Blended Framework: Bill Mckibben's Use of Melodrama and Comedy in Environmental Rhetoric

University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2015 BLENDED FRAMEWORK: BILL MCKIBBEN'S USE OF MELODRAMA AND COMEDY IN ENVIRONMENTAL RHETORIC Megan E. Cullinan University of Montana - Missoula Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Part of the Communication Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation MLA This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BLENDED FRAMEWORK: BILL MCKIBBEN’S USE OF MELODRAMA AND COMEDY IN ENVIRONMENTAL RHETORIC By MEGAN E. CULLINAN Bachelor of Arts, Willamette University, Salem, OR, 2012 Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication Studies University of Montana Missoula, MT May 2015 Approved by: Sandy Ross, Dean of the Graduate School University of Montana Dr. Sara Hayden, Chair University of Montana Dr. Joel Iverson University of Montana Dr. Phil Condon University of Montana Cullinan, Megan, M.A., May 2015 Communication Studies Chair: Dr. Sara Hayden Abstract In the last five years, as climate change became less abstract and more noticeable, conversations surrounding the issues have begun to change. In the past, solutions to climate change were framed in terms of how individuals can made a difference—and yet, no significant changes have occurred. Research shows that the main contributors to climate change are the fossil fuel industry, as both extraction and consumption of fossil fuel products are irresponsible and unsustainable. Thus, it is important for climate change conflict to leave the personal sphere and become more prominent as a political controversy. Bill McKibben’s blended framing of climate change incorporates elements of self- reflexivity and identification needed to keep citizens involved in the conflict, but also requires that the biggest contributors to the problem be held responsible. His melodramatic frames demand that audiences reconsider societal values and complicity to power structures, as their allegiances with the fossil fuel industry allows for continued international exploitation of both people and natural resources. From here, his application of learning based, comic frames combat the limitations that arise from victim/villain frames. His rhetoric offers audiences an opportunity to see themselves reflected in the learning and mistakes of their friends and neighbors, and encourages people to unify together as communities to both challenge one another to live more sustainably, but also to combat this exploitation and complicity from local levels, and then on up through the government. By combining contrasting frames together, McKibben is able to not only create well constructed examples of both comic and tragic frames in environmental rhetoric, but he is able to address the limitation that occur when complex situations are simplified by framing techniques. The combination of these frames, and their insistence of both political involvement and citizen engagement, allows for the discovery of potential solutions which may not have been visible had either frame been used simply by itself. ii Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Examination of the Environmental Movement Shift toward Social Concerns ................................. 5 Climate Change and Society ................................................................................................................... 8 Theoretical Lens ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Melodrama and the Environmental Movement ................................................................................. 16 Overview of McKibben’s Work ........................................................................................................... 23 Précis of Chapters ................................................................................................................................. 25 Chapter 2: Tragedy and Melodrama ........................................................................................ 27 Application of Melodrama in the Environmental Movement ........................................................... 28 Analysis of Melodrama in Oil and Honey ............................................................................................ 32 Socio-Political Conflict ....................................................................................................................... 35 Polarization of Characters ................................................................................................................... 38 Moral Framing of Public Issues .......................................................................................................... 42 Development of Monopathy ................................................................................................................ 44 Discussion of Melodrama’s Use for Climate Change Issues ............................................................. 46 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................ 48 Chapter 3: Comedy ..................................................................................................................... 50 Overview of the Comedic Approach to Environmental Communication ........................................ 53 Application of Comedy in the Environmental Movement ................................................................. 55 Analysis of Comedy in Oil and Honey ................................................................................................. 57 Personal Green Performance: The Comic Hero .................................................................................. 57 Public Green Performance: The “Accidental” Activist ....................................................................... 60 Comic Framing through Learning and Self Reflection ....................................................................... 63 Discussions Regarding Comedy and Climate Change ....................................................................... 65 Conclusions and Implications from Oil and Honey ............................................................................ 69 Chapter 4: Discussions and Final Conclusions ........................................................................ 70 Framing Limitations and Further Conversations .............................................................................. 73 McKibben and Melodramatic Limitations .......................................................................................... 74 McKibben and Comic Framing Limitations ....................................................................................... 79 The Effects of Balancing Tragic and Comic ....................................................................................... 82 Implications, Future Research, and Conclusions ............................................................................... 84 Work Cited .................................................................................................................................. 86 iii Chapter One: Introduction In January 2008, United States climate change scientist James Hansen published a paper explaining that if the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose above 350 parts per million, earth as we know it would change drastically (McKibben 2013; 12). The damage to the planet will likely render it unrecognizable--with dramatic weather shifts as opposed to seasons, and temperature extremes unlike anything we’ve ever recorded. In the six years since this publication, climate change effects have been continually documented (Ceccarelli 205), and the issue has spread to a wider audience. As a result, politicians and pundits have begun to encourage “green” behavior and personal lifestyle changes to United States citizens in order to combat individual contributions to climate change. Unfortunately, due to a worldwide dependence on fossil fuels, the major contributors to environmental damages are coming from industrial development, primarily from fossil fuel corporations. Resource extraction for fossil fuels is dirty, polluting, and heavily contributes to the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Thus, despite public interest and people’s commitments to “going green” and fostering a cleaner environment, climatologists state that even if the entire world stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow, the damages would continue on for several decades. Further, we are not going to stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow. With a lack of affordable access to alternative energies and fuels, the American public faces an inability to entirely change their behaviors and to “power down” from their energy dependencies. The environmental movement has thus far struggled to bring climate change responsibility into the political plane. Their attempts to share the

Load more