Final Project

I found this video on www.youtube.com. This same video is also a commercial often seen on TV. The video/commercial is addressing those watching who have the means to donate to the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA). However, its strong use of pathos provokes viewers to change the channel every time it comes on.

In the reading titled “Pathetic Proof: Passionate Appeals” by Crowley and Hawhee, Crowley and Hawhee specifically address how advertisements appeal to the audience’s emotions in order to get the audience to respond to advertiser’s messages. Crowley and Hawhee state: “Contemporary advertisers and political spin artists also understand the important role played by emotion in our responses to their messages. The most obvious modern use of emotional appeals appears in advertisements that appeal to consumers’ desire for success (“be all you can be;” “just do it!”) or their fear of losing status in their communities (“don’t let this happen to you!”).” (Crowley and Hawhee, 3) Although the BC SPCA video does not appeal to consumers’ desire for success or their fear of losing status in their communities, there is still a clear use of emotional appeals within this video working to appeal to viewers’ love of animals (the interpretation here being “don’t let innocent animals suffer”).

The main emotions provoked by this video are sadness and pity. According to Aristotle, “pity may be defined as a feeling of pain caused by the sight of some evil, destructive or painful, which befalls one who does not deserve it, and which we might expect to befall ourselves or some friends of ours, and moreover to befall us soon.” (Aristotle, 77) Aristotle goes on to define what people pity as well. “All unpleasant and painful things excite pity if they tend to destroy pain and annihilate; and all such evils as are due to chance, if they are serious. The painful and destructive evils are: death in its various forms, bodily injuries and afflictions, old age, diseases, lack of food. The evils due to chance are: friendlessness, scarcity of friends (it is a pitiful thing to be torn away from friends and companions), deformity, weakness, mutilation; evil coming from a source from which good ought to have come; and the frequent repetition of such misfortunes.” (Aristotle, 77) This video provokes pity as these animals have experienced bodily injuries and lack of food. These animals have also endured owners who were sources of pain and suffering rather than sources of good.

One way the video provokes sadness and pity is by zooming in on the sad faces of the animals. The audience sees an example of this right away as the camera slowly zooms in on the first dog shown that is being cared for by a professional. The audience doesn’t know what has happened to this dog, but the dog clearly has a sad look on its face, appealing to the audience’s emotions and making them wonder what has happened to the dog. The video also provokes sadness and pity through the text presented at the beginning of the video. The BC SPCA utilizes the emotional impact of three statements in order to appeal to the audience’s emotions: “every single hour in BC, an animal is violently abused,” “3,000 animals were rescued last year,” and “for hundreds of others, help came too late.” The last statement is especially powerful as it leaves the audience to only imagine what horrible things happened to the hundreds of animals that were helped too late. The viewers’ feelings of hatred toward abusers in this situation are addressed within the reading titled “Affective Economies” by Sara Ahmed. Ahmed states, “Such figures of hate circulate, and indeed accumulate affective value, precisely because they do not have a fixed referent.” Ahmed goes on to say, “The impossibility of reducing hate to a particular body allows hate to circulate in an economic sense, working to differentiate some others from other others, a differentiation that is never ‘over,’ as it awaits for others who have not yet arrived.” (Ahmed, 8) In this situation, the viewers are differentiated from the abusers. The emotional affects of the statement are circulated more intensely as the viewers do not know specifically who or what the actual threat is to these animals. In addition, in order to further break your heart, the video shows animals with various handicaps. The German Shepard that can’t walk strongly provokes sadness and pity as the dog tries to walk across the room in pain and, eventually, cries out for help.

Finally, the video utilizes Sarah McLachlan’s song, “Angel,” to put the viewers in a more emotional state. Within the reading titled “Pathos and Katharsis in ‘Aristotelian’ Rhetoric: Some Implications” by Jeffrey Walker, Walker discusses that music can be used to draw out specific emotions from listeners and to put the souls of the listeners into a specific state. Walker states: “While in medicine the application of a pharmakon causes the secretion of ‘juices’ from the body, resulting in a pleasurable feeling of well-being, in the case of logos or music, the pharmakon is a particular techne – such as the application of a particular rhythm or melodic mode – that causes the soul of the hearer to be ‘put into a state’ or to have its ‘disposition’ rearranged according to the ‘disposition’ of the pharmakon or techne applied, and this ‘state’ is expressed behaviorally and physically as a particular type of pathos: ‘fearful shuddering’, ‘much-weeping pity’, ‘lament-loving longing’, and so forth. The expressed pathos is caused to ‘come out of’ the soul by the pharmakon/techne, just as ‘juices’ are caused to come out of the body. But the different pathe that logos or music may draw from the soul are not necessarily bad or harmful ‘juices,’ for the listeners may be ‘put into a state’ of courage or delight, as well as any other mood, and the katharsis of a pathos from the soul does not involve its being ‘purged away’ but rather its becoming manifest.” (Walker, 4) Sarah McLachlan’s song, “Angel,” causes viewers’ souls to be put in a somber, disheartened state. This state is manifested behaviorally and physically when viewers’ eyes begin to water and their faces begin to reveal their feelings of sadness and pity.

According to Crowley and Hawhee: “Emotional appeals are based on the
assumption that human beings share similar kinds of emotional responses to events: fathers everywhere weep for lost sons; an old man who has lost his family is pitied by everyone, even his enemies. While this may not be true across wide cultural differences, it certainly is the case that people who live in the same community have similar emotional responses. If this were not true, governments would not be able to incite great numbers of people to volunteer for military service during wartime (which is an irrational thing to do, after all).” (Crowley and Hawhee, 7) Here, the emotional appeals within this video are based on the assumption that most people care about animals and how animals are treated.

This video works to inspire the audience to donate money to the BC SPCA. The interpretation that ties the affect of the video to this desired behavior is that the audience does not want more innocent animals to experience what the animals in the video have experienced. Therefore, the audience is asked to believe that their donations will save animals from being abused and neglected.

“In other words, the ancients taught that emotions hold heuristic potential. The emotions even seem to be a means of reasoning: if someone becomes afraid, realizing that she is in a dangerous situation, she quickly assesses her options and takes herself out of danger as quickly as she can. Emotions can also move people to action. If someone feels compassion for someone else, he helps the suffering person.” (Crowley and Hawhee, 8) Here, the audience feels pity towards the animals. This acts as their reasoning and moves them to donate money to the BC SPCA.

It is important to note that Sarah McLachlan is an actual supporter of the BC SPCA as this contributes to the video’s successful affect on viewers. Viewers learn this about Sarah McLachlan within the video as the BC SPCA introduces her as a “BC SPCA supporter.” The persuasive power of a rhetor is discussed within Rhetoric by Aristotle. Aristotle states: “Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided.” Aristotle goes on to say, “It is not true, as some writers assume in their treatises on rhetoric, that the personal goodness revealed by the speaker contributes nothing to his power of persuasion; on the contrary, his character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion he possesses.” (Aristotle, 7) Sarah McLachlan establishes ethos and credibility as she is a supporter herself. Viewers are able to put their faith in Sarah McLachlan as she is a good person. Her personal character as a humanitarian easily wins over and persuades the audience.

I also found this next video on www.youtube.com. This same video is also a commercial often seen on TV. This video/commercial is addressing those watching who have the means to donate to the Christian Children’s Fund.

This video can be compared to the BC SPCA video as they both have a lot of similarities that can broadly be attributed to most charity ads. Both videos do not want the public to allow suffering to continue (in this case, now the focus is on children rather than animals). In addition, both videos provoke sadness and pity in similar ways. The Christian Children’s Fund video zooms in on the sad faces of the children just as the BC SPCA video zooms in on the sad faces of the animals. The last child shown within the video strongly provokes sadness and pity as they zoom in on his face and stop the video just as he appears to frown.

The Christian Children’s Fund video also utilizes music to set the mood for viewers. This video features a slow version of “Amazing Grace.” “Amazing Grace” is a powerful song choice as the song usually provokes strong feelings of joy, patriotism, and sadness. Here, the song provokes sadness. The singer’s deep voice demands seriousness from the audience while the slow pace of the song allows the audience to focus on the children and the lyrics together, provoking sadness. The video of the children together with the words “amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see” provoke viewers to think of how the children are “saved” and “found” when they donate.

Works Cited

Ahmed, S. (2004). “Affective Economies.” Social Text, 22. Retrieved May 4, 2011, from http://instructors.dwrl.utexas.edu/davis/files/Ahmed--affective%20economies.pdf

Aristotle. (2004). Rhetoric. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc..

The BC SPCA ad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc&feature=player_embedded

The Christian Children’s Fund ad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fDpfsorcw&feature=related

Crowley, S., & Hawhee, D. (2004). “Pathetic Proof: Passionate Appeals.” Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Studies (3 ed., pp. 251-284). New York: Pearson.

Gross, A. G., & Walzer, A. E. (2000). “Pathos and Katharsis in ‘Aristotelian’ Rhetoric: Some Implications.” Rereading Aristotle's Rhetoric (pp. 74-92). Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press.

Revision of Visual Pathetic Appeal

Note: I have explained the emotions provoked by each image within this revision. I have also added a closing statement to conclude my prezi since I didn't have one in my first submission. In addition, I edited the look of the prezi and have added another image.

In my prezi titled “Unarmed but not Unharmed,” I am arguing in support of concealed carry on university campuses. My main claim within the prezi is that without concealed carry laws, universities fall victim to anyone who chooses to bring a gun on campus. I feel the only reason campus shootings are as tragic as they are is because no one could defend themselves with a gun and stop the shooter. Without concealed carry laws, the only people with guns are criminals who chose to break the law.

The first image in my prezi depicts a street sign that prohibits anyone from carrying a weapon on the campus of The University of Arizona. This image provides a nice starting point for my prezi as it works to show that the students and faculty on the campus are unarmed. This image also works as pathemata that provokes anxiety as it displays the vulnerability of the campus to anyone who sees the sign, including those who want to commit random acts of violence. One cannot control what types of individuals see this sign and what they do with this information. The young woman walking in the image alone and unarmed demonstrates the vulnerability of the campus.

The second image in my prezi depicts a gun in a backpack. The image works as evidence to show that shooters have and will continue to go to the lengths necessary to commit a shooting by unlawfully bringing a weapon on campus. The image works as pathemata as it pairs the innocence of the backpack with the danger of the gun. The backpack exhibits innocence as one immediately relates the backpack to a young and harmless student. The bright colors in the image also contribute to a sense of innocence that is contrasted with the darkness of the gun. The image specifically provokes shock as one would never suspect a young student would contemplate shooting fellow classmates or themselves on campus.

The third image in my prezi is very startling as it shows an example of a shooter that has gone to the lengths necessary to commit a terrible tragedy. This is Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter responsible for the shooting at Virginia Tech. The pathemata at work in this image is Cho’s threatening pose with two guns along with the anger written all over his face. This pathemata provokes fear as it works to show the types of evil and coldhearted individuals university campuses are susceptible to without concealed carry laws.

The fourth image in my prezi really hits home and works as evidence as it depicts The University of Texas massacre in 1966. The image works as pathemata as it depicts smoke coming from Charles Whitman’s rifle at a meaningful location to the students and faculty at UT. The image provokes terror as not only were the students and faculty unarmed in this situation, but they were also powerless to Charles Whitman’s skills as a sniper and his range from the tower. Charles Whitman was able to terrorize anyone within close range of the tower as he had control of their lives.

The next image is also from The University of Texas massacre in 1966. The image works as pathemata as the woman in the image is desperately cowering behind a flag pole. One can also see a dead body on the left side of the image. This image provokes sadness and hopelessness as one knows the flag pole was this woman’s only means of protection. However, one also knows that she still could have been spotted from the top of the tower.

The sixth image in my prezi works as evidence as it depicts the shooting at The University of Alabama. The image also works as pathemata that provokes pity and sadness as it depicts two innocent victims being taken to the hospital. One cannot help but feel pity for these innocent victims as well as their families. The seventh image in my prezi works as evidence as it depicts the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech. In addition, the image works as pathemata that provokes despair and hopelessness as the innocent victim is bleeding and needed to be carried to safety.

The eighth image in my prezi is of Colton Tooley, a student who shot off rounds into the air at The University of Texas and killed himself in the library. This image works as pathemata that provokes fear as Colton appears to wave at the camera and looks very frightening in his mask and suit. What provokes fear here is the uncertainty of what Tooley is thinking and what he wants to do. The last image in my prezi acts as a conclusion. Numerous memorials have been held in memory of those innocent victims who have lost their lives in unnecessary tragedies like these. The image works to leave the viewer in a mournful state.

The specific emotions I’m trying to provoke in my audience are fear, shock, hopelessness, and sadness. I appeal to these emotions strictly through the images in my prezi along with the last line and the title of my prezi. I also want my audience to change their attitude toward concealed carry laws on campuses. The interpretation that connects the audience’s emotions to this attitude is that prohibition of weapons on campuses is not preventing these random acts of violence from happening. Therefore, the audience should then support concealed carry laws in order to better protect students and faculty.

View my prezi here: http://prezi.com/a6de51mdswqx/unarmed-but-not-unharmed/

Photo Credits

Bates, Gordon. Street Sign. http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/public-debates-guns-on- campus- 1.1121002. 31 Mar. 2011.

Campbell, Matthew. Lights. http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/7092846.html. 31 Mar. 2011.

Cho. http://netwmd.com/blog/categories/virginia-tech-shooting. 31 Mar. 2011.

Conn, Robin. University of Alabama Shooting. http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2010/feb/13/. 31 Mar. 2011.

Gun. http://collegecandy.com/2011/02/23/university-of-texas-student-speaks-out- against- allowing-guns-on-campus/. 31 Mar. 2011.

Ohio State University Shooting. http://pinoytutorial.com/lifebytes/ohio-state- university- campus-shooting/. 31 Mar. 2011.

Tower. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30075905/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/. 31 Mar. 2011.

The University of Texas. PCL. http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared- gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/10/14/utpd_offers_additional_details.html. 31 Mar. 2011.

Woman. http://blogs.chron.com/txpotomac/2010/07/. 27 Apr. 2011.

“Unframing Models of Public Distribution: From Rhetorical Situation to Rhetorical Ecologies”

This reading was very interesting and informative. I truly learned a lot from the reading. For starters, I learned the concepts behind the sixth sense people often experience in certain situations or surroundings. On page 7, Jenny Edbauer states “what we normally take as ‘sites’ are not only comprised in a situs or fixed location. Reynolds explains that these ‘sites’ are made up of affective encounters, experiences, and moods that cohere around material spaces. This is why sites are not just seen, but (perhaps even more so) they are felt.” I can definitely understand what Edbauer is explaining here. I, myself, can think of numerous times when I’ve had a feeling of fear or discomfort due to my surroundings. All of a sudden just because of a feeling you get, your senses will heighten, and you’ll begin to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. I notice this tends to happen a lot when it’s late at night, and I’m somewhere alone.

I also learned how the slogan “Keep Austin Weird” came about. I always thought this slogan had something to do with the stereotype that people in Austin are weird (like, for example, have you ever heard someone remark “only in Austin?”). I also always noticed how Austin is full of small businesses, and now I know why. Being from San Antonio, I’m used to chains and big businesses all over. The two cities definitely have their differences.

Final Project Proposal

For my final project, I want to rhetorically analyze the pathetic appeals in one of Sarah McLachlan’s SPCA commercials. These commercials pathetically appeal to viewers through audio, video, and written/spoken language. I specifically want to analyze the SPCA commercial below.

In the equivalent of a double-spaced eight page research paper, I will rhetorically analyze the commercial for its pathetic appeal.

· Describe the context (Where did I find the video? Who is the audience, given the context?)

· Explain the emotion(s) this video provokes and how (Here, I will focus heavily on the imagery and audio within the video. I want to also research what affects audio can have on us, especially music by Sarah Mclachlan with a somewhat somber tone.)

· Explain what sort of behavior this video inspires (What does the video want the audience to do? Does it want the audience to buy something?)

· Explain the interpretation that ties the affect to the desired behavior

· If the video appeals to stereotypical “types”, say so. If there are any ideas or symbols within the video that will likely resonate with a certain segment of a population, say so.

· Include video or audio that may help explain anything within the analysis

I will submit my final project for in-class review and review the final projects of my partners on the assigned class day.

“Affective Economies”

There were a couple of things within this reading that I wanted to comment on. The discussion on page 7 was interesting regarding how the words used within the speeches by the previous leader of the British Conservative Party, William Hague, and the current British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, generated effects. The words created impressions of others as those who have invaded the space of the nation, threatening its existence. Immediately after reading about this, I thought of connotative words. The use of connotative words is lightly demonstrated here as David Blunkett replaced the word swamped with overwhelmed. The word swamped or overwhelmed would have worked within the speech, however, Blunkett had to replace the word due to the negative connotation of swamped versus overwhelmed.

On page 9, Ahmed states “we can see that the affectivity of hate is what makes it difficult to pin down, to locate in a body, object, or figure. This difficulty is what makes emotions such as hate work the way that they do; it is not the impossibility of hate as such, but the mode of its operation, whereby it surfaces in the world made up of other bodies.” I definitely can relate to what Ahmed is saying here about hate. Personally, whenever I feel intense anger or hate, I always expect it to be at something specific, like a specific individual or thing. If I have trouble figuring out what specifically I hate or am mad at, I notice I get unsure of my feelings and don’t know what to do with all the emotion running through me. In cases like these, my emotion often stems from something that is not specific. When I’m caught up in my emotions, however, I can’t seem to figure this out until later when I am calm and in a rational state.

“Executive Overspill: Affective Bodies, Intensity, and Bush-in-Relation"

At the beginning of “Executive Overspill: Affective Bodies, Intensity, and Bush-in-Relation,” Jenny Edbauer quotes George W. Bush saying “I’ve changed my style somewhat, as you know. I’m less – I pontificate less…And I’m interacting more with people.” This quote pretty much sums up Edbauer’s whole introduction addressing how Bush hardly ever delivered a line particularly well. It baffles me though that Bush would often have this problem considering he went to Yale. Did Bush do well at Yale? Does he think before he speaks? These questions would always come to my mind when I would hear him speak. I couldn’t figure it out.

Edbauer not only discussed Bush’s public speaking but also Reagan’s. After I finished reading the article, I realized I could probably connect more with the reading if I experienced Reagan’s public speaking for myself. I have included a video of one of Reagan’s speeches below. After viewing a few of Reagan’s speeches, I couldn’t make out any body language that “was so jerky and unsmooth.” I also thought for the most part Reagan followed “a logical line to its conclusion.” Maybe Edbauer could have used a better example to demonstrate her main points throughout the article?

"The Autonomy of Affect"

For me, the chapters by Massumi were very hard to read. I’m not sure if it was the vocabulary Massumi was using or the content/subject matter of the chapters. A lot of times I just found myself reading a sentence over and over again before moving on to finish the chapters.

However, Massumi’s discussion in "The Autonomy of Affect" regarding how affect is often used as a synonym for emotion caught my attention, interest, and curiosity. Massumi states on page 27 that “affect is most often used loosely as a synonym for emotion. But one of the clearest lessons of this first story is that emotion and affect – if affect is intensity – follow different logics and pertain to different orders.” First of all, I didn’t know affect was commonly getting used as a synonym for emotion. Second, I agree with Massumi that we need to recognize that affect and emotion follow different logics and pertain to different orders. Affect doesn’t really say intensity to me but rather is mostly used as a verb to indicate influence or change. Emotion is a noun indicating a strong state of a specific feeling. Although affect and emotion mean two different things, emotions do have strong affects. This fact, I think, is what would cause one to think that the words affect and emotion are synonymous. What are your thoughts on this issue?