36 Chapter 23.1: Explanations and Significance: Developing Your Analysis contd.
36 Chapter 23.1: Explanations and Significance: Developing Your Analysis contd.
Part 4: Chapter 23
Explaining a Subject Through Comparison and Contrast
Once you provide enough background information for your specific audience, you can further explain your subject through comparison and contrast with others that relate to it. For instance, to lend validity to the feminist perspective on The Wizard of Oz, you might compare the film to others of the same period that also show powerful women in a negative light.
Consider, for instance, how the evil queen in Walt Disney’s 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves uses her magic to achieve her desires, while Snow White, the ideal of femininity, simply waits for a man to come along and rescue her (Walt Disney Productions, 1937).
You could also underscore how a subject is influenced by cultural attitudes through contrast. For example, if you wanted to explain why a show like South Park or Family Guy has particular appeal to young people today, you might contrast these shows with coming of age television series from other periods. For instance, you could contrast an episode of South Park with an episode of Leave it to Beaver, an iconic series from the 1950s. Though the main characters, Beaver and Wally Cleaver, often get into trouble, it is never anything like the kind that Eric Cartman gets into, and, unlike Cartman, who is spoiled by his single mother, the Cleaver kids are always able to talk out their difficulties with their father who helps them to learn from their mistakes at the end of each episode. Again, the conclusions you draw from this contrast could vary. You might assert that this relationship reveals the necessity of a strong father figure to keep children in check, you might suggest that the tightly controlled patriarchal family structure of the 1950s inspired rebellion and ridicule in the decades that followed, or you might come to conclusion somewhere in between these two extremes.
Along these lines, you might also consider explaining your subject by contrasting it with how it could have been different by calling your reader’s attention to the details that were deliberately omitted. For instance, you might analyze an advertisement by revealing what it doesn’t show about the product. Advertisements for fast food restaurants usually show families sitting together, relaxed, and having a good time, but they never show how people usually eat at these places, quickly and alone. And these ads certainly do not reveal the negative effects that eating too much fast food can have on the body, such as heart disease or obesity. Similarly, you can learn about how people feel about something or someone not only by the terms they use but also by the ones they refuse to use. For instance, if the first time you say “I love you” to your significant other only garners the response “thank you,” you might begin to suspect that your feelings run more deeply than those of your partner.
Explaining a Subject Thro