Rhetorical Analysis: The Girl On The Train

The world of rhetorical criticism relies heavily upon being able to identify artifacts and analyze them in a way that provides a better understanding of those artifacts and how they operate. The way in which one goes about performing a rhetorical criticism is explained by Sonja K. Foss (2009). She states that this process includes four steps which are selecting an artifact, analyzing an artifact, formulating a research question, and writing the essay. This process is a great one to follow across numerous types of criticism. It is important to understand these different types of criticism in order to use one rather than another when critiquing a particular artifact.

The movie, “The Girl on The Train,” can be analyzed through several different types of rhetorical criticism. The artifact itself is one of interest because of the messages that can be taken away from a good understanding of the main and supporting characters, as well as the plot in general. One type of

rhetorical criticism that can be used to analyze this is formal argumentation, especially by the means of “topoi”. This provides a great path to analyze because of the options that are available between the four different types of criticism, as well as the simpleness of the different types of arguments. Another great rhetorical criticism that can be used is generic criticism.
Formal argumentation theory involves rhetoric that continually appears to help one process their thoughts and ways of thinking about a certain artifact. There are four different ways in which one can go about organizing their thoughts by means of the “topoi” of arguments. These four different types include definition, causal, evaluation, and proposal. The two that I could best utilize in analyzing my paper would be either causal or proposal. According to Fahenstock and Secor (2004), a causal argument answers the question “how did it get that way?”. In regards to “The Girl on the Train,” it would be great to utilize Frame 1 because this is where the analysis dives into the conditions, influences, and precipitating causes of a particular case. This will create a sense of organization or order in understanding the main character and the situation that they are in due to certain circumstances that include the supporting characters (p. 184). The proposal argument would work well because it answers the question “what should we do about it?”. A specific proposal can be used in the case of the movie because it “provides an exact description of what action should be taken to correct a problem” (p. 298)/
    The artifacts that work best with formal argumentation are… The strengths of formal argumentation theory are… The weaknesses of formal argumentation are...
Generic criticism deals with the different types of genres that include specific”rules” or guidelines that define what artifacts should be included in a certain genre and which ones should not be. These artifacts or recurring situations must be similar, and there are certain elements that help determine in which genre a specific artifact belongs. According to Foss (2009), the generic critic needs to look for similarities in rhetorical patterns across recurring situations. He states that “genres influence them to shape their materials to create particular emphases, to generate particular ideas, and to adopt particular personae”. Along with this, as the audience recognizes that a particular artifact belongs to a genre, that realization will influence the way in which one thinks about or responds to other artifacts in that genre (p. 137).
    The three types of generic criticisms that can be performed, according to Foss (2009), are generic description, generic participation, and generic application. The artifacts that are best for generic criticism include those that are “ a variety of texts that appear, on the surface, to share some rhetorical similarities. These artifacts can come from different time periods and be of various forms- speeches, essays, songs, works of art, and advertisements, for example- if they all seem similar in nature and function. The ones that work best for generic participation are ones that seem like they belong to a genre, but they do not seem to completely fit into it. Lastly, the artifacts that work best for generic application are ones that assess how well the artifacts themselves conform to the particular genre. “This should be an artifact that, for some reason, leads you to question how it is functioning in the context of its genre” (p. 140) Along with these three types of genre criticism, there are three elements that should be included in a generic criticism. These include situational requirements, substantive and stylistic characteristics, and the organizing principle (Foss, 2009, p. 137).
The strengths of generic criticism are… The weaknesses of generic criticism are...

The similarities between formal argumentation theory and generic criticism are…The differences between formal argumentation theory and generic criticism are…

After looking over the definitions of formal argumentation theory and generic criticism, along with the artifacts that work best with the two types of criticism, and the strengths and weaknesses of them both. Understanding the similarities and differences between the two also helped in determining which type of criticism works best with the movie based off of the same-titled book, “The Girl on the Train”.  The most appropriate form of criticism to use in the case of critiquing the movie, “The Girl on the Train,” is generic criticism. I believe that generic criticism is the best route to go because it provides me with the opportunity to delve deep into the new subgenre that has been created through the help of this movie and a few others that carry similar

plots.
Many are well aware of the genre known as Thriller. The genre is popular for including themes of crime or action, an antagonist and a protagonist, and, most importantly, a lot of suspense. The artifacts included in this genre include different books, movies, songs, and other types of art. Although “The Girl on the Train” is considered a thriller, the claim can definitely be made that the invention of this book-turned-movie, along with the other book-turned-movie, “Gone Girl,” have created a new subgenre because they are unlike the past artifacts included in the genre.
In particular, generic description would be best to use in discovering whether or not a new subgenre has in fact been created (Foss, 2009, p. 141). The first element or situation requirement of the subgenre created includes the idea that there is a main character who is dealing with something from their past, and the audience perceives them as being either mysterious or a possible antagonist, rather than a typical protagonist or victim in the story or plot. The second element or substantive and stylistic characteristics revolve around the main character and their relationship with him/herself and the supporting characters. The substantive aspect is that the main character is continually putting their own lives on the line to figure out how to solve the problem that is presented from the past, and they even risk their lives in order to help the others around them. This is when the audience begins to realize that the protagonist may have more victim qualities as opposed to villain qualities. The stylistic characteristics include the way in which the main character develops with either flashbacks or reminders from unusual sources that they are not horrible people, but they have gone through specific experiences that have prevented them from being able to deal with specific events from their pasts.
The last element, the organizing principle, provides the audience of the genre with numerous self-created theories or ideas that eventually lead to the idea that the protagonist could be a potential antagonist, but in the end there is always a plot twist that leads to the reality that the protagonist is truly a victim. Between the first two elements involved in generic criticism, it is easy to determine that the books-turned-movies have played a role in creating a new subgenre. The last element helps many understand why the new subgenre would remain a subgenre rather than becoming its’ own separate genre. This is because it eventually comes full circle to include a similar ending to those movies, books, etc. that are artifacts included in the Thriller genre.