Emma Watson, in 2013, spoke to the
United Nations about HeForShe, an operation she supports that campaigns for
equality amongst men and women and the actual meaning of feminism. I think her
speech is the perfect example of Bitzer’s definition of the rhetorical situation,
or any situation where persuasion is involved with an audience and an exigence.
Through the use of rhetoric, Watson attempts to persuade her audience to join
her HeForShe campaign. She speaks to all ages, all backgrounds, and includes
anecdotes for the audience to relate to, since she isn’t exactly the most
relatable woman in the world. She spoke to an audience that is “capable of
influence” and “calls [them] to action.”
Edbauer, however defines the
rhetorical definition a tad bit differently than Bitzer. She believes that the
rhetorical situation is something that “engages processes and encounters.” It
is something that involves a doing, a thinking, not necessarily in that order.
For instance, this Writing, Editing, and Print Online class, or really most
classes in general, is an example of a rhetorical situation. A professor “understands
and practices” his or her presentation of information. It is an extended
process to develop they conveyor of knowledge from the mind of the professor,
to a successful lesson plan, to the minds of students. It is an exchange of
knowledge, a product of thinking that results in doing, but also a doing that
results in thinking. Like Edbauer states, the two sort of go hand in hand and
should only be separated by a slight slash, if that. Whatever they may be lecturing on, they are
asking the audience, the students to think about what is being said, and then
use it in everyday life. There is an evident effect, whether it be negative or
positive.
I’d like to think that Edbauer and
Bitzer both think of rhetorical situations as a call to action. While for
Bitzer it is more about persuasion, and for Edbauer it is more about the understanding
of the knowledge portrayed and the effects that come of such conveyance of
knowledge, they both want to elicit some sort of response in their audience. They
want to spark change in one way or another. The rhetorical situation is about
change.
Using Emma Watson as an example was very smart because it was not something I had personally heard of before. Because you talked about something not well known it made me more interested in it. I also liked how you used classes, or lecturing, as an example. It's very relatable and makes you see a different perspective of the rhetorical situation.
ReplyDeleteI like how you showed how rhetorical situation is about change, which I agree with. Emma Watson is a good example to use, I think, since she is very well-known and easy to recognize. Very nice post! :)
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