Review of Readings

I have selected a few lines from the different resources that we have used so far in the semester and scenes from The Social Network that exemplify the texts.

“Rhetoric we define broadly as the art, practice, and study of human communication” – taken from UWP’s What We Teach

The Social Network has rhetoric written all over it. not only is the film an example of the art of human communication, but the entire movie is about human communication and/or the lack of it.

“Pathos – proofs of emotion; appeals to the values of the audience” – also taken from UWP’s What We Teach

The film constantly makes use of pathos when it shows the way Mark treated others throughout the whole story. It appeals to our sense of sympathy for Eduardo and the Winklevoss Twins.

“Rhetorical Situation – the event or exigency that calls forth the rhetoric, spoken or written” – What We Teach

The makers of the movie saw the impact that Facebook has on society and thought that not enough people new the story behind it.

“While the existence of a rhetorical address is a reliable sign of the existence of situation, it does not follow that a situation exists only when the discourse exists” – from Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation

The film is definitely an example of a rhetorical address brought into being because of the rhetorical situation of not many people knowing the story behind Facebook. However, without the film, the rhetorical situation still stands. Once Facebook was made, there was always going to be a story behind its creation and if The Social Network didn’t inform people about it, some other form of media would sooner or later.

“Rhetor to refer to an individual engaged in creating or presenting rhetorical discourse” – Herrick’s An Overview of Rhetoric

in the case of The Social Network the rhetors would be the the whole production crew who worked to make the film.