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Radoslaw Nabrzyski Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric, Section 09 11 October 2013 (Non)Violent Protest The issue of racism has been one of great concern during the 20th Century in the United States. Many Blacks were discriminated against purely because of the color of their skin and they were often stripped of their human dignity. Even though the American government tried suppressing such discrimination, Southern states were able to come up with sets of local statutes today known as the Jim Crow Laws that made voting nearly impossible. Moreover, local governments were completely intolerant when it came to the treatment of Blacks, as well as other non-violent protestors. One example of such victimization were the Birmingham Demonstrations of 1963, where Charles Moore captures Blacks being treated unfairly by their government. Through his choice of the focal point, the foreground and the background, not to mention the use of other rhetorical techniques, Moore successfully portrays the powerless man who is being attacked by the dogs. This serves to invoke pity and gives the audience great desire to act upon such injustice making this photograph an effective rhetorical piece. Primarily, Moore incorporates the focal point of the picture in a very interesting way. His main purpose is to present to the viewers the mistreatment of the Blacks - specifically the man being attacked by the dogs. However, the focal point of his picture is the dog itself, and not the man who is being victimized. And so, through his placement of the focal point on the policeman with the dog in the foreground, Moore draws our attention to what is really going on in the picture. We already know that the man is being attacked yet since the policeman is placed in the

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foreground, as opposed to the victim, we are forced to realize that instead of keeping everyone safe, the officer does quite the opposite by simply letting the dogs attack, invoking our frustration and anger. It is fair to say that in some sense Moore somehow deconstructs the scene for us viewers, breaking it down into two pieces: the man being attacked and the dog with the policeman. Once again, this is done through his positioning of the focal point, helping us understand who is attacking the man. It is not only the dog, but also the officer who lets the dog attack the man. Rhetorically, this manner of presentation conditions viewers to question the relationship between the parts of the photograph and the whole (Lancioni 108). So, once we look at the focal point, which are the dogs and the police officer, in terms of the man being attacked, we can create a connection of great rhetorical value between the two. In the end, once we realize that it is the government forces who let the dog attack the innocent man we have much sympathy for the victim demonstrating how effective the use of the focal point was. This can be tied to the choice of the foreground and the background in the photograph, which is also very important to the rhetoric of the picture. Throughout history, artists have been using this similar technique and by this, I mean putting things in the foreground to portray them as stronger and dominating. This also is the case here, where the weak man is being attacked by the canine. Moore successfully shows the superiority of the dog over the man in this situation through the victims helplessness. Through such effective representation of the situation using both the foreground and the background, Moore is successful in his rhetoric by, once again, creating pity within us upon seeing the uneven battle between the man and the beast. Finally, Moore exposes us to the severity of the situation through immediacy. The viewers are only initially conscious of the fact that they are looking at a photograph. With that being said, this consciousness fades quickly into an impression that the audience is really in the

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situation. Through his close up approach to the policeman with the dog, Moore manages to [] create a sense of presence and come as close as possible to our daily visual experience (Bolter 22). Of course, he was constrained by the technological ability to print graphics in color yet Moore still successfully manages to maneuver past his limitations of the photograph. This is partly because Moore is able to get so close to the subject of his photograph that the viewers feel that they are momentarily experiencing that exact still frame. His proximity to the officer with the dog also provides depth for the picture, almost as if it were three dimensional. Clearly, the face of the dog is much closer to us than the policeman or the man being attacked in the background. This illusion of three dimensions in the photograph is as close as it gets to the three-dimensional [] virtual spaces in which the user can move in, around and through, with which digital graphics designers are experimenting today (Bolter 23). The depth of the photograph engages the viewer, creating a realistic, life-like environment. This drives the audience to consider the picture under a completely different light. Namely, we are forced to realize that this event actually happened. It is as if we, as viewers, become so sucked into the picture that we are actually experiencing the Birmingham Demonstrations of 1963. This effect of immediacy only amplifies the rhetorical power of this photograph. Through building this connection, where we feel that we are in the middle of the scene where the man is being attacked by the dogs, a sense of pity is invoked within us, knowing that all this injustice was a real-life occurrence. In the end, this kind of photography set up a very bright future for visual rhetoric. The photographs taken during the Birmingham Demonstrations strike us straight in the heart. They are direct and uncensored we are able to immerse ourselves in them and experience the magnitude of the violence committed, and through that we can also experience the rhetorical

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purpose of the pictures. These photographs are just few of many examples of visual rhetoric which is a rhetorical style that still surrounds us today. Although since then, visual rhetoric has evolved. At the time Moore was taking his photograph, his purpose was to bring peace and justice to the world. Whereas todays visual media uses rhetoric mainly for its commercial benefit, and not so much for the benefit of the society as a whole.

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Works Cited Bolter, Jay D., and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding New Media. 1st ed. N.p.: n.p., 2000. Print. Lancioni, Judith. Rhetoric of the Frame. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Moore, Charles. 1963. Photograph. Birmingham.