Production Report 8a

I wrote this section of my essay in standard paragraph format. I was wary of using the second person because it isn't often used in college essays. However, I felt that using the second person made a stronger impact on the audience than clinical objectivity would. The entire point of the piece I analyzed was to put the participant into the refugee's shoes. I would have been doing my readers a disservice if I didn't attempt to create the same feeling for them.

This material wasn't difficult to produce because I've had experience writing essays in the past. I would have come across a lot more issues if I had done a podcast or video essay for this assignment. Also, since text is very easily revised and edited I can view this a more fluid work in progress than I would a video essay.

Outline Item 

From Middle East Monitor Section:

1. Ethos
1. Deciding to stay or flee
2. Clicking stay results in a cell phone video of French airstrikes on Raqqa, Syria’s capital. He is standing on the roof of a concrete building and filming the surrounding buildings as they are obliterated by missiles.  The civilian behind the phone prays for his life.

Raw Text Excerpt

The Middle East Monitor’s interactive “A Refugee’s Journey” is essentially a sleeker, more modern version of the Oregon Trail era “Choose Your Own Adventure” games with more altruistic intentions. The game forces the audience into the shoes of a refugee, requiring split second decisions that could mean life or death. Each time the player narrowly escapes death, whether by spending their savings on fake papers to leave Syria or by jettisoning the fresh water supply so their overcrowded rubber boat doesn’t sink, they are forced into yet another difficult decision. It is impossible not to feel helpless as the death toll rises, even while the player collects small victories of survival.

The first decision you face is whether or not to stay in Raqqa, Syria’s capital. Your family has lived in the city for centuries but France is drastically increasing airstrikes in the aftermath of the 2015 Paris Attacks. Daesh (the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) has shut down the internet and is fortifying the city. If you flee to another part of Syria you must leave your family behind. You decide to try your luck at home and confidently click the blue “Stay” button. Your screen turns completely gray. When the next explosion goes off, you realize it’s not a computer virus. It’s just smoke from the French bombing Raqqa. The video was clearly shot with a cell phone by a man standing on top of the building. The man prays for his life in the background and hopes the pilots see him.  Bombs obliterate surrounding buildings one after another until the video abruptly stops as the phone falls.

It’s clear that you can’t stay in Raqqa, so you decide to abandon your family and flee to another part of Syria. You click this button slightly less confidently than you did the first. The next thing you see is a complex orange map of Syria. It illustrates the territories controlled by Daesh, the Syrian government, and rebel forces, as well as hard to reach areas which haven’t received aid in months. It also includes where the other 7.6 million internally displaced Syrians fled to. Roughly 35% of Syrians are displaced within their own country and millions more have attempted the dangerous journey to Europe. You consider where to go next as you wait for the UN food convoy to arrive. What will you do?

That was only the first three scenarios of the dozens that are available. Within your first two clicks you were bombarded with emotionally devastating footage as well as enough hard facts to make even the most heartless statistician empathize with refugees.

The first video was a clear appeal to ethos. The man begging for his life behind the cell phone could have been anyone. This footage works especially well with the interactive format because the player feels like they are standing on top of that building watching their own community be destroyed. The Middle East Monitor, which targets young professionals and students  interested in global affairs, provides a stark contrast from the very pro-Western depiction of the war on ISIS as displayed on European and American news outlets. Instead of immediately hitting the player with a video of ISIS attacks, they show the devastation that airstrikes, specifically those of the French, cause to civilians. These strikes have been widely supported by the American public. When presidential candidate Ted Cruz proposed to “carpet bomb Syria until we see if sand glows in the dark,” he received standing ovations (CITATION.) Players from the US and Western Europe likely feel guilty for the destruction that their nations have caused. Players feel both the helpless fear of the refugee and the partial responsibility for forcing this refugee to make the decision.