MUSCLES!!

In the first piece, we see a comic which is advertising Charles Atlas’ secret masculine work out plan. In the comic, we see a skinny teenager making conversation with a pretty girl on the beach. During this time, a “huskier” teenager kicks sand in this skinny kids face. When the skinny one goes to confront the bigger kid, the bigger kid tells him that he will smash his face in. Ultimately, the skinny man says enough is enough, and tries Charles Atlas’ workout program, and with in no time at all, develops a lot of muscle. He then goes to the beach and punches the guy who kicked sand in his face, and the Comic is concluded with the new and improved “man” getting the ladies on the beach, and impressing the girl he tried to talk with before. The second piece is an article that is comparing and discussing the development of action figures over roughly a 25 year span. It shows that when action figures first came out, they looked like normal humans, but as time goes on, these action figures develop into muscle machines. Eventually, these figures become extremely disproportional, and a study showed that they have bigger features than the biggest bodybuilders of today.
The tone of the second piece was definitely more formal and believable, mostly due to scientific evidence. The tone of the first piece was a more playful and fun tone being it was a comic. Also, it is a good way for Charles Atlas to get his program out there, but by advertising it in comics the way he did, I know that I would most likely pass the program by. There is nothing in his article that shows me how me, myself can develop the kind of muscles that he says I can develop. All that is shown is a skinny kid that grows muscles and is the hero of the beach…somewhat of a cliché. This being said, I think the first article, Charles Atlas’, would target a much younger audience, meaning children and teenagers, especially because it was shown in comics. I believe the second piece would have targeted an older audience, maybe 25 years and above.
After reading both pieces, I thought the first to be kind of funny to be honest. The dramatization that was used in the comic was extremely obvious and like I stated above, most of the article was a major cliché. As a young teenager, by parents were reluctant to start to let me work out because if done too soon, it will stunt your growth. I did not start to work out until I was sixteen years old, after my growth spurt. As a young lad, I toyed with some action figures, and yes, I remember them to have an extreme amount of muscle, almost too much to be true. But at the same time, I came to the realization that these action figures were super heroes, and because they had superpowers (which were not real) had huge muscles. I remember having one GI Joe and it looked completely proportional.