Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix is a popular American actor, producer, and animal-rights activist, and on
February 9th, 2020, Phoenix received the Oscar for best actor in leading role. Phoenix chose
to use his acceptance speech as an opportunity to voice his opinions on various injustices,
calling for all watching to identify the mistreatment in our society and come together to stop
it. His Oscar’s acceptance was the most popular in a string of speeches Phoenix used as an
opportunity to speak on topics he felt were important in the months prior. Through emotional
provocation and well-built credibility, Joaquin Phoenix effectively captivates his audience with
touching discourse on how humanity has lost touch with the reality of their actions.
Persuasion Techniques
Pathos
An element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion.
It appeals to the emotions by inspiringly recounting events related to the struggle for
indigenous rights and other minority groups. In addition, it mentions a collective feeling with
which those who are in the same industry can feel identified. Finally, he makes use of a
quote that further reinforces the reflective intention of his speech based on love and
understanding on the part of humanity in order to be aware of and do something about the
different problems in the world.
Ethos
The distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person,
group, or institution.
Phoenix mentions his behavior during previous years, the opportunities that his colleagues
have given him. You can see the sincerity with which he expresses each sentence during his
speech and the importance he wants to show. In addition, it ends with a very personal fact
that is a letter written by his brother, reading a fragment that relates it to the topic discussed.
Lagos
the divine wisdom manifest in the creation, government, and redemption of the world
and often identified with the second person of the Trinity.
Phoenix during his speech mentions realities that we all know but that we overlook, he
'alludes to the suffering that we make the cow go through, taking away her calf, her milk, etc;
Here he mentions verifiable facts that reinforce his speech, as well as the suffering that we
make other animals go through because of our selfishness, mentioning that we drink cow's
milk in coffee or put it on cereal.
Chiasmus
An inverted relationship between the syntactic elements of parallel phrases.
“And I think that’s when we’re at our best, when we support each other, not when we
cancel each other out for past mistakes, but when we help each other to grow, when we
educate each other, when we guide each other toward redemption”.
