Lines of Argument Paper Outline

Jace Wrigley

Tom Drake

English 207-02

Lines of Argument Paper Outline

2/15/2011

Lines of Argument Paper Outline

1) Intro: Summarize/describe the source(essay, ad, program etc).

I have chosen to analyze Esquire, a monthly magazine publication with wide circulation. Esquire is a magazine primarily directed toward men, usually containing a beautiful scantily-clad woman on its cover and many more in the following pages. These images of women are interspersed with advertisements for men’s fashion, alcohol, drugs (usually Viagra), and cars and a variety of articles ranging from world news to celebrity profiles to instructions on “how to be a better man.” The specific issue of Esquire I will be analyzing is from February of 2011. This issue, like most others, portrays a naked woman (Brooklyn Decker, though her name is concealed behind her body) on its cover surrounded by short (much less visually apparent) synopses of some of the articles to be found within the magazine. At the top of the cover (also behind the body of the woman) the name of the magazine, Esquire, is written in a cursive font, the issue is given the name “The Fresh Start Issue,” and the magazine is given the subtitle “Man at his best.” The first 16 pages of the issue are all advertisements for watches, clothing, and cars. After that you get a contents page that lists some of the articles, followed by more ads. The magazine follows this general pattern of a handful of ads, an article, handful of ads, article, etc. for the entirety of its length.

2)Thesis: Develop and clearly state a strong and complete thesis paragraph.

2a) Esquire claims to be “man at his best” – as stated on the front cover of the magazine. The magazine, both through its advertisements and its articles, creates images of perfect men, implying that the road to such perfection is via the magazine itself (and the products advertised within).

2b) I find Esquire to be very effective in persuading its readers toward their implicit reasoning. The magazine creates a culture based around its portrait of manhood, creating a world of which its male readers wish to be a part.

2c) While Esquire’s claim to be “man at his best” is certainly just a large part of an attempt to sell the products being advertised, many of the men portrayed in the magazine (outside of the advertisements) are, at least in my opinion, quite suitable to be role models – such as famous actors and former presidents.

2d) That said, the strategy employed by Esquire to sell products to men is one of relative inconsequentiality. The argument itself may be spurious as many (most) of the men buying the products advertised will not be transformed into the “ubermensch” they attempt to emulate, but no substantial harm will come of such things either.

3)Main Body:

a) Ethos: Appeals To Character:

Esquire posits itself as the authoritative source for all things manly. Each man in the magazine has a statuesque physique and/or is wearing hundreds and hundreds of dollars of designer clothing, and, perhaps most importantly, they are surrounded by all of the beautiful women seen in magazine as well. Many of these men are also celebrities or politicians (e.g. former president Bill Clinton) who we automatically associate with a certain level of ethos. The plethora of attractive women purveyed throughout the pages give Esquire (and the men therein) credibility among its male readers by showing that they have what the men want.

The most important aspect of all this may be the women displayed on the front cover and many of the subsequent pages. Esquire makes it appear as though they know what it takes to get such beautiful women, implying that they “know what they’re talking about so you should read what they write and buy what they tell you to buy.” This is the same type of implicit reasoning behind bringing famous and successful men in to tell us how to become like them. These men have character (ethos) demonstrated by their accomplishments, so they must know the secret to being a “great” man. While this reasoning is not necessarily flawed (there may indeed be things we can learn from the interviewees and writers), it is certainly also a tactic used to sell men products they don’t necessarily need and must be viewed as such – I don’t believe Martin Luther King would have been any greater or lesser a man if he wore a $500 watch.

b)Appeals to Values:

Just as with the character appeals used in Esquire, the appeals to values have much to do with the pursuit of women and success (including success with women). On the front cover of the issue, an article is advertised as “Cocktails that Will make Her ‘Love’ You.” This is also, of course, positioned right next to the leg of Brooklyn Decker’s mostly-bare body. A very large portion of the articles and advertisements are all centered around the idolization and pursuit of women, ranging from Esquire’s “Sexiest Woman Alive” and “Funny Joke from a Beautiful Woman,” to the sex tips section (written by a woman – an appeal to ethos as she must know what they want, since she is one after all), “How to Photograph a Naked Woman in 9 Easy Steps,” and the scantily-clad Brooklyn Decker centerfold. Naturally, all of them are placed conveniently around an advertisement for Viagra disguised to appear like an article from the magazine.

The inclusion of all these female-oriented sections of the magazine makes a statement on what Esquire believes its readers value. The magazine’s admiration of women implies that we must also admire these women, as the majority of the publication’s argumentation for further reader-interest (and advertising effectiveness) is based on this premise. This reasoning appears valid, as it is almost certain that the majority of Esquire readers hold the same type of revered view toward women (or at the very least beautiful women judging from the magazine’s choices for female subjects).

c)Pathos: Emotional Appeals:

It is obvious that Esquire wishes for its male readers to feel a sexual desire for the women its magazine depicts, but it must also impart a feeling of inadequacy. It’s one thing for us to be interested in reading the joke from a beautiful woman or in staring at the centerfold, but it’s quite another for us to buy the products Esquire advertises. The only way that they can accomplish this is to make us feel a need to purchase the products. They idolize the idea of the beautiful female and even give us a quiz to determine whether or not we are in love with a girl (a serious emotional appeal). However, after they have made us want/need something emotionally they must then show us why we will never acquire it – unless we spend some money. We are instantly bombarded by images of men much more handsome and masculine than you or I (generally speaking) could ever hope of being. This creates an emotion of inadequacy and implies that we must attempt to emulate these mean who are juxtaposed with our object of desire. Esquire implies that our feelings of inadequacy can be solved if we buy these products and look like these men in the advertisements.

d)Logos: Appeals to Reason:

The logic behind all of this is most blatantly evident in the many advertisements. The third ad we see, for Gucci apparel, shows a man pursued by multiple gorgeous women while he stares into the distance, uninterested. This image explains exactly why we must buy what they have to sell. Esquire has made us want the women (if we didn’t already), and Gucci will show us how to get them. The advertisement implies that, if you wear Gucci, no longer will you chase after women, but they will in fact chase after you. This same juxtaposition occurs throughout the entirety of the magazine, though somewhat less directly. The magazine contains all the beautiful women, and we automatically associate the men in Esquire with those women. It is only logical that we put two and two together to determine what we must do. One of the more noticeable advertisements in the magazine – simply due to that fact that it’s not pushing clothes, booze, Viagra, cars, or watches – is for Pringles chips. Even in this ad we see a man and a beautiful woman with Pringles in their mouths making a sort of lip-puckering shape. The man gives the camera an excited look while the woman stares at him in adoration. If we only buy these chips and put them in our mouth to make a duck-bill looking thing, women will want us.

4) Conclusion:

Through the analysis in this paper, Esquire’s goals as a publication become much clearer. The entire magazine’s design is not but an argument to get us to buy into a sex-oriented culture and purchase all the goods needed for such a life. Even so, the argument Esquire makes is a valid one. I believe that, even though the odds are far from certain, dressing like the models in the advertisements and wearing garishly expensive watches may help your chances if your goal is to pursue women. And, even if buying the products doesn’t end up helping like you had hoped it might, I highly doubt any appreciable harm came from the endeavor. Thus I posit that Esquire is a valid, ethical, and effective argument in favor of lavish spending and the idolization of women.