As defined in The Carolina Rhetoric the appeal of pathos occurs when "the rhetor persuades by playing upon the viewer's emotions" (Aristotle 13). Lady Gaga and the producers of her video use this appeal extremely affectively in "Til it Happens to You". Lady Gaga is just one of many people who experience a life altering sexual assault in their early twenties. The producers use an appeal to emotions in Lady Gaga's "Til it Happens to You" to spread awareness for the reality of sexual assault in college. This is portrayed through the music style, story line, and video shooting choices. Sexual assault is a real threat to many people and needs to be recognized as a problem. 

The music assists the portrayal of pathos in this video. Most of Lady Gaga's successful songs like "Just Dance" and "Bad Romance" are known for being fun and upbeat. "Til it Happens to You" differs in that it is slow in tempo and has a much more somber mood associated with it. The use of the string instruments like the violin help the viewer to understand that it is a sad subject matter. It also allows the viewer to feel the sorrow that accompanies sexual assault. It also has a depressing tone which effectively supports the use of pathos. Lady Gaga uses powerful lyrics like "till your world burns and crashes" and "till you're at the end of your rope" with the repetition of "you don't know how I feel, till it happens to you" to portray to the audience that the effects of sexual assault are real. Theses lyrics go along with the emotional appeal of pathos because they are saying that unless you have been a victim of sexual assault you could not possibly realize how terrible it really is. It is something that stays with the victim and haunts them for the rest of their lives. 

The story line also plays a key role in successfully portraying the effects of pathos. As a viewer you realize with the use of three different story lines that sexual assault is prevalent on college campuses and can happen at any time. Whether it is a situation where someone drugs you at a party or a scenario where someone you consider a friend sexually assaults you, it can happen. The different story lines are effective for portraying somber emotions through pathos because they allow the viewer to see the reality of sexual assault and what it does to the victim. You feel upset as a viewer because you see what happens to these girls and how they end up feeling so alone. As a viewer you can also picture yourself in their shoes which is a disturbing effect of the different scenarios. "Til it Happens to You" does however end on a happier note with the different victims realizing that they can rely on their friends and family. They end up using them as support and people to confide in. These endings support the emotional appeal because it shows that even though sexual assault can make the victim feel alone they are not. 

The way that the video is shot and the stylistic choices play an important role in the portrayal of the emotional appeal. The video is shot in black and white with no scenes in color. This was a smart choice because the viewer does not get distracted. There are not different colors or crazy backgrounds to distract so the viewer is able to solely focus on the main point. Being able to focus on the victims of sexual assault helps the viewers to understand that sexual assault is a sad reality. Viewers see how often people end up facing it during their time on a college campus. Another important stylistic choice when shooting the video was which perspective it was shot from. The producers made sure to shoot each scene from an outside perspective so that the viewer was able to see everything as it happened. This heightens the portrayal of sadness and shock because you see just how easy it is to be sexually assaulted. Someone could corner you whenever they wanted or drop a pill in your drink if you are not paying attention. 

Although pathos is the primary appeal used in "Til it Happens to You", both ethos and logos are used to show that sexual assault is a real problem. Aristotle describes logos as "persuasion by using reasoning and evidence" (13). This appeal to the viewer's logic is done through the videos formatting. The scenes depicting sexual assault provide evidence that persuade viewers that it is a problem. Although they are actors in the video, they based the scenes off of real encounters faced by victims of sexual assault. Along with logos, ethos is also successfully used to spread awareness of sexual assault in college. Ethos is defined as "persuasion by means of his or her character or credibility" (Aristotle 13). Lady Gaga effectively uses ethos because she was assaulted herself and has the necessary credibility. She is able to write a successful song about sexual assault that spreads awareness because she has been through the situation herself and knows what it is like. 

Lady Gaga and the producers of the video were successful in making the viewers experience an emotional response through pathos. They effectively used specific instruments and lyrics to create a song with a depressing tone. Along with the music they also used the video formatting successfully by creating various situations where sexual assault can happen. Finally they were successful in the way the video was shot because it made the viewer feel as though something like that could possibly happen to them. Lady Gaga and others who have been through sexual assault want everyone else to understand that the effects can be detrimental on the victim. Sexual assault can tear a person down and make them feel like they are worthless. Through "Til it Happens to You" people who are fortunate enough to have not experience sexual assault see the harsh reality of it and learn that it can happen to anyone anywhere. 

