Rhetoric in Movies
The Rhetoric in Saving Private Ryan Rhetoric and movies have coexisted within each other ever since the first showing of a moving picture on the big screen. Movies, particularly Saving Private Ryan, could not have delivered a single message to its audience without the use of rhetoric. Saving Private Ryan is a classic movie to watch whether a person lived through the nineteen nineties or not. As being a nameless time-honored work, Saving Private Ryan influences and challenges many people’s outlook on life. To be able to do so, Saving Private Ryan uses persuasive rhetoric. In particular, George Marshall, a character in the movie, targets the moral and the ethical side of humans and wants support in disregarding logic and doing what is morally right. With this intention, Marshall effectively delivers Saving Private Ryan’s rhetoric through the heavy reliance on ethos and pathos. For the purpose of context, Saving Private Ryan takes place in Normandy nineteen forty-four. Moreover, it is the brink of world war two. In the opening scene, the allies have just stormed the shores of Normandy, more popularly known as D-day. There the story is seen through the eyes of Captain Miller and his second Ranger Battalion. The scene changes as the battle of Normandy is over and all of a sudden, ends up in a communication room. In the scene, United States Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, learns about the deaths of three brothers all on the same day. Marshall quickly finds out that there is another brother, Private Ryan, who is still alive. Under those circumstances, Marshall must make a call on whether or not to save Private Ryan, hence the title of the movie. To get back to the point, Marshall assigns Captain Miller and an eight man squad to rescue Private Ryan and send him back home safely to his grieving mother. Undoubtedly, the importance lies in the moment when Marshall must choose on a course of action. To aid his decision, Marshall delivers a speech
Cited: Saving Private Ryan. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Prod. Steven Spielberg. By Robert Rodat. Perf. Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, and Tom Sizemore. DreamWorks Pictures, 1998. Film.