Rhetoric in Movies
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
“Against the power of Mordor there can be no victory. We must join with him, Gandalf. We must join with Sauron."
Logos--there's no chance of beating Sauron, so we should join him.
Pathos--it's so scary that we can't win! Let's join him instead.
THE SHADOW OF THE WIND
"These are my books. I wrote them. So I should get to burn them if I please."
Logos--the character owns the books, therefore they get to say what to do with them.
"Come help out at the homeless shelter! There's a lot of poor people there who don't have a lot. They're cold and sad and helpless."
Pathos--relying on the listener feeling sad for the plight of the local homeless.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
“Do not become addicted to water, it will take hold of you and you will resent its absence.”
Logos--to make his argument about water, Immortan Joe walks us through the logical process of what will happen if his subjects become addicted to water.
ANXIOUS PEOPLE
"God doesn’t protect people from knives, sweetheart. That’s why God gave us other people, so we can protect each other."
Pathos--God has given us a duty to protect each other.
Logos--if God won't protect us, then we should protect each other.
"Come get coffee with me! You have to this time. You bailed on me last week. I waited for you for an hour!"
Pathos--built on guilting the person into going
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
"The Beast will make off with your children, he'll come after them in the night, we're not safe till his head is mounted on my wall, I say we kill the Beast."
Pathos--Gaston is preying on the French villagers' love of their children and their fear of the unknown.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
"Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty.”
Pathos--this is an emotional appeal to the members of the jury to acquit the accused and "return him to his family." He asks them to do so "in the name of God."
"Let's go get McDonald's!"
"No. We have food at home."
Logos--there's no need to go out to eat if there's food waiting at home.
KNIVES OUT
"I've solved every case I have ever encountered. This detective machine gravitates always to the truth."
Ethos--star detective Benoit Blanc relies on his own credibility as a successful detective to argue that he'll solve the case.
THE HATE U GIVE
"What's the point of having a voice if you're going to be silent when you shouldn't be?"
Pathos--the speaker appeals to the listener's emotions of pride or shame to convince them to act or speak out.
"You need to dump him. He likes Fast and Furious. He doesn't clean his sheets. And he's 27 and uses Snapchat. Boy has too many red flags.
Logos--a rational list of reasons to dump someone
BLACK PANTHER
"Wakanda is strong enough to help others and protect ourselves at the same time. We can share what we have. Provide refuge and access to technology to those who need it."
Pathos--there are people out there who need the help we can provide.
Logos--if Wakanda can take care of itself, it can take care of others.
JULIUS CAESAR
"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."
Ethos--Marc Antony makes himself a friend and ally to his audience. He's just like them.
"Come on, Leila! Do some drugs! Everyone is doing it."
Ethos--if everyone is doing drugs, they must be safe and cool (or credible)
Logos--everyone is doing drugs, so you should, too