Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116 sec. 021 & 022: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • August 1st: Ethics and Statistics Catch Up
    • Classmates Webpages (Summer II 2017)
    • ENGL 2116 sec. 021 & 022 Major Assignments (Summer 2017)
      • Final Portfolio Requirements
      • Oral Presentations
    • July 10th: Résumé Stuff
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • July 11th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • July 12th: Lessons on Plain Language
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Homework/Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
      • Topic Sentences
    • July 13th: More on Plain Language
    • July 17th: Writing for the User
    • July 18th: Final Project and Research Discussion
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters Better
      • Research
    • July 19th: Rhetoric of Technology
      • Guglielmo Marconi Paragraph Revision
      • Housing Prices Paragraph Revision
      • Suburbanization Paragraph Revision
    • July 24th: Information Design and Visuals
      • Text and Subtext (Rows 1, 3, and 5)
      • Text and Subtext (rows 2, 4, and 6)
    • July 25th: Catch Up for Research & Visuals
    • July 27th: Continue I, Robot Discussion
    • July 31st: Ethics in Technical Communication
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Class Discussion
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • July 5th: Introduction to the Course
    • July 6th: Audience, Purpose, and General Introduction
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • August 22nd: Introduction to the Course
    • August 29th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • December 5th: Final Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2018)
      • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
      • Rhetoric of Fear
    • November 14th: Word Usage Fun
    • November 28th: Workshop Fun
    • November 7th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Finding Dominant Rhetorical Appeals
    • October 10th: Choices and Variations
    • October 17th: Stylistic Variations
    • October 24th: We Put the “Punc” in Punctuation
      • Punctuation Refresher
    • October 31st: Cohesive Rhythm
    • October 3rd: Midterm Exam Fun
    • September 12th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 19th: Coordination and Subordination
    • September 26th: Modifying Prose
      • Guglielmo Marconi Paragraph Revision
    • September 5th: I’m in Love with the Shape of You(r Sentences)
  • ENGL 4750-090 & ENGL 5050-092 Video Games & Culture
    • Assignments for Video Games & Culture
    • August 25th: Introduction to the Course
    • November 10th: Aggression & Addiction
    • November 3rd: Moral Panics and Health Risks
    • October 13th: Narrative, ludology, f(r)iction
    • October 20th: Serious Games
    • October 27: Risky Business?
    • October 6th: Hyperreality
    • September 1st: History of Video Games
    • September 22nd: Video Game Aesthetics
    • September 29th: (sub)Cultures and Video Games
    • September 8th: Defining Video Games and Critical Theory Introduction
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
  • ENGL 6008/MALS 6000 The Rhetoric of Technology
    • August 22nd: Introduction to Rhetoric of Technology
    • August 29th: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • December 5th: But I Still Love Technology…
    • ENGL 6008/MALS 6000 Rhetoric of Technology Assignments (Fall 2017)
    • History of Technical Communication
    • November 14th: All You Zombies–
    • November 21st: The The Illusion of Democracy & Communicative Capitalism
    • November 28th: Cultural Studies and Technical Communication
    • November 7th: Politics of Cyberspace…and other household technologies
    • October 17th: The Religion of Technology
      • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • October 24th: Identity Politics
    • October 31st: Technology and Gender
    • October 3rd: Science and “Perfect” Technologies
    • September 12th: The Politics of Technology
      • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • September 19th: New World Disorder
      • Fordism/Taylorism
    • September 26th: Postmodernism
    • September 5th: Foundational Thinkers in Cultural Studies
      • Rhetoric and Myth Making
  • ENGL 6166/MALS 6000: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 10th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition
      • What is Postmodernism?
    • April 17th: Simulation and Essence
    • April 24th: Jameson Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
      • Postmodernism
    • April 3rd: Derrida’s (refusal to have) Positions
    • February 13th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 and 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 20th: St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
      • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • February 27th: Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method
    • February 6th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 1
    • January 23rd: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 30th: Plato’s Gorgias
    • January 9th: Introduction to Class
    • March 13th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • March 20th: Roland Barthes’s Mythologies
    • March 27th: Friedrich Nietzsche
    • May 1st: What is Real? Where do Rhetoric and Philosophy go from here?
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2018)
    • April 11th: Hyperreality (and some video games)
    • April 18th: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, a Historical Perspective
    • April 25th: Workshop Fun
    • April 4th: Social Construction of Sexuality
    • February 14th: Convergence Culture
    • February 21: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 28th: Patriarchy, an Introduction
    • February 7th: Capitalist Realism and Zombies
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 17th: Our Public Sphere and the Media
      • Our Public Sphere
    • January 24th: The Medium is the Message/Massage
    • January 31st: Cultural Constructions
    • March 14th: Play on, Playa!
    • March 21st: Performativity
    • March 28th: The Beauty Myth and Images of Women in the Media
      • Psychoanalysis and the Male Gaze
    • New Media Assignments (Spring 2018)
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2019)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 11th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • June 12th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 13th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 17th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 18th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 19th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 20th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 3rd: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 4th: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 5th: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 6th: “Burning Chrome”
    • May 20th: Introduction to Class
    • May 21st: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 22nd: The Matrix
    • May 23rd: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 27th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 28th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 29th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 280F
Phone: 704.687.0613
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2019) » May 30th: Inception

May 30th: Inception

Overview

  • Approaching Inception
  • Inception Notes
  • Possible Paper Topics

 Approaching Inception (2010)

Full disclosure: I love this film, so I’m biased about my interpretations. This is also the case for Interstellar (but not for Hackers, which is ok as a period piece).

Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010)

I hope you review this section before you watch the film to help guide your thinking. Normally, with novels and short stories, I provide page numbers. I could go back and find the exact times the quotes I bring up happen, but, well, where’s the fun in that. As you watch the film, reflect on the following:

  • Metaphorically, what else gets locked away in our minds that we hold onto?
  • In the beginning of the film, Cobb says the strongest thing in the world is an idea. Think about it. How many wars, political battles, or discoveries are based on ideas that people pursue?
  • Besides Mal, Ariadne is the only major female character in the film. Why is that? Perhaps this is a boys club, and she’s the token woman. However, she is an architect, which gives her a godlike perspective when they’re on a mission.
    • Ariadne is an obvious reference to Ariadne of Greek mythology, the goddess of of the Labyrinth.
  • Cobb tells Ariadne that “In a dream we create and perceive our world simultaneously.”
    • To me, this means that we–outside the film–perceive the world through our our filters. These filters have been constructed by our experiences, and they affect how we see the world.
    • In the song Lithium, Nirvana has a line “And just maybe / I’m to blame for all I’ve heard“; for the longest time, I thought Cobain was saying “hurt.” In relation to the fact that we filter the world based on our experiences, how are we to blame for all we’ve heard?
  • Cobb tells Ariadne not to recreate real things because we’ll lose our grip on reality. Instead, when she builds the dream worlds, she should approximate reality. This is very important because the interpretation is that we–the audience, humans–can’t access or don’t want to access reality…we’d rather have approximate it and fill it in with our own perspectives.
  • When Cobb is in the basement of the chemist–where all the old men are sharing a dream–a man tells him “they come to be woken up their dream has become their reality; who are you to say otherwise“?

As you watch the film, enjoy the action, but please recognize that there’s a deeper layer to it: what is reality? Great science fiction plays with reality.

Paper Topics

For your first essay (draft due 6/03; final due 6/10), asks you to write about one (or more) of our texts in relation to American culture. Please see the Assignments Page for more details. Remember, your Essay 1 draft (with an outline) is due, Monday, 6/3 on Canvas. If you aren’t sure how to think about Inception from an American cultural perspective, below are some questions that could lead to essays:

  • Does Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) have a handle on reality? What clues make you think he does? What clues make you think he doesn’t?
  • Cobb’s wife, Mal, appears throughout the film and thwarts the team’s progress. Does she represent guilt? If so, whose guilt and what is the guilt?
  • Dreams allow our imaginations to run wild. Our dream space, our subconscious, has been considered the reckless part of our psyche, the uncontrollable part. The characters in the film seem to be able to control dreams but only to a point. If our subconscious is uncontrollable, how are they able to control as much as they can? Who is the actual subject of the “inception”?

Future Fun

Next week we’ll be getting into more games reality plays. I often pair Inception with Neuromancer, but, because this is a summer class, I figured I’d pair it with William Gibson’s short stories related to Neuromancer: “Johnny Mnemonic,” “New Rose,” and “Burning Chrome.” We’ll also watch an episode of Firefly and think through myth making.

Don’t forget to do your Canvas posts by Friday, 5/31 at 11:00 pm. And don’t forget that your Essay #1 draft (with an outline) is due on Monday, 6/03.

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