More or Lessons

Max Larsson

Analyzing Artifacts

Artifacts are any type of object created by humans. Art, technology, buildings and literature are all artifacts. Wherever you look artifacts populate your view. Naturally created objects, such as mountains and oceans are not artifacts, since, as their title clearly states, they are naturally made. When considering these humanly created artifacts it is also valuable to see if and what these artifacts are attempting to communicate. When an artifact is intended to communicate something to the viewer or listener it is considered a cultural artifact.
When analyzing and creating arguments about cultural artifacts it is important to consider several things regarding the artifact. Rather than finding and pointing out the obvious, look for what makes the artifact separate from what you would expect it to be. Find characteristics that stand out about the artifact, to better understand the rhetoric contained within it. These characteristics should strike you as strange and be used to grasp a deeper understanding of the artifact's purpose.
To begin analyzing these oddities, consider the creator's perspective and purpose. If you consider the example of a live music performance, one expects a band to perform a set of songs from their own catalog, to perform them in a flowing and precise manner, and probably return for an encore. Since this behavior is expected, these details of the concert, even though they're substantial, do not add much to the communicative analysis of the performance. Rather than dwelling on the expected, try to observe what is abnormal about the performance. Say the band comes on to stage the day of their album release and does not play a single song off of their new album. This type of occurrence calls for meaty analysis. Perhaps they haven't practiced enough, or maybe they are protesting their new record label. No matter what the reason, such an oddity plays an important role in the rhetorical analysis of this cultural artifact.
Last month I attended the live show of a three piece band called The Fall of Troy at the Marquis Theater. Throughout the concert, the band consistently considered requests for songs from the audience that they rarely play live. Rarely does a band actually stray from their set-list, but in this case it seemed that they didn't even have a planned one. To begin my analysis, I first considered all the reasons for the band to this. Most of the time, bands don't do this because they stick to what they have prepared and may not have the ability to improvise in such a way. However, it is likely that The Fall of Troy wanted to encourage crowd participation in order to strengthen their fan base or just please the people present. To further my analysis of the situation, I considered other factors related to the performance such as it being the band's farewell tour. Playing their last concert played in front of this particular crowd, I drew the conclusion that they did this in order to leave the concert goers with a feeling of influencing the band's act. Perhaps the Fall of Troy also wanted to create a lasting impression on their fan base by adopting an unorthodox method of playing live shows.
For your next assignment, attend a performance of any kind; poetry slam, live music, or play, etc. and analyze the rhetoric of the performing artifact by detecting obscurities within it. From the strange, draw conclusions about the purpose and what it communicates to the audience by creating an argument to support your beliefs. Don't get caught up on the normal; search for what makes the performance deviate from your expectations and use that to draw an original idea that is both creative and debatable. Use creativity in both finding the obscurities and analyzing them, and mimic the type of performance in your report, i.e. if you attend a play, write a play incorporating your argument and rhetorical analysis. Don't forget to enjoy the performance as well!

How to Present Arguments Creatively

When hearing the term argument, most people tend to associate it with disagreements, fights and discontent. Arguments, however, are used in a variety of ways and most often do not foster unrest between people, but rather create deeper thought and insight. Arguments are applied to all types of artifacts and actions around us. Whether interpreting a piece of art or social morality, arguments are presented by and to us on a steady, regular basis. Presentation of arguments do not always have to be in the form of auditory rebuttals or disputing letters. Arguments have strong meaning regardless of form, and are often even more convincing in unconventional forms.
Creativity allows someone access to a diverse field of presenting arguments. Arguing the rhetoric of a film, for example, may be more efficient if you create a film yourself; Drawing conclusions about a painting may require another painting to truly encapsulate your argument. Of course, it is not required that you need to work in the same media to convey a point, but allowing the analyzer the same access of presentation as the artist is a good way to discover more things hidden in an artifact. Creating a series of poems to analyze a poetry reading, you may discover the flow of poetry within the reading and actually add even more substance to your argument. Creativity will also make your audience more intrigued and likely to follow the argument.
When I analyzed the artifact of The Fall of Troy's performance, I chose to rewrite the lyrics of one of their songs and perform it as a rhetorical analysis of their concert. In this situation, there are many creative directions I could have taken. Designing album art or creating a live video of them are two other ways which I considered using to present my argument.
For this assignment, I want you to attend a play or musical, whether it's on DU campus or a theater downtown, and creatively present an argument about your artifact by using a media related to it. You may perform a monologue yourself, act out a play with someone else, write a dialogue, or even an advertisement for it. Whatever you think expresses your argument best is a valid choice. Keep away from traditional presentations such as only writing a paper, and try to make it fun for yourself to put together as well. Remember to be creative and consider the strange within the artifact. Have fun!