Assigment 11

Group Work Reflection

Paige and I worked really well together. Once we were assigned our topic for our one pager, which was, ‘The Rhetorical Context of the “1984” Ad, we immediately went to work and started brainstorming. Together, we decided to focus on technophobia, Stein’s comparisons between anti big government and anti-corporate supporters, and the Association of American Advertising Agencies’ attempt to reengage cynical viewers.

I don’t think Paige and I had any problems working together because our ideas were in sync or in tune with one another. Having said that, I think some people may find it difficult to work with another person because those two people do not have the same ideologies, morals, and rules to which they live their lives by. Additionally, two people can have the same goal in mind, but just have different opinions on what path to take to reach that goal. I see this a lot when I watch the show, “Celebrity Apprentice”. Sometimes, the contestants work really well together and sometimes they don’t.  

The recipe for a good working relationship is similar personalities, ideas, sense of humor, and patience. If two people do not share these commonalities, they probably need a little bit more patience.

With all that said, I think studying with another person is always a good idea. Studying with other people allows us to come up with new ideas as well as bounce ideas we have come up with, with others.

The group that focused on, ‘The Rhetorical History of the Macintosh,’ for their one pager intrigued me with the quotes they decided to use as well as the art that painted a picture of what those quotes said. I thought this group did an overall really good job. The quotes they used are the ones I would have chosen had I been assigned the same topic. I actually highlighted these quotes when I first read it. One of them reads, “Apple’s origins grew out of such a sensibility and reflected the early manufacturer of personal computers as a sort of cottage industry.” The picture they drew of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak is a good representation of this quote.

Their question is, “Since Apple was a small company at the time, do you think this helped their revolution?” In my opinion, I don’t think the size of their company did all that much to help them with their revolution. I think it was a combination of things that helped them with their revolution. I think what really helped them more than anything was in fact the “1984” ad and their desire to create a personal computer that ultimately undermined IBM’s authority in the computer industry.

The group that focused on Stein’s, ‘Introduction,’ did a really good job of capturing the very essence that is Stein’s introduction. In their one pager, they included a quote from Stein’s essay that said, “In retrospect, it was a defining moment, not only for the heralded computer revolution but also of what has become our media landscape.” In addition, they described Stein’s reasons for writing the essay, which was to give society a better understanding of the important role ads play in ideological and cultural discourses.

 Stein’s use of comparable media examples to the “1984” Macintosh ad and her interpretation of the ad that limits itself to the constructs of Charland’s, Goldman’s, and Benjamin’s theoretical frameworks helped me to better understand the meaning and purpose of her essay. I will elaborate on this more in my interpretive essay, but this is my controlling purpose.