Rhetorical Analysis 3: Art

The argument being made here is that when we look into the mirror, we see problems and distortions that really aren't there. The main audience Picasso is trying to reach is teenage girls, though it may be for all women in general.

For me, this painting is amazingly emotional. The girl has a look on her face that isn't quite sadness...it's more like disappointment. However, she is lovely, with a beautiful skin tone and flowing hair. Her reflection is something out of nightmares. It is twisted, discolored, and misshapen. The girl is by no means perfect, but she certainly isn't as terrible as her reflection. I think Picasso is also appealing to logic in this painting. If this girl can be beautiful in real life and yet be disappointed in her reflection, perhaps we are all beautiful in real life regardless of our reflection.

I think that this argument is suffcient. The expression on her face and the radical difference between the truth and the reflection is enough to convince any audience of his argument. And I think his argument is typical. Everytime anything is argued, in magazines or commercials or whatever, we are expected to relate to the models. Whatever is true for them can be true for us. Picasso employs the same idea here. His argument has also been found to be accurate, most people do have a distorted image of themselves. It is also completely relevant. Every girl in the world could confess to having a similar experience.

Overall, I believe that Picasso's argument works. He reaches into the deepest darkest part of a woman and puts it on display without shame, which is why the girl is naked. He understands the pain that every girl has felt at some time or another with their own reflection. And he manages to comfort and show us that although we are not perfect, we are better than what we see in the mirror, and we are beautiful.

Rhetorical Analysis 2: Commercial

The argument being made is that if you shave with their razor, your skin will be as smooth as a baby. They say that if your skin is as smooth as a baby's, women will want you, the assumption being that women love smooth skin. The audience is men that shave, and perhaps specifically fathers of young children, though I don't think it needs to be that exclusive.

I believe the main way that the argument is being made is through humor. The commercial parodies action heroes like Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Lee using a baby! The whole concept is that of fathers being jealous of the attention their sons are getting from their mothers, which is also humorous. There isn't really any logic or appeals to authority.

There is sufficient humor to make the audience laugh, which is probably winning half the battle, knowing men. However, there are no facts or studies, or anything at all really to back up what they are saying. Their reasoning is about as typical as men's reasoning ever is when it comes to attracting women. They all want a woman to snuggle up to them like that, and it makes sense that a razor could make them attractive in that way. It is accurate in that they know the best way to persuade their audience--action parodies, humor, and the promise of beautiful women. I don't know that it is relevant to the argument, but it is relevant to the audience.

This argument is effective because it works well for its audience. It makes men laugh, and it gives them promises of being kissed all over by hot women. What more could they ask for?

Rhetorical Analysis 1: Advertisment

The argument that is being made in this advertisment is that by using the Thermador Masterpiece kitchen, your cooking experience will be so much easier that you will be inspired to work on huge projects. This ad is from a magazine called "The Nest," which is specifically geared towards newlywed young women around 20-35 years old.

Though they never cite a source for some of their claims, they do try to appeal to authority by saying that the oven is "state-of-the-art" and features "the largest capacity on the market." They call the cooktops "powerful" and claim that the ventilation "clears the air." There is no proof for this, there are no comparisons with other brands, there is no way to know how the studies were done, or even what a word like "powerful" really means.

Their biggest appeal is to emotions. At the bottom of the ad, it reads "Thermador: An American Icon." This makes you think of a Stepford wife type of experience, which is exactly what the picture provides, as well as giving you a sense of patriotism. The picture is intriguing because it features so many different types of desserts, and yet is clean and organized which any cook would tell you it never can be. In this way, it is appealing to those that hate the mess that always builds up in the kitchen. The picture is also designed to make it look impossibly easy. So easy, in fact, that the model is working on all these projects is wearing a nice dress with her hair done perfectly and is even wearing high heels. She is also smiling, tossing up what looks like crepes and pulling out six cakes. Everything suggests ease and relaxation.

In their appeal to logic, they basically make three claims: First, that the "powerful cooktops featuring advanced Star burners fire the imagination." Though it's a nice pun, this doesn't actually make any sense. Imagination is not associated with powerful cooktops. If you're not creative with a weak cooktop, there is no reason why you would be creative with a powerful one. Second, that "sleek ventilation with electronic controls clears the air and clarifies possibilities." I can think of many reasons why I would want ventilation that clears the air, but clarifiying possibilities is not one of them. Perhaps it is a little easier to think if I'm not using a cookie sheet to wave smoke away from the smoke detector, but other than that, I don't see where they are going with this argument. The last is the most convincing. "Spacious, state-of-the-art wall ovens featuring the largest capacity on the market accommodates the most daring ventures." This does make sense. If the oven really is larger than others, then it will be easier to do more with them, which would accommodate daring ventures such as large dinner parties and such.

I do think this ad is effective, however. Although there are major problems with the logic and the appeal to authority, the emotion is so strong that I think it would work. Because this is geared toward newlywed young women, they will be paying more attention to the fact that this is what they have thought their kitchen would look like someday. We can scream women's rights as much as we want, but I think deep down, most women would want to be able to easily make a huge batch of chocolate desserts while looking beautiful and having fun. Also, because they are newlyweds, they probably are still in the honeymoon phase, and believe that life can be like this. I believe that they would look around at their dingy basement apartment kitchen and think, "If I had a kitchen like that, I would be able to make the things she's making, and I would get inspired to make things more often." I think that when these women go out to remodel or replace parts of their kitchen, they'll see "Thermador: An American Icon" and remember the hopeful feeling they had. They may vaguely remember the claims that it made, forgetting that there was no basis. Though this ad is not perfect, I believe that it does accomplish what it intends to, and does a good job of it.