Module Learning Objectives

After this module you will be able to 

1. Explain the objectives and scope of rhetorical analysis

2. Define concepts from rhetorical analysis such as Pathos, Enthymeme, etc. 

3. Analyze television programs to demonstrate how they use rhetorical techniques to present values or ideologies in a persuasive manner

Key Concepts

Enthymeme: A process in which the audience supplies meaning by co-creating it interactively and coming to the conclusion that exists in the mind of the communicator. 

Ethos: A person’s character, integrity, and goodwill; i.e., credibility. 

 Logos: An interactive process in which a communicator and an audience create and share intellectual meaning.

Pathos: Appeals to the emotions of the audience and the situation. 

Rhetoric: The study of symbols and how they are used to influence. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, famously defined rhetoric as the faculty of discovering in the particular case what are the available means of persuasion. 

Rhetorical criticism: Focuses on the conception, composition, presentation, and reception of messages that tend to be persuasive and informative in nature. 

Telos: End or completion by experiencing moral excellence and contemplative happiness so that others bestow virtue upon the person. 

Additional Sources about Rhetorical Theory

Here's textbook on Rhetorical TV Criticism with a glossary and multiple chapters with clear explanations. Chapter 2 is good for information about Aristotle's approach, Chapter 4 is good for information about Kenneth Burke's approach. Library login will be necessary.

Sellnow, D. (2018). A dramatistic perspective. In The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture: Considering Mediated Texts ( Third Edition ed., pp. 77-108). SAGE Publications, Inc, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071800638 

Burke's Rhetoric Theory and the concept of Identification

Here's a very useful explanation of Burke's theory of identification. I've become interested in this concept because it helps us dig deeper into the notion of 'relatability'.  When we use the 'R' word we often mean that a television show is pleasurable or moving because it presents something we know from our experience. In Burke's terms, these common experiences (of situations, feelings, characters, settings) allow for "consubstantiality". I find this useful to think about what these common objects are, how many audience members they are likely to touch, how enduring these moments of identification are likely to be, and how identification with media texts parallels or echos identification with other cultural symbols. For example, how a situation in a television show might be the basis for identification that already exists outside the television show. An example would be to see something unfair on the news and to be reminded of one's everyday commitment to battling unfairness in society. 

Here's the essay:

Quigley, Brooke L. "Identification" as a Key Term in Kenneth Burke's Rhetorical Theory. The University of Memphis. American Communication Journal, Spring 1998 (Vol. 1, Iss 3)