Rhetorical/Critical InquiryCOMN2150
Week 8: Varieties of Rhetorical Criticism
Objectives/Overview
• Continue learning about the various approaches/methods to apply critical/rhetorical inquiry
• METHODS FOCUSED ON STORY (understanding & story)• Learn about Narrative (Dramatistic) Criticism
• Language as grounding for human reality & motivation • Characteristics of D/N criticism • The Pentad (Burke)
• Learn about Media-Centered Criticism • Power and importance of the medium itself in meaning• TV, Handheld Devices, Internet
Dramatistic/Narrative Criticism• D/N Criticism is broad approach (many ideas & scholars)• We see the world in a certain way because of the symbols & signs
we use (including language)• Human thought & action can be understood as drama,
narrative, or story• Can analyze at the level of the symbol, sentence, structure, etc. • Language generates social arrangements, power→ i.e. equity
and inclusion made possible through reflective language• Think of all the ways we engage w/ story
• Share and recount parts of our lives through story• See ourselves as characters
• Consume stories (TV, film, books, social media, news, sport)• All of this takes place through use of symbols, signs, and their
systems of meaning
Key Terms/Concepts
• Terministic Screens→ the vocabularies people use allow them to think and do certain things and prevent them from doing others (language shapes how we see the world)
• Ex. the language of battle (fight back, lost the fight, warrior, strength), mental health (struggle, issue, illness)
• Teleology→ useful when focusing on individual symbols, refers to “the process of perfection of the thing”, achieving the purpose or intention
• Ex. seeing the knife in a horror movie• Narrative Genres→ create certain expectations from
the audience, useful frame for determining how people engage, violate expectations
• Ex. Oliver Tree, My Favorite Murder
The Pentad (Burke) → people explain the world through story, creating motives, usually using one or more of the pentadic terms (a ratio) as a way of seeing
Dramatistic/Narrative Criticism
Example:● Surveillance
balloon & UFO’s
Analysis Stems from the MEDIUM Itself→ how do media interact w/ stories?
• Media= the plural of medium• Medium= channel of communication
• Means of producing/reproducing signs (technology)
• How a society/culture makes use of the above (social uses)
Question we ask as a critic: How media logic shapes stories and which stories do better in certain media because of their logics?
• Media logic→ the technology & how it is used creates certain ways of thinking
• EX. using touch screen of an iPad• EX. ability to control the “start” & “stop” (think of
the first TV sets)• EX. binging
Media-Centered Criticism
Focusing on some mediums & their characteristicsTelevision ★ Commodification→ advertising, audience demographics, stories/shows
themselves, TV set★ Realism→ cultivates perspectives on the world, the visual is more “trustworthy”,
popularity of reality TV ★ Intimacy→ calls our attention to “people”, think of how things are framed,
close-ups, re-enactments, human interest stories on the newsHandheld Devices – usually smartphones, not distinct from internet/computers★ Connective Power→ all info at our fingertips, think of how often something
pops into your head to “look up”, instantly contact anyone, asynchronous preference
★ Context Mobility→ total freedom of movement (wherever there is signal), control of context (important call, distraction from physical setting)
Computers & Internet→ requires access and “media logic”/knowledge★ Fluidity→ rabbit holes, can click from one random thing to the next, links
(creates flexibility/creativity but impedes attention/focus)★ Speed & Control→ similar to smartphones, creates expectations, impatience★ Dispersal→ connection to communities online who are spread around the
globe, may be far physically, but can be connected virtually, impact on face-to-face interactions
Media-Centered Criticism
Recap of the 7 Approaches/Methods
1. Culture-centered criticism→ cultural contexts are central for analysis
2. Marxist criticism→ material & economic conditions are fundamental
3. Feminist criticism→ representations of gender, empowerment & disempowerment
4. Psychoanalytic criticism→ motivations formed by early childhood experiences
5. Visual Rhetorical criticism→ visually oriented world, how visual texts work socially
6. Dramatistic/Narrative criticism→ language & sign systems as creating human reality
7. Media-centered criticism → characteristics of the medium impact reality & interpretation
Notes for Critics:● Approaches not mutually exclusive● Not all approaches covered● Differences in opinion among scholars● No “cookie cutter” way to apply
○ No need to apply all concepts from an approach to your text
Summary
★ Both methods focus on UNDERSTANDING-intervention○ Understanding & story are key to both of these methods
★ Narrative/Dramatistic Criticism○ Language we use to “tell our stories” impacts how we see
reality, think & act★ Media-centered Criticism
○ Each type of media has it’s own “logic” or way of operating both technologically and socially
