Year 7 Persuasion Unit- Lesson 2

Lesson 2- Persuasive Arguments

Rationale- Develop language conventions appropriate for audience in persuasive arguments.

Lesson Objective- To develop language devices that aide in presenting persuasive arguments and to recognise how these affect audience.

Read and comment on persuasive language device in 3D Dinosaur.

-                o   Emotive language

o   Rhetorical questions

o   High modality

o   Repetition

o   Address the reader

3D DINOSAUR

This opinion piece was published in a media blog.

Call me the youngest dinosaur in the world. Not the kind whose

jaws lunge at you out of the phoney depths of a 3D movie. The other

kind: a dinosaur of outmoded opinion. How outmoded? Let’s just

say I consider 3D physically dangerous, economically predatory,

artistically self-defeating and imaginatively stunting.

That kind of dinosaur.

Take off your 3D glasses for a moment and look at some evidence

from the real world. (Remember that place?)

When you watch a 3D fi lm, your brain receives two slightly

different 2D images and is forced to make sense of them by

merging them into one. The immediate result of this merging is

an enhanced sense of apparent depth (the ‘third’ dimension).

The not-so-immediate result is, for at least 15 per cent of us, eye

strain, headaches and a dangerous disorientation. These risks

are greatest for children and teenagers. (And which two groups

of people form the major audiences for 3D?) It is even possible

that children will develop permanent problems with depth

perception if they are overexposed to 3D.

Why do fi lm-makers infl ict these risks on us? So they can

charge us extra at the ticket offi ce. Who wins out of this? Not

us. So who does? The fi lm-makers themselves?

They might think they do, but they should think again. If 3D

becomes the new standard, we will see a shift in the kind of

fi lms that are made. Setting and action take over; character,

relationships and plot wither. Where once we explored the

depths of a character’s psyche, we plunge into the depths

of some 3D ravine. Where once we followed the twists and

turns of a developing relationship or a subtle plot, we

crawl through a 3D cavern, dodging 3D bats. No fi lm that

lacks the promise of a 3D thrill will even fi nd the fi nancial

backing to be made. So stand back, all you serious fi lmmakers,

and make room for kids’ movies and animation.

But the most infuriating thing about 3D is that it is

not necessary. There is already depth in 2D media.

The imagination fi nds it there. If we depend on special

glasses to fi nd it, we have already begun to replace

the wonders of imagination with the gimmicks of

technology.

I heard a child leaving a cinema recently announce,

‘I wish life was 3D!’ That should be sad, not just to us

dinosaurs, but to everyone.

John Simpson