Rhetorical Analysis On Yes We Can

“Yes We Can”. A simple, influential slogan, that will forever be symbolized with Barack Obama and his presidential campaign in 2008. This slogan even had a song and video produced by Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am, released on February 2, 2008, which was based on it. By breaking down this video and watching it without sound first, then with sound and no video, and finally as a whole, it shows how the addition of music, voice-overs, written words and images of Obama delivering the speech contribute to the power of this video, which went viral across the web in 2008.

When watching the “Yes We Can” video by itself with no sound, it has very little impact for viewers. What little impact this silent video does have can be seen through the peoples faces, the words shown briefly across the screen of “hope” and “yes, we can”, and the black backgrounds behind the people in the video. It can easily be deciphered that the producers of this video want you to feel the emotion portrayed. However, when it comes down to it, these efforts fell short on an emotional level. I found that I had a hard time focusing on the video, and without sound, its lack of color and visual appeal had a weak impact by itself. For this video to have impact on its viewers without sound, major changes need to be made to its structure.

The sound of the speech, along with the music and voice overs, proved to make a powerful statement. To illustrate, the tone of the music as well as the simple, repeated phrase “Yes We Can”, perfectly sums up the overall message of this video; Hope. This message of hope rallies listeners to believe in themselves as well as Obama, and that anything is possible with enough will and determination. This play on listeners emotions, heavily contributes to Obama’s speech, and greatly contributes to the power of his