Quintilian writes that, “the actor’s voice and delivery produce greater emotional effect when he is speaking in an assumed role than when he speaks in his own character” (qtd. in Enders 57). He encouraged his students to “exploit pity, fear, and catharsis” (Enders 59). By following an actor’s example and being appropriately expressive, an orator can better make emotional appeals. Clearly these rhetoricians saw acting as an effective method for conveying one’s message, though they saw it more as a case of borrowing from actors to make oratory more effective. However, it would be just as easy to borrow the rhetorical devices explained by these rhetoricians and apply them to drama and acting. One of the earliest examples of this was done by English playwrights in the Middle Ages in their use of rhetoric in their morality plays.
Even more closely related to drama than connections between the actor and the orator is Cicero’s view, as reported by Quintilian, that “by the introduction of ficticious personages we may bring into play the most forcible form of exaggeration” (qtd. in Enders 58). Drama, in its relationship to oratory, can best be viewed as a speech with many speakers. The original speaker is the writer, but he uses various characters and the actors portraying them to do his speaking for him.
Like some forms of more traditional oratory, drama also uses props to make its message more effective, and this, too, is an element of drama which the rhetoricians saw as important from which to borrow. Cicero was known to use props in his forensic oratory. Quintilian tells of Cicero using as a prop the blood-stained toga of Gaius Caesar, showing the toga to the jury; through its use, “Caesar seemed not to have been murdered, but to be being murdered before their very eyes” (qtd. in Enders 52). Cicero felt that using visuals was of paramount importance: “we may grasp ideas by means of images and their order by means of localities” (qtd. in Enders 50). As the old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words."
Examples are an essential part of effective oratory. The Greek rhetoricians viewed examples as a type of testimony, but Roman rhetoricians, such as the author of Rhetorica Ad Herennium, believe that their purpose is clarification rather than testimony (245). As they are related to drama, the purpose of examples seems to be best described as clarification, as testimony implies truth, inapplicable to something as fictionalized as drama. The main argument of a particular work of drama might be viewed as the generality, and the plot, characters, acting, and other elements serve to clarify this generality.
Some people are what we refer to as "visual learners," who have an easier time grasping concepts through visual presentation rather than just audial presentation. Drama lends itself well to those visual learners. Instead of hearing stories used as examples, the audience sees them actually acted out, sees props which may have symbolic significance, and has accessible to it other elements besides words.
As drama was first used for rhetorical purposes in the middle ages, rhetoricians suddenly had available to them a virtual tresure chest of rhetorical tools. Not only could they use language, but gestures, props, positioning of actors upon the stage, scenery, and many other aspects of drama. As the presentation of drama advanced, these rhetoricians had even more available to them to enhance their arguments, such as lighting and music.
The contemporary embodiment of drama, the new favorite form of entertainment, is film. Film can make use of those same rhetorical tools as drama, but adds to the list of tools such things as cinematography and editing. Movies cannot feed off and react to audience response the way that live drama can, which separates it further from its connection to oratory, but has to its advantage even more means for arguing and the ability to be fine-tuned to the point that it says exactly what the director wants it to say, or at least what consensus about its content the director reaches with studios and ratings boards, before it is released. Its lack of fluidity and active response from its audience makes it more like written rhetoric, but it more closely resembles rhetoric presented in the form of drama.
Different tools available to the filmmaker play different roles in conveying his argument. The largest part of his argument, and that part which is most accesible to the average audience member, is made through plot and dialog. The events of his film and how he chooses to portray them are the easiest for the audience to identify and the easiest means through which to convey a message because they are the most difficult to misconstrue. It is in this area that the filmmaker's logical and pathetic appeals are made. Take, for example, the film Citizen Kane, considered by many to be the best film ever made. The film tells the tale of a man consumed by ambition, a desire for success, who seems to have it all but ultimately dies unhappy and alone. Kane's argument might be seen as suggesting that wealth and success don't bring happiness, only meaningful relationships with others. Kane's parents did what they thought was best for him by sending him away to live with Mr. Thatcher, but in the end, all Kane longed for was the simple life he could have had. This message is suggested through the events in the film and especially its ending; Kane, in his dying words, refers to "Rosebud," his sled that he left behind with his parents and his apparently preferred life.
Organization is considered an imporant element of rhetoric. Any arugment should be presented in the way that makes it easiest to understand. Choices here affect which points the audience sees as most important. Likewise, chronology determines which events in a film are seen as most important. Citizen Kane begins at the end, with old Kane dying at his huge estate Xanadu with one final word, "Rosebud;" through this selection in chronology, it is clear that the film is meant to explain how Kane arrived here, and in doing so puts emphasis on cause and effect.
The acting and characterization in a film are the easiest area in which to inspire the appropriate emotional response in one's audience. It was important to portray Kane in the film as dispicable, so it was obvious that his life has turned him into a less-than-savory person, but also to retain sympathy from the audience so that it actually cares in the end that he dies alone and that the audience feels compelled to look for the purpose in his dying word. Writing can only do so much; to see Kane die a lonely and pathetic death, and see him portrayed as appropriately pitiable in this moment is what allows the film's message to be properly understood.
While these elements are what the audience notices most easily, other aspects of filmmaking are painstakingly manipulated to acheive the appropriate effect and best aid in enhancing the film's message. Like acting, these rhetorical tools are most readily associated with emotional appeals. The cinematography, which includes camera angles and motion and lighting, can help the audience understand how a character is feeling, such as when Mr. Thatcher is portrayed at an upward angle at his first appearance to young Kane, emphasizing how Kane is intimidated by him and highlighting Kane's vulnerability. A character well-lit will be perceived by the audience as a "good" character, and one cast in shadows will be percieved as "bad" or "dark."
Because it is more noticable to most audience members, music can manipulate an audience more effectively than cinematography and perhaps at times even more effectively than acting. Fast-paced music inspires excitement in the audience. Adding mournful ochestral music can make a scene even sadder. To take an example from another film, the funeral scene near the beginning of Braveheart features little dialog, much of the scene consisting only of acting and music. Young William Wallace stands over his father and brother's graves, trying not to cry, and as a young neighbor girl presents him with a flower, the movie's theme swells in volume and tears swell in the boy's eyes. Neither of these would have been complete without the other.
Editing can also influence the way the audience perceives a scene. Editing in the battle scenes in Braveheart introduces cuts between shots as a fast pace, creating excitement in the viewer and enhancing the feeling of "being there."
These rhetorical tools are used by filmmakers in both subtle and overt ways to create a certain effect on the audience. There is so much unusual filmmaking in Natural Born Killers that it is clear Oliver Stone was trying to make some point with it all. But, as demonstrated by the controversy over the film, he was not as clear about this point as one would hope, and that lack of clarity had tragic consequences.