Artist often times try to make their audiences feel a certain way when the audiences look at the art. In chapter three, I feel like writing is shown as an art because of that exact reason. The writer has to make the audience believe that, they have authority to speak write on the subject, that the audience can trust the author, and that he or she has good motives about the subject. Looking at writing arguments in that way makes writing almost look like a magic trick. All smoke and mirrors.
Magic trick or not, to be an affect writer one must make sure that the audience understands his or her argument. When one understands where an argument originated he or she can more easily be swayed by the argument. That is one of the main parts that make up ethos.
We use ethos for almost ever decision we make. As the book says, “because life is complicated, we often need shortcuts to help us make choices. We can’t weigh ever claim to its last milligram or trace every fragment of evidence” (Lunsford 57). So we listen to what people say and “trust” them. However, first one must gain credibility to be largely believed.
In the movie “Thank you for Smoking” the main character is a lobbyist that uses his speaking to convince people that although smoking is not bad and there is no reason to band tobacco products. The movie is obviously taking a shot at tobacco companies that try to gain credibility through good speakers and convincing advertisement campaigns. The main character uses ethos to make the public agree to his point of view.
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ReplyDeleteI think your comparison of ethos to magic tricks is very interesting. I agree that ethos is like a magic trick in the sense that everyone tries to better their appearance just so people would believe them, but their actions are still so fake. I also like how you discussed how we look for shortcuts to figure out what to think about a subject. That is so true. I can think of tons of people that do not research anything themselves and just trust what a politician or another liberal/conservative says. It makes me laugh even more when they trust that politician based on what someone else says, but I suppose it is true that we cannot research everything ourselves.
ReplyDeleteAs for suggestions, since it is sort of hard to understand what ethos is in comparison to pathos and logos is, I think it would have been better if you had spent more time explaining what it is. If I did not have a clear understanding of what ethos was, I do not think your blog entry would help me understand much about it. Also, you could have shared a scene from the movie that illustrates how the movie is taking a shot at tobacco companies. If you did this, it would allow the reader to make the comparison rather than you just telling them, so we do not have to rely on your credibility for the argument, unless if that was what you were going for. :)
Other than that, this was a good read. I like the quote on the ad you posted, by the way. It made me laugh.
I liked your example of the movie, it helped give a better understanding of the concept. I also think in a way, you gained ethos yourself on this subject. The quote from a credible source shows knowledge and understanding of the topic. Using an example of the movie gives you more ethos because it shows you know the topic outside of just the definition.
ReplyDeleteFor suggestions, I would have maybe described the movie more. For those of us who haven't seen it before, the comparison was a little bit harder to understand than if I knew more about the plot line.