Heath Jenkins
The article ‘Kid beauty pageants are creepy’, from The Herald Sun, Thursday the 7th 2010 from the Herald Sun is a piece by The Herald Sun’s reporter Cheryl Critchley. This article is a piece exposing the child beauty pageant world and what is really going on and happening to these kids.
It is contended by Critchley right from the opening title that ‘child beauty pageants are creepy’. Critchley is sure to give her contention right from the beginning in bold letters. This sets the tone of the article from the beginning informing the reader about the topic and her stance on the issue. The author is very careful in her choice of words in the title because it is often the difference between whether the reader is engaged enough to read further and find out about the issue or just pass it by.
Critchley’s article features a large section of the page taken up by a picture of a doll like toddler. This picture supports the author’s contention displaying a child being taken advantage of by their parents for the benefit of their enjoyment. The use of this picture is a deliberate choice by the author, the child is wearing clothes the is barley suitable for a teenager, her hair done up as if she is getting married and what appears to be her mother behind her, working on the child’s look.
The appeal to the reader’s sense of fear is a very powerful device used by the reader. The reader likens watching the show Toddlers in Tiaras to ‘watching a car crash’. This illustrates just how terrible she finds watching the toddlers being transformed into the ‘hot’ princess’ they are made out to be. Another example of the appeal to the reader’s sense of fear is when Critchley describes the girls all dressed up as a ‘pedophile’s paradise: a veritable smorgasbord of unsuspecting Lolitas’. This is enough to scare any parent away form the idea of a child beauty pageant, it indicates that the children are in possible danger and bait waiting to be taken away.
The use of expert.
