"What's Love Got To Do With It?" Response

Anjula Razdan's article "What's Love Got To Do With It,"is an essay that expresses the authors thoughts on the meaning of true love, and finding love the right way. Razdan, throughout the entire essay, explains how true love is thought to be found, but how it all ends up in a divorce, especially in the western society, as he describes it. Razdan's own parents were joined together through an arranged marriage while they were young people in India. Razdan explains why his parents seem to not even know each other, and then goes on to talk about how this is relevant to many marriages in the U.S., most ending up in divorces. A brief plot summary, the overall theme as I see it, and my personal opinion to this essay will reveal a role that the essay can play in the lives of many ordinary people.
Razdan begins his essay by telling the story of how he and his family formulate different opinions on love and life. His parents, being put together through an arranged marriage, hardly even know each other, says Razdan. They did not even go on a date that was just the two of them, they were accompanied. Razdan then goes on to tell of how the society we think we live in today gives us the chance to pick our partners, in which it does, but we do not choose wisely. Razdan also puts into thought the fact that most of us wish we had a matchmaker, where we would not have to sit through a bad date, or a blind date, or anything of that sort. Razdan then goes on to tell of how we expect to live "happily ever after", but in fact Razdan gives a stat that states half of marriages in this country ends in divorce.
 He then goes on to tell of how an experiment was done about how a love contract could work, but for a certain couple who experimented with the contract, they had to go to therapy and other types of helpful sessions to learn how to communicate well with each other, something that many ordinary Americans should do in a way. Razdan then goes on to tell of how there is an increase in professional matchmakers, and how T.V. shows and movies persuade the public to try out matchmakers, thinking that the perfect match will be made. But, as a Stanford scientist has found, there is more of a risk for failure, due to no interaction and no social talking. There would be no face to face talking or anything of the sort if someone used an online aid, so there would be no chance of know what the person would look like or really act like. All that could be gone by would be a survey on the internet, which is not very reliable. Razdan then includes a poem by Emily Dickinson, which explains how love is like a bird, and how if you tear the bird apart, you silence the song. Razdan winds up the entire essay by telling how you cannot look into love too much, because you might end up hating it more than for what it really is, and taking it too seriously.
The theme, as I read it, and take the entire essay in, is that take your love seriously, but do not try too hard to find it. Let it come natural to you and find a natural person for you. If you need an aid that is fine, but there is a chance that it will not work out, as is the case for fifty percent of all marriages in the United States. Razdan, by including the arranged marriage of his parents, helps his case, by saying that their marriage was natural and was forced, and they do not really know each other to this day. They do not see the point in naturally finding your partner on your own, and enjoying the love that can take place if you find your own love. But, with the end of the essay, Razdan makes sure to get the point across that we cannot keep it in our minds that we will ever find a "happy ever after" partner,but we can eventually find a person who we adore and love, and can build a love over time, and give each other a chance to build eternal love.
My personal opinion of this essay is that it carries a strong message, and a reality-check in mind. We must take love seriously, but not to the point where love is not fun or needed. We need that extra person in our lives, who cares for us and loves us no matter what we do. Every person needs to feel that acceptance and have their emotional needs taken care of. If a person does not have these needs, then they will be miserable. We need to also be able to find true love the natural way. Not all of us are made to be married and have children. We all do have the ability to have strong relationships, and this is what gets us through life. I am at a stage in my life where I am exploring the world of love, not trying to find the perfect girl right of the bat, but looking at the different options that I can choose from and see. I am not worried about finding true love this early in my life. That time will come. For now, I am going to enjoy my life in college without the worrying of finding the perfect girl.

Advertisement Critique

In the world that we live in today, one of the most influencial types of communication between a produce and consumer is advertising. We see advertisments everywhere we go in the normal day, and we watch and listen to them on our radios and televisons. We all see billboards on the side of the road, boasting large lettering, and impressive images of the product being sold. From food to cars, and clothing stores to gas stations, these impact our everday lives, whether we are able to accept it or not. The actual definition of an advertisment is a public notice, published in the press or broadcasted over the air. The society we live in today allows for the producer to get into the ehads of the consumer, and enables the buyer to be persuaded, with great ease, to purchase from the seller. There are three specific ads that I will refer to throughout, and I will go into detail about what the advertisment is selling, the message that is being given through the ad, and who the audience really is, and the tools that the advertiser uses to grab the attention of that audience.
The first ad a Braun ad for a razor. The text in the ad says, "Brings out the human in men."The man begins as a gorilla at eight in the morning, and five minutes later, the man is shown clean shaven, hair slicked back, and has a fierce impression on his face. This ad does several different things to persuade the consumer. The first being that this razor can work magic on the five o'clock shadow that the normal, everyday man goes through. The razor can withstand the tough, thick whiskers of a man, and make his face look smooth as silk. It can also sells thast it can change the apperance of a man and make him look not as a monkey, but as a man with a large ego. The message being given is that a man will be able to use this razor, no matter his condition in the morning when he wakes. This razor will be able to do the job, and he will not have to take a long time to shave. The speed of the razor is amazing in itself, but the condition that the razor will leave the man is is another feat only that razor could do. The audience for this specific ad is men from the ages of twenty-five until about men in their seventies. This is because men of this age are able to use heavy equipment like this in the morning, and are able to have the thickness of hair needed to fill the face of a man, such as the gorilla face given in the ad. The tool that is used by the advertiser is persuasion. "If you look like an animal in the morning, we can fix you right up with this razor and make you look like a man." This is what I took from the first of the three ads.
The second ad is by Antonio Federici, and it looks like the product is ice cream. In the ad, there is a priest and a nun, and they look as though they are about to kiss, which of course is forbidden in the religion. I see the message being given here as being a hidden pleasure. This product is so good, it is like it should not be allowed to be around. The temptation for this ice cream is so strong. The text given in the ad is "Kiss Temptation." The ad is saying that the temptation is that of a priest wanting to kiss a nun, and vice verca. The audience for this product is a tough one to consider, but I believe it to be people of the ages of thirty and older. This group of people would be able to understand the temptation of the ice cream and the message better than any other age group, and would understand the feeling of the ad as well, having to face these temptations like this through life. Even though you should not ought to have the ice cream, the taste is irresistable, and the temptation to want it will be verystrong. The tool the advertiser uses is the thought of being naughty, and the fact of hidden pleasures. The urge to want to have the product will grow strong when looking at the ad.
The last ad that is being critiqued is of a rainforest being destroyed and an ape-man looking person swinging from a vine that ends in a bare, cleared out part of the forest. There is a bulldozer in the background where the cleared out part of the forest is as well. The text of the ad says that "15km squared of rainforest disappears every minute," and the ad is sponsored by the WWF, which is the World Wildlife Fund. The ad is sending the message that the forests which we rely on for oxygen and other important factors in our lives is being destroyed every minute. The advertisers might also be sending out the message that people need to be eco-friendly and environmentally aware of what we do as a community. The people of all of the world need these forests in order to survive, and maintain a healthy lifestyle and environment. The audience for this ad is for those of us who are unaware of what our behavior can do to not just our own environment, but the environment of animals and other creatures. Young school kids can be targeted the most by this ad, for it is the opinion of a little boy or girl that could persuade the parents of a young person to change their minds on how they use things in their lives. By persuading the audience to give money or awareness to what their lifestyle is doing to the environment, the ad can bring more people in and give a lending hand to the cause they are trying to help, a lacking and destroyed rainforest.
Advertisements can go a long way in the society that we all live in today, and many people are easily persuaded by the pictures, texts, and purposes behind each and every ad that is seen all over the world, either by print or by air. We all are impacted whether we realize this or not, and there really is nothing that a person can do to ignore advertising. It is a part of life now, and it is part of the way we have all been raised. We must either decide to trust or ignore the information that is given to us through ads, and we must make a decison on whether to buy a product, or pass up on a product.