Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Reading Response-Profiles

To be honest, when I found out we had to write a profile for our assignment, I was a little unsure of what that consisted of. After looking at the readings, I actually became excited because, unknowingly, I read profiles of "the up and coming actor or musician" or even something like "a day in the life of a legend", all of the time in the fashion magazines that I read. It's kind of something I wanted to try and tackle and this assignment seems like good practice. After reading "The Pinup of Williamsburg", I was again amazed at the writers who create this sort of "window", that allows readers a peak inside the lives of the latest success. While this isn't a biography of someone, it is a description of the person as if they were a character, the use of some biographical facts, and the events of their lives at the moment, combined together. I always thought it was also the writer's job to set the mood of the interview, whether it is comical and witty (similar to the story about Zooey Deschanel) or serious and sympathetic. I have also noticed that the creative process is one of the most important aspects to a profile because you almost have to be a non fiction writer who writes the article as if your subject was created out of your own imagination, so you can passionately uncover every detail showcasing the artist the best way possible-while still being true to the person, of course.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with your statements about walking into the assignment unaware. From reading in Burroway (before reading the other pieces), I think it kind of clicked for me. I've never been inspired to write a profile, but it seems like the sort of thing we do anyway, taking a few pieces of information about a person and fleshing them out to reveal a truth about both their personality and something universal. Well, perhaps the universal quality doesn't come up in casual conversation. I liked the assessment of Zooey Deschanel as a comparison between her and other female actors, and the description of her personality as assessed by the descriptions of her various advocate groups. This was a great essay to read to gain some insight into how the profile works.

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