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VISUAL RHETORIC

Topics

• Define: Visual Rhetoric• Characteristics of Visual Rhetoric• Rhetorical Figures• The Model of Visual Rhetoric• The Genre of Photojournalism

Classical rhetoric as applied to arguments was concerned with the means of giving the greatest possible persuasive power to the written or spoken word.

Pictures can also, like words be used to pose

arguments, raise questions, create fictions, present metaphors, or even mount a critique and are not intended as faithful copies of reality.

Define: Visual Rhetoric

Sonja K. Foss generally defined visual rhetoric as the study of the use of visual symbols to influence and manage meanings.

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion and gives possibilities to the designer to construct appropriate messages. The purpose of rhetoric is the efficient use of language in order to shape attitudes in others and influence their behavior.

It operates on the basis of logical and esthetic modes to affect interaction in both a rational and an emotional way.

Characteristics of Visual Rhetoric

Not every visual object is visual rhetoric.

What turns a visual object into a communicative artifact—a symbol that communicates and can be studied as rhetoric—is the presence of three characteristics.

3 Characteristics of Visual Rhetoric

• Symbolic ActionTo qualify as visual rhetoric, an image must go beyond serving as a sign, however, and be symbolic, with that image only indirectly connected to its referent.

• Human InterventionVisual rhetoric requires human action in the process of creation and in the process of interpretation.

• Presence of an AudienceVisual elements are arranged and modified by a rhetor not simply for self-expression but also for communication with an audience.

Rhetorical Figures

The fundamental operations of rhetorical figures and their relationship

Relation1. Identity: is created when the significance between two

elements is identical2. Similarity: there is at least one significant relation in form or

content between two elements3. Difference: the relation between two elements differ totally,

one element is totally different than the other4. Opposition: at least one relation between two elements in

form or content are opposed5. False homology: two elements are compared, however there

is no resemblance in reality between the elements, like a paradox

Rhetorical Operation• Addition: One or more elements are added to the proposition

(repetition is seen as addition of identical elements)• Suppression: One or more elements of the proposition are

suppressed, and two derived operations: 1. Substitution is analyzed as a suppression followed by an

addition: an element is suppressed in order to be replaced by another

2. Exchange includes two reciprocal substitutions: two elements of the proposition are permutated

Metonymy: A meaning indicated verbally is set in relation to another meaning, based on a thematic connection.

Synechdoche: A substitution for a part of something which stands for a whole.

Amplification: The expansion of a topic through the assemblage of relevant particulars

Metaphor: An implied comparison between two things of unlike nature

Personification A comparison where by human qualities are assigned to inanimate objects

Hyperbole: The exaggeration of an object beyond its natural and proper dimensions

The Model of Visual Rhetoric

Connection Similiarity Opposition

Juxtaposition ❶

Fusion ❷

Replacement ❸Visu

al S

truc

ture

Meaning Operation

Richiness more

Complexity

more

• Juxta-position: two unities of significance (two images or signs) stand next to each other

• Fusion: two elements of significance are combined

• Replacement: one element is exchanged for another

❶

❷

❸

The Genre of Photojournalism

The genre of photojournalism offers a particular case for the merits of the narrative theories and criticism in visual rhetorical analysis.

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima - Joe Rosenthal (February 23, 1945)

The Oklahoma City bombing, a fireman rescuing a child - Charles Porter (1995)

The My Lai Massacre (the Vietnam War mass murder-March 16, 1968)

What’s Your Message?© 2011

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