Rhetorical Analysis of The Real Housewives of Atlanta

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Rhetorical Analysis of the Real Housewives of Atlanta
Watching the second episode of season one of The Real Housewives of Atlanta was quite interesting. There were some underlying themes and messages which appeared on the episode. Some of the themes include family, divorce, women empowerment, and mother’s love towards their children. Another issue that appears in the show is the absence of fathers in the lives of their children. However, as seen in the episode, the women appear strong, ready, and willing to continue doing and giving their children the best. Additionally, they are also depicted as individuals who know what they want. They are quite particular about what they want and many of them are ready to go to all levels to eventually get that which they were looking for. The underlying theme in this episode is that mothers are strong, ready, and willing to do all that it takes to make sure that their children are protected and taken care of.
The episode also makes use of certain strategies which help to reinforce the theme while also increasing the dramatic effect in some of the scenes. Additionally, the producers and directors have also made sure that the camera angles appear to showcase or to reinforce some of the ideas being communicated in the episode. There is also the employment of ethos, pathos, and logos in the episode as the director seeks to communicate or deliver the intended message to the show’s audience. This article will thus seek to determine and elucidate on how the episode develops its theme, packages it, communicates it, and the strategies it uses along the way.
Logos
In the episode, there are instances that appear to showcase how the women are raising their children in the absence of their fathers. From the episode, the women appear to be involved in the lives of their children but the children’s fathers are questionably missing. By showcasing the women as involved as they are, the director is trying to paint a particular picture of these women. The idea here is to show that these women are strong and are able to take care of themselves and their families as well. However, the use of logos appears here in that the director creates an argument about the strength of the women by deliberately leaving out the roles that fathers play in the children’s lives. The point being made here is that in spite of the absence of the fathers, the women are able to do as much as they can to make sure the children never get to miss out on anything in life. In one instance, Sheree is seen while in her house with her daughter when Bob, her ex-husband comes to pick their daughter. The camera appears to deliberately miss out on capturing Bob and the audience only gets to see him once. Additionally, Bob never comes out of the car to open the door for his daughter and Kaleigh is forced to call her mom to come and open the door for her. While this can be seen as just any other part of the episode, it does say a lot regarding the absence of fathers in the lives of their children. The fathers are uninvolved and in one of the interviews, Sheree says that she wants Bob to “come around and bond with these kids.” The fact that she says this and how she says it makes it known that the fathers are indeed absent and that their involvement would be greatly appreciated.
Another instance of fathers’ un-involvement in the lives of their children is depicted through Kim. She plans and executes her daughter’s birthday party and there is not a single moment that we get to see the father of Brielle appear. DeShawn is also shown complaining saying that her husband is away six days a week something that leaves her with the responsibility of raising their kids alone. While the nature of her husband’s work does make it difficult for him to be around, she appears to insinuate that he could do more. NeNe, on the other hand, is seen taking her son to school and staying interested throughout the tour and even makes sure that she knows how the dorm rooms look like. These women’s involvement in the lives of their children is a show of strength. The director uses these instances to make a logical argument regarding the obvious absence of fathers in the lives of their children.
Ethos
Elements of et...