1OchoaCarolina OchoaDr. McLaughlin WR 133010 April 2015Selma: Rhetorical Analysis of the March for ChangeThe United States during the 1950s and 60s was full of racial tension. Slavery had been outlawed for decades, but its effects lingered on, particularly down in the South. Assistance from the Civil Rights Movement prompted the majority of the nation to desegregate, but not everyone was on board. Some southern states resisted and refused to let go of the past. Eventually, this opposition brought civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and others from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to Selma, Alabama, where African Americans were still being denied their rights. Once there, a march was led in protest against the denial of voting rights for African Americans of the region. That historic event was relived in theaters throughout the US by means of a historical film called Selma. Directed by Ava DuVernay, Selma retells the history of the Selma March on a more personal level. Selma chooses to highlight the emotional, and physical toll the participants of the 1960s civil rights movement endured in order to stress the difficult nature of change and illustrate why current society must not regress in lieu of current social tension. The films rhetoric illustrates these points by use of cinematography effects such as close-ups and slow motion, along with dialogue. In the words of James Herrick, rhetoric is defined as, the systematic study and intentional practice of effective symbolic expression (7). Selmas rhetoric accomplishes this by using words and images to clearly and effectively convey the suffering of the Civil Rights Movement and to underscore the dangers of relapsing back to those actions to the targeted audience of American citizens. Whether it is for photography or film, mobile framing, the movement of the camera, encourages viewer awarenessbetween seeing and knowing (Lancioni 105). In Selma, the use of close-up mobile framing allows the audience a glimpse at the pain and strains of the civil rights leaders and participants in order to emphasize the difficult nature of change and of why society must stay firm in its current hold on equality. The change sought for was equality of races in America, which was won but at a cost. There are various scenes in Selma that illustrate this with use of close ups, bringing the violent side of the movement to the viewers attention. For example, close up shots were employed in scenes of murders and beatings of activists, enhancing the scenes emotional impact, such as the scene of Jimmie Lee Jacksons murder. After Jimmie, his mother and grandfather flee from corrupt policemen, who were previously seen beating on peaceful protesters, they are seen in a restaurant with frightened and anxious expressions. There are close up shots of their faces, giving the audience a sense of what Jimmie and his family feel. A struggle ensues as three policemen burst in and viciously beat Jimmies elderly grandfather as another holds his mother by the throat with a baton. As Jimmie tries to intervene peacefully, the third policeman begins to mercilessly beat on him before callously shooting Jimmie at point black range. Jimmies face of pain, confusion, and despair is clearly and slowly seen before he falls down, dead. His mother, at just witnessing her son murdered in cold blood, begins to cry hysterically and cradles her dead son in her arms as the grandfather passes out a few feet away.The brutal nature of this scene, intensified by close-up shots, shows the horrors endured in order for change and equality to come about. The audience sees that Jimmie was murdered for change. The South was firm in its resistance and as a result, thousands of innocent African Americans, like Jimmie, and other citizens supportive of civil rights, were beaten and murdered. The purpose of the cameras close-ups in this scene was to call attention to the suffering felt by these characters to underscore the arduous nature of change (Lancioni 110). In film and cinematography, reframing is often used to provide close-ups of individuals [or any object] barely noticeable in the original and can be seen as inviting viewers to question and engage with the medium (Lancioni 106). Here, the viewer is invited into the strenuous process of change in the Deep South, in addition to its cruelty. This invitation to the injustices of the South has an emotional appeal that aim[s] either to elicit an emotion or to engage the audiences loyalties or commitments (Herrick 13). Here, the audiences commitment to civil justice and obedience to the countrys institutions, such as the police force, and their morals are tested. Moreover, these scenes can be seen as somewhat similar to recent racial tensions of the country, such as Ferguson[footnoteRef:1], and demonstrate to the audience what was endured for a better future and why society now must ensure the security of that future. [1: Ferguson is a city in Missouri where riots and protest took place as a result of the killing of an unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, by a white police officer. ]

In addition to close-ups, the use of slow motion for cinematography effect further hammers home the idea that change is tough to come by and of why our changed society must not regress. The use of long takes, slow pans, and tight close-ups invite the viewers to explore images [and] reflect on their possible meaning; an example of such can be found at the beginning of Selma, with the explosion of a church played out in slow motion (Lancioni 109). In this scene, the audience witnesses five African American girls, dressed in their Sunday best outfits, walk downstairs and as one girl stops behind the others on the staircase, an unexpected explosion occurs. Instead of having the explosion play out in regular time, it is decelerated, showing the movement of the debris and bodies of the innocent girls. The scene then cuts to black and slowly pans out, over the rumbles of the church with the bodies of the girls covered in its ruins. The decreased movement of time with slow motion extends and augments the tragedy that has just occurred. The effect of this mobile framing makes [the] viewers symbolic enactors of the very act they would condemn as inhuman[e] (Lancioni 111). Slow motion does this by prolonging the inhuman act, making the audience a bit uncomfortable and even outraged. An appeal is made to the audiences emotions to again demonstrate what has been suffered for a better future and why society now must safeguard the security of that future. Also, the slow motion of this scene, and even the scene of Jimmie Lees murder, creates the sense of an extended time, which symbolizes the duration of the injustices and how long it took for change to come about. The lengthened shot of the church explosion is a metaphor for the lengthy time it took for this country to change its old ways. The audiences who are witnessing this travesty are like the people of the country who were watching the humiliations, beatings, and murders of African Americans. This has the purpose of testing the audiences morals and showing why society cant allow for racial differences to bring about such immoral actions, such as killing innocent children. Speech and dialogue is also a crucial part of a films rhetoric as one symbol system to communicate meaning to the audience (Herrick 6). Selmas dialogue, particularly intimate dialogue, between characters such as MLK, John Lewis, and Coretta King, does such as it highlights the toll taken on those involved in the change of civil rights. For example, some of the intimate conversations between MLK and his wife Coretta show the strains their marriage and themselves were under during the movement. Although Coretta was not a part of the Selma March, she was targeted due to her connection with MLK and dealt with a great, emotional struggle over concerns for her familys safety. She would receive menacing phone calls of threats directed towards her family or calls that attempted to destroy her marriage by using recordings of MLKs alleged affairs. Even though Coretta bottled up most of her worries, she occasionally expressed her distress and sadness to King. Moreover, King would also express his own doubts and worries he had himself. While MLK and John Lewis, a civil rights leader, rode in a car, King revealed to John the weariness he felt and his doubt of continuing the march in Selma, since change was difficult and people were being hurt. To this, Lewis responds by sharing with King his experience on the Montgomery bus ride where his friend, Jesse, was savagely beaten unconscious by a white man and his daughter. Lewis then proceeds to tell King that despite the fact of being badly beaten, Lewis still attending a gathering King held the following day. Lewis tells King this to encourage and assure him that although change is difficult to come by, it will come if it is true and right. Currently, that change has been sought and instilled in society, but one can see glimpses into the past with recent events such as Ferguson. The dialogue between MLK, Coretta, Lewis, and other characters of the film, paints the picture of how much damaged was caused and how much effort was put into the civil rights movement for constitutional change to happen. However, one may argue that the dialogue of Selma illustrates how fragile the inner workings of the civil rights movement was. The dialogue may portray this in the sense that it shows the uncertainty felt by the characters about the civil rights movement. An example of this doubt can be found in the conversation between MLK and Lewis in MLKs vehicle. In addition to revealing to Lewis his weariness and apprehension with following through with the march, King apologizes to Lewis for the problems he has been encountering with his student organization. Lewiss group seems to be at a divide due to the arrival of King and his organization. Although in Selma to help, the presence of these characters stirs up mixed feelings for the organization, especially for its other leader James Foreman. Foreman does not like the fact that King is in Selma, in spite of them both having the same, ultimate goal. He sees Kings presence as potentially harmful to their cause, and is initially reluctant to the march. This sort of unrest between civil rights activists and leaders, in addition to MLKs (the primary figure for the movement) tiredness, seen in the film can potentially be attributed to the notion that the civil rights movement was more fragile than most people would believe. Although that interpretation is plausible, it is not what the dialogue hints at. In fact, there are key moments in the dialogue of Selma that shows strength in the movement. For example, when civil rights lawyer Fred Gray, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., is speaking to Judge Johnson, he says that, hundreds of people [are] travel[ing] across the country to attend tomorrows march. The march Gray refers to the second attempt at marching from Selma to Montgomery, AL. After the first attempt was thwarted by brutish police force through means of physical violence, MLK puts out a plea for Americans to take action, which many do. The second march is noticeably larger with many more participants, mainly white people, joining in the battle. Regardless, this still isnt enough for change to occur. Some of the Southern white people still resist and refuse to acknowledge blacks rights. Other extremist treat those who assist in the civil rights battle as bad or worst than the African Americans, since they are considered traitors. This is seen when Reverend James Reebs is murdered by anger, white Southerners for being a white nigger. This white mans speech of hate and disregard for the life of African Americans sympathizers shows how difficult it was to try to improve the social and political status of African American in the region and for social justice to come about. Selma is an extraordinary film that takes the audience on a trip to the past. The purpose of this trip was to educate the audience on the story behind the Selma March and of the battle fought in order for change and justice to come and triumph. The films rhetoric illustrates these points by use of close-ups, slow motion, and dialogue to convey a sense of the taxing work the civil rights leaders and activists performed in order for all to be truly equal. Their valuable work must be preserved. Currently, racial tensions reflect a hint of a return to the past, in which society must overcome. The country as a whole must come together, like the marchers in Selma did, to maintain the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement and the keep the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had alive.

Works CitedHerrick, James A. "An Overview of Rhetoric." The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Beacon, 2001. 1-23. Print.Lancioni, Judith A. "The Rhetoric of the Frame: Revisioning Archival Photographs in The Civil War." Rhetorical Analysis and Historical Documentary: A Case Study of The Civil War. Philadelphia, PA: Temple U, 1994. 105-15. Print.Selma. Dir. Ava DuVernay. By Paul Webb. Perf. David Oyrlowo. Paramount Pictures, 2014. Film.