This blog is all about choosing a
method. There are several methods that we have discussed in class. A few of
them are as following: Neo-Aristotelian criticism, Cluster criticism, Fantasy-Theme
criticism, Ideological criticism, and Pentadic criticism. It was tough to pick
one that will be applied to my term paper. An idea I have is to use the
Pentadic criticism method, my second would be cluster criticism.
I chose the Pentadic method because it seems
to fit memes in general best. Within this method there are a few terms Burke
uses that will help with the term paper. The first term is dramatism. Dramatism
is “the label Burke gives to the analysis of human motivation through terms
derived from the study of drama” (Foss p. 355). Drama is everywhere with memes;
memes are drama! Dramatism will allow/help take the meme apart and analyze it.
This method will help interpret all parts of the “Everywhere” meme.
A
second term, or part, of the Pentadic method that will be most useful to dissect
the meaning of memes, especially the meme I will be using, is the five basic
elements of a drama that Burke uses. The five basic elements are as following;
act, which is the what; agent, which is the who; agency, which is the how;
scene, which is the where and when; and purpose, which is the why (Foss p. 356).
First, the act, which is understood as, “what was done is the message”; next is
the agent, which is understood as, “who performed it”; after that would be the
agency, which is understood as, “the means by which the act is completed”;
followed by the scene, which is understood as, “the background or situation
that it is taken place at”; completed with the purpose, which is understood as,
“the rational of the message” (Foss p. 356 - 357). There is an element that Burk
would like to add to the Pentad. This element is attitude. “Attitude designates
the manner in which particular means are employed” (Foss p. 357). Attitude is
not on the Pentad because there is not enough to make it its own, however, it fits
in close with agent.
Lastly,
Foss talks about ratios. Ratios can help examine the meme used. Under ratio,
Foss talks about the dominant terms and how to discover them. Foss explains
dominant terms in the following sentence as, “the most important term among the
five [act, agent, agency, scene, purpose] and the term through which everything
else happens” (p.360). She then continues later explaining, “as you apply
ratios to discover the relationships among the terms, you will find that you
are balancing between your general knowledge of the kinds of relationships that
exist among the terms and the relationship that is being set up within the
artifact [meme]” (p.361). The dominant term with the meme used will be “everywhere”.
The meme is based around this word. It explains what the meme means. There is
XX Everywhere.
Yikes! Great pic of the man!
ReplyDeletePentadic criticism is usually applied to a particular artifact, and Internet memes are often created by many people for many different purposes. The meme you chose most certainly had a particular origin - but, as we've discussed, I'm not sure you want to focus on one particular caption (especially one that is that sort of crude, sexual humor). Consider trying to define a sub-set of meme examples - hasn't this image of Buzz Lightyear and Woody been used in many ways? Can they be linked together somehow? Are there some that poke fun at people who are naive and some that poke fun at people who are oblivious, etc? Burke, like we discussed in class, is primarily concerned with examining motivation - mostly of the rhetor. Internet memes are the product of a multitude of rhetors with a multitude of motives. Like we discussed in class today, consider how you might better define the memes you will examine in your paper. Let me know how I can help!