Our second paper employed the use of an analysis tool called rhetoric. I had never heard of a rhetorical analysis so this was something new for me. I chose to analyze the movie poster for Primal Fear.
A Rhetorical Analysis of Primal Fear
Primal Fear is a Paramount Pictures, Oscar nominated thriller that debuted in the year 196. In the time that the film was in theatres it brought in a whopping $56,059,267, with $9,000,000 being made in just the opening weekend. This thriller took viewers through a very intense murder court case with the only suspect a doe eyed, stammering teenager. The world loved the twists and turns in the plot line, and the superb acting so much that it was rocketed to the top movies of the time period. Edward Norton was debuted and nominated for numerous awards in the movie industry. If it was not for the advertisement of the film, and most of all the attention grabbing, elusive movie poster, this film could have crashed and burned.
The world of advertisement has a way of making a particular audience be able to remember, recall, and want to buy or be like whoever they want, and are very good at it. The advertisement of movies dates back to the first movie posters made in the early 1900s and the art has progressed along with the hi-tech movies they accompany. These posters elude to the contents of the particular film and are made to target an exact type of people.
Movie posters are meant to draw in an audience and convince that particular people this is the movie they have to see. Using actors and stills of a particular scene from the film help portray what it will entail, but also keeps them asking questions about what particular components of the poster are implying. The use of Richard Gere as the main focus is appealing to the rhetorical tool, ethos. In the late 1990s when Primal Fear was made and released, Richard Gere was very popular and a big time actor. Knowing previous movies he has been in were well done and good, the audience will believe that this film too will be great. Ethos is especially useful in this case, because the movies that Richard Gere was in were the same genre as Primal Fear, so his fans would be the type of people the poster was trying to appeal to. The use of only one of the main characters also keeps the story line elusive from the audience. The movie is not really about things that happen to Gere, he is only one of the main characters. Trying to get the audience’s attention, Gere is positioned so that people would have to stop and pause to figure out who the figure is on the poster. The use of the background and set up of the poster also work together with Mr. Gere to draw attention.
The color scheme and setting of the poster create and emphasize the mood being portrayed to the audience. The use of gray scale and sepia as the color of the poster lets the audience know that the movie is not going to be a happy comedy; that there is a serious tone, but, again, making the person reading the poster stop to examine it more closely. Just the color scheme is not enough to know what the movie will be about, so the setting and background shows that it is an urban setting with Richard Gere as the main focus. This suggests to the audience that it is not a thriller, and not a romance. By making the people who see the poster stop, the advertisement and rhetorical tools are working and drawing peoples’ attention. Had the color scheme been brighter it would suggest something completely different, and appeal to the wrong audience.
When looking at a piece of art or examining a text, normally a person does not notice the background right away. In Primal Fear’s movie poster there is a lot to miss going on back there. Besides the black, white, and sepia of the urban street, there is also a symbol. At first glance a person might not notice, but Richard Gere has been made to have angel wings. The designer of the poster created the wings by lightening the area of the background, and made the wings almost translucent; giving an effect that he is more than just a man. The wings could have any number of meanings from hinting at a super natural element or that there is some goodness associated with his character. While watching the movie trailer, the audience finds out that Richard Gere is actually a lawyer, and that he is a famous one at that. Most of the time lawyers are heartless, but the wings suggest something else will happen during the film. The use of text on movie posters is commonly used to enforce logos to the audience. By showing who the director and min characters are the people looking at the poster will know that there are good reasons to see that particular film.
If the producer, actors, and director are famous and known for their work, it tells the world that, “Hey I am a creditable movie with good actors and crew”. When quotes are used it usually is used to imply something about the contents of the movie. In the case of Primal Fear, the quote says, “Sooner or later a man who wears two faces forgets which one is real”. When simply reading the text one would assume that it is speaking of a man who tries to lead to separate lives, or not be true to himself. When this text is combined with all of the other rhetorical tools in the poster, it implies that not everything is what you think it is. It makes the audience wonder who it could be talking about; is it Richard Gere? The person who sees the poster would believe it had something to do with him, but they would not know for certain. This again reinforces the thought in the person’s mind that they have to see this movie to find out who is being talked about. The quote is reinforcing all the ideas that the other tools are conveying, and by doing so drawing in the selected audience even more.
This type of advertisement and use of rhetorical tools is used in all types of texts and artifacts. The use of these tools in the movie business help to get an audience interested in the film and makes them want to see the movie being depicted. The use of the text and other aesthetic components, movie posters inform the onlookers of all the magnificent things that will happen when they go see it in theatres. By not saying straight forward what will happen, the posters create a mysterious feel and make the people wonder about what will happen. This type of persuasion is used to convince people to see the movie, live play, T.V. show, or to buy a product. There is a science behind the advertisement and a reason for every piece of rhetoric that work together to establish a firm theme and idea. The more types of rhetoric that are present, the more persuasive the artifact is. The Primal Fear movie poster brought in a whopping $56,059,267 and $9,000,000 on opening weekend. Edward Norton, who was the supporting role, was nominated for numerous awards and received an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. These accomplishments would have never happened had the rhetorical tools had not been used.
