Using the perspective of visual rhetorical analysis

Preface

The purpose of this assignment is to utilize your foundational knowledge of visual culture and some key aspects of visual rhetoric to write a well-crafted essay, with the hope that you will think deeply about how persuasion works within the visual realm. You will analyze the rhetorical situation of an image with a person or people as the focus to analyse the representation of identity in the image as we have covered in class.

Your essay is a textual analysis of how an image depicts identity at the denotative and importantly at the connotative level. What messages does the image convey about people and identity, why and how? Look at the elements of the image to read what it is saying about people and be careful to avoid discussions of issues outside of what is represented in the image (i.e. global warming, gun control etc.).

Assignment Instructions

Using the ideas and concepts that we are exploring you will write an original essay. For this essay you are expected use one of the readings for this class to support your reading of identity in the image.

Choose an image that has a person or people as a center piece, and that uses rhetoric in an interesting and persuasive manner to construct cultural identity. By “interesting,” I mean that the text (the image) in question should be genuinely sophisticated–there is no point in analyzing the obvious. Write an analysis that will help your readers understand how the text works to persuade its audience(s) to see cultural identity in a specific way. You may want to link the rhetorical aspects of the piece to distinct subtexts you identify that make the persuasive argument float.

The length of your essay will be 4-5 pages, (minimum length 4 full pages) not including your images and works cited page. You will submit your assignment typed and double spaced, using a 12 point font such as Times, Arial, or Calilbri. Format your essay (i.e. first page, page numbers, in-text citations, works cited etc.) according to the MLA style of essay presentation. Make sure that you have appropriately edited, cited, and revised your essay. Do not forget to also cite your image(s). Include a copy of your image with your essay as an appendix.

Objectives

Create a strong thesis about the representation of identity in the image which you can support in an strong analysis of its elements (i.e. The denotation and connotation meanings of the image). The goal is to present a strong critical reading of the image not personal opinions, you will lose marks for the latter.

Practice writing in a scholarly voice. For this essay do not use the first person “I” to avoid writing an opinion piece.

In your rhetorical analysis and discussion of the representation of identity, reveal the piece’s ideological underpinnings, or its subtext(s).

Try to expand/challenge/transform the audience’s understanding of the image. This necessitates a strong connotative reading of the image, and a discussion of its function and your evaluation of its effectiveness.

Use a secondary source that is scholarly to support your lens and reading of the image. Use at least one reading we have covered in class. Additional external scholarly source are unnecessary. (Scholarly means – peer-reviewed articles or scholarly books only.)

Document it appropriately and according to MLA standards.