Running Head: GENRE ANALYSIS 1

Genre Analysis: An Iconographic And Typographic Comparison

Laurence Loiselle
The University of Texas at El Paso











GENRE ANALYSIS 2
Genre Analysis: An Iconographic And Typographic Comparison
As mentioned in Barack Obamas second Inaugural Address (2013), environmental
issues have been in the spotlights for a certain period of time now. Although some would
argue that such topic has lost all appeal to the public because of its overexposure, a new
facet of this planetary challenge has arisen. Marine pollution has been brought to attention
of the world by a 19-year-old Dutch student during the 2012 TEDxDelft, a conference about
technology, entertainment and design (Slat, 2012). Since Boyan Slats presentation of a
revolutionary plan to clean the oceans, the worlds community has been either supporting
or tearing down his project. Some members of the community have been successful in
conveying their approval or disapproval of Slats ideas, but maybe not as a well as Slat
himself. The rhetorical elements of a typographic response will be analyzed to contrast to
the one of Slats original iconographic proposal.
The two genre discussed are How the oceans can clean themselves: Boyan Slat at
TEDxDelft by Boyan Slat and Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres by Stiv Wilson, the first being
iconographic and the second typographic. The video in which Boyan Slat is the main
speaker has for purpose to inform and persuade the scientific community of the revolution
that could lead from his Ocean Cleanup project. On the other hand, Wilsons article, Fallacy
of Cleaning the Gyres, is opposing Slats method and ideas as a whole.
Purpose and Audience
The purpose of the iconographic genre chosen, Boyan Slats TED talk, is to challenge
the belief that marine pollution cannot be stopped and that the removal of plastic debris
from the oceans is insurmountable: When talking about environmental issues in general, I
think a common response is, well it as long way off, it is for our children to worry about.
GENRE ANALYSIS 3
Well hello, here I am(Slat, 2012). The purpose is identifiable by the context in which Slats
argument is presented. He is a guest speaker at a TED conference, where he explains why
he believes actions should be valued over prevention. He also reaffirms his purpose by
sharing the original idea, trips, research and experiments that lead him to believe in the
possibility of cleaning the oceans (Slat, 2012).
Boyan Slats purpose is tied to his target audience. Marine biologists and engineers
are Slats most important components of his audience. Watching his presentation, the use
of specialized terms such as gyres, molecules, currents, estimations, and data, and the
respect of the scientific method, are two indicators of the scientific background and interest
of his audience (Slat, 2012). Although Slat seems to be speaking the same specialized
language as his audience, his attitude shows that he is not presenting to an already
convinced crowd. He spends a large amount of time, advocating for a new way of thinking,
If we want to do something different, shouldnt we also have to think differently? (Slat,
2012), by moving from prevention, which seems to be the technic used by his audience, to a
more proactive approach. The very little reactions of the crowd and Slats constant
reminders of the flaws of the older method are also two indicators of the audiences view of
his project.
The language used by Slat is specialized. He mostly uses scientific/marine terms such
as gyre, currents, centrifuge, and photons. His language was suited for the occasion, since
he was presenting at a formal TED Conference, where the audience expects to hear about
new scientific discoveries.
The second analyzed genre is an article about the Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres,
whose purpose is to dismantle the Ocean Arrays credibility. Stiv J. Wilson, the author of the
GENRE ANALYSIS 4
article, attempts to change the view of the nonscientific population of Boyan Slats Ocean
Cleanup Foundation and Project. According to his article, the majority of the scientific
community does not approve Slats ideas, qualifying it of nonrealistic, No serious scientist
or policy advocate believes that microplastic gyre cleanup is a real strategy for ridding
micro-plastics from the oceansnot even The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). (Wilson, 2013), which means he is excluding them from his
audience. Another hint at Wilsons audience is the language he used. Although he could not
be perceived as credible if he did not use some specialized terms, most of his article is
written in a casual manner. Some expressions such as La-La Land, fairy tail and his use of
contractions are explained by the fact that his audience would not be expected to relate to
something written as a research essay. This article was written in such manner that the
average reader could follow along. Wilson also refers to the public in his article, hinting
that they are the ones this piece is addressed to.
Wilsons audience, just as Slats, most likely does not agree with him. Wilsons article
is a reaction to the presentation made by Boyan Slat, which means he is attempting to undo
the effect of Slats TED talk. They are working in opposite directions with their audience
and in similar one when it comes to purpose, since they are both trying to persuade. The
major difference between Wilson and Slat is their styles. Wilson chose to present his
argument in a written manner and he used more references and well-established sources,
while Slat went for the innovative approach, a webpage and video, using experiments,
prototypes and recent statistics.


GENRE ANALYSIS 5
Rhetorical Issues: Ethos, Pathos and Logos
The video How the oceans can clean themselves: Boyan Slat at TEDxDelft establishes
great credibility because of the formal environment in which it has been filmed. As stated
in the title of the video, Slats presentation was part of a TED conference, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to the mission of ideas worth spreading. According the TEDs
webpage, technologies, entertainment and design are the three major pillars of the
organization established in 1984 during their first conference in California (TED
Conference, 2012). The fact that TED is trusted worldwide, helps set up the foundations of
Slats credibility. In other words, his affiliation with such organization benefits him greatly,
compensating for the fact that he is attempting to persuade well-informed scientists and
engineers, although he does not own a degree (Slat, 2012). Another factor that could play
against Slat is his age. Being so young, nineteen years old, some could question his ability to
analyze a complex situation such as marine pollution (Slat, 2012).
Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres by Stiv Wilson uses an entirely different technic to
establish ethos. The author focuses more on personal titles and realizations to gain the
trust of his readers. The most flagrant example of this type of persuasion is in the first line
of Wilsons article: As the policy director of the ocean conservation nonprofit 5Gyres.org, I
can tell you that the problem of ocean plastic pollution is massive (Wilson, 2013). In
contrast with Slat, Wilson does not rely on the environment in which his article is
presented, the Inhabitat webpage, but rather on his personal experience in the field of
marine pollution (Wilson, 2013).
Although Wilson did not attempt to use the credibility of the site on which he
published to build his own, the design of the page did affect his ethos. The colors of the
GENRE ANALYSIS 6
webpage, light green and white, helped linking the visual aspects and the words, but the
pictures did not. The point of illustrations is to reinforce the texts ideas, in the case of Stiv
Wilsons article the picture were more in accordance with Slats project. Most of the visuals
were of fragments of plastic on beaches and plastic bottles floating in the oceans (Wilson,
2013), such representations did not help reinforce the thesis which was that the oceans are
to big to be cleaned, it rather emphasized Slats point, that there is an urgent need for
cleaning.
Pathos, emotional appeal, was not a major part of Slat or Wilsons argument since
both of their audience had scientific backgrounds or interests. An overuse of pathos would
most likely have hurt their ethos. Boyan Slat did not base his entire video on emotional
appeal, but he smiled, laughed and even told some jokes during his presentation, keeping
the atmosphere of the room positive (Slat, 2012). The article written by Stiv J. Wilson did
not consist of any type of emotional appeal.
One of the strongest point of Slats presentation was the logic behind his argument.
The future engineer started by explaining the need for an ocean clean up program, then
followed with an explanation of the old, failing ways used in the past, and finished with his
innovative project of the Ocean Cleanup Arrays. Wilsons article also fairly used logic. His
ideas were clear and there were no contradictions, but he took the liberty of adding a lot of
information about marine pollution, which took the focus off his main purpose. At one
point, there was confusion on whether or not Wilson was trying to dismantle Slats project
as stated in the title, or if he simply tried to inform his readers of the challenges of such
project.
GENRE ANALYSIS 7
Another lack in Wilsons logic appeared in one of the last few paragraphs of his article.
Although he states his primary motive was to allow his readers to understand the flaws of
Boyan Slats project, he later stated that his article might have been driven by his jealousy
towards the visibility given to Slat: And sure, maybe Im a bit jealous that this tale of how
to solve the problem went viral (Wilson, 2013). In contrary with Boyan Slats approach,
Wilson also criticized Slat has an individual, calling him arrogant when presenting his
project: But I also smell an arrogance herean arrogance that flies in the face of
everything we know about the ocean and the problems with recycling (Wilson, 2013).
Those to personal attacks are not coherent with Wilsons original thesis, which focused on
dismantling the Ocean Array Cleanup Project, not its author.
Structure and Delivery
Being an iconographic genre, How the oceans can clean themselves: Boyan Slat at
TEDxDelft had the advantage of being interactive and entertaining in comparison to
Wilsons Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres. Wilson was restricted by the genre he chose, since
sounds, bright colors or even humor are not expected of an article. Another important
component of Wilsons structure was the length of his paper. His article consisted of more
than twenty paragraphs, which did affect the efficiency of his persuasion. The length was
not appropriated for his audience, who consisted of nonscientific, average readers. The
unnecessary paragraphs were mainly caused by Wilsons lack of focus, which not only
affected his structure and delivery, but also his logos.
Wilson was not the only one dealing with restrictions, as stated on the TED webpage,
the guest speaker at the TEDxDelft Conference were only allow an eighteen minute long
presentation (TED Conference, 2012), meaning Boyan Slat had to introduce his topic,
GENRE ANALYSIS 8
present his ideas and advocate for his project in less than twenty minutes. Such restriction
could have been fatal for Slats project, but the fast pace of his presentation kept the
audience on their feet, reinforcing his delivery. Slats delivery went hand in hand with his
structure, without a strong plan, he would have gone over the time period allowed to each
guest speaker, which would have destroyed his delivery.
Conclusion
At last, Slats original presentation was not threatened by Wilsons Fallacy of
Cleaning the Gyres since his presentation had stronger structure, delivery, and logic.
Wilsons difficulties with maintaining focus on his thesis throughout the article hurt his
credibility and logos, leading to an unconvincing argument. The problems observed in The
Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres are examples of the negative impact of the inappropriate use
of a genre.











GENRE ANALYSIS 9
References
Obama, B. (2013, January 13). Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama. Retrieved
from http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/01/21/inaugural-
address-president-barack-obama
Slat, B. (2012, October 24). How the oceans can clean themselves: Boyan Slat at TEDxDelft.
Retrieved from http://www.boyanslat.com/TEDx/.
Slat, B. (2012). BIO. Retrieved from http://www.boyanslat.com/bio/index.html
TED Conference. (2012). About TED. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/pages/about
Wilson, S. J. (2013). The Fallacy of Cleaning the Gyres. Inhabitat. Retrieved from
http://inhabitat.com/the-fallacy-of-cleaning-the-gyres-of-plastic-with-a-floating-
ocean-cleanup-array/