Ryan Reding Dr. E.

Writing and Rhetoric 12/5/2011 My video presentation was created to create an awareness of the idolatrous view American culture places on money and then to answer the question of how a Notre Dame student is supposed to go into the professional world with an incredible aptitude to make money but also live according to the Catholic teachings that are at the root of a Notre Dame education. My video is broken up into five major parts. The first topic summarizes and expresses the obsession of money that is fundamentally intertwined within the heart of American culture. I use pictures of extravagant cars, piles of money, homes, and yachts as well as video clips from the popular television show Cribs, the movie Wall Street, and the movie The Boiler Room. In addition, the song Money by Pink Floyd, whose lyrics support my claim that American society worships money, plays in the background. The pictures and video clips explicitly show how popular media sources present this dream of excessive wealth that all Americans are supposed to aspire to achieve. The visuals are intended to not only depict American desire for these things but also to maybe evoke within the audience this feeling of desire for the extravagant and wealthy lifestyle. Realizing that this desire rests within themselves will help the viewers realize that it is hard to not love money and wealth. The video then transitions into clearly presenting the beliefs of the Catholic Church on the issues of money and greed. Playing in the background is Master of War by Bob Dylan, which comments on how money and earthly possessions do not amount to much after we have passed away. In this section, I use quotes from the bible with a picture of the Bible in the background. This textual format helps the audience understand exactly what the Church teaches. In general,

the Bible warns about worshipping money and wealth as false gods. The organization of the video presentation helps set up the contrast between what popular culture and the Catholic Church say on the issues of money and greed. In the movie Wall Street we see that culture believes that greed is good while the Catholic Church says in Hebrews 13:5 to keep your life free from the love of money. This sets up the dilemma that I address towards the end of my video presentation: how does a Notre Dame student balance these two influences when he or she is prepared and able to make large amounts of money but have also been raised with a Catholic background? Next I show a few slides of how successful Notre Dame is in placing its alumni with great jobs in almost every professional field. Facts about job placement percentages show the audience how Notre Dame prepares students well to succeed within the professional world by supplying them with the necessary skills and network to earn competitive job opportunities. The fourth part of the video presentation highlights how the basis and root of the Notre Dame mission is founded in the Catholic faith and Christ. I use pictures of many of the Catholic symbols found around campus including the grotto, the golden dome, Touchdown Jesus, etc. I then place quotes from the Notre Dame mission found on their website. I use a loop of the intro of the song Tell Me Baby by Red Hot Chili Peppers because the smooth guitar solo neatly depicts a gracious mood and accompanies the words well. This section expresses how Notre Dame is a University that prides itself for nurturing spiritual growth within the Catholic faith. The organization up to this point seems to point out a seemingly important contradiction. How can a Notre Dame student enter the job market and make lots of money but still live up to the Catholic teachings embedded within Notre Dame?

This then transitions to the final conclusion of the video presentation. I offer a compromise. While the Catholic Church does teach about the evil of loving money and worshipping wealth, it never says that money is evil. It is unreasonable to think that we could live without the existence of money. It is what makes the entire world go round. Money in and of itself is not bad. It is when we start to treat money as a god, worshipping it and making it the center of every action and decision we make, that it is evil. Notre Dame students should use their God-given abilities in order to make money. But then they should use their acquired wealth responsibly. Instead of gathering insane amount of possessions such as multiple cars, houses, boats, and other signs of excessive wealth that we see in television shows like Cribs, Notre Dame students are called to use their Catholic background to influence their decision to use their money in a manner that promotes growth for others. Overall, I enjoyed experimenting with the Windows Movie Maker Program to make my video. Despite getting fairly frustrated with it after closing my video without saving, I still thought the experience was good using something rather than just text. I believe that visuals can definitely help get certain points across.