Aristotle defines rhetoric as “the ability to see the available means of persuasion.”(86) Aristotle’s rhetoric emphasizes three important types of talking; deliberative, forensic, and epideictic. The key to rhetoric was to keep it short and keep it memorable. Along with that there are mechanics that can be used such as induction, syllogism, ethos, pathos, logos, and style.
For this analysis I will be focusing on an example of deliberative speech. A deliberative speech is one where you are persuading people about what is going to happen next. The clip I found is from the 2005 film “Thank You For Smoking,” in which Aaron Eckhart plays chief spokesperson, Nick Naylor, for a large tobacco company. What is interesting about this clip is that even though most of the general public can agree that smoking is bad, Nick Naylor persuades his audience that smoking is in fact “cool.” The below clip illustrates the power of persuasion seen in Naylor’s speech.
What makes Naylor’s speech so persuasive is the mechanics of rhetoric he uses. Like the clip in class from “Wall Street,” both Gekko and Naylor know that it is not just what they say but how they say it. Their use of ethos is extremely effective. He walks around the table, making sure to look everyone in the eye. He does not act as if he is above them or knows more, but instead finds ways to include them by asking questions. He clearly is trying to sell an idea, but his conversational tone makes it a more comfortable environment. His use of ethos comes through in his look too. His attire helps him be taken seriously. He talks with confidence and conviction and makes his audience want to listen to him.
His use of induction and logical fallacies are seen when he discusses films of the past. He makes a correlation between films and what made them cool. His first premise is that movie stars are cool, the second being movie stars smoked in films, the conclusion being that smoking must be cool. This is really the key to his speech. While this may not be true, by putting it in that format helps emphasize his point.
Nick Naylor’s speech in “Thank You For Smoking” has the two key components of rhetoric that was discussed in Kevin O’Neill’s lecture, it was short and memorable. The clip is only one and a half minutes and yet all of his points were made and are clear. He talks in a way that is easy to understand and does not dwell on any one idea for too long. He wants to keep their attention and to do that he moves quickly so that his audience doesn’t bore.
As a spokesperson for cigarettes, Nick Naylor has to have good rhetoric. Because most of the time he is dealing with people that do not agree with him, his arguments must be convincing and logical. The power of Aristotle’s rhetoric is displayed in the scene above. He employs induction, logical fallacies, ethos and style to form a persuasive argument.
Works Cited:
Kevin O’Neill Lecture
Leitch, Vincent B. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton &,
2010. Print.
YouTube
March 14 2011
word count: 547
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