Visual Rhetoric

http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/

This is an image created by the environmental action organization Greenpeace. It depicts a silhouetted group of people hoisting up a windmill generator with the rising sun shining through the clouds in the background. This is a very good example of visual rhetoric that employs pathos and is quite affective, since people respond the strongest to emotional appeals. The image is reminiscent of a similar, highly recognized image of American soldiers raising a flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan, after winning the Battle of Iwo Jima:

http://www.iwojima.com/raising/lflaga2.gif

The goal of the famous Iwo Jima flag raising picture was to raise the spirits of the people of America and give them a reason to believe in a cause that many were losing faith in. In the same way that the Iwo Jima picture lifted people's spirits and inspired them to fight on, the Greenpeace picture gives people hope that the battle to save the environment is not lost, and small victories, even something as small as raising a windmill, symbolize that the fight is heading in the right direction. The fact that a large group of people is working together to lift the windmill also suggests the need for everyone to play their part in helping the environment, and the rising sun symbolizes a new era in the way we handle ourselves as far as responsibility with the environment is concerned.

The Greenpeace images and images like it can be used to cause an emotional reaction in people, and inspire them to act in a certain way.