I was looking on CNN.com and there was a link to an article called “Elvis back in Vegas with Cirque du Soleil”. I really enjoy Cirque du Soleil shows, so I was interested in learning about their new production. I was aware that there is a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas that is based around songs by the Beatles, but I had no idea that Elvis was going to be the new theme for a show. “Viva Elvis” opened last Friday, and the article tries to describe what happens during the production.
The article itself is rather short, and it is in interview format. It is a little surprising that the article only contains four questions, when I am sure there was a lot more than that asked. However, I think it was a good amount. Each answer had many good points and contained a lot of detail. If the article was in paragraph format, I don’t think the reporter would have been able to include as much information and detail. Instead, the interview format lets the creative director, Armand Thomas, describe the show in as much detail as he wants, and since the text isn’t paraphrased there is that sense of originality and passion behind the words.
Alongside the article was a video that showed clips of “Viva Elvis” intertwined with an interview about how large of production the show is. Since the article was so short, it was nice to have a video because it covered a lot more about the show. Also, Cirque du Soleil is something that words really can’t describe. The bright colors, music, and acrobatics deserve a video to show people what the show is like. Armand Thomas can try really hard to describe the show with descriptive words, but it isn’t until you see it that you understand its magnitude.
"Viva Elvis"
I liked the use of both text and video. Instead of relying on one media, they work off of each other, and in the end, they both add to the overall content and point of the article. The article only included two links. I thought they would link to other websites, but it turns out they go to a different CNN page that shows related topics. There were also no pictures, but I think the video makes up for the lack of images. I liked that this article used both text and video because the show is so visually stimulating that it is interesting to get a description in both forms.
