TOW #2- Study Finds Movie Attendance Declining As More Americans Act Out Films At Home

While scrolling through the number of humorous headlines on The Onion, one can come across on the extremely well-written article, titled "Study Finds Movie Attendance Declining As More Americans Act Out Films At Home".  Although the article does not have a specific author, The Onion is known for its satire and comedic relief on everyday issues.  While the decline in movie attendance is a true problem, the audience can clearly understand that Americans do not act out films at home instead, because they are movie-watching Americans themselves.  This article uses humor to entertain its readers while also presenting an actual problem in the most recent American culture.

In the middle of the article, the author uses examples of logos and ethos to add humor and emphasis on the problem at hand. They write, "In a survey conducted by entertainment industry analytics firm Rentrak... attending the Pixar hit Inside Out in theaters could reach $50, compared to the $12.95 it would cost to run off four copies of the script..." The beginning part of this statement is completely true, but everything after "compared to" is the author's way of adding irony.  The audience understands that going to the movies is expensive, and that there are more affordable ways to watch a movie, but acting out a movie with only scripts sounds ridiculous.  While adding logos by citing "entertainment industry analytics" there is more humor added, because the author is acting as if acting out movies at home is the actual cause of declined movie attendance.  The simple thought that people would be acting out movies at home instead is humorous to the audience.

By the end of the article, the reader has been hit with so many examples that they can start to think about the actual cause of people staying away from movie theaters.  Whenever the author mentions acting out at home, it could easily be replaced with streaming movies from online.  The Onion does an excellent job of reiterating a common topic of conversation in American culture, while also entertaining their readers with humor and sarcasm.


Click here for Article