Rhetorical Analysis of Project 3

The rhetorical analysis is one of the most helpful ways to begin your writing and your research. Once you decided who your audience is, why you want to write whatever it is you're writing, and why it matters that you are the one writing, it becomes much easier to begin the writing process. Below, I will write the rhetorical analysis for Project 3, which is a public argument.

Author

I decided not to use from my major for part of my project, but rather to find something in another area that I am passionate about to sort of broaden my horizons. I'm not the most involved person in social issues, however the issue of not taking victims of sexual assault seriously and blaming the victims is something that I think is a huge failure in our society, and the case of Kesha and Dr. Luke highlights it perfectly.

My family is pretty liberal, considering that we're middle class white people. I was raised in a very liberal environment where I was always taught that it's important to help people who are down at the time if you have the means to help them. I also was raised in the church so I feel like in some ways that makes me feel like I have a responsibility to speak out for someone who has obviously been terribly wronged by a huge corporation that has no care for her as a person, but only as a money-maker. I feel like this makes it obvious which side I'm on in the case of Kesha being unable to get out of her record contract after sexual assault and years of abuse.

Audience

I want my audience for this project to be people who are maybe on the fence about this particular argument. Obviously it would be nice to have everyone agree with my opinion, but that won't happen, so I'm going to make this project for the people who are on the fence and may be able to be persuaded that a view based on humanity and not blaming victims is the right way to go.

I think that depending on the social background of a person that would shape how they feel about this issue. I think that someone who had been through a similar trauma would definitely have a clear stance on the issue, but someone who hasn't been through such a trauma may not know what to think.

I also think that gender has a lot to do with it, because although assault happens to men, its more prevalent among women and just by being a woman, I think that gives people a certain stance on this issue. I think not being a woman, or not being in a vulnerable position, like Kesha was, makes it hard to understand why claiming that you were assaulted and not being listened to and being forced to continue to work with the person who assaulted you, hard to imagine.

With this position of people who don't agree with what I think, I think the best way to convince them would probably be just to form the best possible argument that I can for why they should think the way that I think. If it's a good argument then maybe they'll change their minds, but it is likely that someone who vehemently disagrees will continue to do so no matter how much information you give them to try and change their mind.

I think the best way to try and connect with my audience is to make the story seem real. So often we read things in magazines or online and its like wow that happened but you don't really understand that it's a real thing that is happening to a real person right now. I think that if I can make readers who are on the fence realize that this is a real issue, then they may change their minds.

I would like to think that my parents are my target audience. They're liberal, but not overwhelmingly, and although they're both really progressive for their age, I think that they can be old-fashioned on women's issues sometimes. I think the best way to convince them of my perspective would be to present proof. I know that I could probably change their minds if I had proof about my stance.

Purpose/Message

For this particular project, after watching, I want my viewers to agree with my perspective that Kesha is a victim, both of sexual assault and corporate greed, and her voice is being ignored like the voices of so many other victims in similar situations. I would like my viewer to become more sensitive about social issues involving ignoring victims.

I think the most important thing that I still need to research is the action that is being taken by Sony to suppress Kesha's voice and how they are keeping her from making art and from living her life in the best way because they want to use her to make money.

Context

What genre?

For this project I will be making a video essay.

I think people expect there to be a lot of information condensed in a video essay. It shouldn't be too long that the viewer loses interest, but it needs to be long enough to be considered substantial. It has to have a lot of visuals also.

I've made a few videos over the years for various classes and assignments, my last one last semester. So I would say that my history will definitely help during this assignment.

I think because I'm relatively comfortable and familiar with this project that it will help me to make a better project than if I had to stress about form and content. 

I think that in the video essay genre, the most effective conventions are visuals and the ability to use so many types of media. For example, you can use quotes from writing, you can use sound bits, and you can use visuals all to help you get your point across. Making an argument is definitely going to be most effective when you have all these tools to use. The use of visuals is extremely important as well because when I watch a video, that's what keeps my attention. If I just wanted to listen to something, I would listen to a podcast, but with a video, the visuals are what keep your attention.

When?

I think that right now the biggest issue that is happening that has to due with this particular case of Kesha is the amount of other court cases where the main defense is to blame the victim. In Pennsylvania, a woman was blamed for her rape by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office. A simple Google search will show that there are hundreds of cases like these that are coming to light.In our legal system, it still happens that rape is not treated as serious as it should be.

This topic has been talked about everywhere. Here is an article from the Daily Beast. Here is an article from the Daily Mail. Here is an article from the Daily Edge. Here is a video by New You Media.

The biggest three counterarguments to my point are as follows:

1. Kesha signed a contract with Sony and they have agreed that she doesn't have to work with Dr. Luke but she still wants out of the contract. People think that she should have to stay with Sony even though she went through a trauma because they are trying to make it better by giving her a new producer.
2. The public opinion is that Dr. Luke is a rapist, but he has not been convicted, so legally he is innocent but Kesha is slandering his name.
3. There is a large amount of people who think that Kesha was making the whole thing up simply because she was unhappy with her contract.