Ch. 5 Fantasy-Theme Criticism

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Notes on Fantasy Theme, Narrative, and Pentadic
Approaches to Criticism

• John A. Cagle

Don't forget to read the chapters in Foss too!
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Ch. 5 Fantasy-Theme Criticism

• The fantasy-theme method of rhetorical criticism,
  created by Ernest G. Bormann, is designed to
  provide insights into the shared worldview of
  groups.

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Symbolic Convergence Theory

• Communication creates reality.
• Symbols not only create a shared reality for
  individuals but that individuals meanings for
  symbols converge to create a shared reality or
  community consensus.

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Fantasy theme is the basic unit of analysis

• Fantasy is the creative and imaginative
  interpretation of events.
• A fantasy theme is the means through which the
  interpretation is accomplished in communication.

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• A fantasy theme is a word, phrase, or statement
  that interprets events in the past, envisions
  events in the future, or depicts current events
  that are removed in time and/or space from the
  actualities of the group.
• Fantasy themes tell a story about a groups
  experience that constitutes a constructed reality
  for the participants.

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• A fantasy theme depicts characters, actions, and
  settings that are moved from an actual current
  group situation in time and place.
• Fantasies are characterized by their artistic and
  organized quality.

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Fantasies and argumentation

• Shared fantasies provide the group for arguments
  or establish the assumptive system that is the
  basis for arguments.

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Three types of fantasy themes

• Setting themes depict where the action is taking
  place.
• Character themes describe the actors or people in
  the drama, ascribe characteristics or qualities
  to them, and assign motives to them.
• Action themes deal with the action of the drama.

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Fantasy themes in criticism

• The artifact should be one for which you have
  evidence that symbolic convergence has occurred.
• First, the critic codes the artifact, sentence by
  sentence, to identify fantasy settings,
  characters, and action themes.
• Then the critic constructs the rhetorical vision
  created by these themes.

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Uses of the rhetorical vision

• Critical questions emerge
• Strategies used to accomplish particular
  objectives
• The kinds of messages that are being communicated
  through particular rhetorical visions
• The functions of particular rhetorical visions
• The implications of particular rhetorical visions
  for rhetorical processes

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Components of a fantasy theme critical essay

• An introduction, discussing the research
  question, its contribution to rhetorical theory,
  its significance
• A description of the artifact and its context
• A description of the critical method
• A report on the findings
• A discussion of the contribution the analysis
  makes to rhetorical theory and history

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Ch.10 Narrative Criticism

• Narratives organize the stimuli of our experience
  so that we can make sense of the people, places,
  events, and actions of our lives. They allow us
  to interpret reality because they help us decide
  what a particular experience is about and how
  the various elements of our experience are
  connected.
• In the communication discipline, Walter R. Fisher
  has been influential in helping us understand the
  narrative paradigm.

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• Narratives are found in many kinds of artifacts
  short stories, novels, comic strips, films,
  songs, and other things, including conversations
  with friends, interviews, speeches, and paintings
  and quilts.
• Narratives advance persuasion by disarming
  listeners, awakening dormant experiences and
  feelings, and exposing some sort of propositional
  argument.

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Four features of narratives

1. The narrative is comprised of events that may be
   active (expressing action) or static (expressing
   a state or condition).
2. The events in a narrative are organized in time
   order.
3. The narrative must include some kind of causal or
   contributing relationship among the events in a
   story.
4. The narrative must be about a unified subject.

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The Narrative in criticism

• Any artifact that is a narrative or includes a
  story.
• First, the critic identifies the dimensions of
  the narrative and
• Then the critic discovers an explanation for the
  narrative.

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Identifying the dimensions of the narrative

• The critic identifies primary features of the
  narrative in detail
• Setting
• Characters
• Narrator
• Events
• Temporal relations
• Causal relations
• Audience
• Theme

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Discovering an explanation for the narrative

• Critical task is to identify which of the
  features of the narrative are most interesting
  and significant and have the most explanatory
  value for the artifact, e.g.,
• The significant features suggest various
  explanations
• How the narrative directs the interpretation of a
  situation
• How the narrative functions as an argument to
  view and understand the world in a particular way
• What the narrative reveals about an individuals
  identity

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Narrative critical questions

• Knowing a rhetors worldview can be the basis for
  understanding many different rhetorical processes
  and for asking questions
• Does the narrative spring from a Master Narrative
  (older narratives)?
• What propositional content is the narrative
  designed to reveal?
• What propositional content is the narrative
  designed to mask?
• How effectively and how faithfully does the
  narrative deal with its subject matter?

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Criteria by which to judge narratives

• Does the narrative embody and advocate values
  that you see as desirable and worthwhile?
• What ethical standards does the narrative
  suggest?
• How readily can the narrative be refuted?
• Is the narrative coherent?
• Does the narrative convey truth or what rings as
  true?
• Does the narrative fulfill the purpose of its
  creators?
• Does the narrative provide useful ideas for
  living your life?

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Components of a narrative critical essay

• An introduction, discussing the research
  question, its contribution to rhetorical theory,
  its significance
• A description of the artifact and its context
• A description of the critical method
• A report on the findings, in which you reveal the
  dimensions of the narrative that are most
  significant
• A discussion of the contribution the analysis
  makes to rhetorical theory and history

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Ch. 11 Pentadic Criticism

• Pentadic criticism grows out of the work of
  Kenneth Burke.
• Pentadic criticism is rooted in Burkes notion of
  dramatism, the analysis of human motivation
  through terms derived from drama.

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• Action corresponds to the ability of an organism
  to acquire language or a symbol system.
• Three conditions for action
• Action must involve freedom of choice.
• Humans develop and present messages in the same
  way a play is presentedwe use rhetoric to
  constitute and present a particular view of our
  situation.
• Our language provides clues to our motiveshow we
  justify, explain, and account for our actions.

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The Pentad

• Rhetors describe their situations using the five
  basic elements of drama
• act, scene, agent, agency, purpose

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Dramatistic Pentad

• Act A critics label for the act pictures what
  was done.
• Scene The description of the scene gives a
  context for where and when the act was performed.
• Agent The agent is the person or people who
  performed the act.
• Agency Agency is the means the agent used to do
  the deed.
• Purpose The speakers purpose is the stated or
  implied goal of the address.

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Pentadic Ratios

• The strategy of a rhetor will more likely focus
  the message on a combination or ratio between
  elements.
• A ratio is a pairing of two of the key terms that
  allows the critic to investigate how the first
  term in the pair affects the second.

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• Pentadic ratios can be used to define the central
  relationship of any story
• scene-act, scene-agency, scene-purpose,
  act-purpose, act-agent, act-agency,
  agent-purpose, agent-agency, and agency-purpose.

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The Pentad in criticism

• Virtually any artifact is appropriate for
  pentadic analysis.
• First, the critic labels the five terms of agent,
  act, scene, purpose, and agency in the artifact
  and
• Then the critic applies the ratios to identify
  the dominant term by exploring the relationship
  between them and the nature of the influence each
  has on the other.

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Labeling terms

• The critic identifies the five terms from the
  perspective of the rhetor
• The agent names the group or individual who is
  the protagonist or main character
• The act is the rhetors presentation of the major
  action taken by the agent or protagonist
• The agency is the means used to perform the act
  or instruments used to accomplish it.
• The scene is the group, location, or situation in
  which the rhetor says the act takes place
• The purpose of the act is what the rhetor
  suggests the agent intends to accomplish by
  performing the act

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Applying the ratios to identify the dominant term

• Critical task is to identify which of the five
  terms identified dominates or is featured in the
  rhetoric.
• This work is done in the background to prepare
  for the essential critical task to identify
  the philosophical system to which it corresponds,
  with that system generating ideas about the
  definition of a situation, its meaning for
  rhetors and audiences, and its possible
  consequences.

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Pentadic critical questions

• Knowing a rhetors worldview can be the basis for
  understanding many different rhetorical processes
  and for asking questions
• The significance of a particular term as
  controlling
• The nature of a message in which a particular
  term is controlling
• The implications of particular constructions of
  the world and motive for rhetoric purposes or
  public controversies.

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Components of a pentadic critical essay

• An introduction, discussing the research
  question, its contribution to rhetorical theory,
  its significance
• A description of the artifact and its context
• A description of the critical method
• A report on the findings, in which you identify
  the five pentadic terms in your artifact and
  suggest which one is dominant
• A discussion of the contribution the analysis
  makes to rhetorical theory and history

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Don't forget to read the chapters in Foss