So, is rhetoric to be trusted?
I mean, we use rhetoric to persuade each other all the time. Buy my product. Go to lunch with me. Rhetoric shapes our reality.
Just think about magazine covers. Magazine covers are always trying to sell you a particular reality. Cool cars = happy. Nice pretty summer home = happy. Ripped abs = happy. Pretty supermodel = happy.
But all these things are rhetorical. They are crafted.
Check out this website, which is mentioned in Envision in Depth. It gives some really interesting insight into how advertisements are constructed.
In other words, this chick isn't real...
So, these images that are all around us, persuading us in different ways are shaped by using careful timing of shots, framing of the edges of the images, and then Photoshop. We'll talk about timing and framing more later, but essentially this is a capturing of a particular time and space...
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All right, unseemless transition...
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How do you come up with ideas for a composition?
In rhetoric, there are what's called five canons: Invention, Style, Arrangement, Delivery, and Memory. Invention allows us different approaches to developing concepts for our writing, and speaking, and other rhetorical work. The Greeks would come up with ideas for arguments based on opposites, arguing based on definitions, dividing up concepts, looking for opposites, looking for similarities, determining cause and effect, looking for what's possible, or good, or right.
The Greeks would also practice dissoi logoi, which is opposing arguments. Logoi is essentially the same word as logos that we learned yesterday. I didn't get a chance to elaborate, but logos is an interesting word. It can mean argument, logic, or just word. It's the word in the Book of John, written in Greek, that begins, "In the beginning was the logos. And the logos was with God. And the logos was God." Interesting, no?
Anyway, dissoi logoi is the practice of looking for counter arguments. So,we'll practice that, like the Greeks did today on your blogs. But first...
Daily Grammar Review:
Run-on Sentences:
As we mentioned yesterday, each sentence should have a subject and a verb. But sometimes sentences have more than one subject or verb.
So, think of sentences like this: Subject-Verb. S-V. Johnny runs. But if the sentence is like this S-V and S-V, it becomes a run-on. Johnny runs and Jane swims. That "and" isn't strong enough to hold the two sentences together on its own, so it's a run-on sentence. So we can make it two sentences: Johnny runs. Jane swims. We can put in a semicolon: Johnny runs; Jane swims. Or we can put in a comma: Johnny runs, and Jane swims. If the sentence is like this S-V-V, such as Johnny runs and swims. Then it's okay. Only if you have a new independent clause with its own new subject do you need to split up the sentence.
Your Daily Assignment: (Not due until Monday at noon. Have a lovely weekend!)
Take a look at this Crocodile:
Now, to practice dissoi logoi, on your blog write a paragraph where the thesis is:
Crocodiles are majestic, powerful, and amazing creatures.
A thesis is simply your argument. People sometimes freak out about thesis sentences, but they don't have to be complicated.
Now, on your blog, write a second paragraph with a second thesis:
Crocodiles are ridiculous looking, silly, and lame creatures.
That's practicing dissoi logoi, arguing both sides of an argument. It can be a useful practice for working through a concept no matter which side your actually taking.
Your first major paper assignment:
Along with your blog posts, you have three major assignments for this class, the first of which I wanted to assign today so that you'd have it as early as possible. It's a paper, and here's the prompt:
This
assignment requires students to develop proficiency in rhetorical analysis and
argument by developing a writing piece that closely problematizes one visual text.
You
have two choices for a text to analyze.
- You may choose your or a friend’s Facebook
profile picture and think critically about what that image is
communicating. What kind of an
ethos, or persona, is the image trying to persuade its audience that it
possesses? I want you to be
critical of the image in some ways, even if it is of yourself. You might even pick a picture that you
used to use, but don’t anymore. Why
did you change it? How does the
image—whoever it is—communicate personality, good or bad? What kind of details can you pick out
that add or detract from what the person wants others to see about him or
her?
- Alternatively, you may get a magazine cover from
June or July. Based on the idea
that every image communicates something, walk me as your reader through
the aspects that are being conveyed to a potential viewer for that
image. Is there a logic here? Who made the image and is responsible
for it? Be a little critical of the
image. Think about what the
magazine cover was trying to communicate and how it fails or doesn’t
fail. What kind of emotions does
the image draw out of a potential audience, and why and how does the image
draw out those emotions?
The
aim of your argument is to support a thesis
about an image—using the tools of persuasion—concerning how your chosen
visual text itself offers a persuasive argument with troublesome issues or
tactics. The form of this assignment is
an essay that analyzes the visual image and the rhetorical elements of
composition, presentation, intended audience, and effect by looking at the
image’s logical, emotional, and ethical appeals. You should quote at least two other sources
for your argument other than the primary rhetorical text—that is, the
image—that you are analyzing. This
assignment should include a Works Cited page, be formatted according to MLA
standards (which includes double spacing, one inch margins, 12 point font, and Times New Roman)
and be a minimum of 1000 words.
You should e-mail me your draft and your final assignment, though it'd be nice to see the documents linked in the sidebars of your blogs too!
First draft due: July 5, at least 2 pages done.
Final draft due: July 9
Begin finding an image to analyze soon... today even!
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