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ENGLISH:
Examine
literature for how it persuades and influences its readers. The Great Gatsby,
for example, isn't just a work illustrative of its time. It also speaks to us
today in its advocacy to take responsibility rather than just sit by when
people hurt others. The study of the film offers further insight into this
great piece of literature. Film and Rhetoric studies examine literature from
this perspective.
Example:
Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson wrote an analysis of book
jacket covers to show how they convinced readers to purchase books.
HISTORY:
Great
leaders in history are great speakers. The speeches of Martin Luther King,
Abraham Lincoln, Margaret Thatcher, and others have had a major impact.
Studying the videos of their speeches, film and rhetoric focuses attention on
how public address has been a critical part of history both as spoken word
and as filmed expression.
Example:
Chris Gregory wrote an essay concerning the attempt to impeach William O.
Douglas in the 1970s.
SOCIOLOGY:
A
community is a grouping of people who, through the use of communication, share
experiences and ideas. Examining problems people face such as racism, classism, sexism is enriched by focusing on
communication. For example, "poverty" isn't just a lack of money.
It is also a word people use to refer to the condition of other people just
as "welfare" and "empowered" are. How we talk and how
films present ideas influences our communities and film and rhetoric focuses
on this.
Example:
Loan Lam did a feminist criticism of the movie The Little Mermaid to examine
the kind of influence it would have on children.
POLITICS:
Study
the arguments people make in political communities. How does Bill Clinton
remain popular? What issues need to be addressed concerning our policy toward
Serbia?
How does the film “Traffic” express a political viewpoint toward
drug use? Communication questions such as these can be addressed in the study
of film and rhetoric.
Example:
Adam Symonds examined value hierarchies in United
States foreign policy rhetoric toward democracy in the Middle East to show our policy is not consistent with
its stated goals.
THEATER:
Great
dramatic works make persuasive calls to their audiences. A play enacts
traditions in a community and influences that community. Studying rhetoric
can add to your theater studies by giving you an additional tool for
examining what makes a play a rhetorical work of art. The movie “Chicago”
illustrates just one way in which theater becomes film as well.
Example:
Max Wall wrote an analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet using Kenneth Burke's
"definition of man" to show what kind of person Shakespeare
encourages audience members to be.
CLASSICS:
Rhetoric
has a long history with strong connections to the Greeks and Romans. Gorgias, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintillian, among others were
great thinkers in the art of rhetoric.
Example:
Jessica Clarke has studied Plato's works for their representation of woman in
the classical period.
PHILOSOPHY:
The
contemplation of what is right and wrong, what is our existence, how do we
know what we know, are all thoughts we express in words. Rhetoric encourages
students to think about the words they use as a fundamental part of the
construction of a philosophy. Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Foucault, Derrida,
Neitzche, each have
written on rhetoric and our department explores their ideas on communication.
Example:
David Kearney wrote a thesis in which he examined Plato's Gorgias
to reveal the kind of rhetoric Plato supported.
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Patrick
Carter completed his major in Rhetoric and Film Studies. He analyzed Fox News
reporting for ideological bias. He is currently working as an employment
consultant in Seattle, Washington.
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