Rhetoric of Space

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Green Street Hooligans




Do you like British football, bar-brawls, and Elijah Wood? Yes, you read that right, I said Elijah Wood. I personally had a hard time picturing Wood, who’s most famous role was that of the humble hobbit Frodo, doing macho things like getting a tattoo and fighting in the streets with a rowdy group of football fans. If you are still curious what that looks like, then you’ll love the movie Green Street Hooligans. After watching the trailer, the movie is a sports-themed drama that targets for an audience of mostly 18- 30 year old men due to the rowdy drinking and fighting behavior. There may also be a small attempt to draw in 20-something year old women through the use of eye-candy. Within the Green Street Hooligans trailer the viewer is exposed to different rhetorical devices in the form of ethos, logos and pathos.
The only actor that is recognizable within the trailer is Elijah Wood, and showing him within the trailer provides all three appeals. Using a well-known star like Elijah in the movie is an appeal on emotions, or pathos, because many people have great fondness for him as Frodo, the lovable little Hobbit. He is also used as an appeal to ethos, because of his credibility he’s gained with Lord of the Rings fans. Those fans could be enticed to see Green Street Hooligans because he has already shown evidence of his talent as a great actor. This appeals to logos. Elijah Wood as the leading role was not the only emotionally driven casting choice. The character Pete, played by Charlie Hunnam, was as well. Hunnam is a prime example of an attractive bad-boy type character, which appeals to women’s sexuality. When they show a scene of Hunnam walking across the screen with no shirt on, I knew that this was specifically targeted towards the female crowd.  Although men may be drawn to see this movie because they are Frodo fans, or like drunken behavior, the women are drawn in by the attractive co-star.  In Everything’s an Argument by Andrea Lunsford, she explains “emotional appeals are powerful tools for influencing what people think and believe. We all make decisions, even important ones, based on our feelings” (38). I’m sure that people watching this trailer may watch this movie after seeing a half-naked Hunnam or the recognizable Elijah Wood.
Near the end of the trailer the words “Honor, Love, Loyalty, and Stand Your Ground” flash on the screen in between some bonding scenes of the football firm. The background color of the words are in a bluish-green color, which Louis Giannetti of Understanding Movies, writes is a soothing, tranquil and serene color that can affect a viewer’s mood (22). After showing a number of fight scenes that contained blood and violence, they brought the attention away from the chaos and back to a calmer, peaceful statement of friendship and self-respect. These words appeal to both pathos and ethos. When you see words like “Loyalty” and “Honor” you think about one’s ethical morals and standards. You start to ask yourself “Would I stand my ground against a gang of men and fight for my honor alongside the other men in my firm?” To many people the words are also related to thoughts and emotions from their past.  “Stand Your Ground” is the main lesson that Elijah’s character learns, and is the overall message that the trailer tries to convey to the audience.
Although the trailer does not reveal what the movie is rated, it also does not try to hide it. By showing numerous violent fight scenes it is clear that the movie is not for younger children and therefore eliminates a range of younger audiences. Even though the movie is not for children, I still think the trailer does a good job at appealing to a broad range of both male and female adults. I give the Green Street Hooligans trailer 2 tickets!




No comments:

Post a Comment