Presidential Speeches

Comparing the inauguration speeches of the central author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, to that of Barack Obama’s, it’s interesting to see how ideas seem to have changed over time and how government based topics have been swiftly replaced by the topic of the people. The comparison between the two also highlights fundamental changes in a President’s way of thinking.

Thomas Jefferson was considered a founding father and was elected in the year of 1801 and then again in 1805. Because he was a founding father, I thought his count for the word government would be sky-rocket high compared to today’s world because of how government based and focused his work had been so far. And just as I had suspected, Jefferson utilized this word thirteen times throughout the duration of his speech. This speech was known to be one that would set the tone for later inaugural addresses as well as to demonstrate the principles upon which his administration would work. One of Jefferson’s outstanding quotes from the government-based speech is “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists”.

The first inaugural speech by current president Barack Obama was one that was mainly working based in 2009. A few of the most frequently used words were nation, America, people, work, generation, common, and time. At this time the economy was facing hardship and Obama discussed the idea of rebuilding together, along with the idea of restoring America’s place in the world. This speech definitely had the feel of the portrayal of things Americans would work to fix verses what the government would do to ensure this process. To put it in perspective, the word government was only used four times compared to the previous thirteen by the government-focused Jefferson.

The fundamental differences between the Presidents are easily highlighted by the speeches differing themes. As discussed on the internet site Reetzality, Jefferson was in full support of the right to bear arms so the people could protect themselves against tyranny whereas Obama’s been quoted stating “Even if I wanted to take them away, I don’t have the votes in Congress”. Another differing point is that Jefferson feared a large national debt whereas Obama has been slowly working to decrease the large amount we have now. This brings us to the final idea that Jefferson fully supported American Independence and only used the word world four times throughout his speech whereas Obama hoped for world unity, using world upwards of seven different times.

Overall these two men were inaugurated in different social settings and how often the word government was used definitely was impacted by their differing focuses and backgrounds. Jefferson was largely influenced by his writing of the Declaration of Independence, a huge moment in history. In opposition, Obama was influenced by his election during an intense decade-long war and the election into a huge economic crisis. This comparison shows that the current state of the country along with the president’s background affects the speech and what it delivers in significant ways.

Apocalypse Strategies

In the opening scenes of the film Apocalypse, there are many strategies used by the filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola, to convey ideas and foreshadow what the remaining minutes of the movie may have in store. A few of the tools I picked up on were the angles presented as well as the lighting. It’s silent at first with a close up of the jungle and suddenly a helicopter zooms by. The scene of the bombing and helicopters is upright, until the frame of a man comes into perspective. He appears upside down, dazed, and a bit confused. His face remains faintly in the background while an image of the bombing continues, and slowly the man’s face turns right-side up. I think the decision to use this strategy was mainly to show how a bombing flips some people’s worlds upside down and can leave people completely blind-sided. It impacted my understanding by thinking that maybe this man was a victim or an army soldier wounded by the bombing. It made me curious, especially when he when the camera finally zeroed in on the man lying down on a couch with a camera angled up connecting with a ceiling fan. Could this be PTSD triggered by helicopters? I believe it arises questions, perplexing the audience and keeping them engaged. The lighting is another tool that Coppola utilizes in the opening scenes. It opens on a bright picture of beautiful palm trees with plentiful lighting, and as the image of the man appears, his surrounding light is dark. The bombing scene has vivid lighting, but that changes as the frame of the man lying in the room appears. The lighting for this is darker with many more shadows, until he gets up to go look at the outside to figure out where he’s located. I think the filmmaker wants us to take from this that when finally alone, the soldiers have ‘darker’ and sadder attitudes and feel somewhat isolated from the rest of the population. This makes the audience question whom this man is and what role he will take on in the movie. Overall the tools and strategies brought into the first few frames set up the rest of the movie very well and draw the audience in with ease.