Speaker: Peter Travers is a writer for Rolling Stone who focuses on the entertainment industry and writes mainly about new and upcoming movies. From his article titled "A Quiet Place' Review: 'Stay Silent, Stay Alive' Says This New Horror Classic" (Travers), it is clear to tell right off the bat that he is a critic who reviews movies as well, and in this case, he enjoyed the new movie, 'A Quiet Place.' His writing style is persuasive, as he either promotes a new movie or denotes it in his articles, wanting people to see the movie based off of his opinion. Travers values entertainment, as his articles are all centered around the movie industry and reviews of new films. This persuasive writing style is a common theme in his writings, as his main publications are movie reviews. This persuading is present in his other articles, such as his 'Ready Player One' review where he adds: "Is it overkill? You bet" (Travers) before including reasons as to why he had this initial impression.
Occasion: He writes about 'A Quiet Place' because this is a movie that has been in the spotlight. With the movie having two huge stars, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, it became a highly anticipated film. So, of course, critics like Travers will be reviewing this movie as soon as they can. In relation to the larger picture, Travers writes about films because a large part of the world, is centered around pop culture and entertainment. Billions across the world watch movies, and many look to reviews to see what is worth seeing in a industry that is constantly producing more and more. This review has its appeals, in a world dominated by entertainment. He consistently seems to write about popular upcoming films as mentioned before, he reviewed Ready Player One; he has reviewed other upcoming movies as well, such as Blockers.
Audience: With the Rolling Stone being first and foremost an American magazine, his writing is tailored towards Americans who like to watch movies, or those who keep up with the new releases in the entertainment industry. He writes to Americans who simply want to watch entertainment that has been positively reviewed.
Purpose: His main purpose is to inform people on his opinion of a new movie, and to hopefully persuade them to either see it, or to pass, whether he mentions this motive, or not. He wants to write abut movies in a light that makes the reader interested as well, so they will come back to read his reviews more often and trust his opinions of the new films. His purpose is the same in all of his recent movie reviews because he wants to draw back the same audience each time he posts.
Subject: The subject of all his writings, is movies. This is clearly what he is most interested in, and what he plans to write about to inform and persuade others. More specifically, his articles are about new, upcoming films being released. When going through his articles, there were many movie reviews.
Tone: In all of his writings, whether including a negative review or a positive one, Travers writes with a candid tone. He is candid because of his reviews that remain truthful and related to his own opinions of the films. In his ' A Quiet Place' review, Travers states: "The acting is flawless, with Simmonds and young Jupe making every minute count" (Travers). By saying the acting is "flawless" and then including details to add to this point, his candid tone comes across as this statement is straightforward and honest in his opinion of the acting in the movie. This candidness is also present in his review of 'Isle of Dogs.' He is honest when he addresses the counterargument of those who disagreed with one of his points of the movie. he states, "there are critics who believe Anderson's attention to detail is obsessive..." and he goes on to refute, adding reason: "Yet the details are what gives Isle of Dogs its vibrancy and allure..." His straightforwardness is present as well, as Travers gets straight to the point-his point.
Style: Along with this, Travers includes plenty of strong imagery in his reviews. He does this to make his opinion more compelling to the audience to where they want to see what he describes. This is shown when he writes, "her scene in a bathtub, pregnant and alone while evil approaches, is shattering in every sense of the word" (Travers). The imagery allows the reader to depict this scene in his or her mind, like they were seeing the movie along with Travers. This use of imagery is used in his other reviews too, as Travers includes short summaries that are inter-webbed with imagery. When writing about Love, Simon Travers includes: "...watches a hunky gardener get busy with a leaf blower..." (Travers) when describing a character interaction in the movie. Along with imagery, he includes descriptive diction as well. In the same sentence, he includes "...shattering in every sense..." (Travers). He includes diction like this, with words in a dramatic light to play off his own view of the movie as being suspenseful and drama-filled. He uses this diction in other pieces as well, to create compelling reviews that draw his audience in.