A Question
Michael described the rhetoric of photography in the first lecture on photographs as well in the lecture on music. Im not sure I fully understand what the rhetoric of photgraphy refers to. Does it have to do with accepting truth in a photograph for what it is and depending on its purpose ie. retouched models. (the myth) or is it using imagery to sell as in the example of good-looking people and beer in a picture?
posted by gabrielle @ 10:00 p.m.
2 Comments:
I just wanted to attempt an explaination for rhetoric in photography. I would have to agree with your beer commercial example. Its the attempt to persuade the audience of the affect that the product has. Whether it does or not is up to the consumer. I'm not sure if this helps, for I could be mislead as well. Worth a shot!
Mike T
I was having trouble with this as well until I read on Wikipedia under “Rhetoric” that Kenneth Burke, a man who defined humans as the “symbol-using animal,” defined rhetoric as “the use of symbols to induce cooperation in those who by nature respond to symbols.” This definition of rhetoric makes it easier for us, well for me at least, to think of rhetoric being applied to medias other than literature or speeches. It makes it easier to understand how rhetoric can be applied to other media like photography. Companies use rhetoric in their advertisements to make people want to buy their products. If we just think about advertisements through photography, we can see that by modifying images companies can make consumers want to buy their products. Rhetoric can be used in photography to make the viewer of the photograph believe that photograph is a true photograph when in reality it has been altered.
I don't know if this makes sense, but hopefully it can help. :)
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