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1984
135160 Views

Well, if this book doesn't make you want to tape over your laptop camera, we don't know what will.

1984 Summary
136167 Views

By the end of this video, you will be brainwashed. There's nothing you can do about it; we just wanted to let you know. We like to think we're bigg...

A Modest Proposal...in 21st Century Media
74728 Views

We were so moved by Angelina Jolie's overseas adoptions that we created a proposal to bring foreign-born children over by the thousands! Think abou...

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A Modest Proposal...in 21st Century Media 74728 Views


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Description:

We were so moved by Angelina Jolie's overseas adoptions that we created a proposal to bring foreign-born children over by the thousands! Think about the possibilities. We're being totally serious... or are we?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

A Modest Proposal… in 21st Century Media, a la Shmoop.

00:08

A Modest Proposal drew up a fool-proof plan for ending the famine in Ireland: eating babies.

00:15

Hey, anything is good with Sriracha, right?

00:18

But Swift didn’t really mean to suggest that we should actually make babies part of

00:22

our everyday diet… maybe only on special occasions…

00:29

He meant it as satire: by presenting a solution so ridiculous… it was humorous.

00:35

A lot of people didn’t get the joke. Including the Queen.

00:39

You’d think an old woman who wears a crown would have more of a sense of humor…

00:44

With today’s popularity of news satire like the Onion and the Daily Show…

00:49

…people are a lot savvier to the art of irony.

00:55

So we have a proposal for you.

01:00

We’re tired of all the brainless summer blockbusters.

01:02

Sure, we love explosions and giant robots as much as the next moviegoer, but whatever

01:08

happened to nuance, character development, and symbolism?

01:18

Movies aren’t being developed just for us anymore: they’re being developed for the

01:22

world.

01:24

We need to take back the movie industry, and here’s how we propose to do it…

01:29

Start importing Chinese babies.

01:32

Hear us out… China accounts for the second largest box

01:35

office earnings in the world, and will soon overtake the U.S. by most estimates.

01:39

There are even scenes shot for some movies specifically for the Chinese audience.

01:44

Iron Man 3 had a small sub-plot added for its Chinese release.

01:52

And the next Transformers movie is currently seeking acting talent in China on a reality

01:57

show called Transformers 4 Chinese Actor Talent Search Reality Show…

02:04

We hope the movie will be more creative than the title of that show.

02:10

We propose to start importing Chinese babies ASAP. By the thousands.

02:15

They have more people over there than they know what to do with.

02:18

And when the babies grow up, they will be seeing movies here instead of in China.

02:22

We can increase our box office and help with China’s overpopulation at the same time.

02:29

Brilliant!

02:29

What do you think?

02:30

Would it work?

02:32

We’re joking, right? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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