Due 11/14
Today we will practice making claims. Even though this inquiry paper is not an “argumentative” essay intended to persuade, you still need to make claims based on 1) what you learn in your research and 2) the relationships between these ideas.
So, today we’ll practice using something that is hopefully easier and more fun: animated movies.
FIRST, read Chapter 8 of The Craft of Research, PDF is here. This explains some best practices for writing strong and specific claims.
SECOND, complete this Disney/Pixar movie bracket. For each pair, choose whichever movie you think is the best movie (not which one you like more). Work your way through the pairings until you have a winner. If you haven’t seen some of the movies, that’s okay — probably most people haven’t seen all of them. You can either just pick the ones you have seen, or pick which ones seem best based on your knowledge of them. Remember: BEST, not FAVORITE. There are a couple places on the bracket where it says “play-in winner.” This is because the bracket is originally from an internet contest where people voted on what would take these slots. Here, either ignore and advance the other movie, or you can choose one of your own favorites that isn’t on the bracket.
THIRD, once you have your winner, practice writing a strong claim about why this movie is the best of all of the other movies. Remember to use the best practices you learned from reading Chapter 8 of The Craft of Research. Post your claim as a comment on this post.
FOURTH, look at the other comments to read others’ claims. Either offer suggestions for how to strengthen the claims or write counter claims in response to those you disagree with. Why is your movie better than this specific movie?
Hitting its audience with a cautionary tale, Wall-E is the best movie created by Disney in which its themes about loneliness, connection, and love are more prevalent today than ever before.
To strengthen this claim, I would probably also include a little summary of the movie to show how the themes you wrote about are more prevalent.
Bringing out the imagination of children, Toy Story is the best movie made by Pixar as it showcases toys coming to life as they try to keep their existence a secret from humans.
I believe that the toy story series was dragged and toy story 2 was the best in the series, for best I would day coco was better with the new animation and wholesome message for the audience of all age groups.
This claim states your position (Toy Story is the best) and describes a little of what it is about, but it doesn’t say WHY you think Toy Story is the best. My ~guess~ is that your argument is that it’s the best because it has such a unique and exciting premise compared to other movies.
The revival of modern day pixar, the best movie would have to go to coco for showing the importance of family and its interesting/unique story for new generation pixar viewers to old.
To strengthen this claim, I would include details that are more specific to the movie. I feel like a lot of the movies on the list show the importance of family and have an interesting/unique story for viewers of all ages (Brave, Frozen, The Incredibles, etc. could fit the description you used in your claim).
Ratatouille is Pixar’s best movie as it takes viewers on an unlikely protagonist’s journey through Paris, tackling major themes such as perseverance and friendship while simultaneously showcasing the art and beauty of food.