Sam Murphy
Professor Ouderkirk
10/1/20
English
The Lorax is an animated piece of cinematography based on the book by Dr. Seuss. Made in 2012, the movie portrays a good theme throughout the plot. The film reinforced the Goal of Life On Land to symbolize how important trees are and why they are needed. Throughout the movie, there was a use of pathos and logos to reflect on the main goal and to support how important trees are in society.
The Lorax takes place in a small town named Thneedville. Created by O’hare once the truffula biome was exterminated, he has convinced the people in his town that they don’t need trees and they can just buy air. Everything is artificial and bought, nothing is authentic. Once this boy named Ted was informed that there was a world with trees, he goes to find a man named the Once Ler who is said to have all the answers. He finds him outside the town and in a house all alone. Once Ler tells Ted his story. He came to the biome looking to swell his invention the Thneed, but needed the fabric from a truffula tree to make it. After he had cut down the first tree, the Lorax appeared from a strike of lightning.The lorax advocated the effect on the animals’ ecosystem and environment by cutting down trees. Once Ler didn’t listen and cut down every truffula tree in the forest. The water and air pollution got so bad that all the animals in the forest had to migrate to a new home. Thus allowing O’hare air to be born and bought by everyone in Thneedville, since trees could no longer kill the Carbon Dioxide in the air. Ted came back to town with the intention of planting a tree and starting anew. He convinced the town about the importance of trees and with the help of Audrey and his grandmother, he was able to plant the tree.
Overall, the movie was very effective at showing the goal of Life On Land. When the Once Ler was making Thneeds, he was causing extreme environmental problems with his factories. The air was extremely polluted which removed feathers off the Swomee Swans, and caused gunk to be released into the water which killed most of the fish. Also, it did a great job of portraying what the Once Ler actually did to the biome. After all the trees were cut down it was a completely dark and gloomy setting. Besides the Once Ler, there is no sign of life and just short tree stumps. But when the Once Ler tells his story, the biome is so brightly colorful and full of life. This before and after setting shows how important trees are to the environment. It supports what would happen if there were no trees in the environment, and why it’s so important to protect them.
The movie supports the rhetorical appeals of logos and pathos to represent the goal of Life On Land. It uses logos by the Lorax speaking for the trees. He is an advocate for the trees and he constantly says, “I speak for the trees.” He symbolizes the importance of trees and why they not only need to be preserved, but protected. Pathos is used by appealing to the audience from going to a deforestation biome, to a town full of artificial commodities. It can connect the audience by showing everything that happens here, isn’t necessarily the same outside the walls. Another form of pathos that is used is the animals walking away in a line from their natural habitat. This connects to the audience because it makes you feel very sorrowful for the animals as they walk away in depression. It also makes you feel anger towards the Once Ler because of what he did to this environment. Through the use of both of these rhetorical appeals, it supports the goal of Life On Land, and persuades the audience about the importance of trees.
Life on Land is an extremely important goal that supports the preservation and safety of the environment. The Lorax did a very good job of demonstrating this goal through the use of logos and pathos. It portrayed the importance of trees in nature, and what would happen if they were to go extinct.