How would you feel if…
What if it wasn't the elephants in chains? What if it was you?
Dog fur coat for winter? I don't think so.
The first image is of a woman chained up almost exactly how elephants from the circus and entertainment shows are. The text in the image says : “Shackled, beaten, abused. Stop cruelty to elephants.” That text is exactly the proposal of the image. The proposal to stop cruelty to the elephants is calling for an action, focuses on the future by suggesting it needs to stop because it is still going on, and they center on the audience. Visual arguments shape behavior and change lives (pg418 EA). That is exactly what this image does. The image is visually asking “what if it were you in these chains?” or “How would you feel if you were in the elephant’s place?” This is what shapes behavior. The view can literally imagine themselves chained up just as the elephants are which in turn makes them empathize for the animals and reflect back on how they treat animals.
The next image is also a proposal as well as a visual argument. The text states : “If you wouldn’t wear your dog, please don’t wear any fur.” This is a rhetorical statement ending with a request to stop wearing fur. The image is of a man and his dog. Anyone who has a dog or any pet can most definitely relate and understand the relationship between a pet and its owner. This image suggests the viewer to think about their pets and their relationships with their pets and then makes them think about the horrible experience of wearing their own pet’s fur, which in turn makes the viewer rethink and reflect on their current values of animals.
Both images are suggestive of an action and also communicate through the image itself which makes the viewer rethink their current actions.
*first image found here
*second image found here
You did a great job of finding images that propose a strong visual argument against animal cruelty. I think you chose a rather touchy and often over looked subject, but you do a great job brining light to it and showing what really goes on in the Circus, let alone in animal cruelty and abuse as a whole.
I would have to agree with not wearing fur. Of the many other ridiculous, illogical, and irrational status symbols I would have to say that fur trumps them all. Not only are you wearing something that was once living and was killed for not other reason than to make money off of but there are human made products that keep you a whole lot warmer. Plus people who wear it just look ridiculous. I like the picture!