Future Students portal on MSU Moorhead Site

"What does it mean to be a dragon?" slideshow link screams both "We are family!" and "Road Rules: Moorhead, MN"

• the rhetor here is a parent that is trying too hard to be their kid's friend, mixing inspirational-poster-idioms with their expectations of the child.
• the role of viewer here is that of a non-critical thinker and dreamer, as the slideshow presentation/movie trailer moves at its own pace and frames for the viewer the way that the college search should be gone about

• use of maxims , slogans, or catchphrases throughout slideshow; some seem like pop song lyrics or motivational speaker fluff: using the fire within, understand who you are, learn what you need to know (mamas and the papas' 'go where you want to go', you can be yourself...and become a dragon, listen to you own music (theroux's beat of a different drummer?), this is your story...let the journey begin (army slogan?), show your true self
• use of duality of "dragon" viewer should want to be the metaphorical dragon and MSU Dragon
• some of the slogans/maxims in the slideshow beg the question for the viewer

• viewer will be unique and a part of the fold: "you can be yourself...and become a dragon"
• whereas many of the pages we viewed in class would make a statement claim (major shopping mall, concerts and festivals at the fargodome, hundreds of major restuarants) and back it up with a list of examples that give credence to the claim, the slideshow uses phrases and pictures to frame how the how the viewer should be thinking about their college choices
• uses a powerpoint/flash player slideshow to further define the what the school will provide for students
• slideshow smoothly transition between points, text focuses first, then picture focuses and they quickly fade out together, bringing up the next slide; viewers eyes always moving

Comparison

• combination of music and slideshow reminds me of both a preview trailer to a new television series (a show aimed at the younger audience, The O.C., eg) and a family's photo album. the rhetor makes many attempts with both the photos and text at stressing both individuality and a feeling of togetherness.

• "what does it mean to be a dragon?" is within the 'take a closer look at msu' section of the future students area,, but unlike the other areas within, "what it means..." really contains no information of substance whatsoever. other sites looked at were ndsu and bsu's own, but neither had anything remotely resembling the commercail/trailer on moorhead's site.