Monday, April 4, 2016
PB1A - Dissecting Genre's Rhetorical Conventions and Features
In this generation, there are many varieties of textual genres. In this
world, society analyzes rhetorical features and conventions towards everything
everyday. According to Laura Bolin Carroll’s essay Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis, the
society’s heavy use in media signifies the need and importance of rhetorical
analysis. Rhetorical analysis is a made from the way language is used and how it
persuades a specific audience. These past years the use of Instagram has had a
major rise, as more and more people are starting to portray their everyday
lives through pictures and/or videos. Conventions of the genre
of Instagram captions mostly always feature hash-tags, confessing something,
mentioning someone else, showing off something, or what they did that day. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian does these
conventions in her daily Instagram posts. On the 31st of March 2016,
Kim posted a photo with a cosmetic dermatologist Simon Ourian, with the caption ‘Today on my app I share laser treatment
tips with @simonourianmd1 #Epione #LasersAreLife.” The evaluations of effective
rhetorical features of textual genres such as audience, purpose, context,
style, and tone, help us to understand the messages' intention, and the specific situation.
Rhetorical textual posts always occur in specific context. Most posts' general exigence towards its targeted audience determines the context of a
message. Kim Kardashian shows her exigence through the exposure of her
personalised app and its release on laser hair removal tips from a professional cosmetic dermatologist, as well as endorsing Simon Ourian’s business, 'Epione'. Of her 65.9 million Instagram followers, her targeted audience are
mostly worldwide young adult girls ranging from 18-25 years old. This
generation of these specific ages are very self-aware and conscious of their
beauty and looks. They idolise and want to be more like these famous people
like Kim Kardashian with flawless skin, curves, tiny waist, modern fashion
wear, immaculate makeup, etc. as they have the want for fame and beauty. Laser hair
removal provide permanent hair reduction that achieves the smooth, irresistible
skin feel that girls always obsess over, emphasizing Kim’s intended persuasion of laser and her app that offers tips. Reinforced by tone of her caption, the
purpose of Kim’s post revealing laser hair tips from a professional promotes
her app, aiming to gain more people to download her app for beauty advice. The use of mentioning her professional cosmetic dermatologist
gives the information credibility and accuracy towards the laser hair
removal tips. Not only do hash tags characterize the typical instagram post,
but it also invites her young adult followers to follow the ‘LasersAreLife’
trend.
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I thought it was great that you used specific vocabulary from the reading to explain the rhetorical features of a typical Instagram caption. I was able to clearly understand how the context, style, and tone of a caption in this genre are related to the author's intended audience and the purpose they are trying to achieve through the post. I also liked how you used the specific example of Kim Kardashian's post in order to emphasize the conventions you suggested as commonalities in the genre of Instagram captions, and I thought your analysis of her intended audience was really interesting and effective in supporting the reasoning behind the conventions of the genre you described.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, this was a very unique choice of textual genre. I never thought of all the different conventions that come from a simple Instagram post! Also, I think it was great that you reflected on the reading of Backpacks and Briefcases and tied it back into your understanding of genre within this specific example of Kim Kardashian. You did a good job identifying the intended audience, purpose, context, style, and tone. Overall great work!
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting approach to a relatively new genre! It must have been difficult to write all that just about a few words(being the instagram captions). Regardless, I think you did a great job with it. You also worked in our readings which was another added bonus!
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