In Ratatouille, made in 2007 by Pixar, Remy is an aspiring young chef with nothing less than a strong passion and desire to cook – the only problem is that he is a rat. While being a rat presents its own problems in the kitchen, Remy also has to contend with his father’s disapproval, along with the pressure to prove himself successful by critics and humans in his field with the aid of the kitchen’s garbage boy – all whilst not being caught and exterminated. Remy ultimately becomes successful, by making a vegetarian peasant dish named Ratatouille that appeals to perhaps the most forbidding food critic in Paris, Anton Ego. In his speech, Anton Ego praises the work of Remy, whilst offering up one of the most basic truths about critics and art.
The rhetor in this speech is Anton Ego, so inspired by Remy’s cooking that he delivers an impassioned speech in his review. The reason he may have been so inspired by the simple dish is that it harkened back to his childhood, as indicated in a previous scene, where Ego is quite differently portrayed from the forbidding man he now is. He is shown in his childhood as a young boy who has fallen and scraped his knee and his mother cheers him up by cooking him a bowl of Ratatouille (the dish Remy coincidentally makes) which he loves, and that presumably inspired his love for food leading to his career as a critic. The artifact, Ego’s review, is also affected by his discovery of the truth that the chef was a rat, and this in combination with the dish he just ate, as well as Remy’s story, not only affected his review but his prior notion of Gusteau’s beliefs: “In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto, “Anyone can cook.” But I realize — only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.” Ego makes no secret of Remy’s story and cooking “(rocking) him to his core.”
In terms of Neo-Aristotelian criticism, Ego’s logos in his review are clearly to defend Remy’s dreams of a young chef, as even though he was a rat, he had the skill and talent to support his passion. Ego knows full well that eventually, the world will find out about Remy, and that he had been cooking for Gusteau’s 3-star restaurant for several weeks and serving unknowing customers – and his review is addressed to these people, as well as the people of Paris to acknowledge Remy as a true talent and accept him as a chef and not just to judge him superficially. He is very strong in this respect in that in terms of pathos, Ego utilizes humility in that he acknowledges the shortcomings of being a critic which makes the audience sympathetic to him. In terms of ethos, Ego had a very strong reputation as a critic and using the succinct, intelligent language he has built up as a critic, illustrates a sense of good will and acceptance towards Remy that echoes the acceptance the rest of the world should have for him.
Finally, his delivery is quite successful as well as in Pixar utilizing Peter O’Toole’s voice, the same man who starred in Lawrence of Arabia, Ego’s voice is quite distinguished, smooth, and unassuming with no stutters or gaps in between – which results in him being very strong and convincing to the audience watching the movie. In the movie’s world, however, his published review is read and not said, so as the audience is unaware as to how he sounds, this lessens his persuasive power. But even though he ends up fired because of it, Ego’s goal is successful in the bigger picture as it is indicated in the end scene that he has ended up as a successful, much happier businessman investing in Remy’s new business – which has become a hugely successful restaurant in Paris, with both rats and humans lining up outside his door and fittingly named ‘Ratatouille.’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JPOoFkrh94 – the link to the speech/review
Pop Studies and Rhetoric 