal for female beauty. They also wear nothing but shells so their stomachs are perfectly visible. Ariel, in particular, is very petite and as the main character of the film she is looked up to be many young female viewers.

She sings often throughout the film but then trades it away to Ursula for a man. She clearly enjoyed singing because she did it often and she was very talented but gave it away for a man she had only just met. By becoming human and going on land she also knew she would being giving up seeing her family and still she felt a man was worth all that she would be losing. Once on land then she had to cope without a voice and even attempt to make Eric fall in love with her without the ability to talk. Ursula suggests to Ariel not to underestimate the “power of body language” as she sings to her. She also says guys “don’t like a lot of blabber.” Several times throughout that particular song Ursula is making similar comments to suggest that men are only interested in the way girls look. The song is sending the message to young female viewers that their looks are all they need to get a husband and that what they have to say does not even matter. This is an unfortunate lesson that is seen in many of Disney’s films and other children’s media. The song is entertaining but its underlying message to girls that looks are more important than having an opinion is hopefully something young girls watching the film do not pick up on.

During the song two “unfortunate souls” are even shown who asked Ursula to make them better looking in order to gain each others affection. They each desired each other the way they were but still feel the other would not be interested if their looks were not improved. Perhaps it is ok that the message is coming from Ursula because she is the evil character.

The audience can immediately tell Ursula is evil. Black is often associated with evil and she is wearing black and surrounded by shadows when her character is introduced in the film. Even when she goes in to disguise as a human her hair is black. As her evil self she is also overweight but one will notice that as a human, when she is trying to gain the affections of Eric, she is very thin and in fact looks similar to Ariel. She also takes on Ariel’s voice rather than her regular voice which is much deeper. The fact that she must become pretty backs up the points she made in her song about beauty being important in gaining the affections of the opposite sex.

Similar ideas of an ideal figure are shown to young boys who are supposed to be admiring the more attractive males in the film. King Triton is muscular and broad shouldered and Eric has perfect hair and a bright smile with blue eyes. The male chef, however, who is mean and therefore viewers are not supposed to like, is very unattractive and overweight.

Boys are supposed to look up to King Triton because he is the ruler of the sea and therefore is very powerful. Ariel falls in to Ursula’s trap after disobeying her father. There is a strong push towards listening to your father and following the rules throughout the story. Following the rules and listening to one’s parents is a good message but Ariel’s mother is missing from the story. In fact there is no mention made of Ariel’s mother. The two most powerful characters throughout the film are King Triton and Ursula. Ursula, as a powerful female, is evil and wants to overthrow the King. She uses her powers for evil. The male King uses his powers for good. Even Eric is a prince so he too has implied power over a kingdom which is an admired quality. Once again there is no Queen shown, there is no powerful female shown to be a leader in the film.

At the beginning when she and Flounder wonder off and forget the performance they run in to and must escape from a shark. Although Ariel is able to escape from the shark she can not defeat Ursula in the end. In the final battle when Ursula has taken King Triton’s power Ariel is portrayed as helpless and her man must come to her rescue. She is shown as the typical damsel in distress who needs a man to save her. He is the hero where as she is to weak to save herself.

The movie ends with a typically happily ever after scene in which the two are wed. Love throughout the movie is highly oversimplified. She has only three days to make Eric fall in love with her according to Ursula and this would be proven by true love’s kiss. Three days is no where near a realistic amount of time that two people take to get to know each other before getting married. She also falls in love after having only seen Eric on his boat and saving him; they never spoke. There is no real connection made or communication necessary to making a lasting relationship between the two sexes that is supposed to last forever.

The Little Mermaid may make for great entertainment but its characters are not the only imaginary part. The relationships shown between the male and female sexes are unrealistic and set a poor example for young children. Every one wants a happily ever after ending so perhaps modern day films need to show a better example of what that really means. Many young girls today have poor self images and low self-esteem and perhaps improving the messages the media sends children can help to improve such problems for future generations.