Paper 1 Analysis
First of all, the text is a magazine article in which the
biography of an Indian actor called Saif
Ali Khan is described. The evidence that proves this, is the structure
that the text has, including a quote of a statement made by the Indian actor, a
picture of him, and his biography, that includes several statements that he
made in reference to his professional career.
Second of all, it is clear that the intended audience of the
text is the group of individuals that purchase this magazine, interested in the
film industry of India, more specifically Bollywood. The evidence that proves
that the intended audience of the text is this specific group of individuals,
is that the approach of the text is focused mainly in the professional life of
the actor, describing his style, main roles in his films, and path during his
entire career. Furthermore, the purpose of the text, is to inform the audience
of Saif Ali Khan’s professional career, and besides of that, convince the
audience of Saif’s success throughout his career presenting him as ‘’
Bollywood’s most unplanned success story in its super league of stars’’( Line 5).
Essentially, the text describes Saif Ali Khan’s professional career as a Bollywood
actor. At the beginning of the text, it is explained that when Saif started his
career in the 1990’s, along with three of his brothers, he brought a total new
style to the Bollywood scene. In his early years, when the Indian celebrity was
20, he was regarded as the ‘’ man with the funny face’’(Line 12-13), and not so
much attention was paid to him, but twenty years later, that way of looking at
him changed. He was recognized as a celebrity in the comedy gender, and as a
youth icon thanks to the performances of important roles in comedy shows, in which
he received the help of the Generation X storytellers. Besides of that some
information of his personal life is described, including the fact that at the
beginning of his career he consumed heroin for a while, following the example
of other actors, and besides of that a statement that he made is included. In this
statement, he admits that at the beginning of his career, he just wanted to
have fun, and that it took long time for
him to grow up after getting married, and having children. Eventually he admits
that it was in the last years of his career that he really loved acting and
enjoyed it. In the last paragraph, the text informs the audience of the fact
that Saif’s wide range of abilities to perform different characters, helped him
in terms of appeal and casting. Besides of that, once again the text emphasizes
on the idea that even though the actor did not have the greatest start,
afterwards he became a recognized celebrity due to his dynamic performances,
and his desire of experiencing the performance of different characters.
Moreover the text exposes the idea that, it is still uncertain if the Indian
actor will be able in the future to not get consumed by the temptations that
the richness of stardom offers. Lastly but not less important the text explains
that nowadays the actor keeps challenging himself trying new things, like
direction of fills, or the interpretation of a double-personality character.
The theme of the text is temptation, and human nature, since
it shows how once a little bit of success is achieved the human get corrupted,
forgiving which are the values that really value in life, and preferring
to get lost in the pleasures of the
richness.
The tone of the text is critical, since it evaluates, and
analyses the qualities of the actor that helped him to become a celebrity, and
besides of that it also includes the cons, or mistakes that the actor committed
throughout his career, thus showing and evaluation including the pros and cons
of the actor. The mood of the text is clamed, as the text keeps narrating the
different steps of Saif’s career that led him to his current success.
In what concerns use
of literary devices, the first literary technique used in the text is the
title, which is a metaphor used by the author to attract the attention of the
audience, the tides determine how far the water moves depending on the
attraction of the moon, or the sun, therefore this idea is used to show that
Saif has influence, since he is the King of the tides, he is the one that
produces the attraction, in other words he is an influential person. Besides of
that there is another metaphor in the lines 15-16 that is sued by the author to
explain that choosing him for performing a temporary satire, it is an insurance
since he will definitely perform well.
The structure used in the text, includes a title, a quote, a
Graphic and three paragraphs. The title is used to persuade the audience to
read the article, the quote is a quote of the Indian actor himself that is used
as an introduction for the article, and the graphic, is a picture of the actor,
which is put there with the intention of persuading the audience, since as it
is noticeable in the picture, he appears with his shirt unbuttoned, which is a
strategy to persuade the female audience to know about this person that appears
in the picture, therefore, persuading it to read the article.
Furthermore the persuasive language used in this text is
Pathos and Logos. First off there is no Ethos, since the author of the text is
not given in the text, therefore evaluating whether it has credibility or not.
The text has Logos, since it includes evidence of the information that it is
providing through the use of quotes of the actor himself that corroborate the
information that the author is presenting. Lastly, it has Pathos, since it
appeals to emotion through the use of a graphic that raises the admiration of
the audience, and through the use of a quote in which the actor expresses
feelings when he says ‘’ I have started enjoying this film business from my
heart’’.