Thursday, March 19, 2015

Identity Crisis in a Rhetorical Remix


Within Jim Ridolfo and Martine Courant Rife’s “Rhetorical Velocity and Copyright: A Case study on Strategies of Rhetorical Delivery,” an image of a Michigan State University student, Maggie, is taken out of context and used for an alternate message without her consent. What does this mean for our identities? And how can we avoid appropriation within today’s remixes?


While reading this article, the term “appropriation” functioned most important to the case study. The absence of consent paves way for all other terms to come to light. Maggie states a way in which she could have avoided appropriation by the school, “a good idea to have more prominent to have more prominent posters or things with you so people know what’s going on” (Ridolfo and Rife 228). Appropriation raises a concern as to how one can predict potential recomposition. Will the image be used again in a different context? If so, the original message will continue to be skewed and delivered in a way that reconfigures Maggie as an individual. 

The authors note, “Rhetorical velocity is a strategic concept of delivery in which a rhetor theorizes the possibilities for the recomposition of a text (e.g., a media release) based on how s/he anticipates how the text might later me used” (Ridolfo and Rife 229). With this in mind, the school (rhetor) recompositioned the image of Maggie and delivered by way of their website. These terms are connected because each builds the other to create a rhetorical remix. The remix that occurs has the ability to alter not only the message, but also the individual.  

In regards to Carolyn Miller’s definition of “genre,” I believe that delivery is implicated within her article. Texts can be presented or delivered in various ways, thus lead to the particular genre in which they fit. I feel that how an image, for example, is delivered can influence social action. Miller states, “…what I am proposing so far is that in rhetoric the term “genre” be limited to a particular type of discourse classification, a classification based in rhetorical practice and consequently open rather than closed and organized around situated actions (that is, pragmatic, rather than syntactic or semantic)” (Miller 155). The classification, which Miller speaks of, can be determined by means of delivery. How something is delivered can decipher whether or not it has been absorbed.

1 comment:

  1. Kathryn I too thought of appropriation as the most important term in this article. Appropriation allows one to understand the the other key terms, in the context of this situation. I think that more people in today society need to learn what appropriation is and how if functions. Considering that in todays society with stuff spread so easily through social media, we need to be more conscious of the message we are trying to present, and the message we a leaving every time we recompose something. Images like Maggie’s are changed every day to to give a new message. A picture of a lady with a dog, could turn into a satirical meme of Mike Vick.
    When considering Millers theory of genre, I thought that recomposition, was the term that best related to Miller’s argument. To recompose something, means to make it new, to a certain degree. It will always has some originality to it. When classifying genres, to create a new type, would be considered an evolution of something prior. Romance and comedy were once separate genres, but now there is “RomCom”, a combination of both, or one could consider it a recomposition of original genres.

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