A Closer Look
I choose to closely analyze the author’s very first paragraph of his non-fiction essay, “I’ll take the best picture, please”. The first paragraph is one of the most important, because you need to really grasp the reader’s attention. This close analysis assignment has made me realize what the author wanted to write about, what he looks for in a film, and some of the classic films he enjoys.
I particularly enjoyed the way David Thomson (author) began his essay with a strong metaphor. “As Christmas 2012 came closer, the picture business was flexing its muscles and bravado, no matter that it might be a small plateau perched on high cliffs”. I found Thomson’s word choice was interesting because I didn’t know where he was going to go from there. He effectively piqued my interest with his opening statement. Thomson also made it a point to state that business for the year appeared to be up by a full five percent. To me, this shows he cares about the success of the film industry. By him being a film critic, the better the film industry is doing, the better off he will be.
In Thomson’s thesis statement, he talks about three old-fashioned virtues; scale, dignity and importance. As he goes on to talk about the classic films, I realize that he enjoys classic films, and their values, and wishes that more films nowadays shared those same values.
Thomson seemed to put a great emphasis on the virtue ‘importance’, as he went on to talk about it further. He named off a few classic films, Gone With the Wind, The Best Years of Our Lives, and From Here to Eternity. I don’t quite understand what he meant by emphasizing the old-fashioned virtue, ‘importance’, and then naming off those films. He seems to have left off some information, or an explanation of how those films displayed importance.
I’ve been reading this introductory passage over and over and I’ve come to the conclusion this is an informal passage. When I read Thomson’s first paragraph, the...