Rhetorical Analysis: Thank You for Smoking

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Rhetorical Analysis: Thank You for Smoking

Introduction

Communication is a means of human interaction through which cultural practices, beliefs, norms, rituals, and patterns are shared. As individuals meet and interact, a set of behaviors, attitudes and perceptions are shared. Such distinguishing sets of customs and rituals become part of the community's culture. Communication is an on-going process that shapes cultural values in an attempt to nourish our heritage and preserve the essential elements of our culture.

The rhetorical analysis refers to analyzing a movie or the source; it is about the discussion which relates to the audience, purpose, situation etc. it is a source which involves the critical observation, situation, and other background information. It is a mode of the analysis which focuses on the video itself. In rhetorical analysis the analyst is required to analyze the effects of visual elements on the perception of the person who is experiencing the movie. In this paper I will be focusing on the movie “Thank you for Smoking” for my assignment, the movie written and directed by Jason Reitman. Research is defined as a process by the scientific method seeks to obtain relevant and reliable information to understand, verify and apply knowledge based on this premise, we see in the movie "Thank You for Smoking" to a man (Nick Naylor) whose work is based on information and apply the knowledge gained in the defense of the tobacco companies (Griffin, 2011).

Kenneth Burke identified the use of meta-linguistic to the fiction which indicates the adoption of five approaches or elements to rhetorical analysis of a communication process. Burke discussed the implication of these elements which identifies the motivational implications of dramatism. When these elements are combined together they form the dramatistic pentad. These elements include: Act, Scene, Agent, Agency and Purpose. For this paper the focus of discussion is the movie “Thank you for Smoking”. Throughout this paper I will establish Burke's perspectives of dramatism and relate it to the communication inferences of the movie.

Dramatistic Pentad

Act

The elements refer to the notion of everything which describes or relates to the description of “What”, it may include the action, communication, verbal expression or the happenings. The element identifies the concept of realism in a drama. In our case the movie is about humor and pragmatism. The film Thank You for Smoking can be categorized as a dark comedy that follows a lobbyist, Nick Naylor. Dark comedies take a serious topic, and make light of the topic through satire. A good example of rhetoric can be found in Thank You for Smoking during a scene where Nick Naylor delivers an argument against putting a skull and crossbones label on every pack of cigarettes. This is done during a hearing in front of a congressional committee lead by Senator Finistirre from Vermont. Naylor's audience is the committee and members of the audience including his young son. Naylor is defending a controversial idea with controversial evidence and support, whether it goes against ...