Rhetorical Analysis “Hong Kong’s huge protests, explained”

Posted by Marcela V. on

Author: “Hong Kong’s huge protests, explained” by Christine Thornell, is a video that explains, in depth, what started these Hong Kong protests and what they mean. The producer is a video journalist for vox.com, where she produces, researches, and makes web videos for Vox Borders, Vox Atlas and Vox Voices.

Rhetorical Situation: The video explains the reasons behind the massive anti-government protests happening in Hong Kong. These massive protests, that started over a year ago and are still ongoing today, are about maintaining Hong Kong’s democracy and independence from China. People began to protest in outrage over a controversial extradition bill they wanted withdrawn. This law would allow extraditions from Hong Kong to mainland China. There was massive discontent with this legislation because with it, comes this idea that China would gain more power and control over Hong Kong. Over the past few years, similar protests have broken out over this reoccurring issue; Hong Kong wanting to protect its autonomy from mainland China.

Audience: The audience meant for this video is anyone who wishes to understand what the Hong Kong protests are all about. This video is meant for people who want to know what the extradition bill between Hong Kong and mainland China is and how it might affect Hong Kong’s future. It also engages those who want to know more about the history of Hong Kong and how its judicial system works.

Purpose: The purpose of this video is to “…understand the news coming out of Hong Kong and the history that led up to this moment”, as per the description of this video. Essentially, this video was made to make the public aware about this ongoing social-political issue in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is fighting to keep their democracy and freedom from China. They’ve also added multiple links to more videos and articles, in their description box, for those who wish to learn more about Hong Kong’s history, basic law, and its leader.

Genre: The video is meant to be informative in a video format. On it’s website, under their video’s section, they describe their videos as being “videos that explain the news, and the world around you”. Vox.com is a news website that makes videos with the purpose of breaking down news headlines in a transparent manner.

Stance: The producer is pretty neutral towards this issue so she doesn’t have a stance.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.

Marcela V.

https://resistance2020.commons.gc.cuny.edu/author/mvelece000/

Comments ( 3 )

  1. Chao Hong
    I like how you're discussing about the major event that is happening in Asia right now. As a person who's parents were born in China, I believe that the protests that are happening in Hong Kong are rightly justified and that people both in China and countries all over the world need to be aware of what is happening in China. In addition, as a firm believer in democracy and freedom what Hong Kong is struggling through currently is sad but they deserve the freedom and democracy they want.
  2. Faith Morales
    First, your analysis was very well organized and well written. I was recently educated about this topic about a year ago and I feel like it is essential to learn about it because although it may not affect you personally, it is important to know how and why this movement is important to the people in Hong Kong. I think you did a very good job explaining the movement itself while also doing your own analysis on the topic.
  3. Marat Potapov
    I like the way your analysis breaks everything down almost seemlessly which is something I had trouble with. Also really intresting topic I was looking into before myself. I have a lot of friends with family in Hong Kong and the issue is intense similarly with what is going on in my family's country now. I think its important we understand what is going on around the world so we are more aware of the world we live in. Very good analysis, broke everything down with a good structure and organization.

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