Text and Context Rhetorical Analysis Basics

Con-text: “Con”= “with”

Context= “with the text”

What text do you expect?

The context suggests the “text” STOP

The text is merely the word “stop.” STOP

Simple rhetorical analysis The TEXT = “STOP” The CONTEXT = a sign 

More in depth rhetorical analysis The word “stop” holds a meaning. The author’s purpose is clear. The medium is a sign. It is a formal sign But where is it published?

Compare…

What is this sign doing?

Let’s try a more complicated sample Do you recognize this image?

RJ Matson Cartoons/

Taylor Jones

Nick Anderson Cartoons/

Shepard Fairey is perhaps most famous for the Obama campaign posters he created, and is one of the best known and most influentual street artists. m/2009/03/29/shepard- fairey-at-the-ica-boston/

Questions you can ask: Who is the cartoonist? What is their typical sympathy for the characters represented in this cartoon? What paper is this published in? What is their leaning? Liberal? Conservative? Moderate? What is the text? What event does it refer to? Who are the other characters? What does the emotion imply? How is color used? Is there sarcasm/ parody/ realism etc? More interestingly… is there any subtext that explains why so many people are parodying this one piece of art?

Quote: The Associated Press thinks it’s copyright infringement, and they’re really going after me. It would bankrupt me entirely if they won, so I’m hoping, for the sake of creative expression and political speech, that that doesn’t happen.—Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey guilty of Plagiarism…? suit-suggests-settlement/

New questions arise Sometimes digging into the background of a cartoon can turn up something WAY more interesting than you thought. Can some commentary about the court case have a bearing on the way that you look at these parodies in the cartoons? What social commentary is it that the cartoon was so popular as to be so frequently drawn?

Look beyond the picture Look into the context