Rhetoric in film.

I must say, I've really enjoyed watching Wall-E in class this past week. I know I posted about it earlier, but I have a different point this time.

All semester, we've been reading and reading and reaaaaaaaaaading different pieces of literature, different works from different authors. That's all find and dandy, but it's kind of nice to have a break from reading.

My point here is, I really enjoy getting to pick rhetorical strategies out of a different kind of media, because I never really realized these strategies are used in literally every aspect of our society. I did enjoy picking through books and articles in our American Earth text. It was neat to learn about the Sophists, the Naturalists, Existentialism, and everything else we discussed from our rhetoric text, however, it's even cool to be able to see those same strategies at play in something that is aimed at a more modern public...especially something that is aimed primarily at children.

Thankfully, in Wall-e, the director used rhetoric to get a positive message across to children, one that will hopefully impact the way they grow, live, and respect the environment. However, all too often in today's movie industry we see negative and inappropriate messages being portrayed to our children. It seems like everything is about sex, drugs, alcohol, smoking, or being skinny. This is were we run into the problem. Rhetoric is SUCH a powerful tool if used correctly, that it makes me nervous for the children of today.

It is a pleasure to for once see a director using these skills for persuade students in the more positive direction of recycling, getting exercise, taking care of our planet. It would be nice to see more movies today hold such an important message.