Beowulf Group 5: Joshua Indig, Chuong Trinh, Debra Bruman and Jessica Michelin

[Andrew Burton]

*** Your Initial Commentary ***

In roughly 100 words, each student must observe how the ad “Copier
Breakdown” for The Printing House (www.tph.ca) incongruously invokes
one or two elements of pagan Germanic culture and/or Beowulf. Feel
free to consider elements of the scene other than the dialogue.
Ensure that your analysis is original, nuanced and makes specific
references to the ad. Please be respectful of your classmates – do
not post anything that is offensive or insensitive.

The Printz Episode 4 “Copier Breakdown”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnnEYySyWv8&feature=related

All initial commentary must be posted by midnight Sunday February 5th.

*** Your Responses to other Students ***

In roughly 50-60 words, each student must respond to the posting of
another student. Point out what you agree/disagree with and why,
justifying your opinion with careful reasoning and references to the
ad when appropriate. Be sure your response is significantly original
relative to what has already been posted. Be courteous and keep your
comments focused on students’ writing/ideas. Only respond to a
student who has not yet received feedback.

All responses must be posted by midnight Friday February 10th.

[Chuong Trinh]

The ad "Copier Breakdown" for the Printing House clearly features many
elements from pagan Germanic culture, such as norse warriors, legends
and armory. However, some elements that inspired the ad may seem more
subtle. One of these elements is the pagan warriors' need to boast
before an important battle. In Beowulf, the title hero boasts about
his previous conquests to the Danes before combating Grendel.
Similarly, the Printz boasts about his victory over a dragon before
engaging in "combat" with the printer. These elements of boasting
exhibit hubris, sometimes to the extent of insulting doubters. For
example, Beowulf directly offenses Unferth when the latter questions
his heroism: "The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly as keen and
courageous as you claim to be Grendel would never have got away with
such unchecked atrocity" (590-593). In the ad, this need to offense
disbelievers is acted out when the Printz calls out the woman for
using an in-house printer: "[...] you want to buy the dog and bark
too" (0:31-0:34). To summarize my analysis, this ad factually displays
a traditional norse warrior boast in the Printz's speech.

[Debra Bruman]

“Copier Breakdown” features many illusions to Germanic culture and
Beowulf, in particular the portrayal of the woman. For instance, at
the end of the ad, the Printz hands the woman an “axe”, saying, “[the
copier] is your dragon. Destroy it”. The woman starts tapping lightly
on the copier.

In Germanic culture, women were not expected to fight: in “The Battle
of Brunenberg”, there is no mention of women fighters; in Beowulf,
Hrothgar’s wife and her ladies hide in the women’s quarters while
Beowulf fights with Grendel in the Hall. If the women do fight, such
as Grendel’s mother in Beowulf (who, like the woman in this ad,
remains nameless), their fighting is poor, and, in the case of
Grendel’s mother, cowardly. Even though Grendel’s mother has positive
aspects to her character, her experiencing “terror” in line 1293
before she manages to kill a sleeping warrior in lines 1298-99 still
exhibits cowardliness as a fighter.

The woman in this ad is not used to fighting because, like Germanic
women, she is not expected to. The woman handles the axe hesitantly
(2:02-2:06) before she taps the copier (2:09-2:13), echoing Grendel’s
mother cowardly fighting in Beowulf.

In summary, the woman in “Copier Breakdown” expresses the views of a
woman in Germanic culture and alludes to Grendel’s mother in Beowulf.

On Jan 31, 2:25 am, Andrew Burton <a.bur...@marianopolis.edu> wrote:

[Debra Bruman]

I agree on your main point--the ad is a relatively accurate portrayal
of a traditional hero's boast--but disagree that there are any
doubters to offense that are present in the ad. It isn't the woman's
independent choice to call the repair man for the copier. She says it
is because of the Finance Department thinking they will be saving
money by having their own copier. When the Printz says that "you want
to buy the dog and bark too" (0:31-0:34), the woman says "I
don't" (0:36-0:38). She isn't disagreeing with him in the first place.
There are people who would doubt him and the Printz would need to
offense (probably those same people in Finance that say they need
their own copier). However, I don't think that between the two
characters present there is any need to insult for there isn't any
doubt to begin with.

On Feb 1, 7:14 pm, Chuong Trinh <chuong.francois.tr...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> > All responses must be posted by midnight Friday February 10th.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Chuong Trinh]

Although I agree that Germanic culture portrays women as weak fighters
and sometimes even helpless bystanders in confrontations and that this
ad displays this aforementioned passiveness, I find that your
argumentation, which relies too heavily on examples, is not reasoned
properly. A large portion of your analysis is centered around
descriptions of Germanic literature's portrayal of women without
relating these ideas to the ad itself. In other words, you commit the
fallacy of concluding that because this ad is inspired by Germanic
culture and because the latter devalues women, that this ad devalues
women without thoroughly reasoning why. In addition, when you do
compare the two works, you state that cowardice is shared by both
characters, which you do not elaborate on. It can very well be argued
that the woman holding the axe in the ad does not fear the printer,
but is rather confused by the Printz's orders, whereas Grendel's
mother is actually started by all the action.

[Jessica Michelin]

The Printing House’s ad “Copier Breakdown” uses an Anglo-Saxon warrior
as the “mascot” for its ad about out-sourcing company printing costs.
Beyond introducing a character whose physical appearance reflects
Germanic dress, the ad attempts to integrate the Germanic traditions
of oral folklore into its story.

Germanic people relied on oral tradition as a means to share stories
with each other. Although it is estimated that the manuscript for
Beowulf was written in roughly 1000 C.E., historians believe that it
stemmed from oral composition. Indeed within Beowulf itself, there is
frequent mention of minstrels singing songs and telling stories about
events past.

In the ad, there is a distinct difference between the warrior’s
conversational tone, and the way he tells a story. He lowers his
voice, and adopts a speaking pace that is measured and rehearsed. The
creative directors even go so far as to insert background music during
the scenes where he is recounting his success in conquering a dragon.

While this formal approach to story telling was common in Germanic
culture, it seems out of place in modern day society. People no longer
tell stories this way, particularly in such casual circumstances as
office small talk. The result of attempting to combine these two
radically different methods of social interaction is uncomfortable and
choppy, especially to someone who is uninformed about Germanic
behavior.

On Jan 31, 2:25 am, Andrew Burton <a.bur...@marianopolis.edu> wrote:

[Josh Indig]

The ad "Copier Breakdown" for the Printing House incongruously
illustrates various elements from Germanic culture, most notably
through the anachronistic portrayal of the ideal Germanic warrior
coming to the rescue of the archetypal "damsel in distress." The man
in the ad is intended to represent the ideal Germanic warior, as he is
dressed in armor, speaks with poise, expresses little emotion and
exudes an aura of bravery. As was common among Germanic warriors, the
man attempts to gain the woman's trust by telling the story of a past
victory in battle, and alludes to symbols from Germanic folklore,
particularly the dragon. However, an incongruity arises when the man
says that the dragon was making "our women nervous," (1:01-1:02)
since Germanic society was generally apathetic to the concerns of
women. Another incongruity occurs when the woman says "you're really
something." In response, the man is confused and doesn't fully to
understand this expression. (1:20-1:28) This is most likely because
kennings rather compound words like "something" were used in Germanic/
Anglo-Saxon English. Lastly, another incongruity is that a Germanic
warrior would be able to produce or understand very little the
language used in the ad. Though some aspects of Germanic culture are
correctly portrayed, the above aspects of Germanic culture are
ineffectively employed by the marketers that created the ad.

On Jan 31, 2:25 am, Andrew Burton <a.bur...@marianopolis.edu> wrote:

[Jessica Michelin]

I think that you misunderstood my comment. I did not mean to say that
a formal approach to storytelling in an aspect that is unique to
Germanic culture; I simply observed that it is not part of today's
North American culture, and therefore causes a disconnect between the
woman and the warrior.

On Feb 6, 12:01 am, Josh Indig <joshin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I agree completely with the idea that the formal storytelling isn't
> appropriate for the scene in the ad. Your point that his story seems
> very measured and rehearsed, in contrast to his conversation, is also
> true. However, I disagree that this contrast and the formal
> storytelling is unique to Germanic culture, and think that it is also
> found in some other cultures. I also agree that conversation is
> uncomfortable and choppy because the woman isn't familiar with
> Germanic culture. However, I also think that this is because they have
> trouble understanding each other as a result of their differing
> conventions for casual conversation and language.

[Jessica Michelin]

Although I agree with you that there are some problems with the
portrayal of a "typical" Germanic warrior in this ad, I do not think
that the fact that the Germanic warrior speaks modern day English is
particularly notable. Ads often take characters and place them in
situations that are highly unrealistic. One example of this is the
Geico gecko, who is portrayed speaking English, and in various
settings such as office buildings. Geckos do not speak English, and
their habitat is not office buildings, however viewers understand that
it is an ad, and therefore not necessarily factual in its
representation of a gecko. This same phenomenon of suspending one's
disbelief occurs in The Printing House's ad, because the chances of
meeting a Germanic warrior while at work are practically zero. The
audience has already suspended their disbelief by accepting the
presence of the warrior, therefore the fact that he speaks English is
not shocking either. The viewers accept this as a necessity in order
for the message of the ad to be transmitted, just as they accept the
presence of the warrior for this purpose as well.