THE RHETORICAL SITUATION

Purpose

Audience

Rhetorical appeal

Modes & media

Purpose

Ebert’s purpose is to persuade readers to accept his view and argument about Ratatouille.

Audience

Ebert’s readers include movie fans who may be thinking of seeing Ratatouille, and fans who have already seen it and want Ebert’s opinion as a film buff.

Rhetorical appeals

Ebert builds ethos by showing he’s an expert on animated films and the achievements of Ratatouille’s director, Brad Bird.

Ebert appeals to pathos by using humor to persuade his audience. For example, he remarks that “there’s something de Gaullean about [Remy’s] snout.”

Ebert states his argument and presents it logically, appealing to logos. For instance, he says he’s already looking forward to the film’s sequel and then goes on to build a case for Remy (1) as a character (a determined hero) and (2) as an unforgettable animated creature (Ebert notes his “repertory of tiny French hand gestures”).

Modes & media

Mode = written and visual Ebert’s review is word/text based. And, because films are visual, he also includes a still image from the film to illustrate for readers the central characters, Remy and Linguini.

Medium = print and digital Ebert’s review appeared in the print and digital versions of the Chicago Sun-Times.