Evaluation of Rhetorical Situations

This blog post will consist of several examples of opinionated speech acts by people in my discipline and brief analysis of the texts.


1) Censhorship: Graphic Novel About Holocaust 'Maus' Banned in Russia For It's Cover

Becker, Hallye. Screenshot from my computer, September 24th, 2015. Accessed via NPR.org

Author/ Speaker

Art Spiegelman is a cartoonist, editor, teacher at the School of Visual Arts, and comics advocate. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden but is of American nationality. His father was Holocaust survivor and 'Maus' is his father's story. He did art for the New Yorker and has been known for some controversial covers. 

Audience

 Since this was an interview on NPR, the audience would be whoever was interested in listening. Generally, listeners of NPR tend to be fairly educated and range from ages 25-54. (Source) Spiegelman is mostly talking about his own opinions and experiences, but talks with somewhat elevated language that suits his college-graduate audience. 

Context

Obviously, the display and discussion of swastikas is highly contentious. It has a dark history behind it, and is actually banned from being shown at all in ten or more countries. The book obviously does not promote Nazism, as Spiegelman and his father are Jewish, but the book was removed none the less. This interview came out in April of 2015, so it is fairly recent. This book being removed from shelves has been an issue before, so Spiegelman is quite well versed in the controversy. 

2) Reliable Conservation: The Importance of Art Conservation: An Artist's Perspective 

Becker, Hallye. Screenshot from my computer, September 24th, 2015. Accessed via huffingtonpost.com

Author/ Speaker

Barbara Ernst Prey is a prominent watercolor artist and is a member on the National Council on the Arts. To become a member, you need to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. She seems to frequently write for the Huffington post, has a "Women of Distinction" award given by the Senate, is nationally recognized for her talent, and has several studios in the United States. 

Audience

This was a post written by Ernst herself in which she discusses her own eye for watercolor preservation while also sitting in on watching conservators at work. Demographic data for the Huffington post has not been given, but it is generally regarded as a credible website. Most readers would be assumed to be interested in arts and conservation, and she talks about it like an educated artist would. 

Context

As Prey admits herself, conservation is an often ignored topic. This was published in 2013, so it may be a little dated, but her expertise was still relevant at the time of publication. As someone well-versed in the art world, Prey has a keen interest in this topic. 

3. More on Conservation Techniques: "Lasers & Art Conservation" 

Becker, Hallye. Screenshot from my computer, September 24th, 2015. Accessed via huffingtonpost.com

Author/ Speaker

Martha Waggoner is a member of the Associated Press, is President of the News Media Guild, and is known for writing and editing. Very little of her personal information is accessible, so I couldn't find much more than other writings of hers. She seems prolific and fairly well known, but would not be considered an expert in the field of art conservation. I would be more interested in looking into people she quoted than the author herself.

Audience

This is again, a post on the Huffington Post's website. It would garner interest from those curious about the art world and conservation. Most readers would be assumed to be interested in arts and conservation, and she talks about it like with a professional and educated tone. 

Context

This was a post written by Ernst herself in which she discusses her own eye for watercolor preservation while also sitting in on watching conservators at work. Demographic data for the Huffington post has not been given, but it is generally regarded as a credible website. Most readers would be assumed to be interested in arts and conservation, and she talks as an educated outsider would. It was posted in 2013, so research methods may be more updated since then .

REFLECTION

 I read Victoria and Swati's evaluations as well. Looking at their blog posts, it seems that I could have put a little more effort into the analysis of my three sources.
Swati's was more in-depth than my own, and was more precise in deciding who the audience would be for her writing. Being able to decide clearly who the audience for a piece is makes it easier to get to the heart of rhetorical analysis.  A good piece of rhetorical speech will not only be cohesive and well-written, it will be well written for it's specific audience, so understanding who the author writes for makes it easy to break apart analysis.
 I also feel as though Victoria did a better job than me in explaining contextual details. She describes the breakdown of the article's composition and details. Being able to look past just place of publication and author is crucial to being able to understand credibility and types of arguments used in a document to make a point. She did a good job of breaking things down.