Rhetoric and Poetics of the Image

In 1964, Roland Barthes wrote The Rhetoric of the Image, defending the general principles of rhetoric regardless of medium, expressive substances, or types of discourse in which it is used. As Horace anticipated in his expression "ut pictura poesis", rhetoric manifests itself in verbal, visual, auditory, audiovisual, and digital discourses, both in its argumentative function (Perelman, 1969) and persuasive function (Aristotle's triple strategy: logos, ethos, pathos, 4th century BC). Burke's New Rhetoric (1950) posits that the use of discourses is linked to their agents to form attitudes and induce actions in receivers, thus introducing the concepts of identification and dialogue. In this sense, rhetoric must also be considered from a Pragmatic perspective, understood as the relationships between sender agents and the text (verbal, visual, auditory, audiovisual, and digital) within a given context.

Rhetoric originated in Syracuse (5th century BC) to resolve a problem concerning the allocation of land that had been taken from its rightful owners during the time of the Tyrants. In this respect, it shares a function with creativity in relation to problem-solving. In fact, rhetoric (regulation of normative persuasive strategies) and creativity (breaking those norms) meet in a protean way in poetics.

Rhetoric is present in all discourses, from the everyday metaphors referenced by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) to the persistence of classical precepts in technological, digital, cybernetic, and even social media discourses (Berlanga and García-García, 2021).

Rhetoric’s ability to adapt to various media, languages, applications, and innovations has made it an essential source of ideas in digital communication. The multiplicity of digital platforms and spaces, with their unique idiosyncrasies, have transformed them into virtual agoras where users can change their roles as producers, broadcasters, and receivers. In the digital context, rhetorical strategies have demonstrated extraordinary capacity to argue, seduce, or convince, utilizing a variety of languages and expressions that give rise to different "ways of saying." The digital nature highlights the basic operations of thought (addition, subtraction, substitution, and permutation), a protean encounter of rhetoric and creativity in the service of communication.

The goal of this issue is to investigate the functions of rhetoric and poetics of the image across different types of media, discourses, genres, and formats within diverse social contexts and for varied purposes, from argumentative, persuasive, and identificatory perspectives. The following lines of analysis are proposed:

1. The history of rhetoric, from Corax of Syracuse to artificial intelligence applied to the image.
2. Rhetoric and poetics of the image in the construction of discourses according to their types: Social, philosophical, forensic, educational, economic, religious, historical, aesthetic, scientific, technological, business, organizational, and institutional.
3. Rhetoric and poetics of the image in ICT, social networks, and artificial intelligence, focusing on their ability to generate new forms of expression and specific adaptations to the particularities of each platform.
4. Connections and relationships between rhetoric, creativity, poetics, técne, and pragmatics in the creation, construction, and reading of discourses, genres, and audiovisual and digital formats.
5. Interrelations between rhetoric, memory, and creativity in advertising discourses in both analog and digital spaces, considering the participation of different communication agents.
6. The rhetorization of politics and the politicization of rhetoric and the image in public life and the media: Information and opinion; leaders' statements and speeches; fake news.
7. The rhetoric of fiction: Rhetoric and poetics in the creative construction of narratives in history and discourse, both in the substances and forms of content and expression, as well as in the mediums and modes of production and reception.

 

Keywords: Rhetoric, poetics, image, communication, history, social media

Deadline: 01 March 2025

Coordinators:

Francisco García-García is a Professor Emeritus of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) (1995-2019). His research focuses on Audiovisual Narrative, Advertising, Creativity, Rhetoric, and ICT applied to Communication and Education. Director of over 190 theses, he has taught at all educational levels. He was Director of the National Center for Educational Information and Communication of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport (10/23/2000-12/31/2004). He has received numerous awards and directed various international congresses, including Creative Cities.

 

Carmen Llorente-Barroso is a Doctor of Advertising and Audiovisual Communication from UCM and has received awards for her research. Her work focuses on Applied Rhetoric in Corporate Communication and Advertising Creativity. She has participated in numerous competitive projects and is currently a PDI at UCM.

 

João Luis Anzanello Carrascoza holds a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences from the University of São Paulo, where he has been teaching since 1990. His research area includes rhetorical processes and advertising discourse. Additionally, he is a celebrated author of award-winning literary works in Brazil.