Thursday, September 9, 2010

DeathInc Draft 1

Penn and Teller are known for their unconventional outlook of exposing different topics or issues in their show Bullshit. In this episode Penn and Teller give a behind the scene view of the funeral business and its many flaws. “Living is what matters, the rest be bullshit.”

The way the material was presented allowed the episode to appeal to many different demographics; from people that have just experienced death, to people that may be preparing for death in the future, to the actual funeral industry itself.

There were also people that were relatable to the average person as well. There was a priest that discussed the markups each funeral company has in the different things they sale. And, on the other end they also used people as a way of making fun of how extreme some people can become as far as being wrapped up in the idea of death. For example: they had two people that thought they were vampires, or the owner of the company that froze bodies. Both of these cases were extreme, and exposed the viewers to a more extreme way of looking at death.

To appeal to such a wide scope of people Penn and Teller chose to present the material in many different ways. There were many facts and figures used. For ex: there are 25 million deaths each year, and the average funeral is 10,000. That being so, the funeral industry makes trillions of dollars each year off the emotionally fragile consumer.

Sarcasm and humor were also used throughout the episode. In one portion of the episode Penn says “Death isn’t so scary, as long as we put happy music to it.” Then for the rest of the episode every time there is something the least bit disturbing there is cheerful music in the background. The music is used as a buffer to soften the blow of what is actually being seen.

They discussed how most people live by the “evil eye concept” in regards to death, which means if you talk about it, it might happen to you. Stating this in the beginning allowed the viewer to be prepared for facts and information throughout the rest of the episode and set the tone.

They used Logos, Pathos, and Ethos to appeal to viewers in this episode. For Logos, presenting material and facts that were concrete. For Pathos, they reiterated that funerals are for the living not for the dead, and that we should praise the people around us while they are alive instead of when they are deceased. For Ethos, they had an inside video that exposed the funeral industry praying off of the emotionally fragile victim and presented the facts that it should not matter if you have your loved one cremated in a cardboard box because the box is going to be burned. Penn and Teller tried to stress the fact that you should not focus on trying to please the dead, but instead focus on what is important and more rational.

1 comment:

  1. Good description of their angles as well as their use of the rhetorical strategies (logos pathos ethos). 20/20

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