In modern times we are bombarded with so many news stories in our everyday existence it can often be difficult to distinguish the true relevance of this information within our own lives. Rhetoric refers to the writer’s intent to persuade, motivate, and intrigue us about a topic. My understanding what motivates readers; writers can employee different techniques to make their message apparent.
With the recent attention focused on animal rights, one key issue that was the focus of many media forms is animal cruelty. Media outlets seem to understand this need to inform the public and also keep them interested in the subject. Educating the public is essential in ending the problem of animal cruelty in society.
The public service video “Sarah McLachlan Animal Cruelty Video” raises ethical issues surrounding animal cruelty by appealing to the viewer’s emotions. The video reiterates that many animals are in need of assistance. The audience is all inclusive, intending to get the message of animal cruelty out to the masses and inspire support for the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). The video plays upon emotion by expression concern for the welfare of animals everywhere and showing heartbreaking shots of injured and abandoned animals. The video sparks a need to act, that intrigues the reader and forces them to think about their own views of the subject.
This video takes several key interests, such as the problems of both animal cruelty and over population to engage the viewer and persuade them to watch the video. By combining these issues, the video is more likely to be video by someone who is interested in one of these two topics than if the video only addressed a single issue. The video begins by shocking the viewer with statistics that show the vast number of animals in animal shelters that are not rescued and the staggering amount of animal cruelty cases. Shock is also evident in the imagery used, in one scene a dog staggers and falls, implying that its injury was the result of cruelty or neglect. Sad looking animals stuck in cages are all images meant to inspire the viewer to pick up the phone and take actions. Emphasis is placed upon the eyes of the animals that radiate sadness and explore the depth of animal emotion. I am sure that this aspect was meant to convey that animals do indeed have emotions and are worthy of the same respect and love that we would show another human. The use of particularly “cute” dogs and kittens intensify the feeling and is a ploy to draw in more viewers.
The video also draws in key public figures, in this case singer Sarah McLachlan, to express their stances on the issue. The use of a celebrity and one of her songs as the soundtrack for the video is designed to draw in viewers who might be fans of hers. Her words carry weight because of her own compassion about the subject and the emotional undertones of the song. At the end of the video Ms. McLachlan explains her own commitment to the SPCA and asks the viewers to donate to their cause. The fact that she is cuddling a dog in the final scenes also suggest that she is an animal lover as well and not doing the video for her own profit.
Despite citing a few key facts at the beginning of this video, I do think that the SPCA did miss an opportunity to create a more “educational” video by discussing more factual information. The video was slightly unclear as to what the SPCA did to help these animals, the images shown were only of unhappy animals. Imagery or discussion of what the SPCA does to help animals would have made the viewer more sympathetic to their plea of donations. To someone unfamiliar with the SPCA little information is given about the organization. The video also never specifies if animal cruelty or animal rescue is their primary focus.
Overall, rhetoric is continuously used when we view media around use. Different techniques are employed to both engage and educate a wide variety of viewers. Most of the video is imagery set to background music with a few facts in the beginning of the film and a short endorsement from the celebrity, Sarah McLachlan. The video could be more informative, however the primary goal was to appeal to the emotion of viewers and it succeed in doing so. This video is a perfect example of how images and music can impact how a person feels taking them on a roller coaster of emotion.
Works Cited:
Sarah McLachlan Animal Cruelty. Dir. - -. Perf. Sarah McLachlan . -, 2010. Film.
