Oprah Winfrey uses her Cecil B de Mille acceptance speech to cast light on societal issues of corruption, discrimination, objectification, and racism. Oprah’s speech reflects an age and dialogue of constant controversy and arguable division surrounding allegations of sexual assault, mistreatment, and the seemingly unthinkable idea of an underlying patriarchy within the film industry. Oprah explores and conveys these ideas through the use of various persuasive linguistic and oratorical techniques. This is seen through her use of ethos and pathos when creating an emphatic delivery and appealing to the emotions of the audience when utilising anecdotes. This is also further seen through her repetition of female pronouns when persuading the audience …show more content…
This is evident through the perspective of which Oprah conveys to the audience, stating rather that such issues “transcend any culture, geography, race, religion. Politics or workplace.” Thus, such ideas that Oprah explores are not limited to the confides of the film industry, and as such her speech stands as a reflection to all issues and controversies regarding global and societal mistreatment and discrimination. Oprah further emphasizes the struggles to which most women must endure so as to speak out against such controversies, with her main, yet subtle, critique directed towards the scrutiny of the mud-slinging Fake News campaign. Oprah simply states that “we all know the press is under siege these days.” A simple exaggeration, and yet her statement in it of itself reflects societal backlash and controversy associated with the release of harrowing accounts of countless women coming forward. Furthermore, Oprah subtly explores the idea of a patriarchy, a pecking order otherwise consisting of male dominance and superiority. This is evident through her constant repetition of female pronouns when discussing recent controversies and movements throughout her speech as opposed to her use of male pronouns in parts of tension and discomfort in …show more content…
Right from the get-go, it is clear Oprah hooks her audience through her profound reliability through her use of ethos. Oprah’s humble beginnings coupled with her undeniable success and platform further solidifies her credibility and sense of sincerity with that of the audience. Thus, through her well-found respect, Oprah is initially able to captivate the audience. In addition to this, Oprah further encapsulates the audience through her touching use of pathos through her use of anecdotes. The moving story of Recy Taylor, a woman raped and beaten, through the retelling of Oprah, only further hooks the audience, creates a sense of sincerity and intimacy, and ultimately strengthens Oprah’s persuasion of the audience. Oprah’s display as an orator should not go unnoticed. Throughout the entirety of her delivery, Oprah projects herself with a clear, calm, and strong yet soft emphasis. Oprah maintains stern eye-contact with the audience, and presents herself in a strong, iron-body demeaner. These oratorical techniques coincide to further captivate the audience and continue to ease the audience into the persuasion of the viewpoint presented in her speech. Given controversies of sexual assault in recent times, as well as ideas of feminism and female
(Grimke, 191) Three words, shouted over the din outside, are an especially effective way to turn listeners’ heads because they focus on a group most previous speakers - at that convention and in the entire abolitionist movement - had left behind. Grimke’s demand for action did not simply include women but was exclusively addressed to them, which was an unexpected and somewhat shocking choice to an audience who expected male-oriented speeches. This gains the interest of various distracted listeners through shock factor and engages women specifically through the promise of advice for fighting slavery
Florence Kelley, a former reformer for women and child labor, successfully conveys her message of immoral child labor laws across America within her speech to the National American Women’s Suffrage Association by using many different rhetorical strategies to highlight her key points and ideas. Kelley uses lengthy and concise syntax, anaphora, logical appeal, and emotional appeal in order to improve and strengthen her message conveyed in her speech. Throughout her speech, Kelley uses varieties of syntax to inform and emphasize her points to the audience. Kelley uses her knowledge of the subject of matter to her advantage by starting her speech off by using long sentences to inform and describe to her readers of the situation at hand.
This speech was about women's rights. She believed that African American woman get treated differently than American woman. She believes that this should change and that everyone should be treated equally. In this speech she uses different methods to keep the audience engaged.
The world has developed in many areas such as in gender, sexual, and racial rights. Shirley Chisholm stands as one of these individuals in history that has paved a path to equality. Her Presidential bid, delivered on January 25, 1972, is one moment cemented in history. This paper will analyze that speech by examining her pathos, logos, and ethos. Pathos is Greek for an appeal of emotion.
Sojourner Truth, author of “Ain’t I a Woman,” and Elizabeth Cady Stanton author of “Speech at Seneca Falls Convention,” use multiple rhetorical devices to convey the message that women should have equal rights. To begin, both authors use repetition in their speeches to convey the message that women should have equal rights. An example of repetition in “Ain’t I a Woman,” is, “And ain’t I a woman?” Sojourner repeats this throughout her speech to say that she is a woman and she can do the
Sojourner Truth, a runaway slave, became an influential figure in both women’s societies and the abolitionist movement. In her famous speech, “Ain’t I a women?”, Truth argues that she is more oppressed as a woman than as a slave (Doc 7). While she campaigned publicly for women’s civil rights, others attempted to reform society from within their religious
She wants her audience to see how much this means to women in society and how it is a dream for women. She wants them to see it is bigger than many things and not something to ignore. She is effective also in the sense that she is referring to MLK’s speech and thus showing the importance of her words she is stating. She also uses power in her tone to almost attack the values of the members on the International Olympic Committee. She does this by saying that the “IOC’s vote will be a fundamental test of its commitment to women and its own core Olympic values, particularly equality” (Finch).
The first African-American congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, in her speech For The Equal Rights Amendment, emphasizes her point on why women should have equal rights in the workforce. Chisholm’s purpose is to convey the message that discrimination against women is unlawful and unjust. Chisholm adopts a passionate tone in her speech to the American Public. Shirley Chisholm starts her speech by calling out House Joint Resolution 264 which she says, “It provides legal basis for attack on the most subtle, most pervasive, and most institutionalized form of prejudice that exists”.
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was an African American women born in the 1920s.. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, but moved to Barbados to live with her grandmother. She then became the first black congresswoman in 1968 (Biography.com). Chisholm wrote a speech confronting her coworkers about the equal rights of women. She then delivered her speech to her fellow members of the House of Representatives.
In 1851, an abolitionist and women’s rights activist made a speech that has been remembered for hundreds of years since. Sojourner Truth, who was born in 1797 and escaped slavery in 1826, spoke at the Women’s Convention of Akron, Ohio over 150 years ago, giving a short but powerful speech on equality that still moves people today. However, the power of her speech did not come from years of education or her incredible intellect - as a slave, she most likely had very little education - the power of her speech came from the exact opposite. Truth could not read or write, so the speech had something that many speeches given today do not have: honesty. Truth uses rhetorical appeals in her speech by focusing on pathos, as she explains the struggles of those who are not equal, providing just enough information about herself to show them why she has authority on this matter (or
With continued persistence, Oprah gained her own television talk show and is now the highest-paid performer on television. Oprah’s ambition was what drove her to continue her fight through her hard childhood, and make a positive, healthy life for herself. If Oprah lacked the ambitious qualities that she had and gave up, she would likely be trapped as a damaged and troubled woman who let her passed experience define who she
I chose this film because it showed how hard the union workers and families worked in fighting racial injustices, and because it inspired myself to move forward with strong ideologies and pride. 2. Stereotyping in mass media was an important concern of Chicana/o media activists because it imprinted a demeaning label by only casting Chicana/o actors with "minor roles: villains, sidekicks, temptresses, where their main function is to provide the protagonists, typically a handsome white
When we write we are often confronted with some sort of “rhetorical situation”. This term is best described as a combination of factors. There is a rhetor(s), an exigence, an audience, and specific constraints to consider when analyzing a text. Through an interview with Professor Funnell, who teaches a course that aims to explore the representation of women in various facets of popular culture, I identified how these elements contribute to Beyoncé’s song, Flawless, and consequently discovered how to better address future situations regarding other texts. Music is a way for people to send a message through the lyrics.
The rhetorical strategies she chose to use for her argument ensured she presented the most thought provoking, impactful speech. As her Ted Talk continues to reach millions of listeners around the globe, her hope is to breakdown those perpetuated stereotypes and convince the audience to reject the single story by seeking and more importantly, sharing diverse
Then by appealing to pathos, she reminds the world of the horrendous events that occur every day as a result of the inability of girls to speak up for themselves. Finally, she ties in a sense of hope through a shift in tense, as to present that together, everyone can aid in the success of the program in the end. Overall, Michelle Obama’s speech unites the world in supporting the cause for not only a woman’s right to education but also the right to speak up against those who shame them for being a part of the female