the new jam session

Freestyle Time
I hope I can reach 600 words because this is not the time of day I’d prefer to be doing this. Right now I’d be much happier eating something hot in front of the TV. The urge is tenfold what it normally is because of this shitty little cold I picked up recently. So here goes nothing...

We have to do a visual essay in my ENG 306: Essay Writing class. It doesn’t really matter what approach we take; it can be an argument, instructional, informative, it’s just that whatever it is, it has to be primarily visual rather than textual. The professor is trying to get us thinking like writer’s while applying that knowledge to a different medium for the same cause.
I feel like I have an unusual advantage over this particular project due to the fact that we just got done with our Found Footage culture jams in 6x1; I can’t think of a better way to make an argument using the visual medium of film(aside from a documentary).

My culture jam for 6x1, which is posted below, was arguing that the benefits of drugs usually don’t outweigh the risks, especially if we consider that the risk is 9 out of 10 times is heart failure: which may cause death. There is nothing more satisfying than taking something out of context and turning it in on its own head.

I’m thinking about comparing our current war with Vietnam. That’s been discussed many times before and even I‘m sick of hearing that comparison, but I‘m going to take a new approach to it.
I’m going to show how, in one respect, these to wars are very different. Particularly, how they are different at home.

I’m talking about the media coverage now and the media coverage then. What do they show us? What don’t they show us? What impact does that have on our national/global community?
Because the media is not allowed to show pictures of wartime hard-truths, such as bodies returning to the United States from Iraq, the idea of war has not resonated as strongly as it did during the Vietnam War. I believe we, as citizens, brothers, fathers, sisters, mothers, sons, daughters, etc., should have access to these truths. There is no need to pull the proverbial wool over our eyes since, in one way or another, we are all involved in this nation‘s decisions.

The media guides us to believe that the Iraq war is under control. I’m excited that we have a new president and all, but the situation is far from over. During the 60’s and 70’s major anti-war protests took place, I believe that we can attribute some of this to the reality that was broadcasted into America’s living rooms. War is as decaying and ugly, as a Newsroom is lavish and shinny. Bells and whistles, charts and numbers, feature stories about Brittany Spears: it is all content with no context. I hope to make this argument within the editing and restructuring of coverage from both of these controversial wars.