Maria Wu Cen
ENG 2150, Dr. Blankenship
17 March 2016
Paper 1: Rhetorical Analysis of a Cultural Artifact
Dear Dr. Blankenship and members of the Writer’s Group:
I am analyzing a reality television show called Shark Tank. I mostly focused on audience, the sharks themselves, entrepreneurs in relations to the metaphors in Shark Tank. The Title for my paper is There Are Only Sharks in the Tank. I love watching Shark Tank and I always have imagined that the person standing on the stage pitching to those sharks could be me. This is like my sixth draft paper so I feel that I have pieces of my paper together and organization is better than before. It was a tough, long, and challenging process.
My thesis is on the surface, the show seems to be about helping entrepreneurs to achieve their goals. However, investigating the metaphors of the “Shark Tank” reveals that real winners in the competition is not the entrepreneurs, but the sharks themselves, i.e. the investors. I support my thesis by stating it in the beginning and enforcing it with my examples and analysis. Then reinforcing my thesis in the conclusion. The audience I’m writing to is everyone who watches Shark Tank, referring to the entrepreneurs and students. I had troubled with connecting ideas and choosing specific episodes that emphasize my point. Also, I changed my thesis statement about three to four times. However, at least my supporting details and examples are going well. I feel that I still need more work in organization.
Was my thesis clear throughout the paper? Did my supporting details support my thesis? Did I connect my ideas well? Where do you think I should explain “so what”, “who cares”? Thank you so much for your help and time.
There are Only Sharks in the Tank
What’s a reality television show? There are cameras looking at you from different angles. You say what the audience want to hear from you, and not the real you. In Shark Tank, there are usually five investors. They all have successful business backgrounds. When the first entrepreneur comes in, the host says “first into the tank”. It starts off with an entrepreneur or a person who wants to build his/her company, but he/she needs help. As a result, he/she goes on Shark Tank to sell his/her products to the investors. If one of the investors likes it, he/she will make an offer. The seller then can negotiate the price and equity. Sometimes, more than one investor will want to invest in the product. The pitch has to be profound and the product that the entrepreneur has needs to be innovative and impressive. On the surface, the show seems to be about helping entrepreneurs to achieve their goals. However, investigating the metaphors of the “Shark Tank” reveals that real winners in the competition is not the entrepreneurs, but the sharks themselves, i.e. the investors.
Right off the bat, the title of the show is already a metaphor. Referring to Metaphors We Live by by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, the term Shark Tank is a conceptual system. Metaphorical is not only seen as poetic language, but also seen in all language. The term “Shark” refers to the investors, and “Tank” refers to the pool of money they have to invest. Investors have business connections that they can give to the seller. The sharks are venture capitalists. This show demonstrates capitalism. When you think of a shark, what do you think of? I think it is a creature that want to eat you up without mercy. When you think of the show Shark Tank, what do you think of? I think of a tank full of sharks fighting in the tank. So why “shark”? A shark refers to a reckless and mean creature. The title of the show communicates a negative message. When you watch the show, you see the sharks criticizing the products of the entrepreneurs. In every episode, you see the same four or five investors in the show. The show is about them and not the entrepreneurs. Every episode, different entrepreneurs come to make their pitches, but the investors are all the same. Therefore, the real stars are the sharks. The audience watches the show not only because of the new designs and products that the entrepreneurs have, but also because the audience want to see the reactions of the investors.
One example that shows how the sharks dramatize the show to make it focus more on them is in Season 6. Instead of focusing on the products presented, the focus was on the sharks themselves. Christopher Gray comes into the show to sell his company Scholly, which is an application that can find scholarships for students. So Lori Grenier, who is one of the sharks, does not even listen to the whole pitch and agree to the offer that the entrepreneur is asking for, which is $40,000 for 15% of the company. The other sharks such as Mark Cuban were angry because this is an application business, and Cuban specializes in that field, so he wants to learn/hear more about the business. Lori does not even listen to the numbers or the plan that Gray has for the future. She totally trusts Gray and his company. The other sharks walked away and left the room. This demonstrates how aggressive these sharks can be just to get what they want and to “defeat” the other sharks. They fight for a piece of the pie to invest. However, they do this to amuse you. It is all entertainment my friends. It is never about the contestants. It is always about the investors.
This is an example to make the reality show more exciting. It is to entertain the audience with arguments. We as audience do not like to have arguments with others, but when we see others arguing, we think that it is fun to watch. An exemplary example would be two guys on the street are fighting. People actually surrounds them and watch them fight, and maybe one person calls the police. If there was no entertainment, then the audiences would be bored, and would move on to something else. Audiences want something fresh, new, and unexpected. If there is no audience, then there is no point to make the show. The more viewers they have for Shark Tank; the more money the producers will make. The sharks will be happy about that because they make money just by being on the show. The genre reality television already emphasizes the show is scripted.
Another episode, where sharks fight is in Season 4 episode 7. The founder of Scrub Daddy Aaron Krause seeks $100,000 for 10% equity (Feloni). All the sharks were impressed with his pitch, but some did not see a future with the company. So only Lori Greiner, Mr. Wonderful, and Daymond John are in. They all made offers, but the main battle was between Greiner and John. The bid started from $50,000 for 15% from John. Then Greiner says that she can tell instantly if a product is “hero” or “zero”. Hero as in the product is going to be a hit. Zero as in the product sucks. She says Scrub Daddy is a hero, so she made offer $100,000 for 30% equity. Later John offered $100,000 for 25% equity, and Greiner responded $150,000 for 25%. John then offers $175,000, and finally Greiner offers two million dollars for 25% equity. However, the problem for Krause is that the equity is too high, so he asked for 20% equity and got a deal. The tricky/dirty part of this episode is that Daymond John did not want to invest into this business. He just bid higher knowing that Greiner will follow. Therefore, John made Greiner “lost” $100,000. She did not really lose $100,000; it’s just that she got a less good deal. The audience reaction to that would be that was a “ouch” move by John. However, in this episode, it can be seen that even though Greiner lost $100,000, she still invested in the company. This shows that she believes there is potential in the company that’s why she invests in it. She sees she can get much more out of it. By the end of the day, the winner is Greiner the shark.
Furthermore, the show Shark Tank is more about the sharks than the entrepreneurs because it is hiding the “details” behind the scene of entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur would pitch his product, and ask for X amount of money for Y% of the company. So the question is, how much is the company worth? It is a great platform for kids to open their minds up. Most people that I know, they think that math is useless, but math is actually used in real life situation. The problem is, children might see being an entrepreneur is an easy job, but that is not true. Have they seen how hard the entrepreneurs worked and what preparations they did before stepping into the stage? It is not as simple as what the audiences see it as. Watching someone present a brilliant idea seems like a piece of cake, but when you have to do it in reality, it is difficult. This reality show grabs the audience’s attention because it disguises the process as being painless. If you have an idea/product, then you can go on the show. This leads to some enthusiastic entrepreneurs out there come to the show and embarrass themselves because they watch Shark Tank and they believe that the sharks will definitely like their product. In the end, no sharks actually invest in it and the entrepreneur would leave empty handed.
The audience is not exposed to the “details”, which is the audience do not know how much the entrepreneurs had been through. The show wants to convince the audience that they can just be like them. That these investors can make you a millionaire. If you need help in starting your own company or expanding your business by having a factory, these sharks can help with that. The entrepreneurs are like the bait/ fish food. This show presents the possibilities that business success is attainable. It is like the “American Dream”. It does not matter if you are poor, black, white, yellow, short, or tall, you have the opportunity to present your idea to these investors. They might not like your idea, but at least you have that chance to share with the world what you have done. It is definitely the American Dream to the perspective of someone who has an excellent product because all that person needs is to get the support of these sharks. It also inspires young adults/students to step out of their comfort zone. If you have a good idea, make it happen. Do not just keep it in your brain. Do not let yourself regret what you didn’t do. It gives the impression that these sharks are willing to help and invest in you. Despite the fact that the audience might think so highly of these investors, they do not realize that people are all humans. The only thing the sharks have more than them is money.
Instead of giving details about the entrepreneurs, the host exposes the backgrounds of the investors. Every episode, the host introduces the investors’ assets, how they became entrepreneurs and etc. These sharks are in control of the game. It is their choice to invest in you. In fact, you are actually helping these sharks to become richer. The audience have constraints; they do not see the whole picture. A pitch usually goes about an hour long, but in this show, each pitch is cut down to ten minutes only. When the audiences want to know more about the company, they will not hear it in that ten-minute process. They do this to catch the audiences’ attention. So we as audience will want to learn more about the company after the show. Think outside of the box, if these entrepreneurs did not go on the show, then there will be no show, the same goes for the sharks.
Although Shark Tank has positive connotations, its negative connotations out beat the positive. We all know that there is no free lunch in this world. These sharks who invest in you definitely wants an equivalent amount of return or even more. Some of these sharks can suck the blood out of you. Similar characteristics of a shark, the shark is known for its sharp teeth to bite. In addition, a shark has a strong sense of smell that allows him/her to notice blood in the water from miles away. Comparably, these investors can smell blood, which in this case is money, from far away. One technique the sharks use is that they make you an offer, and the entrepreneur has to make the decision right on the spot, whether to take the deal or not. These sharks are actually pressuring entrepreneurs, which leads the entrepreneurs into making impulsive decisions.
One character in Shark Tank is Kevin O’Leary, who is known as Mr. Wonderful. Audience knows that this guy is ruthless and hungry for major deals. However, in one episode, Mr. Wonderful made a shift. In Season 6 episode 2, there was an entrepreneur Phillip Lapuz, who got emotional when a shark asked him “where you got your motivation from?” and he explained. His fiancée is in Japan, and he really wants her to come here. He proposed to her two years ago at that time and he has to make this business succeed, so his wife can be with him. He wants to have a stable life/job with his wife. Lapuz left his high-paid consultant job to follow his passion with his golf putter company. The sharks got emotional during the pitch and somehow, Mr. Wonderful just offer him a deal. Is this realistic? The sharks say that his product is garbage. Is it really empathy or is it just to put it in the show? What does that say about the investors? It is through his emotions and painstaking love for the company that makes Mr. Wonderful buy his idea. The show uses pathos to catch the audience’s attention mentioned in the reading Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis, which states that “pathetic appeals used alone without logos and ethos can come across as emotionally manipulative or overly sentimental” (53). Mr. Wonderful is not being logical or ethical in this case, but being emotional. In his role as a critic, Mr. Wonderful acts more emotional than a business person. Mr. Wonderful might just want to be looked being the person who has empathy to get his fame and reputation to another level. In that episode, he is the true star/ winner, rather than the entrepreneur.
You might think that these sharks are helping you to succeed in your dreams/ company. However, they are actually benefitting themselves, more than benefiting you. The sharks will always be the “winner”. These sharks are making money from these entrepreneurs. In fact, the term “dog eat dog” goes hand in hand with Shark Tank. Not only sharks can eat fish, but also sharks can eat sharks as well. Do not let the appearance of the television show fool you. The reality show is trying to allure the audience to be in/ part of the show, to become an entrepreneur. The sharks are not simple animals, the entrepreneurs tell them the numbers of the sales, and contracts that is involved, these sharks do background check on the entrepreneurs. When the show refers the investors to as “sharks”, they are really sharks. Even though the show does demonstrate capitalism, it is more about entertainment and the sharks always win.
Works Cited
Altucher, James. “Ten Lessons I Learned from Shark Tank.” Jamesaltucher.com. Altucher
Confidential, 2015. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.”
Parlorpress.com. Parlor Press, 2010. Web 16 Mar. 2016.
Feloni, Richard. “How a Sponge Company Became the Biggest ‘Shark Tank’ Success Story,
With Over $50 Million in Sales.” Businessinsider.com. Business Insider, 2015. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Feloni, Richard. “These ‘Shark Tank’ Entrepreneurs Made the Sharks Cry, Proving Emotion Is
Key to A Successful Pitch.” Businessinsider.com. Business Insider, 2014. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Lakoff, George., and Johnson, Mark. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1980. Print.