Rhetorical Analysis
In Cicero’s De Oratore, Crassus opens up his argument by stating, “How incredible it is that few men, using the abilities given to most men, have the power to interest, motivate, and persuade their fellow men.” Rhetoric is a form of persuasion through observation. Rhetoric is seen in dancing, painting, and architecture. It is also widely seen in the world of films. Film is a form of entertainment. Entertainment is leisure for most human beings. It is a way to bring forth amusement and pleasure to a given audience. Persuasion always involves a speaker and an audience. The director becomes the speaker, using the movie to convey his/her message, and the viewers become the audience. The two most distinctive genres in film are also the most popular, which is comedy and horror. The
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It brings out laughter, joy, and distresses anyone who is watching. The first form of Aristotle’s proof is logos. Logos is an appeal to logic; it is a way of persuading an audience by reason. In most comedies, a common theme is when the protagonist accepts a difficult task. According to Christof Rapp in Aristotle’s Rhetoric, “The speech [or film] can produce persuasion either through the character of the speaker, the emotional state of the listener, or the argument (logos) itself.” Usually in comedies, the speaker wants the audience to be the logical one. The audience will usually find what the characters are doing as frivolous. The movie White Chicks will be discussed as an example. Two FBI agents, Marcus and Kevin Copeland convince two rich sisters from the Hampton’s, Tiffany and Brittany Wilson not to leave their hotel room under no costs because they have “ugly” scars on their faces and can’t be seen by the public eye. This is a form of logos because the logical thing for the sisters to do is hide indoors until their scars heal. It might make the audience question whether they would do the same under similar