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Henry Gonzalez

Mrs. Johnson

Writing 2 ACE

9 June 2019

Understanding Their Differences

Media introduces poverty in many ways. Two genres that acknowledge this plight are,

informative articles and inspirational videos. In the informative article, “Rising Prevalence of

Severe Poverty in America,” by Steven H. Woolf, the author writes about the increase of poverty

in America. Woolf’s use of statistics and jargon is intended for an educated and upper-class

audience. Woolf understands that targeting such a crowd will be efficient and straightforward to

bringing awareness to the predicament. While the informative article caters information to an

educated audience, the inspirational video, “From Nothing to Something,” targets the

incompetent and poor. The video motivates its intended audience with anecdotes to encourage

the lower-class to achieve a poverty-free experience. This video’s insight is provided from

wealthy and eminent men who have found themselves in the same predicament and intend to

inspire those that encounter the plight. It’s evident that the purpose of the informative article is to

provide statistics and historical data. This data is then spread among educated people, which then

helps bring awareness to the topic. Informative articles inform their intended audience, whereas

inspirational videos provide motivation and insight as the catalyst for change. In addressing such

an issue, this inspirational video is compelling for the poor to use as a source of motivation; the

informative article is useful in informing the audience about the predicament.

Informational articles mainly revolve around providing complex and historical data to an

educated community. In Woolf’s article, he provides an array of information about poverty and
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it’s incline within the United States. He mentions the recession that occurred in the early 2000’s,

which resulted in a lack of “food security, clothing, housing, health, and jobs.” Moreover, he

provides demographics about the income tiers within the ethnicities in the country. Woolf’s

purpose is to inform and bring awareness to the issue, and this is successfully done by providing

concrete facts. In doing so, the informative article does differ from the inspirational video. No

solutions or motivation is provided by Woolf because an informative article is not intended to

sway the audience. An informational article mostly revolves around providing historical data,

statistics, and then an array of evidence to establish credibility before notifying the audience.

This genre is beneficial in spreading accurate information. When it comes to credibility, it can be

more reliable than an inspirational video, but does it leave the same impact? Well that’s up for

the audience to decide. The informative article and inspirational video are two different genres.

In this case, they happen to target the same topic, but with different purposes that elicit a

different impact.

While informative articles are more credible, inspirational videos are a great source of

encouragement for people in a situation such as poverty. Within the video, “From Nothing to

Something,” the two main characters that serve a primary role are Tony Robbins, an inspirational

speaker, and Matthew McConaughey, a revered actor. The inspirational video begins with Tony

Robbins bringing up a strong point about life. He claims that “it is your decisions, and not your

conditions, that determines your destiny.” Robbins develops an audacious tone to help his

audience realize that one’s conditions shouldn’t be their excuse to why they are not successful.

Robbins emphasizes success as not only the effort, but also the time people dedicate to obtaining

their desired goal. Robbins provides tricks and tips that evidently served him to reach his goal. A

tip he provided was becoming resourceful. He believed that the main reason why people
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encountered failure was because they didn’t have the necessary resources, whether that was time

or money. Moreover, Robbins carries himself within his speech with confidence and

professionalism. In response, his audience listens attentively and with respect. It’s apparent that

Robbins-tone has helped establish his credibility as a profound speaker.

Moreover, Robbins goes into providing a personal anecdote about his previous situation

with poverty. He expresses his dreadful childhood as a time and memory that can’t be easily

dismissed. His parents were in severe poverty. Being poor led to a stressful and abusive

relationship with his family. However, Robbins decided to stop using his life condition of having

been “raised in a poor and abusive family” as a reason to why he was going to remain poor his

whole life. Instead, he decided to take risks and go through a series of trials and tribulations until

he escaped this rabbit hole and finally achieved success. In providing a personal anecdote, Tony

Robbins develops an uplifting speech that results in motivating his audience to act.

Furthermore, Robbins establishes his ethos and his common ground with his audience. The

intended audience is then provided with hope by hearing about Robbins’ past situation with

poverty. Robbins’ inspirational speech treats the predicament as an opportunity to connect with

his audience in a personal and emotional level. This leads to the audience’s ability to empathize

with him.

Inspirational videos are empowering to not only motivate the lower-class, but also to

address the situation to a broader audience that can help bring change. The genre itself is

effective in connecting to the audience on an empathetic or sympathetic level. This

empowerment is evident as the inspirational video transitions to Matthew McConaughey.

McConaughey introduces the topic in a similar fashion as Tony Robbins. He establishes his

ethos through personal and empowering quotes. These rhetorical devices used, serve to sway the
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audience with hope. An empowering quote said by McConaughey was, “guilt and regret kills

many a man before their time. So, turn the page, get off the ride. You are the author of the book

of your life.” This quote effectively influences his audience to not give up, but rather to change

their approach because no “great success was achieved without any effort, or in only one try.” By

being a great role model throughout his movies and having won an Oscar, McConaughey serves

as a strong influential speaker to both the lower and upper class. The efficacy of this inspirational

video ignites an indirect audience with the ability to sympathize with the inspirational speaker

and the directed audience. This inspiration motivates not only the poor, but also the upper-class

to bring change for the community. It’s evident that the main difference amongst both genres is

their different rhetorical strategies to achieve their different purposes. In the informative article

by Woolf, the author doesn’t connect his audience on a one on one personal or emotional level.

Woolf instead comes with the intention to inform because that’s the purpose of an informative

article. The inspirational video comes in with the purpose to motivate because that’s the purpose

of an inspirational video.

While the informational article and the motivational video address the same topic, their

impact will differ because of their genre conventions. The inspirational video not only consist of

quotes, but also personal anecdotes to serve as a call out to action. The article not only consist of

historic data, but also an array of evidence to inform the audience with credible information.

Both genres allow for different interpretations and ways to address a topic due to their unique

conventions.
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Work Cited

Woolf, Steven H. “Rising Prevalence of Severe Poverty in America.” American Journal of

Preventive Medicine. Vol.31, no. 4, 18 October 2010, pp. 332-341,

https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(06)00233-9/fulltext

YouTube. “From Nothing to Something.” Inspirational Videos.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=from+nothing+to+something