-In this post, I examine in more detail the rhetorical devices discussed by Walker and Chaplin.
! Rhetoric is a persuasive form of speech, and therefore, all of these devices are considered through their application to persuasion. All of these elements can be used in other media forms.
Hyperbole: Here is an example from the Chevy Truck TV campaign: Like a Rock. (There are better examples of hyperbole in car ads, where the commercial shows the car performing something impossible.)
-Hyperbole uses extreme exaggeration. We understand that the truck isn't literally indestructible, but the advertisers want us to see it as really strong, nearly indestructible.
-Hyperbole seems to play on an enjoyment of fantasy. We know that Tobby Macquire (spelling) can't climb buildings, but we want to see a humble, friendly, likable person do that. We know that cars can't land from tall buildings, but we want to see a ______ (insert brand) land on the street undamaged. (This is where brand is important. A Jeep fits this commercial better than a Lexus.)
-Hyperbole plays to lust for a fantasy while simultaneously denying that fantasy, with the only possibility of fulfillment through buying the product. (This is where hyperbole differs from fantasy in movies: Spider Man is understood to actually be able to climb buildings.)
Personification: Because we find ourselves in the object made human, we generate affection for an internalized image, which we would ordinarily reserve for our most loved characters (or real people), for objects like cleaning supplies.
Symbol: Instant recognition, no interpretation, and fixed to the degree that words are.
-Symbols don't create personal interaction. For example: the US flag. I understand the flag not through my experience in the US, but through what the broader American public has defined it. Symbols are reminders of our relationships to groups (whether in favor or opposition). Symbols remind us where we belong and where we don't, what we stand for and what we oppose.
Metonymy: Visual similitude. Walker and Chaplin describe this as a "change of name" and "cause for effect."
-They use the example of the "hippie" who used to ask: "I need bread, man." According to Walker and Chaplin: "bread" is a "substitute for money because money could by bread."
! This seems like an over-simplification. "Hippies" don't say "bread" for money because they need food. "Bread" is a signifier, indicating those who are in the know, "one of us," and those who don't belong.
-Walker and Chaplin use the idea of substitution to define Van Gogh's Open Bible.
-According to Walker and Chaplin: Bible=Van Gogh's father and Novel=Van Gogh. But here they are too concerned with meaning (as if there's only one) rather than effect. Metonymy can be used as a form of inclusion or exclusion.
! It is more significant that the artist is using personal narratives in his work. Once we are invited to see it this way, we are included in the artist's world, and more likely to side with the novel, spatially dominated by the oppressive Bible, yet still shining brighter.
! More importantly, for the books to have real metonymic potential, and mean something more than a family portrait, we can't limit the Bible to equal father and the novel to equal Van Gogh.
Synecdoch: "parts that stand for the whole"
? What is the effect? Showing part of a soda bottle offers viewers the opportunity for participation, and they mentally complete the bottle through closure.
! With Pop-Art: the subject is so obvious that the meaning can't come from the content. (A Brillo box is not about Brillo brand steel wool.) Synecdoche delays the "what's it about?" just long enough to make the particular brand of soda the answer and the meaning.
! Cubists seem to do the opposite: We are denied entrance and participation because every angle is revealed to us.
Allegory: Prolongs our participation. Each moment of recognition can become connected to the place where we discovered it (as our experiences with books or music are connected to where we first read or heard them.
Alliteration: repetition of assonance or rhyme. In images, the equivalent can be found in "repetitions or patterns of colors, forms, shapes and brush-marks."
! Alliteration makes the viewer a performer of the piece. The repetitions of sounds make the words easy to remember and replay. In Van Gogh's Starry Night, the brushstrokes invite the viewer to trace (with eyes or hands) the movement of the artist's hand.
Antithesis: "opposition, contrast". This can be used to limit the terms of a discussion to a clear binary. When the viewer is given only two options, both in strong opposition to the other, the viewer is called upon to make a choice. When artists or authors are using antithesis, one position will represent the winning side, the smarter choice. The viewer is relieved of further contemplation of the issue, because the author has been "fair" and "objective", presenting both sides.
Chiasmus: "crossing", juxtaposition. Seems to have similar effect to antithesis, and can actually reinforce stereotypes, common perceptions, by showing how "ridiculous" the opposite is.
