Misconceive?o By John Leo :: essays research papers fc

Misconceive’o by John Leo John Leo is a columnist and contributing editor that has been writing for U.S. News & World Report since 1988. Prior to that he worked for Time magazine and The New York Times covering topics such as social sciences and popular culture. The thesis of John Leo’s latest U.S. News & World Report article, â€Å"Fu Manchu on Naboo,† does not leave the reader any room to guess what his discussion is going to be about. He drives the point home from the beginning of the article. The central idea is very direct and easy to locate. It appears at the end of the first paragraph and simply states â€Å"Episode I: The Phantom Menace is packed with awful stereotypes.† Mr. Leo wrote this piece not only for informative purposes, but also to convince a particular audience that, whether intentional or not, characters have taken on harmful images some may find offensive. He is not speaking only to his fairly educated, loyal readers, but also to those who may have taken part in producing the movie. Mr. Leo makes visible to his readers what he believes to be stereotypes in the film. People may not have noticed these before, so he makes clear definitions and comparisons. To the rest of the audience, those who had a hand in making the movie, he makes a plea not to redevelop these characters in future films. Mr. Leo uses several analogies and examples in his presentation, and they are all tied to his thesis. He points out some images that strikingly resemble stereotypes that are commonly found in society today. He uses movie characters from Star Wars, such as Watto to support his claim. Mr. Leo finds that â€Å"Watto, the fat, greedy junk dealer with wings, is a conventional, crooked Middle Eastern merchant.† He goes on with other character references as evidence: Jar-Jar Binks as the inferior black, the Neimidians as sinister Asians. One of the problems with this argument is that not everyone in society identifies with these stereotypes. If the audience does not find the characteristics to be true they could shut off thought, thereby defeating his purpose for writing the article. There are no statistics presented in this article. The lack of statistics or other evidence, such as results of surveys, could lead Mr. Leo’s audience to believe that these are his own perceptions. In the seventh paragraph, Leo makes references to Catholics, Asians, Republicans, and Africans.