Allusion and Reinforcing Positive and Negative Theme

We started did a quick refresher on Allusion today. In case you forgot or don't have it in your notes, an allusion is a reference from outside text whether being historical, religious, or other text. 

Allusions help to:
1. Determine the audience
          Outside Example: In Ready Player One, Cline creates an allusion from Family Ties. This allusion determines that his intended audience is anyone who was around to experience Family Ties in the 1980s.

2. Reward the audience
          Outside Example Continued: When the audience relates to having knowledge of Family Ties, it further engages them. Knowing the material rewards them and then furthermore keeps their interest.

3. Reinforce themes

4. Establish Credibility
           

Then we revisited our compare and contrast of Auto from Wall-E (2008) and HAL 9000 from A Space Odyssey (2001). We used them to reinforce the theme represented in both films. First, we broke them down into topics seen in both films and more specifically Auto and HAL 9000. Here is what came to mind:

Topics
- Control
-Mutiny
-Artificial Intelligence
- Villians
-Safety
-Feelings
-Advancement of Technology
-Robots
-Rebellion

Next, we took these topics and developed them into what we thought were the intended themes for the audience. They are posted in the classroom. Then we took each theme and broke it down on what elements of the theme and whether it came across as a positive, neutral, or negative theme. We worked in our usual groups.

Reinforce Theme: Negative and 1 Neutral

In the theme posted by Amanda the phrase where she says "...more powerful than humans.", (Masucci) is what creates the negative tone.

In the theme posted by Zach, he at first gives a positive connotation about technology advancement. However he says "...technology can overcome humanity if we are not careful about development.", (Van Es). Then we transition into a negative theme against technology advancements.

In the theme posted by Will, he gives off a negative connotation against technology advances with word choice such as "too smart" and "able to overtake humans", (Cisko).

In the theme posted by Jhordin, he gives off another negative connotation against technology advances because it "...ends up with humanity hurting itself.", (Griffin).

And last but not least, Jack reinforces a neutral theme. He says that advances lead to them developing their own behavior. However, there is no claim or argument that is for or against the advancement of technology.

Reinforce Theme: Positive

We reinforced themes in our groups again but this time we used a song lyric from Hello Dolly called It Only Takes A Moment.  The lyric is posted below:

"And that is all that love’s about

And we’ll recall when time runs out

That it only took a moment

To be loved a whole life long"

We then (like before) broke it down into topics that the song gave off:

Topics
- Companionship
-Reminiscing
-Love
-Time
-Cherishing Life

Next, we took these topics listed above and developed them into themes that you will also find posted in Google Classroom.

In Andre's theme, we can determine that it gives off a positive theme. "Falling in love", (Lavagnino) gives off a positive theme. The word "change" at first gives off a neutral tone but then gives a positive tone when he says it "...changes your life forever", (Lavagnino).

In Zach's theme, it is broken down into two parts that reinforce a positive theme. The first part is "Spending time with those you love makes every moment of your life wonderful...", (Van Es). The second part is it "... ensures that you live life to the fullest.", (Van Es).

Last but not least, Will's theme. It creates a positive tone because he expresses how "time, love, and companionship...", (Cisko) will positively ensure that life is cherished.


And finally, we ended class by splitting off into groups of 2-3 people. In these groups, we each got a note card. On this notecard we had to write:

1. A quote from Ready Player One that is an allusion

2.   What tone is given off, starting with it being either negative, positive, or neutral and branching off words from our tone list.

3. Writing in 1-2 sentences how it either
         1. Determines the audience
         2. Rewards the audience
         3. Reinforces themes

If finished by the bell, they were handed in. If not finished, they were due by the start of class on Halloween Day. On that final note, I hope this was helpful to anyone out or reviewing notes. I hope everyone has a good Mischief Night and everyone has a very Happy Halloween tomorrow. Good night!