The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture Considering Mediated Texts Deanna D. Sei I now University of Kentucky SAGE Los Angeles London New Delhi Singapore Washington DC
Detailed Contents Preface Chapter 1. What Is Popular Culture and Why Study It? What Is Popular Culture? 2 What Are Popular Culture Texts? 4 Why Study Popular Culture? 5 Conducting a Rhetorical Analysis of Popular Culture Texts 7 Step 1. Selecting a Text and Formulating a Research Question Step 2. Selecting a Rhetorical Perspective 8 Step 3. Examining the Text (Describe and Interpret) 12 Step 4. Evaluating Potential Implications of the Text 13 SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY 13 SUMMARY 21 CHALLENGE 22 REFERENCES 23 Chapter 2. Expanding the Rhetorical Tradition The Nature of Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism 25 Evolution of the Rhetorical Tradition 28 Rhetoric in the Communication Discipline 29 The Neo-Aristotelian Approach to Rhetorical Criticism 29 Step 1. Describing the Context 30 Step 2. Interpreting the Rhetorical Text According to the Five Classical Canons 30 Step 3. Evaluating the Overall Effect of the Rhetorical Text Contemporary Rhetorical Approaches 33 SAMPLE PUBLISHED ESSAY 34 SUMMARY 34 CHALLENGE 34 REFERENCES 35
Chapter 3. A Narrative Perspective Narration 37 Narrative Rationality 38 Coherence 38 Fidelity 38 Conducting a Narrative Analysis 39 Step 1. Selecting an Appropriate Text 39 Step 2. Examining the Text (Describe and Interpret) 41 Step 3. Evaluating Potential Implications of the Text 44 SAMPLE ANALYSES 45 SAMPLE PUBLISHED ESSAY 48 SUMMARY 48 CHALLENGE 49 REFERENCES 49 Chapter 4. A Dramatistic Perspective The Pentad 52 Absolution of Guilt 53 Transcendence 53 Mortification 53 Victimage 54 Conducting a Dramatistic Analysis 57 Step 1. Selecting an Appropriate Text 57 Step 2. Examining the Text (Describe and Interpret) 58 Step 3. Evaluating Potential Implications of the Text 58 SAMPLE PUBLISHED ESSAY 59 SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY 59 SUMMARY 68 CHALLENGE 68 REFERENCES 69 Chapter 5. A Marxist Perspective Ideology and Hegemony 72 Materialism and Economic Metaphors 72 Sites of Struggle 73 Conducting a Marxist Analysis 76 Step 1. Selecting an Appropriate Text 11 Step 2. Examining the Text (Describe and Interpret) 11 Step 3. Evaluating Potential Implications of the Text 19 SAMPLE PUBLISHED ESSAY 80 SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY 80 SUMMARY 86 CHALLENGE 86 REFERENCES 87
Chapter 6. Feminist Perspectives 89 Hegemony, Patriarchy, and Masculine Hegemony 90 Sites of Struggle 90 Waves of Feminism 91 First Wave Feminism 91 Second Wave Feminism 91 Third Wave Feminism 92 Feminist Perspectives for Studying Popular Culture Texts 92 A Liberal Feminist Perspective 92 A Radical Feminist Perspective 93 A Marxist Feminist Perspective 96 A Cultural Feminist Perspective 91 Conducting a Feminist Analysis 98 Step 1. Selecting an Appropriate Text 98 Step 2. Examining the Text (Describe and Interpret) 99 Step 3. Evaluating Potential Implications of the Text 100 Sample Analysis 100 SAMPLE PUBLISHED ESSAY 103 SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY 103 SUMMARY 112 CHALLENGE 113 REFERENCES 113 Chapter 7. A Music Perspective: The Illusion of Life Theory 115 Music as Communication 115 The Illusion of Life 117 Virtual Time 118 Virtual Experience 119 Congruity and Incongruity 119 Conducting an Illusion of Life Analysis 123 Step 1. Selecting an Appropriate Text 124 Step 2. Examining the Text (Describe and Interpret) 124 Step 3. Evaluating Potential Implications of the Text 125 SAMPLE PUBLISHED ESSAY 125 SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY 125 SUMMARY 140 CHALLENGE 140 REFERENCES 140 Chapter 8. A Visual Perspective: Visual Pleasure Theory 143 Visual Pleasure Theory 144 Psychoanalytic Theory, Scopophelia, and Narcissism 145 Fetishism, Voyeurism, and Narcissism in Visual Pleasure Theory 145
Conducting a Visual Pleasure Analysis 147 Step 1. Selecting an Appropriate Text 148 Step 2. Examining the Text (Describe and Interpret) 149 Step 3. Evaluating Potential Implications of the Text 150 SAMPLE PUBLISHED ESSAY 151 SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY 151 SUMMARY 158 CHALLENGES 159 REFERENCES 159 Chapter 9. Media-Centered Perspectives 161 Media Logic 162 Commodification 162 Amplification and Reduction 163 Social Learning Theory 164 Parasocial Relationship Theory 165 Cultivation Theory 165 Conducting an Analysis Using a Media-Centered Perspective 166 Step 1. Selecting an Appropriate Text 166 Step 2. Examining the Text (Describe and Interpret) 167 Step 3. Evaluating Potential Implications of the Text 167 SAMPLE PUBLISHED ESSAY 167 SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY 168 SUMMARY 174 CHALLENGES 174 REFERENCES 175 Appendix: Writing a Popular Culture Rhetorical Essay 177 Collecting Research and Examining Your Text 177 Writing Your Essay 178 The Introduction 179 The Body 179 The Conclusions 180 Presenting Your Essay 181 The Introduction (1-3 Minutes) 181 The Body (8-10 Minutes) 182 The Conclusion (1-2 Minutes) 182 SUMMARY 182 Glossary 183 Index 191 About the Author 199