Rhetorical Strategies and Their Impact on the Plot in Negative Space

The “Negative Space” film from Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter is a short, stop-motion-animated production. The film comprises of a nostalgic story of a businessman who has a tense and intricate relationship with his son. The film also focuses on the efficient competence of packing. It explores the relationship via the activity of packing materials into a suitcase. It is hinged on a poem that was penned by Ron Koertege: the poem is 150 words long and runs for close to five minutes. It uses handmade stop-motivation animation, bringing visual subtext, as well as metaphor, to the poem’s inventive words.

In literary works, the speakers are not necessarily the authors or directors of the works. In the “Negative Space” film, the speaker is neither Ru Kuwahata nor Max Porter. When one watches the film, he or she imagines Sam as a speaker as being a fictional creation by and large. In the film, Sam reflects on the tense relationship that developed over time between him and his father. He gives the impression that the bond that developed between him and his father was strange. According to him, although he was always quick to pack his father’s suitcase whenever he was going on business trips, he never appeared keen on spending quality time with him. He was almost always absent from his life as he grew up.

As suggested earlier, the target audience of the “Negative Space” film appears to be the typical modern-day parent who appears to be too busy at work to spend quality time and energy with his or her children. At present, work is influencing the individuals’ roles as parents greatly. Very few parents are using the free time that becomes available to them in creating strong bonds between them and their children by communicating with them adequately. Ideally, one’s communication with his or her children should not only be adequate for the children but also the children’s development. The typical present-day parent lives in a highly competitive work environment: the parent is continually competing with other people at work or working very hard to put together a successful or highly rewarding career in as much as he or she is working hard to be a model parent. Sam’s father works hard to contain the mounting competition against his business. That is most likely the reason why he is unable to set aside enough time to become a model parent to Sam. It seems that the ubiquity of his many business engagements and the engagements’ distracting allure impacts negatively on the time that he is in contact with Sam.

The “Negative Space” film appeals to the value of family time. Notably, over time, the family concept has evolved markedly. At present, there are different types of families and there are numerous parenting styles. Families affect how children deal with varied relationships and situations in their lives. As well, the families influence what children learn, as well as know, regarding living life. Family members, including parents, can only be certain that they impact on the children in their families positively and adequately when the members interact with the children continually and if they remain proactive as regards the collaborative activities of their families. Parents are only capable of influencing their children greatly and positively when they block out enough family time in their routines. From the “Negative Space” film, one learns that family time is critical for children. If Sam’s father had set aside ample family time, he would have built a strong bond between himself and Sam. Family time is critical as one requires developing strong ties and bonds with members of his or her family. When children do not get enough attention from their parents, the relationships between them and the parents become tense. The children may be drawn to the gangs that appear to pay attention to them and welcome them. When a parent spends adequate time with his or her children, the children develop a sense of security plus belonging.

The “Negative Space” film appeals to pathos through the usage of a monotonous and cold voice over. The monotonous and cold voice over is clear at the times when Sam is packing his father’s suitcase. The monotonous and cold voice over convinces those who watch the film that the relationship between Sam and his father has grown by invoking in them emotional reactions to the related impassioned pleas. The monotonous and cold voice-over makes audiences emotively sympathize with the discontentment state that Sam is gotten into by his father’s failure to create a warm and strong bond between them. As well, audiences are pushed to react emotively the cold, non-traditional, as well as stringently business connection between them by the cold voice over. By and large, the droning and freezing voice-over appeals to the audience’s emotions greatly, eliciting sympathy and related feelings which are in them already. Many people are averse to the development of cold relationships or emotional distances between them and their loved ones, including children. People become emotionally disturbed when others go cold on them or become emotionally delinked from them. People hate situations in which the conversations they hold with others are purely transactional or business-related. Consequently, by and large, the voice-over gives a sense of the development of emotional distances between people who are otherwise close to each other in a very powerful manner, convincing audiences that the distances are unwelcome.

The “Negative Space” film appeals to logos by presenting Sam as learning how to pack suitcases from his father. That is especially so in the scene in the film in which Sam is taught how to pack suitcases by his father, the businessperson. In the scene, learning is presented as being a consequence of teaching. The father teaches him: he learns from the father. Routinely and rationally, people associate teaching with learning: they understand learning as being caused by or as stemming from teaching engagements.

The “Negative Space” film appeals to ethos by presenting Sam as someone who is effective in learning the art of packing suitcases and someone who is effective in practicing the art. Different scenes are talking of how the businessperson teaches Sam how to pack suitcases and others showing Sam packing the suitcases effectively. In the “Negative Space” film, the presentation of Sam as an effective learner and effective executor of the content he learns convinces those who watch it of Sam’s character plus credibility. The presentation shows those who watch the film that Sam, the speaker, is of an admirable character and that Sam is largely a credible source of information. As well, the presentation introduces Sam’s pedigree, attainments, and expertise in packing suitcases. That makes those who watch the film view Sam as being worth listening to and paying attention to.

In “Negative Space”, the ethos, logos, and pathos rhetorical strategies utilized in it are very effective. The rhetorical strategies are rather convincing. The ethos strategy is effective and convincing as it convinces those who watch the film that Sam, the speaker, is a person of admirable character and credibility. The ethos strategy demonstrates that Sam, the speaker, is worth paying attention to, as well as listening to and that he is a credible source. People are drawn to people who are effective learners: Sam learns how to pack suitcases very fast from his father. People are drawn to people who show competence: Sam demonstrates expertise in packing suitcases after learning the art from his father. Consequently, those who watch the film are likely to be convinced that Sam is credible and this is worth paying attention to.

In “Negative Space”, the pathos strategy is very effective and convincing: the cold voice over communicates that the relationship between Sam and his father has since gone cold. People naturally react strongly to reports of human relationships that are breaking down. The logos strategy is quite effective as well: it persuades those who watch the film easily with reason. It is widely expected that teaching leads to learning. Sam learns from the suitcase packing lessons given to him by his father.

Creative project creators or developers utilize rhetorical strategies in appealing to given audiences. In “Negative Space” the ethos strategy is used in showing that Sam learns from his father regarding the packing of suitcases. By and large, the ethos strategy helps in projecting Sam as being a fast learner: a person of great learning abilities and thus worth listening to. In the film, the pathos strategy is used: the cold voice-over makes audiences react strongly to the cold nature of the relationship between Sam and his father. The logos strategy is used in the film: Sam learns how to pack suitcases from the lessons given to him by his father. That demonstrates that the learning stems from the giving of the lessons: cause and effect association.