- Interviews from the New York Times Magazine (handout)
- Gathering Additional Information: The Interview (pgs. 522-524 in your textbooks)
Discussion Board
Choose one of the interviews from the packet to analyze. What do you think is the interviewer's agenda? (In other words, what truth is she trying to uncover?) Does she succeed in bringing this issue to light? How, or why not?
(Please post your response in the comments section below.)
The interview I will be analyzing is "Big Man on Campus".
ReplyDeleteThe truth the author is trying to do is get behind the reasoning behind the interviewers new proposal of increasing in-state tuition. I think she was trying to express that she felt this was not a good idea and was not thinking bout working class families when it was proposed. In the beginning she was basically just speaking about the proposal, that being what it is, and who it would affect and throwing out statistics about the U.C.'s financial budget. As the interview went on, she started questioning his salary, and others salary, stating subliminally that instead of wanting to raise tuition so much, their salaries should be cut.
She does succeed in bringing this issue to light. she does not just come out and say the raise in tuition is ridiculous but with the questions she asks, and the tone of her questions and the subject they were directed to i can tell she was trying to make the interviewer feel like his proposal was selfish.She keeps on the subject of the interviewers salry and his coworkers and others having a large amount of income. Suggesting that instead of them making all of that money, they should contribute 2 donations and other functions so that the tuition rate for in-state students, probably all students would not have to be raised
In the interview "Youth Quake" the interviewer is trying to show how Michael Cera personal life maybe as a "failure" has influence of him becoming a spotlight as an actor. I believe she tries to uncover this by when she says how failure is more interesting than success. She tries to bring this to light when she says how maybe his skiing accident and his concussion had made him more depth as an actor.
ReplyDeleteIn the "Out of Africa" the interviewer asks Chinua Achebe his opinion of current events in his home country Nigeria. Chinua answers her questions directly and manages to bring his personal experiences into the answers. The questions are very personal as well because it all ties into his novel about colonialism in Nigeria. He is someone who understands the politics in Nigeria and the interviewer tries and gets his opinion on all the current events in the country.
ReplyDeleteThe interview I analyzed is “Out Of Africa" and there are a couple of truths the author is trying to reveal in this story. The way she goes about receiving the truths is using opinions of outsiders to the truth of the person suffering the situation. The interviewee in this story is a Nigerian writer who is very well known in the media in America but belittle himself in his own country. He speaks on how the government in Nigerian government is corrupted and not reliable. The interviewer uses a slick but professional way to get the interviewee to states what’s really going on in Nigeria. The author sense of conversational dialogue leaves the interviewee no other choice but state exactly how he feels, no holding back!
ReplyDeleteI read the interview "The Conversation" with the professor of linguistics and a writer Deborah Tannen. Although in the begining the interview seems to look about the relationship between sisters, this is only a transition to the importance or writing and talking.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say the interview is very successful because there are too many refferences to different books without giving enough background about them. This made me lose an interest at some point because I didn't know what they are talking about. The question "Who wrote "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus" seemed completely out of the context.
~ Nikoleta
The interview that stood out to me the most was "Big Man on Campus". The truth Deborah Soloman uncovered was the price of going to a prestige school and the president is getting paid too much. She was extremely sucess at bringing up the issue to to her straight foreward questions and blunt statstics. The last question especially stood out to me .. " what do you think of the idea that no administrator at a state university needs to earn more than the president of the United States, $400,000?" This question reemphasized the matter shes discussing which is the president is gettin paid way more than supposed to.
ReplyDeleteThe Interview I chose was "Youth Quake" where Deborah Solomon interviewed Michael Cera. Michael usually comes off as a shy, awkward character onscreen and it seemed like the interviewer's aim was to uncover whether the persona was his while asking obviously prepared questions. She remained blunt and to the point with her questioning, but I feel that she fell short of capturing anything but simple answers. You can tell the only time he becomes excited is when he's asked about his family(notably people other than himself). I think overall, her approach could have been different and she could have captured a little more than she did.
ReplyDeleteThe interview that stood out most to me was "family man". by deborah solomon. the truth that deborah solomon was trying to uncover was why does peter griffin says the things he say in the show, and how it can affect others.Seth Macfarlane tries to cover up by saying that is obvious jokes to make people laugh at him for being an idiot. I believe deborah solomon does suceed in bringing the issue to light because she than gets deeper in to the conversation and ask him about the company in general and how he feels about it.
ReplyDeleteThe interview i chose was "family man" in which Deborah Soloman interviewed Seth Macfarlane. I believe the point of the interview was to talk about why shows like Family guy can take topics and issues that have effected peoples lives and turn them into jokes that become acceptible among the viewers. She points out that Peter who one of the shows main characters makes fun of issues like rape, but Seth Macfarlane points out that the jokes arn't about rape itself but about the ignorance of the character.
ReplyDeleteThe interview I pickedd out was family man
ReplyDeleteI did not think anything major was being discoverd in this interview..I watch family guy religiously, and I feel that the interviewer was a little bit sore at family guys jokes.....you see that she is a fan of the simpsons and ask if he thinks she is a better colorist and thedn says that he is not better but he keeps his cool and stays funny
The interview that caught my attention was "Out of Africa". A man from Nigeria is interviewed about his country and how he came to U.S. Deborah uses tricky question to get as much information about Nigeria, its culture and how the government rules there. In my opinion Deborah Solomon gets her answers and finds out a lot of things. In the interview, there are revealed a few things, for example,how the government is corrupt and how the nigerian farmer grew up. Also how the cultures (muslims and christians) had disputes. I could say this interview was a success.
ReplyDeleteIn the interview "Youth Quake",it shows how Michael Cera wqas some sort of failure as a young child and how he became successful over time as an actor. Michael came across shy when answering questions that involve himself. When deborah decided to ask questions about his family it seem he was more at ease. Overall to me it looked like she settled for short answers from Michael.
ReplyDelete