Running Head: RHETORICAL STRATEGIES USED IN SYDNEY POLLACKS THE WAY WE ARE 1

Rhetorical Strategies Used in Sydney Pollacks The Way We Are

Mariana Vazquez

University of California, Berkeley

College Writing R1A

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Rhetorical Strategies Used in Sydney Pollacks The Way We Are

Sydney Pollack was a successful actor, writer and public figure who directed and produced

over 40 films. He won 27 awards, including 2 Oscars for Out of Africa (Sydney Pollack, n.d.).

The Way We Are is a text version of a speech Pollack gave at a conference about the influence of

popular media on American values. The purpose of Pollacks speech is to explain the

filmmaking industry to the audience, and to suggest that society influences American movies and

not the other way around. During his speech, Pollack persuades the audience by making them

feel that they are being heard, sympathetic towards his work, and relatable to the examples he

uses.

Pollacks audience includes educators, conservatives and seniors. They disagree with

Pollacks views on the medias influence on society and believe that creators like Pollack make

movies that impact society in a negative way. The audience wants Pollack to address their

concerns about American values and whether movie makers like him are violating them.

In his speech, Pollack explains how films have changed throughout the years due to many

modifications in society. Topics that are included in modern movies would not have appeared in

movies from past decades because of different societal values. He uses the example of the movie

Dances With Wolves, which is about a man who helps Native Americans protect their land

against white men. This is a controversial film that would not have been popular in previous

decades since society was different. Unlike this film, traditional Western movies usually do not

portray white men as villains. Pollack also describes filmmakers obligation, which is to

entertain people. Movie creators do not focus on making successful or award-winning movies.

The only thing they can do is to make film that they would want to watch themselves. He also
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expands on the difficulties of working in the filmmaking industry and includes personal

examples to support this.

Since most of Pollacks audience is either more knowledgeable (educators) or wiser than

him (seniors), he has to express his ideas discreetly and not be too assertive or condescending.

Otherwise, the public would not want to hear what he has to say or even make an attempt to

understand his ideas. He does this by making his speech more of a dialogue between him and his

audience. This happens when Pollack says: I know your concerns have to do with American

values and whether those values are being upheld or assaulted by American entertainment- by

what I and others like me do (483). By including this acknowledgment early in his speech,

Pollack assures the audience that he will try to reason with them while considering their

concerns. He does this again later in his speech when he adds this conference is concerned

with but I am concerned with...You are debating and Im debating (487). By including this,

Pollack is respectfully pointing out what he is arguing and how that is different to what the

audience believes. Because Pollack has talked about many of his points and thoughts while the

audience have listened to him, coming back to their concerns again is important. They have to

know that their feelings are being respected and that Pollack understands what they are saying.

Instead of only including what he thinks and worries about, Pollack makes sure that the audience

knows their thoughts are not being disregarded.

Unlike his audience, some of Pollacks films are not very conservative. One of his most

well-known films, Tootsie, is about an actor who gets a role on a low-quality soap after he

disguises himself as a woman. Just as Pollack argues, this type of film would not have been

made in previous years. Because of this, his audience, who most likely holds more traditional

values, does not agree with most of his films. Pollack uses pathos as an attempt to get his
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audience to sympathize with him about the hardships of his work and the industry so that they

dislike him and what he does less. One of the times he does this is when he informs the public

that nobody really knows a formula for what will make money [in the film industry] (485).

Unlike other industries, the movie industry does not have any instructions or guidelines on how

to succeed. Filmmakers just have to make a variety of movies with various plots and hope for the

best. Pollack uses pathos again with his audience when he insists that he is not sure that [they]

really understand how odd and unpredictable a business the making of films actually is. It just

doesnt conform to the logic or rules of any other business (485). By emphasizing this fact

again, Pollack wants to get the audiences sympathy so that they look at him with less coldness

after they understand what he has to endure in his work.

Pollacks audience includes educators, conservatives and seniors who hold more

traditional and Christian values. To appeal to his audience, Pollack uses Christian references that

they can connect to in order to further support what he is saying. When he explains how films are

financed, he says that they have no Medicis [in the film industry]. It takes two distinct entities,

the financiers and the makers, to produce movies (Pollack, 484, nd.). The Medicis were a

family of Christian bankers who sponsored many artists during the 16th century. This reference

he uses helps him explain with more detail how films are financed. Another example of this is

when he suggests that There probably hasnt been a really beautiful rake since the Shakers

stopped making farm implements (485). Shaker communities, also called The United Society of

Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, lived on self-supporting farms where they produced and

sold a variety of products such as furniture, baskets and brooms. Using this reference, Pollack

parallels rakes and films. With the help of this historical reference, he effectively argues that

films lost their beauty as soon as they became a commodity. This makes the point he is trying to
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make more meaningful and thought provoking, which was most likely understood by his

audience. Pollack also makes a relatable reference when he notes that Most Russian films made

under communism were of high quality in terms of craft, but they were soporific because their

intent to do good as it was perceived by the state or an all-knowing party committee was too

transparent (486). This reference suits his anti-communist audience because it points out how

Russian films were moralizing since people did not want to learn what the communist party was

trying to teach. Pollacks use of this reference suits the audience and appeals to them since they

agree with his views on that subject which results in his audience trusting him more.

Although Pollack and his audience have different opinions on the filmmaking industry,

Pollack successfully proves to them why he as a director believes that society affects the films

that are being made. He does this by making the audience feel acknowledged, sympathetic and

relatable in different parts of his speech so that he can effectively share his thoughts.
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References

Pollack, S. (n.d.). The Way We Are.

Sydney Pollack . (n.d.). Retrieved from IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001628/