The following video is from the Onion, "America's Finest (Satirical) News Source."
Genre: Satire, Comedy
Audience: Parents, basically anyone old enough to understand the message-especially females.
Purpose: The Onion always does a great job of creating realistic, professional videos that convey a message. The purpose of the video is to criticize the makers of the Bratz dolls and perhaps even girls who aspire to look like these dolls.
Stance: This particular video derides companies that create unrealistic dolls for little girls-- specifically the company that makes Bratz dolls, but the message can be generalized to all such companies. The Onion argues that Barbie and Bratz dolls create false images of what girls should look like and those who play with the dolls are often at an impressionable age.
I think that this video is particularly effective because it conveys a message through humor. Although the producers could have focused on other features of the dolls, they use head size, which is even more ridiculous.
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Ethos (Credibility)- The Onion, “America’s Finest News Source” is a parody newspaper which satirizes current event reports. Some of the current headlines read “Shaq Finds Mysterious Inscriptions Written on Basketball,” and “Panicked Agriculture Secretary Momentarily Forgets What Corn Is.” The Onion has been in “circulation” since 1988 and considering that it is widely known and a popular organization, it has established a respectable foundation. The parodies are in no way supposed to be taken seriously, and viewers of the “broadcasts” either know this beforehand, or should be able to figure it out from the content of the video. Considering that The Onion criticizes most things or people, many may think that it is not a credible source for manifesting the truth of how ridiculous someone, something, or a situation may be. In the case of The Bratz video, I think that most people would agree with the negative body image that the doll-makers create and The Onion is a credible source for conveying this.
ReplyDeletePathos- The music clearly contributes to the pathos element of this argument. When “Gender Quality Advocate” Melissa Waters is introduced, the music changes from hip pop music to a serious and somewhat creepy tune. Ironically, regardless of this background music, the script is humorous.
Another element of the video that contributes to pathos is the inclusion of the mother and child. The mother seems very concerned about her daughter’s desire to look like her Bratz doll. This and the conversation between the interviewer and the child would undeniably appeal to an audience if it were real.
The video is not supposed to elicit empathy from the viewer—rather, it is supposed to be humorous, and The Onion approaches this task by making it seem like a realistic newscast.
Logos- Although it is a satirical production, the Bratz doll video is somewhat informative. According to Melissa Waters, “If you make Bratz dolls human height, the circumference of her skull would be 5.5 feet. She wouldn’t be able to lift her head and the sheer weight of it would crush her spine, rendering this so-called cool girl bedridden for life.” Although this may not be exactly true, it gives the viewer an idea of how unrealistic the Bratz dolls really are.