Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis

There's no question that culture changes with the times, but in recent times the culture the youth tends to follow is going in the wrong direction. The rhetorical situation that I chose to investigate was the trivialization of mental health problems specifically the romanticization of specific mental health disorders which can be detrimental to the overall well-being of the masses. The two artifacts I chose to look into are a really well-put-together informational video titled “The Desire to be Sad: "tragically beautiful" Art & Romanticizing Mental Illness” by a Youtuber that goes by the name of OliSUNvia and an article titled “Gen-Z Romanticizes Mental Illness, it’s not Good”. I am going to discuss how these artifacts, especially the video, do a great job of diving deep into the subject and offering a really good analysis of the matter using rhetorical strategies while also staying within its genre.

Content creator OliSUNvia (or Olivia) is a growing YouTuber who makes videos giving outlooks on interesting topics some of which are sensitive in nature. My first artifact was created by Olivia and its exigence is to spread awareness about the plague that is romanticizing mental illness which has been taking over in recent times, especially in younger kids. Obviously being a YouTube video it is less formal and seeks to captivate a younger audience. Specifically this video goes to grab the attention of people Olivia’s age likely from 15-30 years of age, because these are the sort of people that would be subject to fall into the kind of activities that are discussed in the video. Being in the genre of “YouTube video essays” It comes with the responsibility of keeping the audience completely engaged the whole time. This video does this excellently, using images and text that pops up throughout the whole video to keep you following their speech. Off the bat, the video uses Pathos in order to gain the attention of the viewer and get a lot more personal. Using glossy old pictures of themselves and telling personal stories of insecurities and parental issues. Then Olivia introduces her journal, which is going to be used as a transitional point throughout this video essay. This is an excellent use of pathos, not just because it is upsetting to hear about and makes you feel sorry for her but also because the description of the journal and the things she complains about going through are actually very common just in other forms. During this period in a person's life hormones are high and insecurities are common, often times people keep a journal or any other means of expression, and many people including myself find this symbol of a journal to be very personal which in term makes it relatable easier to project your own situation and understand the real world applications that she dives into later. She mentions her exigence for the first time when she talks about the fact that most of what she wrote in the journal was fabricated or at least exaggerated and she connects this to the fact that on Tumbler a social media that she used to frequently browse, the culture revolved around “being sad an essential part of what made you interesting” (Olivia, 2022) and so because of this she zooms in on the general desire to be sad and have trauma and she wants to look at sad art and whether its moral to create it.

Often during the video despite the subject being a very serious subject matter, Olivia will throw up some memes making fun of herself or a situation, which makes sense for the genre. If you are trying to keep people entertained on the internet you need to use flashy visuals because it is an age of distraction and otherwise your audience might click to the next content. Later in the video when Olivia knows she has your attention these visuals start to go away as you dive into the meat of the content. At the beginning of Olivias first major point, she uses Logos to tie our desire to be sad to the primal instinct of punishment and satisfaction. Before this, she uses the preestablished pathos to introduce the first segment by reading from her journal about self-harm. She then analyzes a well-renowned philosopher Nietzsche and uses his Ethos to convey her message. Olivia interprets his idea of humans getting satisfaction from punishing people who were labeled deserving of punishment and applies it to media and eventually contorts his argument into the idea that people get enjoyment from punishing themselves. She also once again uses ethos by quoting Victor Frankl and using one of his video interviews to solidify his importance and Pathos when she talks about the holocaust and his interpretation of this. While she talks about all these real and serious figures she also shows examples of her exigence in comedy TV shows and things that she believes our youth can relate to such as a bojack horseman segment that she includes because she believes it's relevant to what she is explaining. It is actually quite impressive how she ties these relatable shows to the writing she is talking about; “This idea of good damage is exactly what Frankl and Nietzsche write about” (Oliva, 2022) She ties the “good damage” idea discussed in the show Bojack Horseman and directly correlates it to the writing that she is discussing hence appealing to the general audience that she is trying to reach out to. She has a great understanding of the genre and genre conventions that she needs to take advantage of. She is also great at making most of the points and then relating them to herself. Much of the audience can use Olivia herself as a placeholder and project their own beliefs and relate with her.

The article is restricted to the binds of a written article. It has a similar exigence as the video but instead claims right at the beginning that the romanticization occurred in an attempt to destigmatize mental health. Due to the fact that its genre is an online report on a website, its audience is generally people looking to do more research on this topic. The article is very opinionated and feels lacking in Logos. It points to specific depictions in media, such as the show 13 Reasons Why, and elaborates on why these sorts of shows can be harmful to the younger audience it’s meant for. It claims that Music and Social Media are also major problems but despite what it discusses being logical and making sense. It doesn't provide much actual Logos which is essential for proving it to random readers and actually making it something of substance. It is actually lacking in all three of the rhetorical appeals. For it being an article about mental health, it is lacking extensively in emotional appeal, the article feels like it was written by someone older who is detached from actual concern and doesn't tell any tragic stories to draw the audience's attention. Also, there is little ethos backing it, apart from it being published. There is nothing mentioning the writer's credibility and there is no reference to any other sources that have sustainable credibility behind them. The writer gives examples to solidify their argument but their examples are not specific; “Self-harm, panic attacks and thinspo are made out to be admirable in spaces such as “edtwt” (eating disorder twitter) for example” (Reyes, 2022), This example is good but would have been even better if they actually showed a specific Twitter post or quoted something that a person had said. This is one way that the video essay is actually much better at communicating their point, when they give their examples they visualize them and can display them in their video or even quote them, as they do with their own writing. This is much more effective at conveying their point as showing actual evidence sways the Logos of most people. The video also critiques media about mental illness and presents points very similar to the article, for example talks about how often when making films about mental illness writers often incorporate unrealistic aesthetics in order to appeal to a younger audience. Then unlike the article, Oliva uses a direct example; showing how in Girl Interrupted Susanna Kaysen a character with mental illness is extremely poetic and happens to also be extremely attractive. She also references American Horror Story where two mentally ill characters commit suicide together. These are excellent examples of which the article was completely devoid of.

In conclusion, the video does a better job when talking about their rhetorical situation and does a better job of not only calling for change but also causing change in many of the audience watching the content. The writing definitely appeals to older generations which may use the source to judge the affected generations. If someone is looking to talk about a rhetorical situation, a video essay seems like a good genre to tackle a subject of the matter.

References

the desire to be sad: “tragically beautiful” art & romanticizing mental illness. (2022). YouTube. Retrieved October 29, 2023, from https://youtu.be/qCKH5fUvsPI?si=xh3nC87GOcnsfF5C. 

Reyes, J. (2023). Gen-z romanticizes mental illness, it’s not good. The Wolfpack. https://cphswolfpack.com/opinion/gen-z-romanticizes-mental-illness-and-its-not-good/