Lara M.

Monti

Professor A. Granillo

English 103

28 May 2019

Outline

1. Outline (1-2 pages):

Depending on the type of media, you may need to incorporate one, or a combination of
the following.

For my project, I will be recreating my favorite childhood game, Twister!

I will be reinventing the rules of the game to fit with rhetorical analysis questions for the Babbel

Ad. And I have renamed the game to “Torcedor” in lieu of this language learning app. Tornado

is Spanish for Twister

Each color will represent some type of rhetorical concept/ strategy and one *bonus point* lens

question. Each move or spin on the wheel will indicate how the ad affects the audience, what the

author's purpose is, what is the intended impactful message, etc.

To win this game, you must “knock down” your opponent. This is done by stumping them (they

become unable to identify /answer to the spun question)

The only way to get ahead is to answer all the question(s) correctly that are asked by the twister

spinner.

Artwork: this will be a form of artwork shown by a video (maybe powerpoint) of people

actually playing the game (I have not yet decided if I am going to make this a lifesize model or a

sort of boardgame model with pieces indicating each person sort of like monopoly but instead of

earning money, you gain knowledge.

Music: I will insert the music played by the Babbel as ad well as the Babbel ad itself. I will also

incorporate background music in the video/ powerpoint.

PowerPoint: Traditional essay outline with modifications

 Abstract

2. Abstract / Synopsis of the Artwork (1 page, MLA 8 Format):

Include your thesis, the subject matter, the text you are analyzing, and the function of the
materials used in this piece.

The purpose of this project to analyze the concepts and appeals in Babbel’s “An Alien Abroad”

commercial, to determine if the ad is effective. In a rather amusing advert for the ​language

learning site Babbel​, an earnest extraterrestrial grows a bit frustrated when he attempts to

communicate his basic needs but is unable to be understood by the well-meaning people of

Earth. Babbel is a language learning app that allows people to communicate in various languages

worldwide. Through analysis, one can understand that the use of pathos, ethos, and logos in this

commercial is solely to remind the audience to travel with Babbel; thus, by utilizing the studies

and research books from Lois Tyson, Karl Marx, this ad based game will represent how

advertisements and commercials we view every day can contribute to our feeling and emotions

as well as our actions in a much greater way than most people would consider. This game is

formatted in a similar way to my favorite childhood game known as “Twister”, however, this

versions goals are to educate the players about English rhetoric strategies and similar concepts

that are given to out-twist your opponents and win the game. Players advance through different

colors by picking answering the question that has been spun. After going through each question

without failing to answer adequately, players reach the end where it is concluded that Babbel is

overall, ineffective in its commercial. Furthermore, it is recommended that in order to strengthen

their claim, Babble should have placed a larger emphasis on their product rather than the Alien

and utilize an appeal to logic in their commercials rather than heavily relying on pathos.
 Annotated Bibliography

3. Annotated Bibliography (1-2 pages in MLA 8 format)

Babbel. “Babbel Presents: An Alien Abroad (Director's Cut).” ​YouTube​, YouTube, 12 Apr.

2018,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va2FR_gMUhA.

This video commercial features Babbel’s 2018 ad, “An Alien Abroad.”
The ad tells the story of a “foreigner” of the name Alexi who clearly doesn't know how to speak
English. We see him trying to communicate with people not knowing their native language. This
quickly becomes an impossible task which leads to Alexi taking a different approach with the
help of Babbel. This commercial served as the foundation for my Multimodal project. It was
from these scenes that have inspired the game, “Torcedor.”

Alcorn, Marshall W. ​Narcissism and the Literary Libido: Rhetoric, Text, and Subjectivity​.
New York University Press, 1997.

I used this book by Marshal Alcorn to analyze various forms of literary devices that I also used
in Eng 101 this past fall. Within this book, I found info describing the appeals of Ethos, Pathos,
and Logos which I applied to my “Torcedor” game when designing the spinner and colorful dots.

Tyson, Lois. ​Critical Theory Today​. 3rd Ed, Taylor, and Francis. 1950

This book Tyson, he discusses the concept of “Semiotics” “Marxism” “Psychoanalysis” and
many more. Tyson is supported by articles and quotes from theorists such as Ferdinand de
Saussure, Roland Barthes, Julia Kristeva, etc to support his claims. Overall, the book explains
the importance of lenses like semiotics in texts. I used information from Tyson's book in the
section titled “Semiotics” to support my claims.

“False Dilemma- Examples, and Definition of False Dilemma.”​ Literary Devices​, 24 Jan. 2018,
literarydevices.net/false-dilemma/.

This is a fallacy known as“False Dilemma” which is discussed on this particular page. The
article gives a summary and examples of the literary device and how it distracts the audience
from the main idea of a text by only introducing two possible outcomes. This can also be
described as the “Black and White” fallacy.
This is an article on literary devices which I turned to for information regarding the
fallacy within Babble’s “An Alien Abroad” to support my claim
In my project, I explained how a False Dilemma fallacy is present within the ad y only showing
two outcomes when traveling to a foreign place; you either struggle because you don't know the
language OR you get Babbel to learn the language and manage to communicate efficiently.
Saussure, Ferdinand de. ​Course in General Linguistics​. Edited by Charles Bally and Albert
Sechehaye, 1959.

I use this book on semiotics by Ferdinand de Saussure to back up my evidence for the sake of
this assignment. I use semiotic concepts to tie in Babbel’s commercial to my “Torcedor” game.In
this section, I discussed how Babbel’s commercial can be semiotics driven to reveal the deeper
meanings of learning and language and its background. The scene where Alexi is participating in
a bar conversation and totally misinterpreting the context of the convo can be seen through
semiotics. We then see him using Babbel and quickly he goes from misinterpretation to not only
efficiently but effectively. This reveals that Babbel is insisting they are there for their customers
just as they are there for Alexi.
 Self Reflection

4. Self-Reflection (1-2 pages, double-spaced, in MLA 8 format):

Describe your strengths in creating this project.
The challenges you were met with in creating a multimodal argument versus a
linguistic argument.
What you hope to accomplish with this piece and what you’ve learned in this
class moving forward.

This multimodal project has helped me to understand that writting isnt easy and you have to

work in order to get your poit across. It has also pushed me out of my comfort zone not only as a

writer but in class as well. Throughout this semester I believe to have grown termendously as a

writter. English in highschool is nothing like Prof G’s English 103 course becuase let me just say

that enlish has always been my strongsuit but I had to WORK for it in this class. I think my

biggest writing flaw is structure. I am a very creative freebound no strings attached type of writer

but being in this class has taught me that structure is everything; it is the key to a great essay. I

am still mastering the art of a good structure because anything without a struscture will

eventually fold. However, this assignment has allowed me to expand on my (not so great) first

essays with full freedom of creativity which has allowed me to make it better than I thought. I

hoped to bring in a little bit of my personality along with some childhood memories into this

project. That being said, I thought it would be fun to create a game for my project since I learn

more effectively when I’m having fun. For this assignment, I was allowed the freedom to let my

creativity run free with every stroke of color and paint. The project in its entirety posed as

challenge at first since it is so closed to the end of the semester but looking back at it now I’m

happy with my choice and the outcome of this project. Overall, this project has helped to to

understand all the concepts and strategies that we have been learing throughout the semester on a
deeper level and with a new perspective that were both challenging yet enjoyable! I hope you

enjoy it as much as I did!