Running head: THUNDERBOLTS AND ARGUMENTS

Thunderbolts and Arguments

AJ Skiles
Antioch University, Santa Barbara

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Thunderbolts and Arguments

Jason Hallows starts his workday like most, drinking coffee and checking his email
but he does so while dressed in his favorite robe and fuzzy slippers. Hallows sits
comfortably (it is his favorite robe after all) among the growing few that have stuck out
on their own to work from home as their own boss. The hours are what he makes them;
they change everyday depending on his workload and mood. He only works with whom
he wants to work with; hes fired clients before and is comfortable doing it again. His
company is called Transitory Zenith Productions. It is a video production company that
creates and produces anything from music videos, like those for local band Nerf Herder,
to television commercials, anyone from Dunkin Donuts to the local Toyota dealership.
Transitory Zenith Productions clients are as varied and unique as the work Hallows
produces for each, requiring the ability to quickly shift and adapt his argument to
successfully match his clients expectations.

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So what is meant by the term argument? In this case, it refers to Hallows efforts
to convey and maintain a certain image and perception to his audience. As the soleproprietor, Hallows has complete control and sole-responsibility over all aspects of his
marketing materials, his image his argument. The writing artifacts examined in this
paper are Transitory Zenith Productions invoices and web presence. The web presence
being Hallows: company website, personal website, Vimeo page, and instagram feed.
Through the examination and analysis of these writing artifacts we will explore some of
the many concepts of rhetoric arguments.

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Initially, Hallows design criterion was whatever looked good to his eye he
would use it; if he didnt like it, hed abandon it. Cool is the rule is the argument the
mantra even. Or was, until a funny thing happened one day when Hallows bought a new
program to create his invoices. The look and feel of the new invoice was a dramatic
change from his old one. The old invoices had his logo boldly printed across the top,
adorned with multiple cartoon thunderbolts with a hand-lettered quality to the font.
While on the new invoices Hallows left off the logo instead just typing out the name
Transitory Zenith Production in a plain sans serif font which in turn, resulted in a
much more plain and boring look. But what also resulted the checks started rolling in
faster. One client in particular, who in the past would normally take the full 30 days to
pay an invoice, now only took a week.
Curious for a possible explanation to the speedier turn-around time of the
invoices it couldnt be the new program? Hallows inquired if any of the companies
had recently changed accountants. He was told no changes had been made to the staff
personnel at any of the companies he queried. Unable to ask directly why most of his
clients were now paying their bills faster Hallows came up with his own theory. His
theory, based on his observation that his new plain and boring invoices looked a lot
more like his clients plain and boring materials, was that they paid the invoices faster
because like likes like. Hallows clients responded quicker because the boring invoice
fit their image of a serious company, much like how the companies viewed themselves.
Thats a fine theory, but let us attempt to view this episode through the lens of a
rhetoric argument. The plain and boring invoice better fit the companies
expectations that is to say the genre of what an invoice from a serious company

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would look like. Something the cartoon thunderbolts did not convey at least not on
invoices.
Invoices as examples of genres? The word genre seems ill fitting when speaking
about something as ordinary as invoices. Yet, that is what Kerry Dirk urges to consider
when he quotes Carolyn Miller a leading professor in the field of technical
communication in Dirks essay Navigating Genres. Miller is quoted by Dirk as stating,
To consider as potential genres such homely discourse as the letter of recommendation,
the user manual, the progress report, the ransom note, the lecture, and the white paper,
as well as the eulogy, the apologia, the inaugural, the public proceeding, and the sermon,
is not to trivialize the study of genres; it is to take seriously the rhetoric in which we are
immersed and the situations in which we find ourselves (Dirk, 2010, p.254).
Dirk expands on Millers words as he writes, In other words, Miller is saying that
all genres matter because they shape our everyday lives. And by studying the genres that
we find familiar, we can start to see how specific choices that writers make result in
specific actions on the part of readers; it only follows that our own writing must too be
purposefully written (Dirk, 2010, p.254).
By becoming more aware of his clients expectations in in this particular genre
the invoice Hallows learned a valuable lesson in effective rhetorical arguments. This
chance occurrence also reinforces the concept that everything is an argument, as the
authors of the textbook, aptly named Everything is an Argument, define when they
write, an argument can be any text written, spoken, aural, or visual that expresses a
point of view (Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, Walters, 2012, pg. 5).
Another example of audience expectation verses argument is revealed in the
story of the first client Hallows fired. Simple Shoes is a local shoe company, one that

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Hallows used to create fun little travel videos for. As Simple Shoes the company grew, so
did their advertising budget. With the increased budget came more ambitious projects
projects that were going to a large firm in Los Angeles and not to Transitory Zenith
Productions. Unlike the plain and boring invoice company, Hallows had a much more
friendly and open relationship with Simple Shoes.
And therein lies the problem; he has this friendly relationship due in large part to
his prior connection with the company. A couple of years prior to striking out on his
own, Hallows used to work as an hourly-worker in their customer-service department.
And now one of the decision-makers could not get passed this outdated image of
Hallows as an hourly-worker even if he now owned and operated his own company.
So while Simple Shoes was happy to give Hallows the same jobs to create the same cute
little travel promos, this one person refused to give him the bigger, more prestigious
jobs. Hallows prior history undermined the argument he was making.
The argument that Hallows wanted to convey that his company was capable of
handling the bigger projects was incongruent with the clients existing perception of
Hallows. This desire to be perceived as being a person that was capable of handing much
larger jobs was, and is, so strong to Hallows that he eventually fired Simple Shoes as a
client.
Yet, the perception or image that Hallows wants to argue goes well beyond
appearing capable of handling larger projects he is also wants to convey the image of
an artist. This desire to be viewed as an artist is the reason why Hallows populates his
web presence with his more personal creative endeavors like his short films many of
which have been shown in various film festivals including our own Santa Barbara Film

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Festival. Hallows is making an argument that says he is creative; he is an artist. And he

doesnt just say hes creative he shows us by offering his films as evidence.
Additionally, another aspect of Hallows creative argument via his web presence,
is the inclusion of what I call mind-doodles mini artistic expressions. For instance,
the Birds of the Westside photo series, found on his company website. And it is exactly
what it sounds like, a photo series of the birds found on the Westside of Santa Barbara.
Hallows states that he began noticing the different types of birds while on one of his
breaks where he often sketches or simply takes a walk. He started photographing the
various birds and ended up with enough decent images to urge him to publish on his
website.
Another aspect of Hallows mind-doodle creative argument is his Instagram
feed. Instagram is a popular photo-sharing site. Hallows popularity and success on
Instagram is due to his whimsical and humorous content.
The personal film projects and the whimsical mini artistic endeavors are
presented to make an argument based on ethos, towards Hallows credibility; he is a
creative person that makes creative things. Hallow is much more than the guy that
makes television commercials for the local Toyota dealership.
So what is meant by ethos and an argument based on ethos? In the words of
authors Losh and Alexander, found in the textbook, Understanding Rhetoric, Ethos is
the creditability that a speaker or writer brings to the subject that he or she is
communicating. We trust certain kinds of people more than others because they have
expertise, or because they are well informed about the subject at hand. (Losh &
Alexander, 2013, p.44) That is to say, Hallows was consciously making the argument

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that he is creative and thats why you should hire him by showcasing his more fun and
creative work.
Hallows story is a great lens with which to bring into focus the importance of
understanding rhetorical arguments. With a deeper understanding of the value of
rhetorical argument we can use them more effectively. Through a series of trial and
error, Hallows has grown to better understand the power of arguments, and as such is
better able to personalize and craft the image he feels will be the most successful
depending on the client. His story also demonstrates that all writing artifacts are
essentially rhetorical arguments, regardless of we are aware of them or not.

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References
Navigating Genres by Kerry Dirk, Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1, p.254
Understanding Rhetoric, Losh & Alexander, 2013, p.44
Everything is an Argument, 2010, Andrea A. Lunsford (Author), John J. Ruszkiewicz
(Author), Keith Walters (Author)