Description
Do you wanna date my Avatar is a special music video performance performed by a rising group of web performers named The Guild in 2009. The performers and other off-stage people involved in the production used music and dance performances produced in the 80s and 90s as their inspiration. The performance was produced right in one of the performers’ closet and not really in Hollywood as some sources claim. The video presents to us the members of the Web series, the Guild, in their individual avatars, singing, dancing, and rapping. This paper will focus on the music video performance, Do You Wanna Date My Avatar by the Guild, presenting a rhetorical analysis of the ad, the target audience, as well as a brief lyrical analysis.
Thesis. After the analysis, we can see that The Guild actors did a good job in entertaining the audience because of their comic way of exposing the benefits of socialization through social media, specifically the use of avatars. Choosing to produce a music video performance turned out to be very effective because it successfully appealed to the visual and mental aspect of the audience.
Rhetorical Analysis
The goal of this analysis is to determine the effectiveness of the music video performance in entertaining its target and outside audiences. It can be said that the rhetorician behind the music video performance uses all three rhetorical appeals—pathetic, logic, and ethics, although in varying extents. We know that a performer uses pathos when there is at least one emotion involved. Based on the lyrics, the performers somehow turn to the excitement and possibility of friendship and romance behind social media interactions. One of the best examples would be this part of the lyrics “I’m craving to emote with you, so many animations I can do, be anything you want me to be, C’mon, C’mon and share a potion with me.” There are many other segments that stimulate the same idea. The use of logic (logos) in the performance was also prominent. In this part for example “Grab your mouse and stroke the keys, here in cyberspace there’s no disease, pick a time, send a tell to me, just pay, just pay a small subscription fee,” the performers are trying to give to advantages and disadvantages, and in summary, the practicality of using the World Wide Web. This same part also invokes ethicality (ethos), although in a negative way. This is because the idea of sex would most likely stir in the minds of the audience once they hear or read this part.
Target Audience Analysis
Judging from the style and level of performance, the music video would have been intended for a highly diverse audience. Firstly, it could be intended for the fans of the Guild. This is indeed a good point because we have in the video all official members of the group of web performers, plus the fact that they were wearing their avatars. It could be a publicity move to increase the internet users’ awareness of the group and their performances on the internet. Secondly, it could be for people who use social networks and social media devices. Avatar is generally a term used to describe an individual’s appearance in the World Wide Web, specifically in social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and instant messaging groups and platforms. Thirdly, the music video performance could be intended for people who are into online dating. In that case, socialization through the use of social media is the idea that they were trying to promote. The performance generally appeals the greatest to these three groups of audiences, each with their own characteristics.
Angle of Vision
All three rhetorical appeals were incorporated in order to stimulate the audience’s emotion, and logical and ethical thinking, not in an entirely persuading manner, but rather in a more entertaining one. The performers, which were also one of the producers, must have envisioned that if they could create a performance that would present the pros and cons of social media to the audience and entertain them at the same time, the goals would be more easily met. The effect is actually good. Many audiences were actually pretty convinced that social media interactions could do no harm and can be entertaining at the same time. In conclusion, we can say that the performers did a good job entertaining and at some point, persuading the audience.
