Rhetorical Analysis of “Killing Us Softly 4”

Rhetorical Analysis of “Killing Us Softly 4”

Jean Kilbourne made the film titled “Killing Us Softly 4” in 2010. The targeted audience is those individuals who are old enough and well informed to acknowledge the message being passed across. In this context, the audience is likely to be college, university students, and other older individuals. The main objective of the documentary is to provide a comprehensive overview of United States advertising. It established that the advertisement has not advanced despite the country experiencing developments in various sectors. The producer’s key intention of creating the documentary is to demonstrate how the world is still struggling to use print and television advertisements. The advertisements are chauvinistic, deceitful, and misogynistic. For instance, the media is, and magazines are depicting and encouraging worryingly skinny women in close to everything they do and photoshopping fat women to make them look thinner. It is essential to provide a comprehensive analysis of the documentary while analyzing the impact of advertisements on both men and women. The role of women in commercial advertising is given the privilege. They historically do much to facilitate this. The implications of the advertisements to white girls from various nations are also addressed. As will be discussed here, the author touches on the portrayal of men in the book and the possibility of their discrimination. From the word go, men are perceived as a threat to women’s rights where they dominate over the former.

By assessing the role of women in commercials and the impact of these advertisements throughout history, the producer begins the documentary be evaluating a collection of ads. When talking about women, who says, “To a great extent, they tell us who we are, and who we should be” (Kilbourne). The speaker Kilbourne then provides a comprehensive discussion and analyzing every ad illustrating the messages contained in each piece and the subconscious meaning they evoke. Even though the ads from history and those presently available are different in some aspects, they evoke similar purposes. For instance, they are meant to demonstrate that women are used as sexual objects; they are mainly after their physical look and that they are naturally inferior to men. The speaker narrates that because media and commercials surround people everywhere they are, the content becomes real characters and mindsets in both men and women. Additionally, women have the notion that they must accomplish a standard of beauty similar to those set by models and celebrities they observe in weeklies and television ads. Conversely, men believe that real women should have the same features and appearance as beautiful as those women are seen in commercials.

The effects of commercials on the world today are also demonstrated in the documentary by Jean Kilbourne by showing that the United States’ notion of beauty has spread both locally and internationally. The director describes commercials from other nations that only have moral girls with white characteristics and then proceeds with this point by showing the media’s contrary impact sex within the society. The negative impacts of the ads on teenage women’s sexuality and their negative portrayal have been used to support the points discussed. She continues to claim that “Women learn from a very early age that we must spend enormous amounts of time, energy, and above all money striving to achieve this look, and feeling ashamed and guilty when we fail.” (Kilbourne) Various statistical examples have also been used in the documentary to demonstrate the rise in adverse mental disorders in teenagers based on commercials.

Notably, Jean Kilbourne takes an authoritative and comprehensive argument. For instance, it is evident through the film that the director’s argument and notions are valid. Considering that these ads do not dehumanize men, it is always complex to establish it they relate to their daily lives. When the director demonstrated how it would feel or appear if men were also discriminated against women are, it could completely change the perception of viewers concerning advertising and media. Apart from viewers being allowed to realize how terrible the system of commercials has become quickly, it is also thought to provoke how ads in America change the way people around the world observe beauty. For instance, it is exciting that the media receives an extensive scope that is, unfortunately, being underutilized. Even though the documentary has a short presentation, the speaker did extensive research, thereby making it an essential supplement in any topic presentation of media and culture as well as the impact that commercials have on them.

Kilbourne’s work is a ground-breaking and essential to the debate of one of the most underrepresented, yet most potent jurisdictions of the United States culture of advertising. In the present hyper-commercialized media environment, the speaker’s primary notion that advertising generates an unhealthy cultural environment whereby physical suppression and rational trivialization of women presents a profound psychological and political significance is more convincing than ever. Listening to the speaker in the documentary is a thoughtful experience and changes the perception of the audience concerning the way people should interact publicly with one another. Kilbourne’s speech is focused and unquestionable as those of a perfect prosecutor, as she manages to piece by piece establish a case for the United States culture that is profoundly corrupted by the media. Commercials continuously educate people on how men dislike women and the feminine side of themselves, as they encourage the audience to imagine that people’s problems can only be solved with products. With precise skills, the speaker calls for action against these societies.

In the text, Jean places men in a position that society appears to be patriarchal. According to her, the advertising industry is total misconduct and unfair one. While women are portrayed as unreal, men are given the highest position in the sexist society. Thus, the role of men is to guide women on what they should do, say, and how they should do it. The willingness of the former to participate in advertising activities reinforces the formers’ powers. In this case, they empower men and degrade women. In the patriarchal society, men have more control hence predominate moral, political, and social powers.

In the film titled “Killing Us Softly 4,” the speaker makes numerous precise, clear, and testable assumptions concerning how women are portrayed in the media, particularly in ads. Even though Kilbourne’s fundamental principle that women are represented negatively is widely supported in content analyses, most of her assumptions have not been tested. Therefore, this might raise the question of whether the speaker merely chose a few last commercials to use as examples in her discussion. It is essential to acknowledge that most advertisements are generally compassionate. Validating the assumptions will add weight to the debate of gender depictions in the media. Kilbourne believes that people should concentrate on citizen engagement, education, and media literacy to cooperate to change perceptions and attitudes. Moreover, the media should make an effort to expand gender principles and establish an extensive view of recognition and normalcy in society.