Visual Rhetoric (08)

ENG3UI Unit 3 – Literature and the “Real World” February 2008

J. Rice Analyzing Visual Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the study of effective speaking and writing. And the art of persuasion. And many other things.

– Gideon O. Burton, Brigham Young University, “What is Rhetoric.” Silva Rhetoricae. <http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm>.

If rhetoric is the art of communicating effectively and persuasively, it stands to reason that communicating visually can be as much an exercise in rhetoric as communicating in writing.

In writing, we examine various rhetorical strategies in order to analyze the author’s purpose. When we examine visuals, we consider the analogous strategies of the artist – the elements of visual composition – to determine what the purpose of the image is.

Visuals may come in a variety of forms:

• • maps, charts and graphs

  • political cartoons

  • posters or advertisements

  • paintings or photographs

In each case, just as with written or spoken rhetoric, your task is to observe the details of the visual material, consider how they work with one another to create understanding in the audience, and determine the artist’s purpose in creating the visual piece.

Introductory Exercise: What do you see?

Examine the photograph below closely before answering the questions that follow it.

Bruce Davidson, “Young Interracial Couple”

• 1. Divide the photograph into two parts, one on each side of the couple. List what you see to the right and then list what you see to the left. What do the lists suggest about what might be Davidson’s concerns and values? Explain.

  2. Start at the intersection of the two faces. Follow the line along the curve of the girl’s face and extend the line up toward the top of the photograph. What do you notice with this extension? Look for other lines and movement. How do those lines break up the photograph? What do you see in the various sections created by those lines?

  3. Focus on the expression of each face. How would you describe each expression?

  4. What does the photograph suggest about the couple’s relationship? Anna Norris, when she was studying photography at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York, wrote that “pictures are fashioned to serve a particular purpose.” Do you imagine Davidson’s purpose was to give us the couple or to give us something more? Explain.

(From Robert DiYanni and Pat C. Hoy, Frames of Mind. Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.)

Every genre has its own conventions. You should adapt your analysis to consider the usual ways of representing ideas visually within that genre.

For example:

• • Photographs use composition lines, contrast, and colour to establish relationships between people and objects.

  • Political cartoons use exaggeration to emphasize traits of characters and symbolism to communicate concepts and situations in a compact way.

  • Paintings use colour and symbolism, and may often use allusion to tell a story about their subjects.

  • Posters and advertisements use colour and composition to attract attention, and symbolism and imagery to persuade.

  • Graphs and charts select sets of data and present them in a manner that makes them easy to interpret, sometimes showing trends or contrasts.

Use the SCANS chart on the next page as a template for note-taking when presented with a visual. Remember that the genre of the visual may determine which questions are relevant to your observation.

Follow-up exercise:

Skim through the images of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement at this website:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1704734_1520199,00.html

Focus on images #2, 4, 9, 11, and 18

Choose one of the images listed above and use the template to take notes on it. Then, in about 200 words, analyse the ways in which the details of the image convey the photograph’s message.

based on material from Eva Arce, Barbara Murphy, Frames of Mind (DiYanni and Hoy), and It’s No Laughing Matter – Analyzing Political Cartoons (http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/political_cartoon/index.html)