In this paper, I will analyze communication techniques utilized by Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino) during the course of his speech to the members of the Miami Sharks football team. D’Amato addresses the audience as a coach while striving to boost up the team’s competitive spirit and to help Sharks to regain their professional self-confidence. During the course of his speech, D’Amato draws parallels between what he understands as being the most important challenges of one’s existence and what accounts for the hardest challenges in the realm of professional football, thus enabling the audience to emotionally relate to speech’s semantics. The intent of D’Amato’s communication is best defined as being particularly practical – he wanted to instill Sharks with the team spirit, as he considered it to be absolutely crucial, within a context of Sharks being able to succeed in the game.
After having listened to D’Amato’s speech, one can have no doubt as to his supreme talent as an orator, as he appears to be well aware of what represents the most effective method of triggering the audience’s strong emotional response upon being exposed to essentially rational considerations – relating these considerations to listeners’ subconscious anxieties. This is the reason why at the beginning of his speech, D’Amato refrains from making any definite statements – by suggesting that an individual’s chances succeed in life directly correspond to his sense of self-discipline (“one inch at the time” theory), by intentionally describing himself as “too old”, and by adopting a non-imposing posture, D’Amato establishes a sense of mutual trust between himself and the audience. Apparently, he understands that it is only when the speaker and the audience achieve an emotional oneness that the spoken word can serve as a particularly strong motivational factor: “I made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I pissed away all my money. I chased off anyone who ever loved me” (Peace by Inches – Pacino, 1999). Thus, D’Amato prompts listeners to think of what he was about to say as being fully supported by considerations of logic.
By doing it and by observing the audience’s first reactions to his words, D’Amato is also able to figure out what listeners actually want to hear because it is namely person’s ability to address the audience’s psychological anxieties, which accounts for his effectiveness as an orator. In its turn, this also explains the particularities of how D’Amato strives to appeal to listeners non-verbally – apparently, the coach knows perfectly well that every individual member of an audience must experience an emotional affiliation with what is being said, which is why he strives to establish brief eye contact with every listener while continuing to talk about the team issues. However, D’Amato never looks at every particular individual for too long, as it would deprive his speech of collective ethos.
This substantiates the validity of Mohan’s thesis as to the utter importance of the speaker’s ability to properly utilize non-verbal methods of communication while addressing the crowd: “Most people agree that eye behavior is one of the most powerful means of non-verbal communication” (Mohan et al. 2004). An effective speaker does not simply deliver an oration without bothering to observe the effects of such oration upon the audience, but he always remains in full control of how listeners perceive his words throughout the speech’s entire duration. In its turn, this explains why D’Amato eventually begins to raise his voice while continuing to talk – once he realized that his words had completely taken over the audience’s attention, D’Amato no longer needs to provide a logical sounding to his arguments while completely switching to the utilization of ethos and pathos, as only the proper rhetorical devices. The following quote from D’Amato’s speech represents a classic example of how appeals to ethos and pathos can be fused together in order to achieve a particularly strong oratory effect: “Because we know (ethos), when we add up all those inches, that’s gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing. Between living and dying (pathos)” (Peace by Inches – Pacino, 1999). It is not simply by an accident that, when discussing Sharks’ ability to win in the game, D’Amato withdraws from making references to his personal life – he is now facing the challenge to empower players by instilling them with the sense of collective consciousness. This is why he makes a point in stressing the importance of the word “we” while continuing to suggest that it is solely up to his listeners to act as whether winners or losers: “Now I can’t make you do it (win in the game). You gotta look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes, you will see a guy who will go that inch with you. You gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows that when it comes down to it, you’re gonna do the same for him” (Peace by Inches – Pacino, 1999). While delivering the final part of his speech, D’Amato becomes very emotional, which strengthens the effects of his arguments, because as a result, listeners are being rid of any remaining doubts as to the speaker’s intellectual honesty. They can see for themselves that D’Amato fully believes in what he is saying, which intensifies their emotional reactions to the coach’s words. The gesticulation used by D’Amato comes in particularly handy in this respect – by making cutting moves with his extended finger, the speaker strengthens the speech’s pathos because it makes it even easier for listeners to adopt an uncompromising attitude towards what is being expected of them.
The fact that some Sharks try to move closer to D’Amato while listening to his oration points out the fact that the coach had chosen a proper speaking strategy. This strategy can be best described as “close and personal”. It is well worth noticing that, while talking to players, D’Amato does not position himself as an authority but rather as spokesmen for every player’s sense of existential integrity. This is the reason why his speech contains many rhetorical questions, which imply the existence of self-evident answers. In fact, his speech culminates when D’Amato asks the audience: “Now, what are you gonna do?” (Any Given Sunday – Peace by Inches – Pacino, 1999) – this question instantly triggers a particularly strong emotional response, on the part of the audience, with people getting off their chairs and beginning to cheer each other as potential winners. And, this is exactly what D’Amato wanted them to do.
Thus, even though that spontaneity and high emotionalism are the most obvious characteristics of the coach’s speech, there can be no doubt that D’Amato remained fully rational while delivering it, which is actually is the trait of a natural-born orator. By observing his listeners’ facial expressions, D’Amato was able to automatically adjust his appeals to logic, ethos, and pathos in a most precise manner, even though it would never even occur to the audience that by expounding on the importance of maintaining a team spirit, D’Amato was subjecting his listeners to most basic psychological manipulation.
In its turn, this provides us with insight on what accounts for efficiency in public communication, especially when delivering speeches to audiences is concerned: 1). Establishment of a sensation of mutual trust between speaker and the audience (While talking to football players, D’Amato had instantly positioned himself as “one of them”) 2). High emotionalism (D’Amato made numerous references to the utterly masculine concept of “winners” and “losers”) 3). Simplicity (D’Amato strived to convince listeners to think of the world of professional football in terms of life and death). 4) Physical proximity (D’Amato was being encircled by the members of the audience while addressing them).
Bibliography
- H, McGregor, R, Archee, S, Saunders, T, Mohan 2004 Communicating as Professionals. Thomson and Nelson, Southbank, Victoria
- StHolyshi 2006. Any Given Sunday – Peace by Inches – Pacino. 1999. YouTube, Web.