| Thirty Second Narratives | |||||
| In thirty seconds, a political television commercial has the daunting task of convincing a swing voter that its candidate is the right person for the job of president of the United States. Instead of simply stating facts about the candidates and leaving the analysis of these facts up to the viewers, the commercials create narratives that encourage the audience to come to desired conclusions about the different candidates. The advertisements use several different television median that, though incomplete when separated, become complete narratives when observed as a whole. In this website, I will look into campaign commercials run for and against George Bush and John Kerry, the two prospective candidates for the Democratic and Republican Parties. What makes these commercials appealing to the viewers? How can they depend on thirty seconds of air time to convince a viewer that their candidate is the right choice? Are there similarities between the commercials of apposing candidates? To study these commercials, I will use Labovian analysis of narrative as described by Michael Toolan to find what makes these thirty-second television blips into successful and persuasive narratives. I'll examine their combination of verbal, visual, and audible texts to make incomplete parts complete narratives. Finally, I will look at some inconspicuous measures the commercials use to make their candidates appealing to as many voters as possible. The site focuses on two commercials, one positive and one negative, from the two candidates. Please follow the links to view the commercials then read and interact with my analysis of them. If you get lost in the site, there is always a home button to take you back to this page. After the analysis of the commercials, I note and discuss some common tools the advertisements use and what this says about the American voting population. Finally, I broaden the lens of study and suggest that my methods of analyzing the campaign ads pertain to a broader subject realm than simply politics. Some things about me. My name is Kevin Lessmann and I am currently enrolled in two institutions: The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis MD., and the Georgetown University in Washington DC. At both schools, I am a student of English with a focus on minority American literature. However, in April of 2004, I find no subject more fascinating than the upcoming election and the means by which the candidates attempt to persuade voters to believe that they are the best choices to elect for office. If you wish to contact me to discuss this site, life at the Academy or how I manage to attend both a liberal institution and one of the most conservative institutions in America at the same time, please feel free to email me at m044002@usna.edu or kpl2@georgetown.edu. I want to thank publicly Adam Lloyd for lending me this domain space and Arpod Korrossy, Andy Lyboldt, Sean Emery, Kip McCaddon and Justin Dragon for helping this computer illiterate person actually create a website. Less than thirty days boys.
Copyright Kevin Lessmann
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Brief Toolan Analysis Explanation
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Toolan Annotation of Commercial Scripts |
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