Who is Barack Obama?: Analyzing and Constructing a Visual Argument
Objectives:
This class activity/discussion and subsequent assignment has three overarching goals: (1) for students to begin to develop a “curious eye” toward visuals, (2) for students to begin analyzing visuals rhetorically using a particular vocabulary, and (3) for students to realize how composing a visual argument is akin to composing a written one. Toward those ends, students will begin class by examining two sets of photos from their Convergences textbook, relying on the visual design principles from the disc they reviewed as homework. This analysis will act as a precursor for later, more nuanced rhetorical visual analyses. Next, they will look at how sequenced visuals can make a particular argument. Students will thus discuss the connotative nature of visuals (as well as how context influences those connotations) and how the rhetorical cannon of arrangement affects the construction of a visual argument. Intrinsic to the activity/discussion will be a focus on how written composition and visual composition have comparable features, that we frequently implement the same rhetorical strategies in the construction of a visual argument as we would in a written one. Students will identify those overlapping rhetorical strategies, and as an assignment, they will utilize those strategies and create their own visual argument.
Day Before Lesson:
Homework: Before coming to class, students are to have reviewed visual elements within multimodal compositions. By knowing and learning these terms, students should be able to both identify these terms in other visuals and know how to apply them successfully when they employ visuals in their own multimodal compositions.
Day of Lesson in Class:
5-10 min: Students will analyze a slideshow on the NY Times website titled “Who Is Barack Obama?” The slideshow has a particular aim—to provide a succinct and honest portrayal of who, exactly, the person Barack Obama truly is—and in order to accomplish this aim, the slideshow relies on both the visual and the verbal. However, for the sake of this activity/discussion, students will focus strictly on the visuals. Note: We understand that this will undoubtedly alter not only the overall effectiveness of the slideshow but also how students interpret and perceive the slideshow as a whole—since, essentially, the composition will be stripped of half of its content—but the reason for doing so has pedagogical merit. Furthermore, there are subsequent lessons that focus primarily on the relation between the verbal and visual.
15 min: After studying the visual portion of the slideshow on their own, students will respond informally in a free write to three questions: (1) what were your initial thoughts of the slideshow; (2) did you think the slideshow was making an argument, and if so, what was it; and (3) did the sequence (arrangement) of the visuals matter, and if so, how?
35-40 min: Then, students will come together for discussion (which should take up the remainder of class), sharing their responses to the questions. Other questions for the discussion would be as follows: what kind of identity does this argument create for Barack Obama; what rhetorical strategies were utilized in the creation of this visual argument; how does this argument differ from a written one; which is more persuasive (visual or verbal); are these visuals truly indicative of Barack Obama the person or is this just one person’s take; how is the visual limited, if at all, in the creation of this argument; and how does context shape how we view these photos separately and as a whole?
Assignment:
As homework, students will have to compose their own visual argument, one similar to the slideshow on Barack Obama. However, rather than construct a visual argument for who someone else is, they—drawing on the rhetorical strategies visual design vocabulary discussed in class—will construct a visual argument for who they, themselves, are. The slideshow should parallel “Who is Barack Obama” and only use ten pictures. Stress to students that this project should only incorporate unedited images and careful sequencing and that such limitations are intentional and will be addressed in later lessons. Adding special affects to the pictures (such as those available in PowerPoint or Photoshop), including sounds/music/text, or cropping/framing will ultimately affect the visual argument, and since this as a short nested assignment designed to aid them with their larger multimodal composition, the focus, at this stage, should be strictly on the image’s “power” alone. (Prematurely analyzing the visual further or including other mediums in this composition negatively affects our conscious order of lessons and assignments in this pedagogical unit; such additions are the topics of latter nested assignments.) Furthermore, having them go beyond selecting and organizing the ten photos would most likely require more than the allotted time, as this assignment should be completed between two class periods. Note: Because they have to construct this visual argument between class periods, students may experience access issues—especially as it concerns taking or finding the photos they have in mind. During the articulation of this assignment, we will emphasize that students are not simply limited to pictures of themselves. Visuals obtained through a Google and/or Yahoo search (or via other stock image providers, such as Getty One) may be just as instrumental in the construction of their identity and visual argument as a baby photo taken by their mother and/or father. We would urge students to be creative in this assignment and construct their argument to the best of their abilities considering the potential limitations.
Students will also have to write a one-to-two page process memo that elucidates what their composing process was like; why they choose the photos they did; what photos they considered but eventually omitted, and why; what they intended to illustrate in their visual argument; and what rhetorical strategies they utilized in order to meet their desired intentions. A portion of the assessment will come from how they articulate their process and intentions in this memo. Any student can muster up ten photos and slab them together; what separates the work is how well they understand what it is they are doing. If they can demonstrate cognizance in the following areas, then they are working towards understanding the aims of the assignment: (1) how arrangement influences a visual argument, (2) how particular images have certain connotations depending on context, and (3) how each individual photo collaborates with the others to produce a cohesive narrative.
