This week we’ll move on to UNIT 2 major essay, for which you will do something similar to what you did for UNIT 1 essay: choose one of three weekly VISUAL RHETORIC assignments you have already done and expand it into a 4-5 page essay. 

Some things I noticed were missing while grading your UNIT 1 papers: Lack of a proper title for your analysis essay that should reflect your thesis. 2. there should be actual visual rhetoric analysis instead of just extented summary of the text or video3. Lastly, please do not turn in the same short weekly assignment paper without expanding it substantially.

Assignment:

Select one of the given genres of visual texts we have covered in class throughout the weekly shorter assignments:

CLIP from ABBAS KIAROSTAMI’s TEN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBNArD7-dpw&list=PLBA65D885F11C48D6

A clip from Solange’s “Don’t Touch My Hair”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTtrnDbOQAU

TRAILER FOR MEMORIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDU6B93ltds

Expand the shorter response piece to a 4-5 page essay with a strong thesis statement, body paragraph (where you go into actual visual analysis) and conclusion. Your essay will include about 6 paragraphs. Begin with an intro para where you employ description of the image/video/visual text and posit a thesis statement. (1 para) Go to the body paragraphs to carefully analyze the visual text and lay out the evidence in detail using the context in which the picture was taken and how you find the image and its composition compelling. Use the five-step method from the Visual Rhetoric video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqgAfu9IdyM&t=112s (4 paragraphs). End with a strong conclusion para that refers back to the thesis statement you started out with and leaves the reader with something to think about. (1 para) The inferences you draw about the material (your perspective on the material) should come from your detailed description and observation and close reading of the material.

Here are some questions to think about:

1. In which cultural context (historical era, country/nation, sub­cultural group, political climate) was this image originally produced?

2. Is any information (such as text, or a detail of the image) highlighted or stressed to attract your attention? Why do you think this is?

3. What cultural values does the image evoke? Does the image reinforce these values or question them?

4. What role is played by the words that accompany the image? How do they clarify, reinforce, blur, or contradict the image’s message?

5. What overall impression / feeling does the image create in you?

6. What positive or negative feelings about individuals or ideas does the image intend to evoke in its viewers (what are its appeals to pathos?)? Is this at odds with the actual feelings it evoked in you?

7. What is your impression of the creators of this image? Do they make any overt appeals to ethos?

8. Does the image make any appeals to logos? (In addition to facts / statistics / etc., remember also reasoning based on common sense, reasoning based on cultural values, analogies, etc.)

9. Overall, do you think that this image makes an effective argument? Why or why not?

You should draw from the visual rhetoric video and the above questions to reach a conclusion based on evidence and reasoning.

Some Sections of The McGraw-Hill Guide (5th Edition) relevant for this:

? Pg 213: Writing a Visual Analysis

? Pg 22-23: Reading Visuals/ Rhetorically Reading Advertisements with Text and Visuals