This PSA uses the power of ethos and pathos to encourage viewers to check out dividedwefail.org, a site devoted to uniting Americans in the cause of fighting for better healthcare. The most obvious rhetorical strategy it utilizes is ethos, as it is jam-packed full of celebrities from Morgan Freeman to Eva Mendes to Dakota Fanning. I think the dialogue is also particularly noticeable, as the piece begins with one-word contrasts that help emphasize the idea of being different. The "divided we fail" name is also an obvious allusion to the famous (and often patriotic) slogan "united we stand, divided we fall."
The background music is a more subtle strategy, as its patriotic undertones are masked by starting out as purely emotive at the beginning of the PSA. While it is not obviously patriotic at the beginning, when Joaquin Phoenix starts speaking, the patriotic feel of the music builds and then fades at the end. The use of this type of music traditionally elicits an inherent feeling of togetherness and uniting under one natioin, which is the overall point of the PSA.
Interestingly, the concept of healthcare is not directly shown here in any way. While another PSA regarding this type of material may have opted to show, for example, pictures of sick children who cannot afford healthcare to really hit an emotional nerve, Divided We Fail opts instead to encourage Americans to participate by making them feel that they are a part of this big nation that must rise up together despite its differences as one voice. I think this is an excellent example of showing an "idea" rather than the object. I also believe it to be far more effective by being slightly untraditional where this subject matter is considered, causing people to take notice rather than ignore it.
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