Comparison between Instrumental and Influential texts:
Instrumental texts and influential texts are very different in the way they are set out and written, but both offer a sense of power over the audience. Instrumental texts usually use features that help them show the power they have very clearly, such as in a parking ticket or penalty charge letter. These texts are very obvious in what they want out of the reader, and tell them very clearly in a simple but brash manner, making the audience feel as if they’re forced to do what it’s telling them too. Influential texts are a little bit less obvious, the power they have isn’t as standoffish. Influential texts use a lot of language features that give a sense of obligation to the audience, rather than the forceful feel that the contrasting text type has.
At first glance of the two texts, a charity leaflet and penalty charge notice, the graphology is clearly very different. The leaflet, which is the influential text, contains colours of blue and red that surround the leaflet and images of the children that they are trying to gain support for. When looking closely at the text, all of the negative aspects such as ‘Aisha wants to learn…but every day she has to battle against disease and poverty’ are in red colouring, but the more positive things such as ‘Donate online’ and ‘send a little hope’ are set in blue. Red font is very commonly known for its negative connotations of death, danger and fear so contrasting this with calming and peaceful blue subconsciously gives the message to the audience that if they help and donate they can change these children’s lives filled of red negativity to lives filled with positive blue. There are two large images of two different orphans that are in need of help. These images are extremely large and would straight away grab the attention of the audience and entice them in to learn more about them. The subjects of the images both look extremely upset and are shown in conditions that no one should have to live in (one of the children is sitting in what seems to be a garbage bin), which will help to make the audience feel guilty and donate their money. This shows power as they’re encouraging people to do what they want them to do.
The appearance of the penalty charge, however, is the complete opposite. For one thing, there are absolutely no images present on the text and the whole piece is in plain black text on a white background. This lack of colour and images straight away makes the text more serious and formal; it seems as though there is no messing about looking at images, there’s no choice, you just have to read what it says and take it all in. The different sections have headings that show what each section is about which makes it clear to the audience what they’re expecting to read. The fact that they’re in bold also adds quite a lot of importance to the text and what they’re saying: only things that really need to be understood and taken in are in bold, and seeing as this theme runs throughout the whole of the text it proves that it’s all very vital information. The instrumental text also uses bullet points, which make it clear to the audience that its giving steps that have to be taken, setting the power as they are having a huge element of control in what the reader does.
Both texts use direct address to put across their power. In the influential text, there are phrases such as ‘You can donate online’ and ‘your generosity will provide orphans with clean running water’. This adds a more personal feel to the text and encourages people to help out, as they make it out that their help really will make a huge difference. Even though the direct address does make the audience feel more obliged to help out, when it’s mixed with the emotive and thought-provoking text and images, the obligation is in more of a positive way than it would be with instrumental texts. For example, the audience would feel more obliged to do what the charity wants them to do to help the lives of children, which is a good thing, but with the penalty charge they’ll feel like they have to do what it says for the fear of what will happen if they don’t. The use of inclusive pronouns such as ‘together’, ‘we’ and ‘us’ also add to the personal feel of the text; the reader will feel like a part of the team and will therefore want to help out. The direct address of ‘you’ at the beginning of every bullet pointed sentence in the instrumental text very similarly puts across the feeling that the reader has to do whatever its telling them to. When direct address is paired with imperatives such as ‘read this page’ and deontic modal auxiliary verbs such as ‘must’, the audience really will feel more intimidated into following what it says due to the quite blunt and harsh use of these words.
In the penalty charge letter, it contains a lot of subject specific jargon such as ‘Penalty Charge Notice’ and ‘Traffic Penalty Tribunal’ that many people may not understand at a first glance. This results in a lot of power, as it’s clear that the text has the knowledge over the audience and knows more than they do. If the audience doesn’t understand what’s being said, they might have to go and research what certain things mean which results in maybe feeling a sense of stupidity. This then increases the power the penalty charge holds, as the reader will feel like it must be correct and will have to do as it asks because it’s saying all of this complicated and unusual lexis. On the other hand, as the leaflet is aimed to such a wide audience, it has to contain language that is simple and easy for everyone to understand so that they gain the most support, which is another reason why emotive stories and images are in charity leaflets because they need something to grip the attention and heartstrings of the readers without the use of any complicated Jargon seen in the instrumental text.
It is clear that both texts have a strong hold of power over the audience; but the charity leaflets counts on encouraging the reader to want to help out and the penalty charge relies on making the audience feel like they have to do what it says. One is very clearly optional, and the other is most definitely not.