Rhetorical Analysis (Final Draft)

The year is 1937 and Spain is in the middle of a civil war between the Nationalist forces and the ruling Republican forces. The famous Pablo Picasso has been commissioned to paint the mural centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion at the World's Fair in Paris. His inspiration for the mural arrived when the Condor Legion took flight over the small Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain on April 26, 1937. The elite unit of the German Luftwaffe laid waste to the small town using carpet bombing tactics and cutting down anyone who tried to escape from the crumbling town. In the small town of originally 5,000 people, there were probably more people in town because it was a market day, 1,600 people were slaughtered after the town burned for three days. The Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco denied any involvement in the attack as did the German government. The town of Guernica had no strategical value but was the central location for the Basque people. Having finally found inspiration Picasso painted the above piece of art, Guernica, which depicts the tragedy of war through appeals to pathos, ethos, and the logical constructs of allegory and symbolism.

Picasso himself had a fascination with bullfighting and many of his works reflect this. In Guernica the bullfight is somewhat untraditional. There is no matador, instead the fight is between the bull and the horse. The bull, depicted on the far left, which can be interpreted as Franco who was responsible for the tragedy at Guernica. The horse, shown as the central point, is skewered by a lance to symbolize the slaughter of the people of Guernica. The absence of a matador, which would represent the Republican Spanish Government at the time, shows the lack of involvement the government had in controlling the situation. In this the bull fight is an allegory for war. The twisted nature of this bull fight, in that it is bull vs. horse, illustrates the twisted and gruesome reality of war. The bombing of Guernica was not part of the civil war between the Republican and Nationalist forces. It was instead a slaughter of a noncombatant village by the fascist allies of Franco and so the bull fight was not between a man and a bull. Using the bull as a symbol for Franco and his Nationalists establishes a certain ethos. Bulls are characterized as aggressive, often mean, and masculine animals. On the contrast using the usually docile horse as a symbol for the citizens of Guernica also establishes a specific ethos. To convey the argument that the bombing of Guernica was an unjustified massacre it is logical to represent the victims as the less aggressive animal and the aggressor as the more aggressive. It would not make much sense if the people of Guernica were portrayed as a more dominant animal. The stark contrast between the characterizations of bulls and horses builds upon the idea that this attack was one-sided. Through the logos concept of cause and effect Picasso makes the statement that if you go to war, death and destruction will follow and often times the casualties are not limited to the combatant. The civil war between the Nationalists and the Republicans cause the noncombatant Basque village of Guernica to become a target.

Appeals to pathos are everywhere in Guernica and prove to be tremendously effective. The choice of Picasso to only use black, white, and gray helps to convey the depressing and somber reality of war. This limited color palette of blacks, whites, and grays is common among the earlier analytical cubist works. The use of various shades expresses the idea that not everything is black and white. The extremely dark shades used in conjunction with the black background set the mood as dark and brooding.

The graphic images of a dismembered soldier still clutching a broken sword, the skewered horse, the burning woman, and the weeping mother all work to invoke sorrow and dread upon the audience. The weeping mother who is holding her dead child in her arms with her head raised skyward and mouth open screaming conveys tremendous sorrow. The tongues of the mother and the horse are sharp triangular shapes which emphasize the harshness of the emotions they are expressing. Picasso's cubist style, which uses geometrical shapes and attempts to display all the perspectives of an object on a two dimensional plane, and allegory of the bull fight themselves dehumanize the mural to depict the inhumanness of war.

The arrangement of the individual aspects of the mural also are important. The horse is placed in the center to emphasize the importance of its ideal in the piece. Also to emphasize the horse there is a light shining down upon it. The bull is however placed on the outskirts of the piece and appears to be looking away from the scene in the middle. This action of looking away by the bull gives the feeling that Franco, didn't care about the people of Guernica and just looked the other way will the German Luftwaffe used the town as bombing practice. The absence of the symbol for the Spanish Government, the matador who is the usual opponent for the bull, relays the feeling that the government really didn’t do anything to stop the horse from being slaughtered. The chaotic imagery of the mural shows the chaotic nature of war. Within all the death and destruction there is hope. A flower grows out of the sword of the fallen soldier. The flower is a symbol of new life. The fact that it is sprouting up from death symbolizes that regrowth or rebuilding is possible.

Much of the power of the mural stems from the ethos of its creator, Pablo Picasso. As one of the founders of cubism and a well known artist at the time he had the ability to influence the masses. Also the power draws on that when it was presented the massive mural was the centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion at the World's Fair. The theme of the World's Fair in Paris was modern technology. Picasso's Guernica along with other works presented at the Republican Spanish Pavilion shocked spectators and exposed them to the horrors of Franco's fascist Nationalist regime. The power of Guernica is still prevalent today. A reproduction of the piece hangs outside the Security Council chamber in the United Nations. And on Colin Powell's February 5, 2003 visit to the UN the reproduction was covered. Most likely because Powell was there arguing for war in Iraq.

Works Cited
Walsh, David. "UN conceals Picasso’s “Guernica” for Powell’s presentation." World Socialist Website. 2003. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/feb2003/guer-f08.shtml

Bowers, J. "Picasso: Surrealism and the War Years." Baltimore City Paper. 2004. http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=7455

"Treasures of the World." PBS.org. http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/a_nav/guernica_nav/main_guerfrm.html

Guernica

The above image is that of the mural titled, Guernica, created in 1937 by the artist Pablo Picasso. When questioned about the meaning of aspects of the mural Picasso responded with, "...this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse... If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are." Not to undermine or dispute Picasso's statement but aspects of the mural do have meaning, provided you understand the cultural context in which the mural was created.
Spain at the time of this mural's creation was in the middle of a civil war between the Republican government forces in charge and the Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco. Franco's regime attracted the attention of Nazi Germany and Italy. On April 26, 1937 the Condor Legion, an elite aerial unit of Hitler's Luftwaffe created to practice battlefield tactics, bombed the small Basque town of Guernica in Spain. Guernica was the central point for the Basque people who resisted the Nationalist forces of Franco. The original population of the small town was only about 5,000 people but the day of the attack was a Monday which would have been a market day. A market day would have attracted people from the surrounding areas into the town. For three hours the bombing continued. Anyone trying to flee the town was mowed down by the planes above. When it was all done around 1,600 people were killed. The Condor Legion was under control of Leiutenant Colonel von Richthofen. After the attack occured Richthofen denied the that the target was Guernica and instead stated that the intended target was a bridge nearby. Not a single one of the 24 aircraft hit the bridge, or the arms factory or railway nearby.
Picasso had been commissioned prior to paint the mural centerpiece for the Republican Spanish Pavillion at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. After the attack on Guernica he recieves his inspiration for the mural. After the fair Picasso's artwork tours Europe and North America from WWII to 1981 raising awareness about the fascist regimes on the rise and the Spanish Civil War. It travels everywhere but Spain, because Picasso refused to let it travel there until they had democracy and civil liberty. Picasso dies in 1973 and Franco dies in 1975. On October 25, 1981, the 100th anniversary of Picasso's birth, the Spanish government finally returns Guernica to Spain where Picasso always intended it to go.

http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/a_nav/guernica_nav/main_guerfrm.html
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/guernica.htm

Free Write

This particular clip is from the BBC show TopGear where three British men test out cars, interview famous people, and just generally do fun stuff. This particular episode they went to the southern part of America and had to find cars for under $1000. Jeremy Clarkson managed to find a third generation Chevy Camaro RS, which is pretty much the quintessential trailer park automobile. Richard Hammond found an old Dodge Ram and James May found an '89 Caddilac, a "Pimp Mobile". The section of the episode where this clip starts is the part where they have to decorate eachothers cars in an attempt to get them shot while driving through Alabama. On Clarkson's Camaro they painted "Country Western is Rubbish" and on the Caddy they put "Hillary Clinton for President" and "Nascar Sucks" and on the Ram they painted in pink the words "Man Love Rules OK". All of which are generally pretty liberal or offensive terms to the people in the generally republican state of Alabama. The funny part is that the people of Alabama don't make themselves look very well. While the crew is driving along the freeway they are honked and stared at by pretty much everyone that goes by them. They pull into a gas station to fill up and the fun really starts. The owner of the place walks out and starts to yell at them for the phrases painted on the cars. She mentions several times that "this is a hick town" and even comments on why they did it thinking they might get beat up. The first thing she spews however is that she asks them if they were all gays. Clarkson responds in his usual smart ass humor that he is married and has three children. The lady storms off and calls "the boys" to come rough up the British triplet. They all leave in a rush despite having trouble with the Caddy. Its funny how they chose the most stereotypical redneck American cars, painted on phrases that they knew would cause trouble, and then preceded to drive through Alabama. While not all the people in America would have responded this same way it just goes to show why some people in other countries make fun of the US.

Bidden Pathos

Bidden starts off by saying we might have to slow down our commitment to double foreign aid. He mentions slowing it down twice. This plays on the logic that if we can't take care of our own country how are we supposed to help others. It also plays on the emotions that people have about "I" first. Bidden's little slip, "We also are going to make sure we do not go forward with the tax cut proposals of the administration...of John McCain." I think plays on a lot of people's feelings that McCain will be another 4 years of Bush. Whether slip was intentional or not I think a careful listener would pick it up. He goes on to talk about not supporting tax cuts to the wealthy or corporations, "we are not going to support the $300 billion tax cut that they have for corporate America and the very wealthy." Bidden goes on to talk about not letting up on breaks for creating new jobs, education, and affordable health care. This plays to both logos and pathos. The emotional aspect of this is that a lot of people are fearing job security right now with the economy gone to hell. The lack of adequate and reasonably priced health care scares people and also costs the country billions in money from ER visits. Now the logical part of it is that new jobs and better education for everyone would help the economy tremendously. He breaks up the seriousness and allows for a laugh by mentioning that the light telling him his turn is almost over is blinking. "The $100 billion tax dodge that in fact allows people to take their post office box off shore and avoid taxes. I call that unpatriotic. I call that unpatriotic." That statement stirs up the patriotic emotions (and anger) of citizens who don't exploit this gap. After Palin's "attack" on Obama's voting history Bidden starts off by clearing up why Obama voted the way he did. In this case it was because the bill provided for research into alternate fuels. He states that on separate votes Obama votes against giving tax breaks to oil companies. This makes Obama seem more stoic and gives people more faith in him (and restores what Palin may have taken away). Bidden goes on to say, "If John really wanted to eliminate them why is he adding to his budget an additional $4 billion dollars in tax cut for Exxon Mobiles of the world?" This goes on to question the logic and authority of McCain to deal with the economic problems. It also deals with emotions because people aren't really happy with oil companies right now, nor would they want to give them a tax break when they are posting record profits. Bidden uses a lot of hand gestures while he speaks to help emphasize the emotions he is trying to pass off. He also tends to restate topics multiple times in an attempt to drive home ideas. This could be a means to make sure certain words or phrases register and stir up something within the listeners.

PS - I believe this will be late. My mom had car troubles coming home from work so I had to run out and get her which killed about an hour and a half.

Presidential Debate

Right off the bat McCain uses pathos by saying, "By the way our beloved Nancy Reagan is in the hospital tonight." This really has nothing to do with the first question of "Why is your economic plan better than the other guy's?" but is clearly said to spark some emotion. He goes on to say "Americans are hurting right now and they're angry, they're hurting and angry. They are innocence victims of greed and excess on Wallstreet and as well as Washington D.C. and they're angry." It's true, the average American is a little upset that they aren't doing so well financial and yet you have CEO's and politicians living the high life still. He goes on to use logos by saying, "We have allocated 750 billion dollars, now lets take 300 of that billion and go in and buy those home loan mortages." It makes sense to help people out with there home loans since that is one of the major factors for our current economic crisis. He uses logic again when he says, "It doesn't help that person in their home if the next door neighbor's house is abandoned." Home value suffers depending on the neighborhood so if all the other houses are abandoned and in ruin then the value of the homes with people living in them will decline. Obama uses both pathos and logos when he talks about his core principles he wanted for the financial package. He says, "making sure CEO's don't enrich themselves through this process." This plays on the emotions of the average joe who sees rich people still living lavishly while they suffer and the logic that the rich getting richer is not advantageous to the economy. Obama is clearly trying to play towards the emotions of the middle class when he talks about economics. Which is a logical thing to do considering the majority of Americans aren't upper class. McCain trys to emphatize with people by bringing up the now famous Joe "The Plumber" after Obama's first turn of speaking. To understand the whole Joe "The Plumber" you have to be familiar with the incident where Joe met with Obama. Obama had said something along the lines of "spreading the wealth around" during that meeting. McCain and most conservatives have been trying to attack Obama by saying that this was a "socialist" statement. They both attack eachother (Obama's is more jokingly) as a way to discredit the other person.

The context of the event affects the viewers. While both candidates have a equal amount of time and the program was broadcasted on t.v. and put online there is one major problem. The event only had participants from two (albeit the major) political parties. There were no independents, greens, etc. as part of the debate. Since only republicans and democrats were part of the debate the audience doesn't get the chance to learn more about the ideals of the other canidates from other parties. Only certain questions are asked at the debate so not everything gets answered. Even the questions that are asked get skirted by the canidates at times. The audience has limited control over the event where two presidential canidates (who will have control) argue.