Visual Analysis Of This Great Game By Jackie Robinson

Many people today are constantly exposed to advertisements and social media. Whether that be on television at the gym, scrolling through social media on lunch break, or in the car on the way to work, modern society has embedded constant visual rhetoric into their lives. Being exposed to such a thing has almost dulled modern day’s senses to all the elements of visual rhetoric in an ad or a magazine. Among the galleries of the online baseball book This Great Game there hides an image of the hall of famer Jackie Robinson after he had been hit in the head by a fastball. The illustrator used careful tactics of photoshop, diction, and framing to push forth the message that Jackie Robinson shone as a beacon of light for the civil rights movement and

Not only is his team centered around him in this frame, but the audience is drawn directly towards Robinson’s face through a faded target photoshopped into this image. By having the target surround Jackie, the author gives the illusion that he is in the center of the image when really he is slightly to the left on the image from the readers point of view. In a way the author may be saying that although African- Americans were not the center of attention or treated fairly in the 1940’s, that a shift in focus or perception can alter how people view situations such as civil rights. Along with the target’s focal point, the target stands for something larger; notice the alternation on the colors of the target rings. It could be total coincidence that they rotate from brown/black to white every other hoop, or it could be the author showing the varying support for Jackie Robinson in that time. He had Caucasian teammates who were his friends, he had African-American teammates from leagues early on in his career. But as the rings get farther away from Robinson, the Author is making the implied statement that Jackie’s rings of supporters and friends alternates as some whites supported Mr. Robinson and some did not, and that some African-Americans supported Mr. Robinson, and some did not. This target focused around Jackie bears

In essence, the rule states that the image is divided into three equal pieces along the length and width creating nine smaller boxes and six intersections of lines. Those intersections act as focal points. In this image the author has elected to use a few of these focal points to add to the effect of his or her image. The main focal point he/she uses is the top left intersection. The crosshairs land directly onto Jackie Robinson’s face, which is the only portion of the image that has color. The second main focus falls directly below Robinson’s face as the words “Jackie Robinson” have been enlarged and bolded. The author uses this rule to draw the audience's eyes to what he/she wishes them to see first. By doing this they are able to successfully give life and meaning to this