A Rhetorical Analysis Of Archer

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Creating a television comedy that grabs the viewer’s attention can be difficult. The directors, cast, and crew must work together to make a show that is appealing through the voice acting, plot, dialogue and many other things. Adam Reed’s creation, Archer, found on the FX channel is a prime example of all of these things.
Archer is an animated television comedy that began in 2009. It currently has eight seasons and has been praised by groups like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. It follows the adventures of Sterling Archer, an International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) super spy, and his co-workers Cyril Figgis, Lana Kane, his mother Malory, and others. Throughout the episodes the audience follows the agency through various action filled, …show more content…

The show cannot necessarily rely on the animations. All of the voice actors perform in such a way that their humor and actions could be conveyed without ever seeing the show but instead just listening. Each character creates a unique tone and speech pattern that helps develop their roles. They are able to take their lines from the script and make it their own. For example, H. Jon Benjamin (Archer) creates a tone that makes him seem superior to everyone else which fits Archer’s persona perfectly. On the other hand, Judy Greer (Cheryl) keeps her tone light and confused which fits because Cheryl is portrayed as not very smart and slow to understand things. This adds depth to a show in which the viewers cannot rely on the actor’s body language to see how they react to various situations. In this series of episodes the dialogue in the show provides examples of …show more content…

The pirates do not speak english and he must use one of their prisoners, an entomologist, to translate. As usual, Archer uses a large amount of idioms which become lost in translation. This becomes problematic when he tries to explain anything to the pirates. As the episode progresses, the goofy comedy begins to become more apparent. After taking over the ship, killing the captain in progress, he is informed that he is now the captain as they return to the island that houses the base. Upon returning he decides that he will no longer go home but stay as the “pirate king” instead. It is when Archer becomes the “pirate king” that we begin to see his true self. He becomes easily distracted and is an ineffective leader. The other pirates want him to treat their operation like a business and raid ships to earn further profits but Archer has other plans. For a short time he leads a life of luxury, partying all day while sleeping around with the local women. This angers the crew to the point they begin to threaten mutiny. As a way to try and satisfy them, he leads a raid on a fishing boat. After hearing the captain of the fishing vessel however, Archer decides to let them go and returns to the island because they have families to support. This shows that while Archer is a selfish, egotistical man he still can show that he cares about the wellbeing of others.

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