Blog Post #9

Andrew Fitzgerald: Adventures in Twitter fiction

https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_fitzgerald_adventures_in_twitter_fiction/transcript?language=en 

This talk discusses the creation and the relevance of real- time story telling. The speaker, Andrew Fitzgerald, explains how new formats often create new stories. He starts with the example of how Radios were a new medium in the 1930s and how the radio connected thousands of people to listen to something happening in real time. He also discusses the new format of Twitter, and how this created 140- character or less stories, in both fiction and nonfiction. Fitzgerald discusses how with this new market, authors are able to receive instant feedback from their audience. He discusses that an author can tailor stories to the needs of his audience because there is no longer any middle man, or publisher between him and his audience. He discusses how this allows the audience to have a large impact on the actual creation of the story. In one instance an author tweeted the first line of her new book and her audience commented their own personal perspective of what they think should happen next. This gave the audience a lot of control on how they think the story should be played out. Fitzgerald proceeded to discuss a new trend known as "twitter fiction." Twitter Fiction is when people create parody twitter accounts for characters or people in real life and tweet things how they assume that person would tweet. The example used in the video is a foul mouthed parody of Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel. Fitzgerald discusses how this is able to interact with the real world while also preserving a flexible identity and anonymity. 

Fitzgerald does a good job of interacting with the crowd. His purpose is to explain, and he does so in a light hearted way. Fitzgerald is a member of the News and Journalism team from Twitter, so he is very credible with his information. The audience can tell that this is a subject that Fitzgerald has witnessed and understands. Fitzgerald does a great job of showing examples of what he is describing. He uses examples that the reader can relate to or has most likely encountered or seen something similar to. A negative of his argument is that his topic is just not a main issue. His topic is interesting, but has no real substance, so it is important that he gives it meaning. He is able to give it meaning through his use of emotion. He does not use strong emotions for this is not a serious issue, but he makes it seem interesting by using a sense of fascination. This allows the reader to also connect with what he is saying. 

I chose this video because I was intrigued by the title. I use twitter and I was interested to see how it had an impact on storytelling. This talk did not discuss tragedy or pity, but it did discuss duality. Fitzgerald identified how something can be viewed online from a number of different perspectives and how these perspectives can cause a duality on one topic. Also, he explains how the lines of fiction and nonfiction can blur together creating a sense of duality. 

Blog Post #8

In your mind, are there any heroes in Double Indemnity? If so, who? 

In my opinion there are no Heroes in Double Indemnity. In the film the closest character to being a hero is Walter Neff. He is the brains of the operation and was the one who thought of the whole conniving plan. At times he possesses hero- like qualities but he also has many flaws about him including his motifs. 

With Walter Neff, his biggest flaw is his motif. The motif for Walter Neff's actions is love or even lust. In my opinion, in order for someone to be considered a hero they should do the right thing for the right reasons. Now this is a very vague definition because I think not all heroes wear capes. There are heroes in day to day lives including military soldiers, fireman, and english teachers. The one thing that all these people have in common is that they are helping others, they are looked up to. Walter does not have these qualities, I believe the Motif for Walter's actions are not good enough to classify him as a hero. He is not saving Phyllis, he is helping her kill her husband. The reason he may have been considered a hero in the slightest is that it could be argued that his motif is love. Love is a very powerful motif but it is not justification for murder. Also, after the crime is committed there is doubt that the same feelings they had before were still there, which makes love a very shaky platform. 

This film is a film noir so it emphasizes cynical attitudes and sexual motivations, both of which are present in Double Indemnity. We first see a relationship form between Walter and Mrs. Dietrichson when Walter comes over to sell insurance when Mr. Dietrichson is out of town. The encounter between the two characters is flirty and suggests a romantic relationship between the two. The film goes on and the two see each other until they form the plan to kill Mr. Dietrichson. This is when we notice the downfall of Walter. He reaches a point when he is easily persuaded by Mrs. Dietrichson just as Macbeth is controlled by Lady Macbeth. Walter is persuaded to the point of killing another human, sound familiar? Because Walter is so flawed by love it is not possible for him to be considered a hero. Sorry Walter.