1) Birdsell & Groarke “Toward a Theory of Visual Argument”
Birdsell and Groarke talked a lot about the context of an image and how important it could be. In the below image, you see an advertisement for Paris. The context would be knowing that the Eiffel Tower is in Paris, if one did not know this the image would make no sense. Audience members may wonder why the “A” is capitalized and in a different color. Proving their point that without context it is hard to interpret or understand an image and what it is supposed to portray.
2) Blair “The Possibility and Actuality of Visual Arguments”
What stood out to me the most about Blair’s argument is that even though arguments can be visual, they really are not that different from verbal arguments. Blair said that when using visuals in an argument, they are often there to add clarity for the verbal argument. Arguments can use very little verbal text, because the visual is often what evokes the emotion. Because it is often hard to know what the artist was exactly trying to argue, text is helpful in guiding interpretation for the audience.
For a comparison, this ad is for the World Wildlife Fund. This ad has no apparent text, just an image of a giraffe made out of coins. An audience would see this image and think that it is trying to get them to donate money because it would go to saving an animal like a giraffe. This could be interpreted in this way by the audience with just the visual, and in a more effective way then if it were just to say “donate to save the giraffes” or something along those lines.
This image proves Blair’s point that yes an argument and message can be portrayed with just text , but the image is often helpful when it comes to interpretation. With looking just at the image the audience gets the premises of the run down environment of the giraffe, and may see the coins as a solution to helping improve the environment and the lifestyle of the giraffe. Images often help to evoke more emotion than just text would when it comes to getting an arugment across.