Augustine & VH1

St. Augustine and Little Miss Sunshine

I watched Little Miss Sunshine after reading about Augustine in our course packet and how perfect a marriage. In the movie, Dwayne takes a vow of silence until he reaches his goal of flight school, which will be years away. He has been silent for roughly six months in the plotline. In the readings, it said St. Augustine believed soul-to-soul communication to be the highest and purest form. Being that humans are imperfect, we have to use actual words and symbols to get our message across. Dwayne has effectively communicated his messages for six months without uttering a single word... man, wouldn't Augustine be proud! Dwayne looks to Neitzche for the strength and discipline to remain silent. I am not well-versed in Neitzche, but I do know he didn't think highly of Christianity and had an alternative view on morality. I think it's kind of funny that Dwayne's character is employing something Augustine says we should all esteem to (albeit, not in the exact manner Augustine is talking about) and yet he gets the strength to do so from a man who thought of organized religion as a form of self-slavery.

The Pickup Artist

This is the best use of rhetorical strategies made to fit a reality TV show. Contestents with no game in the dating field or coached by "The Pick Up Artist" on how to pick up women. After each lesson, the contestants are sent out into the field to employ what they learned and pick up women. I feel disgusted watching it but it's fascinating to me. This strange looking man with more make-up on than I wear is teaching boys conversational strategies so they can pick up women. And it works! He has rhetorical strategies worked to be able to persuade and manipulate people without them knowing they are being worked-over. It's like a lobbyist for dating. He can pick up on non-verbal cues that allow him to know what he needs to do verbally and nonverbally in order to turn power over to him and get what he wants. He talks about keeping "value" a lot, but what he means is power. He doesn't want his power lessened or he can't get the girl so he employs rhetortical tactics to keep his "value". And he does so in a completely disguised way to that he is perceived genuine. He even teaches the contestants how to appear more genuine and less "smooth" by purposely making certain mistakes, while still maintaining value. It's just fascinating. If you can learn to read people, like the "Pick Up Artist" can, and know are savvy with words, you can make yourself others percieve you as charismatic, appealing, intelligent, etc. And then you have the power to persuade and manipulate as well. After that you can pretty much get whatever you want.