Alton's Syrup Primer: Rhetorical Analysis

734 Words2 Pages

In his webisode entitled ‘Alton’s Syrup Primer’, Alton Brown presents various types of syrups with a wide range of properties as an introduction to their uses in baking. As he begins to talk, one of his most noticeable characteristics is that his pace is distinctly faster than the average conversation; he maintains this throughout the entire clip. Also of note is his posture: bent in half with his elbows resting on the table, leaning forward towards the camera. Alton Brown’s pace and body language are tools that he uses in order to keep the viewer engaged and comfortable. Because the video is meant to be instructional - as evident by the use of the word ‘Primer’ in its title - its intrinsic goal is to inform, and if the viewer is engaged then …show more content…

As Alton Brown switches between the syrups he doesn’t have to slow down or use any filler words such as ‘like’ or ‘um,’ and maintains a fast yet controlled speaking rate. This lends to his credibility as someone with a desire to convey information rather than an individual trying to get an unpleasant task over with. From personal experience I know that I get a lot more out of a presentation when the presenter really seems into what they’re talking about, compared to when someone obviously doesn’t care about what they say or how they say it. A viewer would also interpret a sense of urgency from Alton Brown, that what he’s saying is important and you should listen to him. Again when compared to a slower pace, a greater speed will keep the viewers attention. There’s less opportunity for someone to get distracted during a lull in the video if the down time is abbreviated. While very effective, simply taking fast isn’t the only way that Alton Brown keeps his viewers …show more content…

Speaking from personal experience, I’ve always felt that when I’m having a conversation with someone and they’re leaning forward to get closer to me, than they’re interested in what I have to say and want to be included; in this case it’s Alton Brown who’s drawing the viewer in. While one may argue that this is an inordinately large percentage of time to keep eye contact, the viewer isn’t always going to be looking at Alton Brown. There’s some visual effects for each of the syrups, so a viewer may actually be distracted from Alton Brown’s person for part of the time. If Alton Brown was also looking away from the camera for parts of the presentation, there’s a chance that his and the viewer’s eyes would never meet. In order to compensate for what is a consequence of the the media he’s choosing to deliver information, he maintains eye contact. That way whenever the viewer chooses to look at Alton Brown, he’s there to return their gaze. Now consider how the video would ‘feel’ if Alton Brown had the opposite body language - minimal eye contact and a backwards trunk lean. He would appear to be disinterested with the viewer, like when someone looks at their phone when another person is talking because they don’t care. Also if he leaned backwards it would create an even greater physical distance between himself and the

More about Alton's Syrup Primer: Rhetorical Analysis

Open Document