This video plays a lot with pathos. The video gives snapshots of America and all the different types of people that live in America, doing the things that Americans do (all generalized, obviously). It starts off with the sunrise and the Statue of Liberty, which is very strong imagery as the statue is a staple of America. During the beginning of the speech he reminds the audience that immigrants came here for a better life, because anything was possible - maybe to give a sense that this is no longer possible, but it could be if he were president.
The video shows a lot of diverse people in diverse settings which helps connect with a broader audience, rather than just one main set of voters. I also noticed that they show him doing "American" things, like the chili cook-off.
At the end, the soldier and the graveyard of American soldiers is used to reiterate that the believes in America and recognizes the importance of the foundational values that it was built on.
Jodi -
ReplyDeleteThis is such a rich video for a rhetorical perspective, I think. It's got so much going on with the visuals and the language. As you continue doing rhetorical analyses, start diving into more of the specifics. How do the visuals connect to the language? What arguments are they making? One thing Romney seeks to do here, for example, is to create a unified group, which he calls "Americans." What kinds of people, in this definition, are Americans? what are "Americans" united around? How does that definition work to support the goals that Romney is promoting, according to these definitions?
I like the way you're exploring a bunch of different texts, and you strike me as engaging nicely with the material so far. But keep going: get in and push a fuller analysis as you keep exploring.