DOCUMENTARY PROJECT: post 2

3.)    Discuss the documentary watched in the context of TWO essential questions below. Include specific details – content and rhetoric – to support your claims.
a.    How have modes of communication been a reflection of history and society?
The “mode of communication” utilized the most in this specific documentary was the use of camera recorders to capture the on-and-off-stage contexts as well as the general music from the bands. The other more personal use of communication was the use of interviews – either direct interviews of the bands or indirect interviews where they gave bands the microphone – to capture the bands’ personalities. The utilization of these two modes represents how the rhetoric of it “reflects history and society” because they both were a way to document a certain era of music.
CONTENT: Although this documentary did not cover all of the bands in the punk/grunge era, they contextually utilized their communication to capture the bands that played the largest part in developing this musical time period. This is a great reflection of history and society because, in a way, by following these bands on tour, they showed to the world what this musical time period was all about. They showed to the audience– on a content level – what life was like backstage and on stage and how sometimes a view from the crowd is not the full view at all.
RHETORICAL: Rhetorically, since they were able to get the “behind the scenes” and “on stage” action all together simultaneously, the audience could perfectly understand that this musical era was not all one thing – but a combination of the bands’ offbeat personalities and how they reflect them in their music. The juxtaposition of these two lives showed their on-stage lives where massive crowds gather for them and their off-stage “goof-ball” lives where they do whatever they want and act perfectly abnormal and carefree. This use of contrast was a perfect rhetorical addition because it reflects how different this era of music was…and how this “difference” made it thrive. Although it reflects some the similarities from the 60’s (due to the connection of the confusing anecdotes of the band members) this emphasized juxtaposition shows such disconnect between their fame and their not-so-“fame” personalities. It may leave some people, who may not understand that being “different” gets you places, asking “how?”.
The only way this content could become meaningful, contrasting rhetoric was by utilizing the modern modes of communication at the time to edit the “behind the scenes” and “off-stage” footage of the bands. The capturing and editing of this tour perfectly represented musical history and society at the time of the grunge and punk era.
b.    How do the modern modes of communication affect the rhetorical devices individuals have at their disposal?
Again, the modes of communication used in this documentary were camcorders and microphones to capture video and here-and-there audio from interviews. I will first explain how these modes affected the rhetorical devices the band members had at their disposal. Since the director provided the band members a microphone, they utilized a much wider range of devices because they could express themselves much more freely. Since they could pick up the microphone at their disposal, we could hear much more of their personalities come through because they told us about any and everything they thought of or saw. For example, when the lead singer of Sonic Youth had the microphone, he made up raps about random things he saw while the rest of the band members danced in a circle. Also, one time, he even used it as he screamed out of a window as loud as he would if he was screaming to a crowd – and then we saw the camera pan down to an empty street where only a lady and her child were walking. This simple mode of communication – being a microphone and a camcorder – allowed the band members to show off their personalities to the fullest extent. It also brought out that juxtaposition again. This widened rhetoric changed the context of the doc from watching “a band on tour” objectively to actually understanding the band on tour subjectively. 

These modes of communication affected the devices the director had because the use of the most modern technology at the time got him a back-stage pass to the festivities of the tour. His ethos was absolutely heightened due to these modes because he could be less formal about his direction and more focused on what the band wanted to say or do. The camera acted like another addition to one of the bands, kind of like another friend to talk to, unlike an interview which pushes the band away. Due to his increased ethos, the band trusted him more so he got much more footage than he would have if he told them what to do. He even showed the contrast of the amount of footage he got with the amount of footage actual interviewers got within the documentary. For example, the director showed an MTV interview and then a foreign-music channel’s interview where the band ignored the interviewers completely and even made up things just to get them away. Then, after showing that, he showed his footage of the band after those interviews and how much they told him - compared to what they just said…or didn’t say…at the other interviews. It gave the audience a sense of confidence and made them feel like they only had to say “hey…it’s OK I’m with this guy” (being the director) in order to get back stage.
All in all, these modern modes of communication established the director’s ethos to such an extent that the “rhetorical devices” he could capture, use, and create from his large amounts of footage were endless.

DOCUMENTARY PROJECT: Post 1

1.)    Bibliography of the film AND a brief summary
The Year Punk Broke. Dir. Dave Markey. Perf. Sonic Youth, Nirvana, The Ramones, Dinosaur JR., Babes in Toyland, Gumball. 1992. Geffen Records, 2011. DVD.
This documentary is about – literally – the “year punk broke” onto the music scene. It features six of some of the most famous punk bands at the time from the 80’s to the early 90’s – when they thrived the most. The documentary is a simple set up and placement of their “regular” lives with their concerts on stage. It perfectly features not only their stage personalities, but how, in reality, their stage personalities live true off stage as well. It focuses mostly on Sonic Youth and follows them throughout their 1991 tour of Europe as they add on and subtract the featured bands – such as Nirvana and Mudhoney. This documentary, although to some it may seem to be lacking a story line, is a great representation of the confusing, ever-changing, moody and hard core lifestyle behind the punk and grunge movement.
2.)    Analysis of the rhetorical devices the filmmaker chose to tell the story
First, I will discuss the actual camera angle “rhetoric” the filmmaker decided to use while creating this film. In general, there were a lot of varied camera angles used to provoke different things like distorted camera angles, eye-level views, sub-eye-level shots, over-the-shoulder shots and point of views. All of the camera footage and angles and shots were forcefully made to be distorted. For example, the camera man continually zoomed in and out to make it blurry and never really focused on anything specific. It was made basically like a home-movie. It was also distorted because the editor added in the “flare” type of effect which is basically that when someone moves, their original outlines stay in place, so the entire screen would then be filled with the repositioned and colored outlines. As for the specific views, the sub-eye-level-views were used the most. The camera man purposefully tilted the lens of the camera down a bit when focused on the band members so that the audience could not clearly see the person or their eyes fully. This, to me, represented the avant-garde logic of these punk rockers and how people cannot fully grasp it – which is why things are not shown up front or in focus to the audience. The over the shoulder shots and point of view shots were shown more during the concerts. These two techniques were basically used to the camera man could get the closest and most personal shots possible.
The distortion of all of the camera angles and shots and edits, I believe, was purposefully done to represent the utter confusion and chaos of punk and grunge rock. Although these camera angles made my head spin a little bit, they did perfectly capture the feeling one would feel if they were either at the punk concerts…or even just talking to one of the band members since their logic is just as chaotic as their music.
As for the regular rhetoric, rather than the camera rhetoric, I found that contrast, juxtaposition, drama and context played a large part establishing the filmmaker’s purpose.  Contrast and juxtaposition was shown first in the beginning to introduce the movie. It was expressed when the film quickly switched from the calm “get together” of Sonic Youth and Nirvana to the crazy, wild and out of control punk concert. This continued to occur all throughout the documentary as the filmmaker switched between the footage of the “behind the scenes” of all of the odd-ball bands to the upfront footage of their uncontrollable concerts and the crowds. Drama also played a large part in the film as well and was shown through the narrative, emotional and associative editing cuts done to the film. The one most prominent case of drama was when the all-girl punk band was playing and the editor created an emotional cut where there was a slow-mo of the crowd against the background of the band playing. Here, this created the dramatic emotion of how much this punk-era effected people – as shown by the crowd. As for the context, the “back to reality” shots – which showed the down to earth bands back stage or behind the scenes continuing on with their regular oddities – truly brought the audience back into context of the story. These shots were there to show that although they are now “big stars” who fill stadiums, they are still those goofy, hard to understand individuals who were once trying to fill a small club with fans.
Rhetorically, there was also a lot of anecdotes that came from the band members. Although the director may not have planned them to occur, he definitely wanted them to be included because these little burst of insightful...or distracted...thoughts from the band members in the documentary definitely made the audience aware of the context they were in.

AOW #20: AT&T Commercial - Bangs

Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbbOEDc_lUM&feature=relmfu

This was a commercial about AT&T and it’s promoting its quickness and efficiency. This commercial showed a dad on his computer, who looks more like a teen than an adult. He has his hair long and in his face (like the commonly known “Justin Bieber” swoosh in the front) and is wearing clothes too young for his age (like a plaid hoodie and below-the-butt pants). When his daughter walks in, she questions his new style and the dad keeps responding that it was all due to him surfing the “world wide web”.

The author of this commercial was no one specifically but just the AT&T advertising sector overall. Although it seems like a “general” author, their credibility is established because of their past commercials and also the success of the business as a whole. The success of the business was perfectly shown when AT&T took over Cingular Wireless. Since this company could completely take over another company as their own, you can see the credibility within this business power. As for their past commercials, they have had many notable and successful commercials throughout the past years, one being the “one-man flash mob” (when a man, without AT&T missed the flash mob time change memo because his network was too slow).

The context of this piece would be temporal. It would be temporal because all of the changes of the dad occurred in just a short period of time (since the daughter said “when did this happen” in a way that showed the audience that the changes happened quite recently, so quickly without her knowing). It would also be temporal because AT&T wants to make it all seem fast-paced and fast acting because as a wireless company, they need to look like the quickest provider.

The purpose of this piece was to promote AT&T as a fast or the fastest wireless phone/internet company of all. It does because it shows how quickly the dad can change with AT&T’ fast internet at hand so he could buy the “freshest” clothes and get updated on the newest styles online.

The audience would be mostly for teenagers. It would be because most all teens have been embarrassed by their parents – whether their parents are making fun of the teen generation or trying to conform to it – so they find communal satire when the dad in the commercial reminds them of their own parents. It is also geared toward teens because as a teen, when I see a dad or parent acting completely unlike the “stuffy” adults we always see, it brings satire to the commercial and attracts the younger generations.

Some major rhetorical elements used would be: satire, communal memory and antithesis.

First of all, I will start with the antithesis. The “new-wave dad” and his previous persona serve as the antitheses of the commercial. Although his previous persona was not shown, it came to the surface when the teenage daughter was questioning her dad about the sudden changes – which shows the audience that he must have been extremely different due to the shock.

As for the satire, it comes from this “antithesis” of the dad because when the audience looks at an adult acting like a teen, the humiliation of these changes make the audience laugh at the contrast.

Lastly, communal memory was all throughout the commercial. If you are a teen, you can relate with the embarrassment of the girl. If you are an adult, you can poke fun at the dad because the majority of adults have not done such drastic changes.

Yes, the author completely accomplished their purpose. They did because they not only attracted the audience in with a satirical “sugar-coating”, but they definitely persuaded them that AT&T is fast (due to the rapid changes of the father).

IRB 3 #3: To Kill a Mocking Bird - By Harper Lee

Character:

All of the characters are still the same (I listed the characters in the last independent reading post). There are, however, a few new characters such as Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery. Miss Maudie is a woman who sits outside on her porch and talks to Jem and Jean Louise about the town and their days. Mr. Avery is a bit colder than Miss Maudie because he breaks up the children’s games if he suspects something and all in all, he is less of a warm person. The character’s attitudes have changed much since last time as well. As for Jean Louise or “Scout” and Jem, their outlooks on judging people have changed immensely. They used to make fun of Boo Radley – the suspicious and supposedly crazy man that lives at the forbidden Radley residence – and his family but a life altering experience changed their outlook for good (explained in plot).

You can also see the personality of Jem and Jean’s father (Atticus) come out more. He is portrayed to be a very down to earth, all knowing and appreciative person – especially because he “for” some causes that the entire town is against (IE he supports African Americans in court).

Another character that was added was Uncle Jack. He acted just like Atticus as he was kind and caring, and someone who always promoted love for others around you, no matter their race.

Setting:

The setting in this section was opened up into a whole new world. It was  because the children – Jem, Scout and Dill – felt brave enough to approach the forbidden Radley house at an “unsafe distance”. So now they feel like the town is boundless.

Plot/Conflict:

Rather than listing out the entire plot from the beginning of the section, I will sector out the most important parts of it. The first most important part is when the three children venture out towards the Radley’s place at night. They have only peered into it or wandered near it but this is the first time they ever went directly to it. They were trying to see inside the home to possibly catch a glance of Boo or his family however, they were caught by Mr. Radley. Since it was dark, however, he thought that they were African Americans trying to steal something from his yard so he shot a bullet in the air to scare them off. As if it wasn’t scary enough for them, Jem had lost his pants when they were tugged by the fence so he had to run back later and get them even though Mr. Radley warned the town he would kill another intruder no matter who or what it would be. The most peculiar thing, however, that changed all of their mindsets for good was first that his tugged pants were folded as if they expected him to return and second that a person, most likely from the Radley house, was leaving prizes for the children in the tree out of gratitude. They finally were starting to see the truth.

Another important part of the plot would be when Atticus mentions his new court case where he is defending an African American on trial. This is an extremely significant occurrence because during that time period, it was against the “culture” or norm of the world to support someone of color on trial, especially because they had less of a chance of winning due to their race. However, Atticus was willing and good-hearted enough to put himself on the line to defend justice.

Theme:

The theme of this entire part would how vital positive change and strong, wholesome opinions are in the path to becoming a good human being. Positive change is shown how Jem, Jean and Dill have now changed what they think about the Radley’s - and even on people of a different race. This is shown not only because of their personal experiences that happened in this section, but also because Atticus promotes equality of all within his family and society and puts down racial slurs.

Literary devices:

Here is a list of some literary devices used all throughout the story:

-          Foreshadowing

-          Communal memory

-          Communal speech

-          Tone: Reversion to Childhood

-          Southern Jargon

Claim: (simple, based on theme NOT literary devices)

Change and striving to have strong opinions are two of the most important elements in becoming a wholesome human being.

Support:

In order to support, I can first give a clear definition of what a “wholesome” human being is and give examples from Atticus’ speech.

Then, I could give examples from the three children and how children can change for the better, even when born into a world with pre-planned beliefs.

After that, to support the need for strong, positive opinions I could give examples of Atticus’ dialogue when he reprimands his children for acting hateful against others or even when he gives moral advice. I could also provide examples from Calpurnia or Uncle Jack every time they talk to the children to act based on kindness.

AOW #20: US News "Re-election Hurdle" Political Cartoon

AOW #20:
http://www.usnews.com/cartoons

this image is showing Obama jumping over a hurdle in the "re-election" race. Not only does it show that he's fighting to be re elected, but the scoreboard is showing gas prices and not the runners' times. This is important because it expresses how much automobile gas and the price of it can sway someones vote die to the current increasing dollar amounts for gas. Basically, the cartoon is saying that the lower your gas prices are on the score board, the more likely you are to win (as in real running with times). 

The creator of this cartoon is Steve Breen. He won the Pulitzer prize twice for his cartoons and is featured in a number of prestigious newspapers, such as US News. Both of these facts express his credibility because awards and features are a perfect evaluation of what critics think of his work. 

The context of this piece would be causal. It would be because the elections are coming up soon and the gas prices have just recently risen to one of their highest. So due to the current status of the gas prices AND the election being shown, we can see that this image is a reaction to the new issues. 

The purpose of this piece was hinted at before: to show how much Obama wants to be reelected for a second term, and that lowering the gas prices will help him in doing so. 

The audience of this piece would be those who are aware of not only the election, but the other  candidates. They must also have some idea about what is truly the most important factor in this election that will push one candidate over the other - that being gas prices, the economy, etc. 

Some rhetorical devices used were contrast and enthymeme. Contrast was expressed when you saw the racing track and then the scoreboard. When you see a track, you expect the scoreboard to be running times or even just a regular football scoreboard. However, here there was contrast because the scoreboard was actually gas prices and not at all like a normal track timer. 
The enthymeme was expressed when all of the elements of the cartoon worked together.
Major: The re-election race depends on low gas prices. 
Minor: All of the gas prices on the scoreboard are high. 
Claim: Therefore, the runners in the election race must lower the gas prices in order to win (alike to regular running)

I believe that the author completely accomplished their purpose. They did because people like me, who aren't completely involved in the election and re election process, can understand what's going on. Not only is it clear, but it portrays a strong message of the current issues related to politics. 

AOW #19: WSJ A City Old and Buried—but Far From Dead

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203753704577257391635511380.html?mod=googlenews_wsj 

This piece was about a classics teacher’s visit to Troy to see the Roman Horse from the “Iliad”. It was basically like a story of her experience of seeing the horse for the first time after reading it since she was just a kid. She explained the details and how they matched up perfectly with the story description in her mind.

The author of this article is Madeline Miller. She is credible not only because she works for the Wall Street Journal, a very prestigious paper, but she wrote many articles on much of the same things. She had at least 5 to 6 more articles about the “Iliad” and everything that goes along with it, which shows me she must be somewhat of a “expert” o said topic. She is also a “classics” teacher who understands and teaches her students about all of the classic literature in history.

The context of this piece would be causal because she is describing what happened on her trip, which happened before the article, and her reactions to the trip.

The purpose this was written for was, simply,  to share her experience of her trip to the audience. She also wanted to show us that this city of Troy is “Far From Dead” because as she said, “Someone—a particular person, with a particular life—had placed these stones exactly here. And here they had stayed, through fire and flood and earthquake and storm.”. So it is still alive and well today!

The audience of this piece is a very wide range of people. Of course, it attracts those who love the story “Iliad” by Homer. It can also attract those just interested in ancient roman history. All in all, this article is for everyone who enjoys the “classics” – and even for those who may just know of the classics – because she does a fantastic job of explaining what the “Iliad” is.

She used some simple literary rhetorical devices such as imagery and allusions from the story. Imagery was shown when she was describing how much the actual sight of Troy was alike to the descriptions in the story. Here is where she compares through description: “A sign pointed to the highest ground, one of the old ruined towers that Homer had described, its jagged walls like a broken tooth.” She then added allusion in when she talked about what she remembered from her readings as a child:

“Homer's descriptions of the ancient city felt vivid enough to touch: the huge, brazen gates; the stone walls said to have been built by the gods; the lofty towers leaning over the plain where swift-footed Achilles slew Hector…”

Yes, she completely accomplished her purpose. She did because although I didn’t know, I detail, too much about the “Iliad”, she was able to not only describe what it was all about, but also connect the reading and her own experience into one article. I felt as if I was there alongside of her as I read it, due to her descriptions and connections!

AOW #18: WSJ Death Gets in the Way of Old-Age Gains

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203753704577257292958403150.html?mod=ITP_pageone_1

This article is about people growing old past 100. It talks about how there are less and less centenarians in our society, which is very unusual, especially at the positive rate that the numbers were going. They discuss different meanings of why this was happening, one being that the time period of the oldest generation living could have had an effect on age. They also talk about how “the body [is]… like a machine [and] amasses more flaws as it ages… increasing the probability of breakdown, or death”.

The author of this piece is Carl Bialik. On the WSJ website, he says that he is the “senior special writer” who was a free-lance writer before said job offer. He also has a bachelor’s degree in math and physics from Yale University. This shows his credibility because he not only has a great educational background – especially for this topic – but he also works for the WSJ…as a senior special writer, which is a very prestigious job.

The context of the piece would be spacial. It would be spacial because in the article, he had to refer back to previous years and the age results of how many centenarians there were. It would also be spacial because although it was a “reaction” to the reading, it would not be causal because it is more about long-winded research and not short blurbs of reaction.

The purpose for this article was to explain to people why there are not as many centenarians as there were in previous years. Although it did show how the increase of age meant an increase of death rates for a specific group, they should have given specific reasons why these people were dying (IE what was happening during the time period that these people with less centenarians were born?).  I also think the purpose was to compile all of the research on this topic into one central idea – by adding in different scientific insights from a few people.

The audience that this was written for would be older Americans – people who are concerned with “death”, and people who are just interested or noticed the sudden drop in the number of centenarians.

o A listing of any rhetorical elements in the piece

Rhetorical elements used in this were: motifs, objective tone and organization of data. As for the motifs, the constant motif was “centenarians”. It was this because this word constantly kept coming up all throughout the article to explain their scarcity, how they got to where they are and what their deaths may do.

As for the tone, I believe that it was very semi-formal because they used an objective – not subjective – tone. This type of tone then improves the author’s ethos because the people can believe you more when you have more of an open mind/detached voice. It was shown through personal phrases like “This is bad news for anyone who wants to reach the century mark, but could provide an odd measure of relief for pensions, retirement programs and medical insurers, whose costs rise as people live longer”. This was used to qualify the fact that “Death rates among Americans born between 1875 and 1895 [are] climbing steadily as they age”. The two sided, qualifying article allows the reader to think that much more.

As for the organization of the data, I believe that they did place the data (IE bar graph to show direct relation between time and amount of centenarians) that they had in a convenient sense (right in the center of the article to bring your focus back). Although this rhetoric did work, I think they needed more data, especially from the scientists they cite! I couldn’t quite imagine what they were talking about because they didn’t give specific examples as to what the scientist were talking about (IE explain signs of the body decaying).

I don’t think that the author accomplished their purpose. I believe this because although I did see that the reasons for this increase in death and decrease in centenarians (because of the time periods this older generation was born and also because the body just starts to break down at one point), I didn’t quite believe it. I would like it if they added more examples and explanations of why this was happening – not just a few mere suggestions of what they “think”.

IRB 3 #2: To Kill a Mocking Bird - By Harper Lee

IRB #3: post 1

Consider Burke’s Pentad and each of the following ‘aspects’ of Fiction:
-Character “Agent” and “Agency”

Here is a list of all of the main characters mentioned so far:

Jean Louise: She is the narrator who more literate and more intelligent than her age group – due to being taught by her father and Jem. She originally came off as very overbearing and all-knowing, because she did try to beat up a Cunningham, however, after taking quiet advice from Jem by watching him accept others, she started to become more accepting.

Jem: Jem is the narrator’s brother. He is shown as the neutralization factor of the story because he acts humble and kind in every situation where the narrator doesn’t.

Charles Harris AKA Dill: He is the friend that the narrator and her brother find one day by chance. He is shown as a wealth of knowledge on different movies/plays/books.

Calpurnia: She is the African-American aid that lives with Jem, Atticus and the narrator. She helps around the house with mostly everything, as mentioned by Atticus. She also is added to the story in order to show how change is happening – both racial and stereotype change – because she talks about how it “don’t matter who they are [because], anybody sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny” (27). She also talks about how they shouldn’t act “so high and mighty” (27) because it makes them no better than anyone else who is seen as “lower class”.

Atticus: He is the father of Jem and Jean; he also raised them alone without a wife, which shows his immense independence. He is used in the story as a “moving forward” character as well, like Calpurnia. Since he is well educated, he does have elevated diction (as mentioned by Jean) and an elevated sense of direction, so he does raise his children alone on the thought that change is good [and that is just as good as “compromise” (34)]. He is also alike to Jem because he is accepting of all people, even if they are seen as “lower” or “inferior”.

Miss Caroline: She is the Maycomb-county-inexperienced teacher who is new to the town and had a rough first day teaching at a new school.

Cunninghams/Ewells: They are seen as the “lower class” families based on their ancestors and what they did – or even what they do now. They are underprivileged and must live on what they have.

Radleys: They are the family that everyone must avoid because of rumors and inflated truths of what happened in years passed.

-Setting “Scene”:

The “Scene” is the quiet, simple town of Maycomb County. This county is very sheltered from the rest of the world, as explained in the beginning. It brings to the story a different type of plot, based only on the things that occur in this small town with barely any inhabitants. With this sheltered life come people who don’t know what reality is outside of its walls. This adds depth to the story because it creates two types of people: a division of those who saw the change outside of the walls and crave it and those who trust the Maycomb County way as the way of the world.
-Plot/Conflict “Act”

The plot and conflicts currently are very simple conflicts. For example, Jean had a tough day at school because the teacher yelled at her for being literate, and for also apparently calling out in class on business that was not her own. Another boiling conflict that could eventually become major would be the Radley House that people keep gossiping about and avoiding. Because of the “inflated truths” on this house and its inhabitants, it could create a town-wide rumble if the people inside the house decide to face the outside county and what they are saying.
-POV:

The POV is in first person because the story is being told by Jean Louise. This point of view may be very sheltered, but it adds depth to each and every character because you can not only get inside Jean Louise’s head and see the change within her, but you can see how other people change based on her interpretations of it. This POV not only adds depth, it allows for a more emotional appeal to come from the story.
-Theme “Purpose”:

The purpose isn’t too evident so far. However, I believe that because there is an acceptance of change (from Calpurnia and Atticus) and a change in some of the characters (like how Jean has become less judgmental to others because of jem), the overall purpose would be change overall. I believe that later in the story, we will see that change (and not segregation) will be more accepted in society, even in the small town of Maycomb.

Claim: The author is trying to convince us that the world back then was changing; it was a pivotal time to “compromise”, as Atticus would put it.

TO PROVE THIS: I could use quotes from Atticus and Calpurnia to show that even small town people believe that change is crucial to living. I could even show ways that Jean is changing because she watched her brother Jem accept others around him (like the forbidden Cunningham children) without judgment.