Since the last blog post we have had 13 interesting presentations on diverse texts ranging from Beyoncé's latest album to Florence Nightingale's Notes on Nursing. Despite the stark diversity of the texts that people have been dealing with, we can really see that public texts all center around the same few principles. While I think that Warner gives a more thorough expression of these characteristics of publics and public texts in "Publics and Counterpublics," below is a list of the most prominent themes that I have been seeing in your presentations:
- Being relatable to the audience (in style, vernacular, and content)
- Creating ways for the audience to respond to the text (either through independent actions or feedbacks loops)
- Passion on the part of the speaker
- Using prominent figure heads or styles to promote the message
- having a distinct form of circulation (the internet seems to make this easier.)
My question for you today lies at the intersection of these two concepts. I want you to pick a word/phrase from the text you discuss in your paper, and show how it helps to connect the audience to the speaker. Then, I want to you think about if the word/phrase would be received the same way, if it was used in a different context. If you were one of the 4 who are tracing symbols, just use a text that uses your symbol for this response. If your primary text does not have words, use scales, instrumentation, or something like that.
I chose the phrase "You showed your ass and I saw the real you" from Beyoncé's song, "Best Thing I Never Had." This, like discussed in my paper, helps connect Beyoncé to her audience because she is openly sharing a broken relationship with her fans in hope that they are able to relate if they've had a similar experience. It shows her fans to be strong and stand up when shown disrespect or discomfort. It also largely portrays a woman's ability to take control and remain in control, even though males are portrayed as stronger figures in our society. However, if this phrase was used in the classroom, or in a casual setting with a friend or family member, it would not be taken as inspiring, strengthening, and powerful. Instead, it'd very likely be taken personally, disrespectfully, and could easily hurt someone's feelings, end a friendship/relationship, or cause unwanted consequences to the speaker. This easily shows that our phrases and utterances today largely rely on the context they are used in because there is an appropriate atmosphere for each different register of speech.
ReplyDeleteI think the main reason words have seemed to change in their meanings based on their contexts has been because of how we view these words politically as times change. Forrest Gump takes place in an era where certain words were generally considered acceptable and others were considered taboo. In the movie Forrest, who is mentally handicapped, is referred to as an “idiot” in the movie. The term is used in connotation of the definition of what it means to be mentally handicapped. I believe it is very similar to the politically incorrect use of the word “retard”, but back in the Vietnam War era those two words were not looked at as slurs as they would be today The use of words like this in the movie is very necessary to allow the audience to connect to the reality of the time being portrayed in Forrest Gump. Without this uncomfortable language the movie would lack in its authenticity. What I find interesting is that while we find this word uncomfortable in our modern era we still use it to refer to people acting stupid. We call our friends “idiots” jokingly all the time, but it becomes insulting when it is used in a more serious context as it was in Forrest Gump. There is a fine line between what is perceived as a harmless word and an offensive one.
ReplyDeleteWhile there is no specific word or phrase I center my paper on, one that I can say has a big impact is the last line of the speech "Give me Libety, or give me death". I feel this line resonates with audiences both in the time period, and today. I think the speaker uses such an absolute phrase that even today the context is perfectly clear. Most people associate those lines with the American Revolution, however if they do not they still hear a powerful message that gives off the same ideas today as it did in the past. I think when Patrick Henry uses such a passionate way of speaking he makes his biggest influence. Rather than talking about specific contexts of the time, his universal phrases like "Give me liberty, or give me death" make his speech so powerful both at the time and today.
ReplyDeleteOne word I used throughout my own essay is the word "erotic". Part of my essay discusses what exactly this word means as far as a book genre and if it has the same meaning as the word "pornography". "Erotic" is a way of saying that something is sexually intriguing. But in my essay, "erotic" means even more than just that. It also expresses a certain aspect of romance as well. My essay's main point was looking at why women love the book Fifty Shades of Grey. One of the reasons a woman may have been influenced to buy the book could be how they perceived the genre it is in, "erotica". Many people choose books based on their genre, and when a woman perceives the word "erotic" as a subset genre of romance, that might influence them to but the book.
ReplyDeleteSince I didn't focus on one particular text I searched for a word or phrase within my essay that I mentioned a lot throughout my essay. This was the phrase "developmental stages". I used this term to describe the development of the criminal brain through a ranging period of time, personal experiences, and social influences. However, many individuals may percieve this phrase differently depending on how well they understood the context throughout my paper.Some people may think of physical development instead of mental. I think if the author isn't specific enough then the reader can manipulte what they think they are comprehending.
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