This assignment provides an overview of the topic by analyzing two different genres and choosing which one is better. (follow the hyperlinks to see the different genres)
Abstract
This essay is analyzing two different types of genres that discuss poverty, one typographic; an online article, and one iconographic; a video. The analysis identifies which is the audience and purpose, by evaluating the different discourse communities, the spectators, and the objectives of both genres. Also, the essay discusses the rhetorical issues by considering how the authors use ethos (credibility), pathos (emotions), and logos (logic). In addition, this analysis examines the structure by stating how the genres are shaped, how they are organized, and if they have order and sequence. Moreover, it says how is the style, what kind of language use each of both genres, if they have specialized vocabulary, if the language is appropriate, and what other communication features the genres use. Finally, the essay ends with the conclusion of which one of the both genres is the greatest in delivering the message, and why it is the best.
Genre Analysis: Poverty
Even though we live in an advanced society, poverty is still an issue that should concern all the people in this planet. According to Shah(2011), around abillion people entered in the 21st century are incapable to signtheir names or to read a book. Consequently, these statements leave the world with a big question, why the humankind should care about poverty? The answer depends on the perspective of each person, it may vary, but the most common reply to the inquiry is basically because the societies are supposed to be supportive, and “everybody” needs to try to help the people that have fewer chances in life. There are many different opinions about this global concern, and also there are a lot of forms to share the opinions, researches, or comments about poverty. The forms of communication are identified as genres, and by analyzing two different genres will provide a better comprehension about this problem. An article with the name “Causes of Poverty” made by Anup Shah, the director of globalissues.com web site, and a video named “What is poverty?” made by Tearfund; a nonprofit organization who receive donations and use those to help people who are in poverty, will be analyzed in this essay, by stating the audience and purpose, the rhetorical issues, the structure, the style and language, and finally concluding saying which genre is the best delivering the message.
Audience and Purpose
First, in order to understand these genres, the audience and the objectives of the article and the video need to be analyzed. The audience for the two genres is almost the same, it can be male or female, it does not matter if they are young or old, it also can be from middle to upper middle class, but in the video the audience possibly will have religious beliefs, because the association that produces it is a Christian organization. The level of information that the audience with the purpose of reading the article need to have, is to know that poverty exists, and that this issue affects a lot people, and what they most likely would like to know is what origins poverty, facts, and statistics. Furthermore, what the people already know before seeing “What is Poverty”, is that the video comes from a non-profit organization, so they probably will be asked for support, and also that the video will contain statements related with God. Besides this, the knowledge that the audience of the video will have after seeing it are facts, definitions of what is poverty, and also the audience will see a lot of images describing this word. According to how much time the people will spend reading/seeing these genres is about three minutes in the video, and approximately five to seven minutes in the article. Finally the purpose of the article is to inform its readers about what causes poverty giving facts and statistics, and the purpose of the video is to inform and persuade to donate to overcome this issue.
Rhetorical Issues
In order to keep understanding the article and the video, there are more things that need to be analyzed, like the credibility that the genres establish, the emotions that evoke both, and the evidence that they use to support the information that they present. The credibility that the article “Causes of Poverty” established is that the author is an admirable person, because he tells the audience his life (not in the article, in the website), that makes him a more credible person, and the audience feel more comfortable with what he will explain, because he give details about his background history. “What is Poverty?” establish credibility or authority, because if the audience do a little research they can find out that the organization is a very reliable source, first because it is nonprofit, and then because it help o lot of people to overcome poverty, and this make the audience to feel respect for them, because they have consideration of others, and they show a lot of sympathy. The article evokes emotions, because the statistics are too strong that makes the audience to feel bad about the situation, for example he starts the article saying: “Almost half the world-3 billion people- live on less than $2.50 a day” (Shah, 2011), and that makes the audience to feel bad. In contrast, the video provoke a lot more emotions than the article because it tries to make the audience to feel more sympathetic stating: “Behind every statistic is a face, a friend, a family member, a person” (Tearfund, 2006), it also present a lot of images, and this makes the spectators to feel identify with the cause, and have more interest in it. Finally, the article support its claims by giving sources, a graphic, and statistics, and the video supports their arguments by showing pictures about poverty, it also mention statistics, and at the end it try to persuade the audience to visit its website, and with this they will have more support, because in the website they can find more information.
Structure
Moreover, to keep analyzing these genres is very important to say how they are organized, the limitations that they have, and how the structure facilitates its purpose. First, the article starts with statistics that get the attention very quickly, then it inform the causes of poverty, finally the author provides links related to poverty that may interest the audience. At the beginning the video start with the definition of poverty, then it keeps defining poverty in different ways, for example “Poverty is: hunger, poverty is: lack of shelter, poverty is: not being able to read or to go to school” (Tearfund, 2006), then it continues giving more examples of this issue, after this, it mention quotes out of the bible and finally it persuade the audience to help. The limitation that “Causes of Poverty” have is that it can be boring for the audience, because it does not show images, and font and type of letter is always the same. In contrast, the video shows a lot of images, and it change the font and the types of letter several times, but it also have limitations, first they need to be careful with the time, because if it is too much they can lose the attention of the audience, and another limitation can be that they need to be careful with the images that they use, because they need to represent what the organization really want to show to the audience. Overall, both genres deliver very good the message that they want to show to the audience, because both are well organized according to what they are.
Style and Language
The last step in analyzing the iconographic and the typographic genres is to explain what kind of language they use, and the other types of language that are found in the article and the video. In the entire article the audience will find formal language, but it is easy for the readers to understand what the author wants to express. As a difference, even though the video do not have a lot of words, the language is informal, friendlier, and it is also easy to understand. “Causes of Poverty” is written in black and 12 points font, the background is white, and it do not have visuals, only in the related links it presents a chart. The you-tube video is more dynamic, it has many images, the background is grey and black, and the font of the letters is white, it is constantly changing the images and this sometimes these images have movement.
Conclusion
In conclusion both genres express very well what their topic is, but after the analysis of the article and the video about poverty, the one that delivers more effectively the message is “What is Poverty?” by the Tearfund nonprofit organization. First, because the purpose it not only includes to inform but also it tries to persuade the audience to do something about the issue. Also, it has more ethos, pathos, and logos than “Causes of Poverty”, because it has more credibility, evoke more emotions, and the Tearfund organization is a more reliable source. In addition, the way it is structured helps the audience to understand more about poverty. Finally, because it uses a lot of pictures and different types of font color, it keeps the audience aware of what they want to express.
References
Shah, A. (2011, September 4). Causes of poverty. Retrieved from www.globalissues.com
Tearfund. (2006). What is poverty? [Web] Retrieved from www.youtube.com
