Running Head: TRAFFICKED

WOMEN

Trafficked Women: Genre Analysis on a film and a website

Leslie Valenzuela
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Nugent
RWS1302

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Trafficked Women
Human trafficking is an issue that has been happening for centuries and it is still
happening today. Even though us the people are not aware of the importance of this
issue it is happening in front of our eyes and we are not doing anything to stop it. This
era that we are in we have a much easier access to technology that with the press of a
button we have the information we are looking for in seconds. The media is trying to
reach out to us to be informed and aware of our surroundings because trafficked
women is an issue much bigger than we think. This issue is addressed in two genres
which explain what happens to a women who is being trafficked and how the predators
manage to traffic these women. Taken, is a film directed by Pierre Morel which
illustrates the kidnapping of a teenager in Paris and how a desperate father goes on a
search to find her and the website Trafficking in Women, written by the Advocates of
Human Rights explains how predators trick women so they are taken to this trafficking
business and what laws the U.S. has that protects us as citizens from human trafficking.
These two genres are going to be analyzed throughout the rest of this document.

Audience and Purpose

The first genre is Taken, by Pierre Morel which came out is 2008 with the
purpose to inform women teenagers and parents how easy it is to be kidnapped but
how hard it is to be found. The second genre is a website written by the Advocates of
Human Rights, Trafficking in Women, with the purpose to inform the laws there are
against trafficking and the information we need to know in order to fight against this
ongoing battle and to bring justice to the many victims of human trafficking. The

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audience for the film Taken is parents of teenagers and teenagers itself because they
are demonstrating the harshness parents go thru in order to find they beloved children
but in comparison to the father being a CIA agent and being able to find his daughter,
real life is much more difficult and with less luck that parents might not even find their
loved ones alive or never see them again. The website Trafficking in Women targets an
audience that is trying to make a difference and end this issue as well as family
members directly affected by this issue and are trying to prevent any family to go thru
what they went or are currently going thru.
Both of these genres are targeting and trying to inform their audience about
trafficking women and how this issue is still one of the major issues in many countries.
Both genres talk about women and how they are the main object when trafficking comes
in place and why they are the best option to traffic instead of men. The first genre
differentiates from the second in that the film was not based on true events but it was
inspired by them and wanted to demonstrate the difficulties a parent goes thru and how
a person can be taken with easiness but how difficult it is to find that person. The
second genre is more reality based because it explains the laws there are against
trafficking women and what measures are being taken to prevent further trafficking and
to justly process the traffickers and bring justice to the families and the victims of
trafficking.
Rhetorical Issues
Each of these genres demonstrate rhetorical issues which are presented and are
different in each genre because of the information presented in each with different target
audiences and purposes.

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Ethos
In the first genre, even though trafficking women is an issue in real life it lacks
credibility because first of all it is an action film it is not based on true events and even
though it targets an issue today it makes it un-credible because of how the protagonist
more knowledgeable than the captors and how easily he finds the captors and how he
is able to kill them all when he is just one against twenty or more. In real life that is
impossible, not everyone has the resources to go and search for a loved one and
specially to have the necessary money to travel and survive by yourself without knowing
where you are headed to. The second genre has much more credibility because of the
simple fact that it is a website written by The Advocates of Human Rights and even
though it is an article found in the internet which might make it un-credible the URL
contains .gov which make it an official document from the government which in that
case makes it reliable and credible for the audience. Stating the laws us the people
need to know about trafficking makes us give our reliability to what they are stating.
Pathos
The first genre even though it lacks credibility it has a great sense of pathos
because it portrays the many emotions transmitted throughout the scenes and how
horrible it is to be in the parents position and the person being trafficked. During the film
the father goes thru several buildings to find his daughter and in one of them he finds
his daughters best friend tied to a bed dead because of intoxication by the drugs they
are given so they dont resist to the abusers. It was a strong scene because you are just
left there like an animal. The whole movie transmits an indescribable emotion because
you are not able to do nothing about it but in reality we can in the real world having the

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right information. The second genre doesnt transmit many emotions throughout the
website because they are just trying to inform their audience what to do and how to
prevent any more trafficking from happening. They do explain what trafficking means
and why the main target are women and children. They also explain how they manage
to take them without even struggling. They only want to make sure we prevent it from
happening again but have little emotions portrayed.
Logos
The film seemed to focus more on the emotions of its audience rather than its
logic. After you watch the film you seem to understand and analyze every scene and
that is when you determine that it has no sense of logic because some parts seem to
only happen in dreams. There is a no possibility that a man can defeat a great amount
of predators and now have damage whatsoever. The father didnt result with any life
threatening injuries but he did kill everyone. It just doesnt sound logical. The second
genre has a more broad sense of logic because it clearly explains the different forms
there is to bring justice and how we as citizens of the United States have laws that
protect us from being trafficked and referring to laws that are in our rights that cant be
any more logical.
Structure and Delivery
Each of these two genres differentiates with regards to how they are structured.
The first genre is structured in a sense of how a situation can develop if your teenage
daughter is kidnapped in a different country keeping the audience interested in the topic
of trafficking women and how long it takes for a desperate parent to find their only
daughter and everything he has to go thru to finally find her. The second genre focuses

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on four different sections which are General information, Advocacy and Training, Law
and Policy, and Articles, Research and Reports. In each of these sections there are tabs
which lead you to find more information about the subject and inform us on what it is
and how to start helping with the prevention of further trafficking. The film efficiently
delivers the point it is trying to get across and makes it in a manner that keeps the
audience entertained but at the same time awakening that six sense. The website also
provides a well-delivered information because you can just click on the link you want to
learn about without having to read the whole article until you find the information you
were looking for. It makes it less time consuming and keeps the audience interested
instead of making them bored.
Conclusion
Both of these genres clearly interpret and discuss the topic. They both have
different forms to transmit their message but they know how to effectively inform their
audiences. Even though the film might be more appealing because of the graphics, the
website provides a more broad information about the topic. Both topic provide and
impulse people to help make a change and prevent this issue to keep on growing.

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References
Morel, P. (Director). (2008). Taken [Motion picture]. France: Europa Corp, M6 Films.
Rights, A. F. (2010). Trafficking in Women. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from
http://www.stopvaw.org/trafficking_in_women

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