Studies of Visual Culture from the Perspective of Rhetoric

The traditional rhetoric and Roland Barthes' image rhetoric have their limitations. Enlightened by the new rhetoric, visual rhetoric has demonstrated vigorous vitality and outward openness. By way of a comparative study of Barthes' image rhetoric and the visual rhetoric since 2000, it has been found that the changes of visual rhetoric is, to a great extent, restricted by the development and changing of rhetoric whereas the former also stimulates and promotes the basic concept of rhetoric. The studies of visual culture are in essence of a rhetorical nature. These studies manifest the basic logic of a clear-cut Postmodernistic academic system and rhetoric is not only a method, but also an academic framework and platform for research in relation to the studies of visual culture.