ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS Alhelaili 1

Analyzing Visual Texts

Ahmed Alhelaili

English 1201

Kari Carter

Dec 5th 2020

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Introduction

There are two versions to the popular song ‘We Are The World’. The original was released

in 1985 as a charitable single for the famine in Africa. The video featured popular American

artists of the time and from previous eras coming together to perform the song in a video that

was shot intended to appear as a single live take. The primary message behind the video was to

signify unity among different artists from different backgrounds uniting for a good cause in order

to show their support for the issues in Africa. The initial title of the video established this quite

well when it displayed the ‘USA For Africa’ theme. The title of the collective itself (USA For

Africa) signifies solidarity for a good cause. The newer version of the song was known as ‘We

Are The World 25 for Haiti’. This newer version was released in 2010 commemorating the 25h

anniversary of the original version and to show support for another cause, this time for the issues

in Haiti. The video shows popular artists particularly young artists from the 21st century coming

together to show their support for Haiti, again symbolizing unity in diversity. Both the videos

follow a similar narrative and message while differing in terms of social context and how overtly

the message is being presented. For example, the original version had a very loosely organized,

ambitious visual display of unity in diversity, while the newer version had a highly organized

visual display of unity in diversity by having both younger and newer artists from different

racial, ethnic, and personal backgrounds appearing together.

The original 1985 version of the song ‘We Are The World’ seeks to show support for the

famine in Africa by displaying unified support from American artists. The 2010 version uses the
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same message but has an updated social context that is more visually demonstrative of racial,

ethnic and social equality and unity towards a good cause.

Original 1985 version - Analysis

The 1985 version of ‘We Are The World’ was a response effort to raising charts funds for

the starvation and famine in Ethiopia. Several popular musicians and figures in the entertainment

industry decided to put together er a collective of the most popular artists in the United States

under the name of United Support of Artists for Africa. The song included popular American

artists such as Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and so on in order to highlight the

most popular entertainers for the time showing solidarity, support and unity for a collective

cause. The lyrical content of the song talks about unity, social equality, standing up for one

another in society, and environmental care. The theme of unity is presented in the music video by

presenting all of these popular artists standing together in one room and taking turns to perform

their parts in the song, and ultimately all singing together towards the end of the song. This a

symbolic reference to how unity can help solve crises such as the one Africa was facing, by

coming upward a solution to the problem together as one. This message targets the ‘pathos’

aspects of the audience by encouraging listeners to pay attention to the issues around them and to

realize the importance of unity in times of need. The visual narrative of the song has been laid

out quite clearly by showing the theme of unity, power in demonstration, and so on. The video

itself has been organized simply in order to highlight the simplicity of the message and how easy

it is to implement the message being conveyed in order to help society. The video also has

emphasis on showing the theme of equality in their visuals by making all the artists stand
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together in a shared space regardless of their personal characteristics, thereby prompting people

around the world to do the same in order to show support for the Ethiopian crisis. This appeals to

the ‘pathos’ aspect of the viewers. Another striking feature of the video is the introductory

symbol of a globe with the text ‘USA For Africa’ displayed over it, which again is a visual cue to

highlight equality, togetherness and other such factors appealing to the ‘pathos’ aspect of the

viewer. Such rhetorical cues are emphasizing the same message over and over in order to solidify

the image of it in the viewer’s minds. Another rather subtle aspect in the visual organization of

the video is the color scheme, which can be described as being ‘warm’ in order to strengthen the

rhetorical cues present.

2012 version - Analysis

The 2012 version follows a similar narrative of the original version. The basic theme of the

video is unity in diversity and showing artistic support. The cause and context that is being

depicted in the video however is entirely different. The context in this case is the earthquake that

hit Haiti. The video was recorded in order to provide charitable aid to the country. The narrative

shows popular artist from modern times coming together to depict unity and support for the

people of Haiti. Another important theme in this video that is absent from the first one is the

extent of visual focus on actual scenes from the area affected and a spoken intro narrative

explaining the crisis at hand. In this way, the makers of the video have extended their appeal to

both pathos, ethos and logos to a certain extent. The highlights from the disasters and its impact

appeal to the ethos aspect, the message and visual representation of the people who are suffering

has the appeal of pathos, and the spoken intro has the appeal of ‘logos’ to a certain extent. The
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narrative is similar to the original version but is different in the visual representation of the

message. The visual representation for actual scenes from the area of disaster is the main focus

of the rhetorical appeal of the video which targets an emotional response from the viewer in the

form of a ‘pathos’ appeal. The video shows the destruction caused by the earthquake, the loss of

life, the suffering of children and young adults on the streets, and the infrastructural damages to

property caused by the disaster. This is done while the song is playing and is alternated with

footage from the artists’ performance which helps set a contrast thereby highlighting the

rhetorical appeal in the visual scheme.

Conclusion

The rhetorical appeal of the two videos is similar in terms of the message that they convey.

Both the videos use the factor of depicting togetherness by making the performers stand together

regardless of their personal background in order to symbolize unity. Both the videos call for

charitable action thereby making the intent behind the videos similar as well. Both the videos

seek to appeal to a wider range of audience by having. Multitude of performers and having quite

a universal theme and mode of expression that is not bound by sociological factors. However, the

videos are also starkly different as we have observed. The original version for the video solely

shows the artists who are performing, while the newer version shows the exact scenes from the

area that has been impacted in Haiti thereby having a more direct approach to the issue being

discussed. The newer version also has a spoken word intro to highlight the urgency and

importance of the issue, introducing the factor of being straightforward and direct with the point

being made. These are absent in the original version. In this way, the video search serves a
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different narrative and purpose and do a fine job of showing the message at hand visually and

rhetorically.
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References

We Are The World (1985). USA for Africa [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9BNoNFKCBI

We Are The World 25 for Haiti (2012). Artists for Haiti [Video]. YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glny4jSciVI