Tow #24 - Cosmos Rhetorical Analysis

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is a 2014 American science documentary television series. The show is a follow-up to the 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which was presented by Carl Sagan on the Public Broadcasting Service and is considered a milestone for scientific documentaries. This series was developed to bring back the foundation of science to network television at the height of other scientific-based television series and films. The show is presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was inspired by Sagan as a young college student to become a scientist. In his show Tyson uses spectacular special effects, and clear narration to attract his audience, whom mostly are probably uninterested in science.

            Watching the show Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is a fascinating sight and helps the mainly uninterested audience become fascinated by the visuals of the scientific topics that Tyson teaches. During the show Tyson travels through space and time in his fictional spacecraft showing his audience what a supernova really looks like, or how earth looked like millions of years ago. The television program shows bright lights of the explosions of stars in space that are visually appealing. What ever Tyson is narrating, it comes to life with the excellent animation seen in his program.

            Tyson also narrates with a clear voice, and diction that everyone can understand, helping draw an audience that does not care very much for science. He never uses scientific jargon, unless it is a scientific name and in that case he explains clearly what exactly the thing with the scientific name is. Tyson will explain easily to common man what a Black Hole is, and can easily demonstrate how the cavemen read the stars to know when seasons came. His clear narration fortifies his television show immensely because it can draw an audience that is not very interested in science.

            Through his clear narration and appealing visual effects, Tyson can attract the audience that does not like science, in order to receive greater ratings. This is necessary in order to fund his television program to keep the show on the air, with the purpose of teaching the general public about science.