Friday, June 21, 2019

National School Walkouts




I decided to look at front-page news of the archived Newseum on the National School Walkouts that students participated in the spring of 2018 in response to school gun violence.  Images such as the one above create an atmosphere of chaos for the reader.  The message sent is one where students are being held captive and are doing whatever it takes to escape by the masses.  This visual rhetoric appeals to our emotions, eliciting a sense of desperation.  What must students be feeling?  With titles such as “Can’t Hold Us Back”, “Enough is Enough” and “We Deserve Better,” the reader is left thinking the worse.  It creates a sentiment of censorship.  This visual rhetoric and the images chosen to portray this national protest against gun violence in schools attempts to sway our thoughts about likening gun violence and the lack of action on the part of society to sacrificing our children in schools.  In the Chicago Tribune front page, we see a red tape across the mouth of a student, sending the message that she is not being allowed to speak and be protected.  “We’ll get back up again,” the subtitle used to explain the strength of the student body in the Miami Herald headline depicts courage.  How can a reader not be swayed in either direction?  [2 images, 1 link, 1 quotation, 353 words]

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