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Visual Rhetoric: How Imagery Persuades

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    From magazines to logos to the TV and film
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    we watch, we're surrounded
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    by visual media.
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    You might be shocked to learn that most
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    of it is trying to persuade
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    you in one way or another.
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    First things first, it usually
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    helps to start with a definition.
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    If rhetoric describes the way a written
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    text moves us to feel or think or do
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    something, what you may be
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    wondering is visual rhetoric?
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    Well, it's the way a text is trying to
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    move you to feel or think or do something.
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    Only instead of words,
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    or often in addition to words,
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    it's through a visual medium.
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    Visual rhetoric is made of the same stuff
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    as your everyday garden variety rhetoric,
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    but it employs pictures or video,
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    or even just the elements of visual and
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    graphic design to persuade its audience.
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    Visual rhetoric is made of the same
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    building blocks as textual rhetoric.
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    Ethos, logos, and pathos are still
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    the tools that visual rhetoric uses.
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    The addition of visual language
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    to the text means it can communicate its
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    rhetorical purpose a lot
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    faster and more efficiently,
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    and the visual elements can significantly
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    change the impact of the message.
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    Take this image, for instance.
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    In both examples here,
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    the written content is the same,
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    but the difference in font very quickly
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    communicates whether those words are
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    meant as an endearment or as a threat.
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    To put it another way, the visual elements
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    change how we interpret the same text.
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    Obviously, typography can
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    change the meaning of a message.
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    But what are some of the other elements
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    in the visual rhetorical toolbox?
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    The primary elements of visual rhetoric
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    are spacing, value, color,
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    line, scale, and texture.
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    If you studied art or graphic design,
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    you might recognize these as
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    the main elements of design.
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    Pretty much any image can be
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    analyzed using these ideas.
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    That's not to say that you have to be
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    an expert in art to understand
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    how these elements work.
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    But the truth is, you already have a lot
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    of expertise in recognizing
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    these qualities.
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    Let me prove it to you.
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    Take this image, for example.
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    This is a screen grab from a film.
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    Even if you don't recognize the film,
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    I bet you can tell what genre it belongs
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    to, because those elements of design
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    communicate a lot of information
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    that you're already decoding constantly.
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    In terms of spacing,
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    look at how thick the woods are,
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    so dense that not much sunlight
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    makes it to the ground.
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    The trees tower over the building.
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    You can infer something about
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    the relationships between
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    the people in the image too
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    because of their spacing,
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    they're standing close, so they're
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    probably friends, not strangers.
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    And you can likely guess that the two
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    who are embracing are a couple.
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    Value has a lot to do
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    with contrast and hue.
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    In this frame, the clearing is brighter
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    than the woods around it,
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    so it has a lighter value.
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    The front door, though,
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    is almost totally cloaked in darkness,
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    which makes us feel uncertain or nervous.
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    We don't like to enter a space
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    that we can't see well.
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    Color certainly relates to value.
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    There are no bright poppy colors here,
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    and the woods and the ground and the cabin
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    are all natural colors,
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    greens and browns and tans.
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    The group is costumed in colors
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    that aren't natural;
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    blues and mustard yellow and tan
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    and white, so they stand out.
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    You can tell that they're
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    not part of the landscape.
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    Also note how everything
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    in the image is muted.
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    It's all kind of dark.
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    You can pretty much guess
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    this isn't a comedy.
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    Line refers to how the elements of an
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    image draw your eye in certain directions.
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    Here, the line of the roof and the bottom
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    of the porch are the strongest lines,
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    and horizontal lines often convey
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    stability and groundedness,
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    although here the other elements are
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    undercutting a sense of stability.
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    Because everything else in the frame,
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    from the trees to the utility pole
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    to the characters,
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    is oriented in a vertical direction,
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    this makes the cabin itself stick out.
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    The contrast adds to how it makes us
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    feel uneasy, which brings us to scale.
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    You can tell it's not a big cabin,
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    it's single story, and it's dwarfed by the
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    trees that extend up and out of the frame.
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    But it still takes up most of the shot,
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    and the people in front of it
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    seem dwarfed by its visual mass.
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    They're also isolated within
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    that clearing, which adds to the sense
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    of isolation that we can infer
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    from this wooded location.
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    And finally, texture.
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    Because it's the lightest value,
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    the dappled light is one of the most
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    obvious textures in this image.
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    The way that it filters through the trees
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    subconsciously tells us
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    that these woods keep going.
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    The shingled roof on the top of the cabin
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    is old and unkempt, and the texture of it
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    echoes the texture of the dead
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    leaves in the clearing on the ground.
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    So, against all of that organic,
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    natural texture, the characters stand out.
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    And since this is the first time
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    that they're seeing the cabin,
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    all these elements combine to make
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    it feel like they don't belong.
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    Everything in the image is
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    building to be a visual warning.
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    All these elements are combining
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    to tell us that the genre this belongs
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    to is, as you probably guessed it, horror.
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    Specifically, this is an image
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    from 2010's Cabin in the Woods.
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    If you're a horror fan,
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    you might have spotted that this cabin
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    bears a strong resemblance
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    to the cabin from Evil Dead.
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    That's not on accident.
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    The film is making a visual reference
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    to a beloved cult horror film.
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    There are other visual references
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    throughout the film to other horror movies
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    like Friday the 13th,
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    Halloween, and Hellraiser.
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    And those references are absolutely part
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    of the visual rhetoric
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    of Cabin in the Woods.
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    It's persuading the viewer that it's
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    part of the horror genre tradition.
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    Okay, here's another example.
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    Even if you don't recognize this show,
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    what can you tell about
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    it from this image?
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    The bright and poppy colors,
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    the charming buildings,
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    the cobblestone street,
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    and the warm tone all combine to tell us,
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    even without any other context,
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    that this is probably a comedy.
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    In fact, it's a still from The Good Place,
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    which I might argue is
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    one of the best comedies.
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    One more example.
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    How about this?
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    The business like attire,
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    the fluorescent light fixtures overhead,
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    the brick walls, this big white
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    board with evidence laid out on it.
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    These are all visual elements
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    of the police procedural.
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    In this case, it's the TV show Castle,
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    which centers on a police detective
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    and a mystery writer
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    who team up to solve crimes.
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    It's on the funnier end of the police
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    procedural spectrum,
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    but the moody lighting and the somber
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    colors would keep you from mistaking it
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    for, say, Brooklyn Nine-Nine,
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    which is very much in the comedy realm.
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    As you analyze visual media,
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    remember that just like with textual
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    rhetoric, the same elements
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    of the rhetorical situation apply genre,
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    author, purpose, audience,
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    argument, and effect.
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    Like in the examples from film and TV
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    that I showed you,
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    these aspects of the visual text help us
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    identify the rhetorical impact of the text. And
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    when they're combined with imagery
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    that evokes an appeal to ethos,
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    pathos, or logos,
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    we can then start to parse the persuasive
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    argument that visual texts make.
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    Being able to spot how rhetoric functions
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    in a visual text not only makes you more
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    critically engaged
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    with the world around you.
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    When you can officially analyze the visual
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    rhetoric in a text,
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    then you can apply those principles
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    to creation of your own visual
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    texts to make your own arguments.
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    Understanding visual rhetoric makes you
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    a more persuasive writer and creator,
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    which makes you a more
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    effective communicator.
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    Whether you're creating a resume
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    to convince someone to hire you,
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    or designing an invitation to a haute
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    couture or Halloween party,
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    or pitching a proposal to your boss,
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    being visually rhetorically savvy
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    will help you achieve your goal.
Title:
Visual Rhetoric: How Imagery Persuades
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
BYU Continuing Education
Project:
WRTG 150 (BYUO)
Duration:
08:02

English subtitles

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