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ABSTRACT SOMETHING CREEPY THIS WAY COMES: PAC ADVERTISING AND ITS ATTACK ON OBAMACARE A VISUAL NARRATIVE ANALYSIS Marguerite Teruggi Page, MA Department of Communication Northern Illinois University, 2015 Dr. Ferald J. Bryan, Director A visual rhetorical analysis utilizing Sonja Foss’s Narrative Criticism and examined through Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm Theory was conducted in this thesis to examine the persuasive nature of narratives conveyed through visual representations. This thesis analyzes meaning construction through the visual elements in the political ad “Something Creepy This Way Comes”, an internet video produced by Generation Opportunity, a Koch-brother funded PAC. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DE KALB, ILLINOIS MAY 2015 SOMETHING CREEPY THIS WAY COMES: PAC ADVERTISING AND ITS ATTACK ON OBAMACARE A VISUAL NARRATIVE ANALYSIS BY MARGUERITE TERUGGI PAGE ©2015 Marguerite Teruggi Page A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION Thesis Director: Dr. Ferald J. Bryan DEDICATION To Zane and Bill TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………………………………………… v Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………. 1 Perspective …………………………………………………………...…………….. 2 Audience ………………………………………………………………………….... 3 Theory ………………………………………………………………………………. 3 Methodology and Text Selection ………………………………………………….... 4 Literature Review …………………………………………………………………... 5 Visual Rhetoric ……………………………………………………………………... 5 Narrative Criticism …………………………………………………………………. 7 Possible objectives of a narrative …………………………………………………… 9 Features of Narrative ……………………………………………………………...… 9 Narrative Paradigm Theory …………………………………………………………. 9 Preview of study …………………………………………………………………..... 13 2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF NPA …………………………………………………...… 14 A Swift Change in How Political Campaigning is Done ……………………...…… 22 Another Shift in the tide, Citizens United Ruling ……………………………….…. 25 Generation Opportunity …………………………………………………………….. 28 3. ANALYZING THE AD ………………………………………………………...….. 30 iv Chapter Page Brief Description of Advertisement …………………………..………………....….. 30 Beginning: Everywhere, USA ………………………………………………………. 31 The Propagambulance ………………………………………………………………. 35 Middle: The Carnival ……………………………………………………………….. 40 The End: Creepy Uncle Sam Arrives ……………………………………………….. 47 4. DISCUSSION ………………………………………………………………………. 51 5. CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………... 59 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………… 66 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Creepy Uncle Sam Obamacare Care-nival …………………………………..…………… 4 2. Mailbox in Everywhere, USA ………………………………………………….……….. ..31 3. The van arrives ……………………………………………………………...………….… 32 4. Propaganda tank (Army Recognition, 2015) ……………………………………….......… 32 5. Trendy dressers ……………………………………………………………………...…… 32 6. White picket fence …………………………………………………………………...…… 33 7. Obama sleeves (Huffington Post, 2015) …………………………………………...……... 33 8. Blurred people ……………………………………………………………………...…...... 34 9. Following the van ………………………………………………………………...……..... 35 10. The van leads the pack ………………………………………………………...………... 35 11. The herd cometh ………………………………………………………………...…..….. 35 12. The Pied Piper (Wordpress.com, 2015) ………………………………………….…….. 35 13. Clown faced van ……………………………………………………………………...… 35 14. The propagambulance in all its glory …………………………………………….…….. 36 15. Obama approved …………………………………………………………………….…. 38 16. Find out what is in it ……………………………………………………………….…… 38 17. Left behind ……………………………………………………………………………… 39 18. The government is watching ……………………………………………………………. 39 19. The lead cattle ………………………………………………………………...………… 39 20. OCARE …………………………………………………………………………,,.…….. 40 vi Figure Page 21. Carnies ……………………………………………………………..…………………… 41 22. Turning the wheel ……………………………………………….……………………… 41 23. The wheels are grinding ………………………………………………………………… 41 24. The carnival …………………………………………………………………..…………. 42 25. The wheel of surgery fate …………………………….…………………….…………… 42 26. Knife wielding carnie ……………………………..……………………….…………….. 43 27. Forced vasectomy ……………………………..………………………………………… 43 28. A scoop of mayonnaise …………………..……………………………...……………… 44 29. Corndog missing a bite ………………...………………………………..……………… 44 30. Blood pressure ……………………..……………………………………..…………….. 44 31. Dropped coverage ……………...……………………………………..………………… 44 32. High-risk pool ……………………………………………………………….………….. 45 33. Men in suits ………………………………………………………………….………….. 45 34. Mallet game ………………………………………………………………..……………. 46 35. Premiums ………………………………………………………………..………………. 46 36. Exploding premiums …………………………………………………………………….. 46 37. Charred remains of premiums ...………………………………………………………… 46 38. The big event ………………………………………………………..…………………... 47 39. The questioning crowd ……………………………………………….…………………. 47 40. Large ceramic head …………………………………………………...………………… 48 41. Adore me ..………………………………………………………………………………. 48 42. The crowd is not amused ..………………………………………….…………………… 48 43. Creepy Uncle Sam panders ……..……………………………………………………….. 48 vii Figure Page 44. No one cares about creepy Uncle Sam ……………………………………………….… 48 45. The light fades on creepy Uncle Sam ……………………………………...…………… 48 46. Healthcare into a freak show …………………………………………..………...……… 49 47. Clowns in Washington ………………………………………………..………………… 49 48. Blue electricity ………………………………………………………..…….……...…… 49 49. Keep your plans, keep your doctors’ …………………………………………………… 49 50. Our plan, our doctors …………………………………………..………………..……… 50 51. Gold stars on brain surgery ……………………………………...……………………… 59 52. Circus sign with gold stars ……………………………………………………………… 59 53. A single gold star on a red backdrop ………………………….………………………… 59 54. Vietnam Flag (Vietnam Flag, 2015) ………………………...………………...……...…. 60 55. Faded paint on a dirty van …………………………………………………………….… 61 56. Going with the herd …………………………………………………………..…………. 61 57. Cow (Cattle Ear Tag, 2015) …………………………………………………...………… 62 58. Sending a message …………………………………………………………...………….. 62 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This thesis examines the persuasive nature of advertising narratives that move viewers to see portrayed characters as referential points in constructing identities (Messaris, 1997). Through visual rhetoric and the Narrative Paradigm Theory (NPT), this thesis analyzes meaning construction in the political ad, “Something Creepy This Way Comes” (titled after the 1962 Ray Bradbury fantasy novel Something Wicked this Way Comes”) (Bradbury, 1962). This Internet video produced by Generation Opportunity, a Koch brothers-funded PAC, first aired in July 2014. By early 2015, it had become “viral,” garnering over two million views on YouTube. It sought to avert young adults from signing up for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The ad, one of a Generation Opportunity series, employed dark humor, popular culture references, and a character known as ‘Creepy Uncle Sam’ based on a subversion of a known and revered political symbol of the American government, Uncle Sam. It is important to examine these types of advertisements, as Hope (2006) states, “Advertising offers an obvious paradigm in explicating connections among constructs of self, identification, and visual images as rhetorical artifacts in the spaces of public discourses” (p. 12). Also, these Generation Opportunity advertisements are among the early examples of the aggressive shift in attack ads resulting from the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission ruling. The ruling gave for-profit corporations the ability to spend nonrestrictive amounts of money on political advertising and other political tactics (Dunbar, 2012). The series of Koch- backed Generation Opportunity advertisements featuring ‘Creepy Uncle Sam’ are the harbinger of a notable turn in negative political advertising paid for by PAC money--which makes them 2 worthy of examination. Additionally, this study helps to advance the application of NPT beyond linguistic texts to pictorial narratives through its analysis of the strategic use of visual form and content. All forms of human communication tell a story (Fisher, 1987, pp. 58). These narratives, through their construction, have the ability to sway an audience towards acceptance of a moral ambiguity connected with the story. This thesis will exam the narrative structure presented in one artifact to determine how it proposes meaning by creating persuasive messages. It is important to examine narrative from a visual perspective, as Jewitt & Oyama (2001) present, because “the concepts of narrative visual analysis can help ‘interrogate’ a visual text, help to frame questions such as who are playing the active roles of doing and/or looking and who the passive roles of being acted upon and/or being looked at in visual texts with certain kinds of participants” (p. 143). First, a literature review will offer a brief history of negative political advertising, the evolution of YouTube, the significance of the Citizen’s United ruling in political campaigning, and the political situation surrounding Obamacare. The thesis then explains its theoretical perspectives, visual rhetoric and narrative paradigm theory, and its method of narrative criticism. Next, it analyzes the visual rhetoric of the ad, ‘Something Creepy This Way Comes,’ discusses significant findings, and concludes with recommendations for future research. Perspective This thesis adheres to the claim that no matter what form it is presented in, all human communication is narrative in nature (Fisher, 1987). Narrative is defined within this thesis as any story containing a beginning, middle, and end (Aristotle, n.d.), thus this thesis
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