This week we are focusing on visual rhetoric. For the journal, locate a visual to summarize and respond to. It can be an image, it can be an article with an image, or a video. Include a link to the image, article, or video as well.
First, tell us what YOU see in the image. In your own words describe the image to us.
Second, tell us about the visual. What does it mean? What does it signify? Make sure you explain why you chose this image and how it fits with our class.
Take a look at the post for Visual Rhetoric, especially “Seeing vs Looking” and “Images as Arguments.”
Professor Ramos' Blog 
https://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcare-administration-degree.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2F2-Lucky-Strike%25E2%2580%2593To-Keep-A-Slender-Figure-No-One-Can-Deny.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthcare-administration-degree.net%2F10-evil-vintage-cigarette-ads-promising-better-health%2F&docid=WhQ52ySZdSEzdM&tbnid=XnXxumsS6wou1M%3A&vet=1&w=500&h=735&hl=en-us&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim
This is an advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarettes. I feel their target audience is women. The put a slender woman in the ad who looks to be puckering her lips, which was probably meant to be a sexy pose. I think they did this to imply to women if you smoke their cigarettes, you can look like her. The words on the ad “To keep a slender figure no one can deny… reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet” is telling women to light up a cigarette instead of grabbing candy and in doing this, they will keep their weight down. They put the picture of the pack of cigarettes up front, so their product will stand out. Under the pack it says, “It’s toasted No Throat Irritation- No Cough” which tells that it will be smooth to smoke. All together this advertisement tells women that only good things can come from smoking these cigarettes. I neither agree or disagree with this advertisement. Taking into consideration they started using the slogan “reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet” in 1928, and the surgeon general associated lung cancer and smoking in 1957, they were unaware of the health risks at that time. I have had experience smoking cigarettes and they do help curb an appetite. So, taking the health risks of smoking out of the situation, it would be better to pick up a cigarette than have a candy if you are looking to cut calories. Applying this ad to what is known about cigarettes today, it would be a wiser health decision to eat the candy, although too much candy can be bad for your health as well. I chose this ad because I felt like it was visual rhetoric, that is pretty much the only way it fits into our class.
LikeLike
This image is of a person dressed as the grim reaper. Written across his chest is the word “abortion” in big white letters. The man is holding the classic grim reaper scythe and a baby doll in his hands symbolizing that “abortion is murder”. The image is also presented to us in black and white to show the seriousness and the sadness that the photographer is trying associate through this image.
I believe this image is trying to show people that abortion is murder and that the topic should be considered more seriously than it is. In the background of the picture, it is clear that the person is at some sort of rally or protest, so it is clear that he truly wants his point to be brought up. This images signifies the passion people have toward certain topics and the extent that people will go to make sure their topic is truly understood.
I chose this image in order to try and critically examine and see the point of a “pro life” advocate. I still hold strong to my beliefs when I say that a women should have the right to her own body and not be told what to do by another person. Even though I hold very strong to my ideas of “pro choice” I would like to understand and truly know what a person is thinking when they say they agree with “pro life”. I would like to know the certain points that set them off and or make them agree.
LikeLike
I thought this ad was interesting, because it gave different opinions on how girls should act/be. They asked a couple older people and young boys on how girls run. So, they acted it out how girls run by just slowly running and playing with their hair, being out of breath, and overall unmotivated . After they asked girls that have not gone through puberty the same question. What was intriguing is that they acted it out in the opposite manner. The young girls were trying to run fast and were motivated. After they asked some similar questions to both groups like “How do girls throw?”. The responses for both groups were similar to their first response.
This ad just shows how much society has an impact on us. It seems like in this culture girls are assumed to be weaker. Or how boys and girls have their own roles. The illusion that girls can not be as good a boys. Girls first think they can do anything boys can, but as they grow up society tells them otherwise. It showed this in the ad when young girls were asked to act out how girls run and the little girls were trying so hard to run fast. The little girls were proud to “Run like a girl”. Then the girls that went through puberty were asked the same question, and it was just sad to see how they acted it out. Their confidence seemed to become lower for certain things after puberty. It is just how they grew up and society told them it should be that way.
LikeLike
https://mic.com/articles/147694/donald-trump-s-latest-anti-hillary-ad-uses-a-star-of-david-to-call-clinton-corrupt
The image is of former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, it makes a mockery of her campaign being “history making” for being the first female candidate for a major part by saying it is history making because she is “the most corrupt politician ever!” It is framed by images of money, meant to demonstrate that Hillary Clinton has been bought. It shows a clear bias against Hillary Clinton and also an insane hyperbolic statement. There have been politicians who literally owned slaves and ran prostitution rings, its unlikely Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt of all statesmen in history.
In the image I see a person with a clear ulterior motive. Someone hoping to discredit or attack Hillary Clinton and get her opponent elected. It’s disappointing to see, and offers no sources or background information to support the statement. Rather than attack her on her hypocrisy or notable underachievements.
LikeLike
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/04/illinois-ives-rauner-campaign-ad-389790
Attached is a link to an article that contains a video. I see this video as offensive as well as the worst way to run a campaign for any position in politics or any job ever. The video has something to do with mocking a governor in Illinois. I am not going to talk about the political portion of this ad but more so how it is offensive and unprofessional. The ad contains actors jokingly thanking a governor “Rauner” for the bills he had passed. This ad is at the least, trans-phobic and offensive. It shows a “deep voiced” actor as the article likes to describe thanking the governor for passing a bill that allows them to use the women’s restroom. Not only does it potentially offend the Trans community but also throws shade to people who are prochoice by having an actor thank the governor for having the families of Illinois pay for abortions. This is the most unprofessional way to run a campaign and a terrible way to push a conservative agenda.
This video ties into our class by trying to rope in new voters who have the same moral values as the campaigns head. It pushes the argument of Trans people don’t deserve a proper restroom and that the only way to live is pro-life. It shows no fact and only the rhetoric republicans can understand, It is politics but it shouldn’t be a free game where you can just say anything you want. If one wants to gain votes and persuade others it might be wise to be politically correct in your political ads.
LikeLike
In this Photo we can see an image although it is gruesome the T-shirt is an image that refers to Mayor Bill De Blasio. American citizens and law maker in the state of New York were wanting Bill De Blasio to resign as mayor for having blood on his hand with the killing of two of New York’s finest police officers who were shot in the head point blank range execution style, by a thug quoting “They take one of ours we take two of theirs”. With a reference to Eric Garner, when this happened Mayor DE Blasio did nothing but just turned his back, it is pretty sad when the entire police department turns their back on the mayor in a form of protest and stated if they were killed in the line of duty that they didn’t wat De Blasio present at their funeral.
Patrick Lynch New York’s police union president in a press release statement. “There is blood on many hands tonight – those that incited violence on the streets under the guise of protest, that tried to tear down what New York police officers did every day. That blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor,”(Washington Times). Other events that led to the blood on the hands of mayor Bill De Blasio was the fact that he did nothing when racial hatred striked New York city on wall street when hundreds of people went to the streets chanting “What do we want dead cops? When do we want it? Now.” New York’s finest blamed De Blasio for all of his little friends in occupy Wall Street where he didn’t care about the entire police force of New York City.
LikeLike
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/16/us/florida-shooter-cruz-records-police-calls-to-home-invs/index.html
This talks about the recent Florida shooting and how Nikolas Cruz showed dangerous signs that went unnoticed and was able to purchase an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle. He had a history of outbreaks and showed signs of not being mentally stable. From always getting trouble in school, abusing animals, and even at home where his own mother would have to call the police because of behavior. We talked about putting more gun laws but I don’t think that is the answer. The school that it happened at was a gun safe zone and had rules. Just because there are laws does not mean that evil people can’t get their hands on one. I don’t believe we have a gun problem. If you leave a 12 gauge shotgun on the porch it doesn’t go out killing people. What we have is a serious mental health epidemic. So many of the shootings that have happened occurred because of sick peopel. Yes the gun was legally purchased but budget cuts have been made where people with mental illnesses have less help now and also we don’t look deeper into background checks to looks for what kind of person is buying it and if they have a history of specific behaviors or possible mental health issues.
LikeLike
In November 2017, Ellen DeGeneres reacted to the Trump administration reversing the ban on trophy hunting by starting the #bekindtoelephants Campaign. Trophy hunting is where a government allows hunters to kill elephants and keep the dead animal as a souvenir. Before introducing her campaign, she addresses the issue that Trump reversed Obama’s ban on trophy hunting. In order to support her argument, she uses facts, photos, and videos of elephants to prove it is a mistake to allow hunters kill these animals and display them as trophies for recreational purposes.
The images and videos she chose showed that elephants are kind, loving, peaceful, and amazing creatures that don’t deserve to die. Instead of killing these animals, she believes we should treat elephants with respect, love, kindness, and compassion. Initially, I found it extremely ironic that elephants symbolize the republican party and the Trump administration is allowing elephants to be killed. The first and second images, show a group of elephants traveling together. She uses these images to support her fact that “elephants have an amazing memory. They follow the same migration route every year.” Additionally, Ellen adds humor to this serious topic to illustrate that elephants are have a better memory than her and have better personality compared to Trump. Her jokes show she is passionate about animals and is frustrated and upset with Trump. The first video shows a mother elephant helping her baby get out of a pit. This visual signifies how elephants are compassionate, softhearted, benevolent and humane. The second video signifies that elephants are sweet and caring animals, who care for each other and humans. Lastly, Ellen acknowledges her experience seeing an elephant in person when she traveled to Africa.
Ellen’s goal is to inspire others to fight for elephant protection. In the video, Ellen is wearing a sweater with polar bears on it, which illustrates that she cares deeply about animals, as well as it implies she is credible on this topic. The images and videos she presents not only support her facts, but also uses emotional appeals to inspire animal lovers and her viewers to post a photo on social media for her campaign to help raise money to protect elephants and to bring awareness to elephants.
LikeLike
https://goo.gl/images/ULTkuf
This image is of how texting and driving could cause disasters to others and yourself and even death. This picture is depicted in my point of view as rather emphasizing how this negligent action of texting while operating a vehicle is concluded. The reaper in the image is hinting towards an individual chosing to use any sort of device causing a distraction and disorienting others on the road. I viwed it as helping people by refraining using and device while around others driving on the road and walking on the sidewalk. Some people just view as unimportant, which arbitrarily leads them to using their phone on the road although there are signs that notify them of the causes. The people who are disregarding the helpful message of driving and texting, view it as if you text and drive you are going to die. Which is not necessarily true although it can lead to that point but others get that perception and just push that idea to the side. As I travel on the road with other individuals, I notice many using a device and not paying attention to the road ahead. I would think that the main message of not using it while driving should affect them greatly but it is the opposite. This ties in with our class by the perspective of the image showing how texting and driving could lead to consequences. I think there are numerous ways that a device can be used while operating a vehicle, like for example using the voice chat integrated in the phones and using speaking while calling instead of bringing it up to your ear. So in reality this image might impose how people view devices not mixing well with motor vehicles. It is true but not always if an individual takes precautions and not being negligent while on the road.
LikeLike
In the video I linked, Dale Hansen weighs in on shootings in the United States, after the tragedy at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. Hansen is a popular award-winning sportscaster on WFAA, an ABC affiliate. Specifically, he has a segment called “Extra Point” where he gives his opinion on a variety of topics. During yesterday’s segment, he decided to talk about shootings and made some very valid points. One point that he makes is how “everybody sends their thoughts and prayers, because that works so well”. He then provides some statistics; in America, there have been 18 high school shootings this year alone, and we still have ten and a half months to go. Since 2013, there have been a copious 290 shootings, which is an average of about one per week. He goes on to question that if the perpetrators were Muslims or Mexicans, how many new laws and how much money would be spent to stop the hysteria? But because the shooters are almost always a white kid, “there’s just nothing we can do”. Another eye-opening statistic Hansen provides is how the United States is five percent of the world’s population, yet we are responsible for 31 percent of the world’s mass shootings. In addition, he states how Americans worry about people coming to our country, but because we are so violent, they should worry about us coming to their country. The last point he makes is how after Australia had four mass shootings between 1987 and 1996, they passed stricter gun laws. Since then, they have had no mass shootings, “and here I thought guns don’t kill, people do”. Throughout this video, he uses sarcasm, which is a type of rhetoric. He is trying to get across how the United States have the power to resolve or reduce the issue we have with shootings, yet we seem to do nothing about it. The tone in his voice, alongside the sarcasm, made me stop and think about how enormous this issue is. I agree with Hansen; we need to put an end to this violence before any more innocent people perish.
LikeLike
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiOssG_-qvZAhUY0GMKHUuxAnYQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2Fgallery%2FblDQ2R4&psig=AOvVaw2ZgGcJntE1dOr1YeddGgTt&ust=1518922789987688
This picture is a beautiful representation of the conflict between man and technology. In today’s world humanity is in a constant technological race because technology relates to the power of a nation. Sadly along the road of technological expansion, many people become blind to the fact that technological expansion comes at the expense of Mother Nature. In this photo Mother Nature is staring into the threat of man kind. She is literally crying a river that is flowing the her beautiful valley of greenery. Man kind is a gun in the form of a super concrete jungle. The gun can be seen spewing out a subtle black fog slowly creeping up on Mother Nature. Mother Nature is depicted as such a harmonic luscious dimension with beautiful mountains filled with a variety of wildlife striving to complete its role in the eco-system. When I look at this picture I see the black fog in a constant battle with nature’s holy aura. This battle is ongoing and can be evident in everyday life. For example, you can think of the gun as a large scale construction project taking place in a forest region, the goal of the government is to complete their construction of a new city at all costs, how much nature is destroyed in the process is not considered as long as they secure the land for future buildings. It is a sad outcome, Mother Nature cries in the process and her cellular beauty is replaced with a mechanical evil. This cycle will always continue. With the birth of a new child, comes the demand for more of nature’s unreplenishable raw materials. With each proposal of a new city structure, comes the demand for more constructible land leading into the destruction of wildlife. No matter what way you look at it Mother Nature does not need man, Man needs Mother Nature. Sure, some people view this catastrophe as not important to them, some say things like “it isn’t going to effect me so I don’t care” or “We aren’t affecting anything, we are just taking advantage of what nature has to offer”. The hand holding the weapon represents the fiery cauldron that brews the ominous fog of global warming. Unfortunately, we are destroying nature at a rapid rate, a rate so rapid that we as humanity must face the Ultimatum. Will we choose to halt all industrial expansion? Or will we continue to ignore the obstacle in front of our face? If humanity choses to ignore the cries of Mother Nature, She will not lay dormant for much longer. Soon, Nature will unleash an onslaught of atmospheric hazards in the form of hurricanes, droughts, diseases etc. She continues to warn us of our fate by striking back at us. It will only get worse. According to basic Physics and Meteorology, the higher our atmospheric temperature gets = the more susceptible humans are to environmental catastrophes. Greater temperature = greater atmospheric pressure, and a greater atmospheric pressure means more hurricanes and less renewable water. If global warming continues, humans will continue to lower the heat capacity of the molecules that make up our air. Pretty soon, Nitrogen and Oxygen will side with Mother Nature and become her minions. Each year our average temperature rises producing more and more hurricanes and monsoons per year, just look at the calculations. Meteorology is not a pseudoscience but instead an elaborate branch of thermonuclear physics. It is very real and gives us evidence that can be reproduced again and again. Just look at what happens in the past when humans rely on computer generated graphics to explain the effects of Mother Nature. In the recent tragedy of Florida’s Hurricane Harvey, We were only trying to predict the hurricane’s path 2 days in advance and we made a mistake saying that it would only hit the southernmost part of Florida when in reality when it came down to it the hurricane reached totality several miles ahead of its predictions and stumped our government. Now consider how many mistakes society has/does make when we say that global warming will not affect us. How can we be so sure? How can anti-global warming propaganda leaders be so confident that what they are saying is true. Mother Nature will continue to make us suffer because our fate is in her hands, Gods hands if you wish to take that path. I chose this picture for my Weekly Journal because I think it rhetorically speaks to its viewers, telling us as a whole that what we are doing and what we are trying to achieve as a nation does not do our/future generations justice. Do not be ignorant! Respect the Environment or it will not respect you.
LikeLike
https://goo.gl/images/8ejmrT
This is an image of what was once seen as beautiful lips and now has a black hole burned into the side of it, where a cigarette might have once been set. I see something that could’ve remained beautiful for a longer amount of time but has now been destroyed due to poor choices. I think anyone would prefer to kiss beautiful lips that don’t have a hole burned into the side of them over these set of lips. I don’t think it’s so much the deformity that repels our interests, it’s more unattractive to us that she had the choice not to destroy herself.
I feel that this image serves as a message to tobacco users saying that smoking cigarettes is unattractive in a lot of ways. This fits with our class discussion about visual rhetoric because, when we live in a visual world where people are surrounded by anti-smoking pictures like these, people will begin to believe they are true. On campus, we are often surrounded by pictures of smiling people that are graduating, which is an example of visual rhetoric because we see ourselves in that position.
Images like this are very powerful in their exaggerative and straight-forward nature. This image is especially powerful because it contradicts something that was once seen as beautiful to most, against something that’s now seen as unattractive to most, and gives this image’s poetic value great contrast. I feel that this image has a very large target audience. It doesn’t take a lot of thought to comprehend the message that the artist is imposing upon his/her viewers and the further one go thinks about this image, the more one begins to appreciate it. This image can save lives by influencing people not to smoke cigarettes.
-Jack Adams
LikeLike
https://www.google.com/search?q=uncle+sam+protecting+nra+cartoon&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=zEUwZC8J-rsokM%253A%252Ci0jRs99oUnrW6M%252C_&usg=__Xgvsfr62r85bF37YCOFX8KJsn8M%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJrM66q6zZAhUU4WMKHVTpAhIQ9QEIKzAA#imgrc=zEUwZC8J-rsokM:
In this picture there are numerous amounts of bodies that have been killed by some type of gun shot wounds. In the middle if the picture Uncle Sam is shielding the NRA and telling it/him that “everything is ok” and ” you’re safe”. The message that this picture is showing is that no matter the amount of the carnage, or how many Americans die due to gun violence, there will be no repercussions or changes to the 2nd Amendment. This means that even though public officials, or our “leaders” would much rather keep their jobs in Capitol Hill rather than to protect the people that voted them in. This ties to our class because it shows how self-centered these politicians are. They are only in it for their wealth and well being, rather than stepping out of their bubble and thinking about the impact gun violence is having all over the nation. The reason I chose this image is because mass shootings across the nation is becoming an epidemic. People are viewing these massacres as something that is normal in America. This is not normal, and no one should accept it as the new norm! This is not about political parties, but about being a decent human being and valuing human life.
LikeLike
Barbara Kruger’s work “Untitled (Shafted)” is a very compelling piece of visual media. It is a digital print wall installation. It is in the elevator shaft of The Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) in the Los Angeles County Art Museum (LACMA). The piece takes up all three floors of the elevator shaft in BCAM and is an immense work of art to take in. The work is entirely in black, white and red. To observe the work properly, you have to start at the top floor of BCAM and work your way down. At the top of the work, it shows a quote from Orwell’s “1984” “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face, forever.” A man’s eyes are peering just over the floor. The middle of the work lists “Moisturizers, sneakers, cell phones, sweaters, lipstick, cars, abs” and “Computers, sun glasses, hand bags, watches, furniture, houses, and art.” These lists are divided by the quote “Plenty should be enough- right?” The ground floor shows shined shoes, looking as if they are attempting to walk out of the elevator shaft. The text reads “He entered shop after shop, priced nothing, spoke no word, and looked at objects with a wild and vacant stare.” The hollow foundation of the shaft also has superficial items listed, and the side walls of the shaft have a bit about the work itself.
“Untitled (Shafted)” is an incredibly influential visual piece. The limited color pallet makes the entire work stand out, and the bits of red really jump out against the actual piece. At the top floor of BACM The Orwell quote catches your attention, forcing you to think about what this means for the future of humanity, and if it is an accurate prediction of the future. The eyes at floor level follow your movement and watch, seemingly judging. The second floor of the BACM lists all the frivolous and even superficial things that occupy and demand so much of our time and energy that it makes you wonder if these things are the boot stomping on the human face. The division in the middle stating that plenty should be enough made me reflect on my level of materialism. The surrounding images made me reflect on how much these frivolous things mean to me. The sheer size coupled with the message imposes something close to guilt on me. The bottom floor has the most impact, as the shoes look as if they are about to crush you themselves. The quote, though I do not know the origin, make me reflect on the things I have bought. Could they be hollow, designed by people much like the person they are describing, designed with a wild and vacant stare?
LikeLike
This image is of a flag that is the asexual flag. For me, this flag represents who I am and what I feel and believe in. I identify with this flag because I don’t feel sexual attraction but it’s more than that, it’s an identity that I feel a part of.
The definition for the flag is asexuality. No, it is not the cell that reproduces asexually. It’s actually the absence of sexual feelings or association. It’s an umbrella term due to the fact that sex is very flexible. Some people feel no sexual feelings and can be completely repulsed by sex and others can have a high libido but just not feel sexual attraction.
This piece of the LGBTQ+ community is usually ignored or sometimes replaced for allies which is not the case. It is undervalued due to the fact the majority of the LGBTQ+ community is about sexuality and gender but asexuality is about the lack of sexuality.
This image is of importance and pertains to our class due to the fact it is of something that can be interpreted in many different ways and for me, it’s interpreted as a flag representing what I believe in, in a way.
LikeLike
This image shows a man looking like he is screaming at a woman. However, there is a fist emerging from his mouth, hitting the woman in the face.
I understand this image as “words hurt” and that “not all abuse is physical”. I think this image does a good job of illustrating how words could affect someone just as much as a physical attack. This image is especially relevant now, since the times are calling for change. More and more people are speaking up about abuse they’ve endured, whether it had been people actually touching them or it being someone saying things to them that have really resonated with them in a negative manner. I believe that even still, there are people out there who don’t understand how much weight words can carry. Some people are just ignorant to the fact that their words could be hurting someone, and it should be necessary to educate everyone on the fact that words can impact someone profoundly. This picture resonates with me because growing up, I actually would be a real loud mouth and “cool kid” so I said a lot of stuff and didn’t really know what I could have possibly made other people feel. I never knew what I was saying was wrong because the kids I surrounded myself were the same as I was. We just walked around saying and doing as we pleased. So this picture really struck me because I could relate it to my life and it related to this class because it was through critical thinking and realizing my hypocrisy, that I finally realized I needed to learn to have more empathy.
LikeLike