Journal 2
Lloyd
Bitzer’s “Rhetorical Situation” and Jenny Edbauer’s “Rhetorical Ecology” are
diverse in many ways. The Rhetorical Situation is mainly centered around the
idea that exigence calls the audience to action through different persuasion
tactics. Although the Rhetorical Ecology was somewhat similar in the exigence
factor, it is much broader and focuses more on ecological factors that are
constantly changing.
The first
example that comes to mind when I think about Bitzer’s work is all of the
protests that just took place on campus this weekend. After Trump’s
inauguration this Friday, I witnessed several groups of protestors marching
across Landis Green and down College Avenue and other busy streets in
Tallahassee. It is easy to pick out the exigence and audience. The situation
was that Trump officially became our president and the purpose of it was to
show that they feel Trump isn’t fit to run our country. The audience would be
Tallahassee inhabitants and anyone they could get to see their protest. The
call to action was to make it known all of the apparent awful things he has
said while campaigning.
An example
of Edbauer’s work would be pretty much any book that has ever been made into a
movie series such as the Twilight series. It began as several novels that were
then turned into films. It transitioned from one medium to another and the
different mediums serve different purposes. The movies give a clear visual
presentation of something and makes it seem more realistic than a novel would.
I think
that if Bitzer analyzed the Twilight series, he wouldn’t find it to be
important because there is no true purpose. There isn’t anything in a movie or
book about vampires that causes the audience to take action.
I think
both Bitzer and Edbauer give valuable points when it comes to rhetoric.
Although Edbauer’s stance seems to be more up to speed with the world we live
in today, I think that rhetoric is simply persuading an audience to do something,
which leads to some type of action. With that stance, I do relate more closely
with Bitzer.
Word Count: 352
Erika,
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about marches/protests brought upon by the recent political rhetoric in our country.
Your example for Edbauer is something I had not really though of. I like it because it enforces the concept that rhetoric is everywhere! Middle school me, who was obsessed with Twilight, would have never imagined that I could apply it to the theories of famous rhetoricians.