Trisha Duong

C. Keeler

WR 37 – Rhetoric in Practice

6 December 2017

Rhetoric-in-Practice (RIP) Essay

For my rhetoric-in-practice project, I decided to construct an animation of a question-and-answer video that is sculpted through the responses Jack Twist from Brokeback Mountain. By depicting Jack Twist as a modern cowboy, Jack’s responses were intended to subconsciously allow the audience to understand the mindsets and preferences of Western culture. The message in my project is that the western characteristics persist in society today. Even though this western generation is significantly different, small factors of the old West continue to reside in our society today, especially within those who perpetuate the traditional West.

As a regular of the YouTube platform, I felt familiar with the composition and crucial elements of typical videos, which assisted in the process of editing. As someone who entered this course with misconceptions of the western genre, I obtained extensive knowledge from class assignments and outside research on western conventions and neo-western components to create a script. From my preconceived notions and what I learned after the course, I had sufficient knowledge for creating an animation that provided an enjoyable yet educating experience for viewers.

When the audience was first acquainted with Jack, I presented Jack as an established YouTuber with a consistent following when he apologizes for not uploading in a while. He explains his inactivity due to the fact that he was granted the opportunity to participate as a contestant for the reality television show America’s Next Top Cowboy, a parody on the real show America’s Next Top Model.

Using Jack, a neo-western cowboy, formulated my ethos through his role as a modern cowboy so the audience is receiving answers from a cowboy. Throughout Brokeback Mountain, Jack preserves his character as a cowboy yet defies many tradition cowboy roles- notably his masculinity. Instead, he presents passion and romantic whim, when discussing his dream of living on a ranch with Ennis. (Proulx) With these characteristics, is appealing by acting as nonconformist solicitor in western society.

The novel also perpetuates this by introducing homosexuality. In an era of technology and progression, there’s a rise in gay public figures that serve as inspiration that allocate the impression of diversity. They act as a comforting sense of community to audiences that relate to them. Such characters and figures often attract younger audiences. Therefore, my audience and intended demographic is typically younger, teenagers who stan figures on YouTube for an impression of community and being included. (Dredge) The audience also extends to cowboys, a western community that uses YouTube as an outlet to share western fashion, trends, and advice. Due to that the time period is more modern, there will be emphasis on neo-Western attributes.

While many elements subverted from western conventions in my animation, I revived tidbits of western through miniscule aspects like Jack’s attire and his western slang, such as “howdy partner.” (Atwater) Because the entire video is Jack speaking, mastering western dialect was crucial. I also incorporated stereotypes such as the relationship between cowboys and alcohol, guns, etiquette, and traditional foods. (Boze) Jack briefly mentions these traditional aspects of cowboy culture, but in a reminiscing way, that revealed that cowboy culture continued to be perpetuated to today.

When this project was introduced, my ideas gravitated to incorporation of my own art to describe Western conventions. I felt that an original animation was a stimulating situation where I could use art and interact with the audience. Using the structure of a question-and-answer video used among Youtubers, I took advantage of how exposed this medium was, to resonate with the audience. Also, I could manipulate the questions submitted by ‘subscribers’ and present responses that were both entertaining and a source of gain of western knowledge to the audience.

While creating an animation had seems approachable from the start, I was proven too optimistic for my first attempt at animation with my own drawings. Although I had prior film editing experience, this was my first time using my laptop, Final Cut Pro, and my drawing tablet in Photoshop to digitize visuals for my video. I used many arrows and background tracks as cues for the audience to follow. As a result, I was challenged from the unfamiliar with features and working with the program. Another problem I encountered was struggling on keeping a consistent art-style; if I had time, I would go back and modify many of my drawings until I was satisfied with it.

From the review of Professor Keeler, the format of my animation was unclear on who was speaking and other editing errors. Another problem were my questions and my interpretations of the answers in the script, because Jack’s answers reverted him back to traditional cowboy. Due to this notion, this was because I overcompensated for Gene Autry’s The Cowboy Code. As a result, I deleted part of my animation and added modifications to my script to make all my ideas synchronize to a more modern cowboy. This put me through a process of trial and error and an arduous process of revisions.

Despite this, I believe this project was successful because it was easy to follow and understandable. Through my extreme efforts to adapt to difficulty with new programs, I also believe I will receive an A. 

Works Cited

Atwater, G.M. “A Writer's Guide to the Old West.” Old West Writer's Guide, 2008, freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poindexterfamily/OldWestSlang.html.

Bell, Bob Boze. “Saloon Etiquette for Cowboys.” Bob Boze Bell's Big Bad Book of Bad Diary Entries, 1 Jan. 1970, blog.truewestmagazine.com/2017/03/saloon-etiquette-for-cowboys.html.

Bobbengan. “Theme from "To Kill a Mockingbird" (Elmer Bernstein).” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 20 August 2008. Web. 7 December 2017.

BleedingEnglish. “The Ecstacy of Gold---Ennio Morricone.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 5 December 2011. Web. 7 December 2017.

Cinema Hotel. “Ennio Morricone - My Name is Nobody - Main Theme - (High Quality Audio) HD.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 15 May 2013. Web. 7 December 2017.

Derek & Brandon Flechter. “Wild Western Music – Night in the Prarie.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 25 July 2016. Web. 7 December 2017.

Dredge, Stuart. “Why are YouTube stars so popular?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 3 Feb. 2016, www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/03/why-youtube-stars-popular-zoella.

EvMCreator. “America's Next Top Model cycle 10 intro.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 29 February 2008. Web. 7 December 2017.

Juan Antonio Toledano Fernandez. “Instrumental Country Guitar Music - Juan Antonio Toledano Fernández.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 19 March 2016. Web. 7 December 2017.

Proulx, Annie. Brokeback Mountain. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.

RIP Essay Rough Draft

For my rhetoric-in-practice project, I have chosen the medium as an animation of a  Youtube question and answer video, sculpted through the responses Jack Twist from Brokeback Mountain. The essential purpose of this video is to manipulate the questions submitted by ‘subscribers’ and use this platform to allow the audience to grasp a general glimpse of the mindset, preferences, and culture of the West, by depicting Jack Twist as a representation of the typical, yet-not-so typical cowboy. To clarify, its message insinuates that there is more than what resides in the western stereotypes.

When I first started in this course, I approached the Western genre with biases and an aversion due to the common stereotypes of cowboys and, to what I felt, misogynistic. However, through the many reading assignments, movies, and shows we were exposed, many interpretations of cowboys presented appealing personas and some resonated with real life people. This allowed me to conduct the concept of a question and answer video, because it would be an interesting form of interaction with the audience would be a simpler way to subconsciously educate them of the Western genre.  This video is meant to be entertaining so I will include light humor and try to make the experience of watching it as realistic as normal, regular content popular youtubers upload today.

Personally, I found Jack Twist from Brokeback Mountain appealing through the fact that he remained consistent through his role as a cowboy, yet portrayed passion and whimsicalness in his romantic homosexual relationship Ennis Del Mar. This neo-western novel debunks and breaks the western convention by incorporating homosexuality. Nowadays, in an era of technology and progression, there has been a rise in gay public figures- who serve as personas and inspiration that allocate the impression of individual diverse backgrounds. Such characters and figures often attract younger audiences. Therefore, my audience and intended demographic is typically younger, teenagers who religiously stan figures on YouTube influencers for their personas as well as many cowboy viewers, a western community that uses YouTube as an outlet to share western fashion, trends, and advice that have access to the Internet. The time period is more modern so there will be emphasis on neo-Western based attributes.

In this project, I will use my own personal animations and drawings to interpret Jack Twist and will do my best to attempt to mimic western language and slang to make it feel true to the West. While this project will subvert from classic traditional western, I will leave Jack as a conventional cowboy- his character will love whiskey, his cowboy hat is a closet essential, and he loves guns. I will also introduce patriotism, moral values, and religion common to the Western cowboy. I will also use subtitles and side animations to simplify and make it easier to follow for the audience.

Works Cited

Proulx, Annie. Brokeback Mountain. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.

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The process of writing this essay had been significantly easier because it discussed what I wanted to do. I felt like I had a solid basis and perspective of what I wanted to show within my RIP project. I tried my best to elaborate on the process of creating this animation, however, whatever I had not included is available in this page. 

As you can see, the differences between my first draft and the final draft of my RIP essay differ simply beyond the length. While the goal of allowing our audience of YouTube teenage regulars to grasp a general concept of western culture such as their principles and how western people approach certain problematic situations is fulfilled, it is important to note that my message in the video is drastically modified.For this project, I found feedback from people especially useful. From suggestions of others, my project's message went from trying to show that, "there is more than what resides in the western stereotypes" (from first draft) to showing in my neo-western video that despite, being in a modern setting, many aspects of the west and its culture continue to shine today. Essentially, Jack is the epitome of a cowboy that represents a neo-western cowboy that conserves bits of older western tradition.

Because there was so much conferencing in class, I was able to get a consensus that my project was an interesting idea. However, some were concerned with the results and how I would actually execute my plans. I ensured them I would be able to complete this project by the deadline. For example, one person mentioned that my essay should add in specific conventions of my genre and how it lead to my message. I assessed this by providing conventions like Jack's food preferences to depict that Jack liked traditional cowboy meals. I found what cowboys regularly ate before through research online.