Crossfire

This was my first time watching “Crossfire”. I found it very interesting being that this time I was actually analyzing how they expressed their arguments to each other. A few things I noticed about the so-called “debate” was that Jon Stewart was able to use his comedic personality to get the audience on his side. I also saw that the hosts of the show had the advantage to list on screen three of the questions Jon used in his interview, which makes their argument seem much stronger.  Jon later on shoots an immature, but useful, comment about one of the host’s bowtie to make him seem younger and more ignorant. Towards the end of the argument, the hosts criticize the way Jon is speaking to them currently, which makes it appear that Jon is winning the argument and they feel threatened.

            Using “The Method” to point out a few repetitions and contrasts during the debate was very difficult for me. I did notice a few words that were repeated multiple times; such as: argue, bad, comedy, and funny. I am having trouble finding a meaning behind these words. The reason for repeating argue may be just emphasizing the fact that they have completely different opinions on these matters they are discussing. They repeatedly say bad, which is also a little humorous because it is obviously not a very intense word, but they use it to describe each other’s shows. Comedy is common because they are using comedy in this debate to make it more interesting, and funny falls under that category also. Argue and bad could be a strand and comedy and funny could be a strand as well. I am still learning how to use The Method, but that is what I understand from it right now!