The photographs of the Civil Rights Protests are a great example conveying a theme through a medium. The idea of how the medium “positions the spectator as an active participant in the making of a meaning” can be understood by looking at these three photographs (Benson 197). The construction of these photos is extremely important in forcing the viewers to “question their own formulation of abstractions” like freedom and morality (Lancioni 106). The focus for most of the pictures is on the foreground with the background out of focus. With the first photograph there are many people in the background standing around as bystanders, the viewer immediately feels like one with them which forces the spectator to feel like they are taking part in this scene from history. The framing is extremely important and because of where the picture is cut it appears that the action continues down the street out of the frame. Transparent immediacy is also achieved through the use of linear perspective. Although the pictures are 2D, there is significant depth to all of the photographs that provide a realistic view that makes the viewer believe the actions truly happened. All of these elements come together to make the viewer feel like they are taking part in this very scary and very real time period in history. The spectator not only questions the ideals that the foundation of America is built on but their own morality and how they would’ve reacted if they were in the frame.
The film the Social Network, like any type of rhetoric, utilizes many of the same elements as the Civil Rights pictures. For cinema, in general, framing is extremely vital and the camera angles help convey certain themes. The entire film is almost a re-framing of the actual events that occurred and therefore the film-maker is able to infuse his opinions about the even into the movie. In the second scene of the Social Network where Zuckerberg is creating the website that rates female students at Harvard there are many cuts to different locations on campus where guys are going on to the gives a sense of urgency and seems like it is affecting the entire campus. This also shows hypermediacy which scholars define as a media not only acting as a window but “windowed itself with windows that open on to other representations of media”. The use of the internet within this film is a prime example of hypermediacy. All of these elements shape viewers’ thinking of the topic at hand, in this case the technological advancement of this generation and how it affects their superficiality.
Cassidy Lynn 