Research Paper On Scarecrows

Scarecrows typically protect food from crows, yes? What if that scarecrow could protect them no longer? There would be no use for them and the farm would go out of business because all of their crops have been eaten. Heads of large companies do not care how the scarecrow is treated, as long as that scarecrow keeps helping bring in more revenue. If companies are preventing the truth to be exploited, along with possibly the government, the public would not be able to know the truth about the people who take care of them. Our health, our economy, and most importantly, our overall lives could be affected. Along with this, if a person was said to be the most perfect man in the country, wouldn’t you either change your habits to reflect his or ask
how he came to be so perfect? That is, wouldn’t one want to be perfect, too? It would not matter to most how they got to be perfect, as long as they fit in and the Union says it is okay, or healthy to be acting this way. Profits would keep rolling in, and the people would be helping them do it without knowing, thus becoming the scarecrow. I would argue that The Unknown Citizen and The Scarecrow both illustrate extreme elements of exaggeration and grotesqueness to imply that the government and big-name brands are using misleading advertising in order to benefit themselves rather than the common good.

Throughout the pieces, exaggeration is used to imply the truth.
For example, “Yet he wasn’t scab or odd in his views” (The Unknown Citizen). By reporting everything from the Citizen’s life to the Bureau of Statistics, they could potentially say whatever they wished and the public would consider it factual, or true, without question. Meaning, the options for how they describe his life are unlimited; this would result in the Union being able to say whatever they wished in order to look good. Another example of this “power” that could be used to seem great is a part in the Chipotle Commercial where a package, seemingly to be cow, is labelled “100% Beef-ish.” Representing how the big-name brands are misleading in advertising to the public, factory-farming in accordance with the theme of the commercial, is not as good as the real thing (the “real” being non-GMO food). Chipotle is conveying that a company can present a product and claim that it is one thing (in this case beef) when really it is only a percentage of that thing (hence the “–ish”). By introducing characters and scenes where what is believed to be okay, and twisting them into a monstrous reality of bad, the two works benefit the public by exposing the
truths.

Taking common knowledge and twisting its meaning, the companies or authors raise controversy in the public in order to bring much needed light to a topic that is that is not talked about often. Such as, The Scarecrow uses the song “Pure Imagination” by Fiona Apple, but twists its meaning. Due to the fact that this song is known by anyone who has seen the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the creators of the commercial can use this to their advantage by making the original meaning so grotesque that the audience experiences an emotion of anger or shock. Meaning, by taking a song known for being happy and turning it into a sad song, people are more likely to remember it, thus, in the end diffusing it through talking or social media and getting people to bring light to the topic. In The Unknown Citizen, the man was statistically perfect for “had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard” (The Unknown Citizen, Line 30). Most Statistical Companies and even governments dream about the profits and good rep a perfect citizen would bring. Even people in the nation would love to be perfect. Thus, by creating what a perfect citizen would act like, the public is more likely to accept and/or change their lifestyle habits to become as closely related to the dream citizen as possible. In the end, once these themes are diffused, the public talks and continues to talk about it, meaning, the companies might earn more profit no matter if the effects are good on the health of the people.

Both works imply, using outlandish imagery, that organizations or companies are always watching over the citizen or worker in order to prevent the truth from being released.
“For his Union reports that he paid his dues (our report on his Union shows it was sound)” (The Unknown Citizen). If the Union reports that it is not false, but the report on the Union is also not false, then where is the actual truth? This “person” is supposed to be real, but because he is perfect among standards, the Union must make sure that this “person” never steps out of line. Hinting that, the Union and Bureau of Statistics are always watching this man to make sure that he is always perfect and will never do anything that would lower the statistics. Another example of this Big Brother act, is at 0:24 in the Chipotle Commercial, a raven perches itself on the Scarecrows shoulder. Due to the fact that scarecrows are made to scare away the crows rather than attract them, this would be ironic. The commercial is attempting to say that the company is represented by the crow and the worker by the scarecrow, where the crow is always watching the scarecrow to make sure that he doesn’t make any mistakes that can ruin the company. By watching closely over the selected few who do know the truth very closely, there will be very small and rare area made for mistakes, allowing the lies to continue and the money to keep rolling
in.

In conclusion, the people in charge of taking care of the public and who are responsible for the food eaten in the first place, are lying. By lying, mistakes are more likely to become rarer, and the profits become greater. The Scarecrow talks about the how the big-name food brands are selling misleading information by saying that their foods are grown on a farm and are natural when in reality, they are not. In real life, they are factory-farmed and produced minus the thought of the animal’s well-being in mind. The company does not care about this though; they only care about how much money they are making. While similarly, The Unknown Citizen talks about the constant false advertising of statistics from the Bureau of Statistics. The man in the poem is perfect: perfect family, job, health, et cetera, and always is emotionally and mentally stable. Both introduce the idea of being watched over from the very beginning. Without these ideas, though, there would be no profits for the companies or organizations. Exaggerations and the grotesque expressions in these two works have allowed the public to see the true motives behind their actions.