Blog #3

In his article It's Good To Be Pretentious!, Ian Stansel highlights the cultural effects of a new Anti-Intellectual movement and argues that pretentiousness is in fact a beneficial part of society. Using the 1995 film Before Sunrise as his main example, he dissects the tension between the multiple ways one can view pretentiousness. The main point woven throughout the article is the possibility that society may be muted from experiencing the true complexity of the human experience by admonishing intellectualism. The rhetorical strategies most imperative to understanding the article are ones that employ the use of comparisons. Heavy allusions to "inaccessible" works of art help to outline Stansel's plea for society to be less quick to write off these important contributions; "Say so long to Radiohead, "The Tree of Life", The Sopranos"......and a million other thing that make this world better than it would be otherwise". Description is used to create the author's personal definition of pretentiousness; "What we often call pretentiousness, especially among the younger of us, is little more than a trying on of cerebral life. Kids in their teens and early-20s, in all their self-consciousness, strike the poses of intellectualism". Ethos calls out to the readers morality; "But, I say again, why not? Would we prefer that the kid on the train was trying on the outfits of bigotry and violence and ignorance?". Sarcastic language appeals to the demographic of readers; But unfortunately, twee 20-somethings having their picture taken with Santa Claus sincerely today is just as pointless as cynical 20-somethings doing it with a roll of their eyes in 1992". Diction and Tone play side by side to make the article unique to the author's voice. There are multiple examples that sylize his writing; "You don't have to like everything I've mentioned (hell, I don't like all of it)", or "I would later, very briefly, date this same old girlfriend of his, but that would end soon after a heated debate over the Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground, a debate that paused only momentarily; I put VU's "Oh! Sweet Nothing" on, the girl said, "He sounds like Jerry in this song, " and we made out a little.) His funny little asides brand the writing as uniquely his. I chose this article because it related directly to a sentiment I experience every day. I'm an admitted intellectual nerd. I walk around with Kerouac novels in my hands, watch those avante garde French films that are so often parodied in comedy films, and am currently trying to make a mustached Brit fall in love with me. But my friends take every opportunity they can to poke fun at this quality of mine. The way I speak is strange, I would like that book, him of ALL GUYS?! I think our generations insane take on intellectualism is sad, and sometimes I worry that we will not produce another great author or Bob Dylan because no one is striving to be different. I want to do more research and expand upon the subject because it is something that truly interests me, especially from a journalistic standpoint.