Identification and Procedural Rhetoric on Second Screens and Social Networks

University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 8-2014 "My watch begins" : identification and procedural rhetoric on second screens and social networks. K. Shannon Howard University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Howard, K. Shannon, ""My watch begins" : identification and procedural rhetoric on second screens and social networks." (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 642. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/642 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “MY WATCH BEGINS”: IDENTIFICATION AND PROCEDURAL RHETORIC ON SECOND SCREENS AND SOCIAL NETWORKS By K. Shannon Howard B.A., Presbyterian College, 1997 M.A., University of South Alabama, 2010 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky August 2014 Copyright 2014 by K. Shannon Howard All rights reserved “MY WATCH BEGINS”: IDENTIFICATION AND PROCEDURAL RHETORIC ON SECOND SCREENS AND SOCIAL NETWORKS By K. Shannon Howard B.A., Presbyterian College M.A., University of South Alabama A Dissertation Approved on March 3, 2014 By the following Dissertation Committee _______________________________________ Bronwyn T. Williams, Dissertation Director ________________________________________ Karen Kopelson ________________________________________ Stephen Schneider ________________________________________ Matthew Biberman ________________________________________ Ellen B. Harrington ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my dissertation director, Dr. Bronwyn Williams, for his helpful suggestions during the dissertation process. He was generous with his time during the research and writing of this dissertation, even when on sabbatical in England. I thank Karen Kopelson, Stephen Schneider, Matthew Biberman, and Ellen Harrington for their invaluable suggestions on what to abridge, explain, and/or expand. Karen was such a valuable second reader and supporter of my work throughout my dissertation and before it. I was lucky to have her as a professor and a director of graduate studies during my time at Louisville. Stephen helped me through the trying process of finding a tenure-track position and believing in this work as a future book. Debra Journet was also helpful in the early stages of this project. I had a positive experience working with these scholars and hope to make them proud with this work. I thank my friends who listened to my obsessions with care and respect as I explored identification in fandoms, and I particularly thank Stellmarys Lopez for her help in the final chapter. Meeting you was a benefit to this project but, more importantly, to my life. iii ABSTRACT “MY WATCH BEGINS”: IDENTIFICATION AND PROCEDURAL RHETORIC ON SECOND SCREENS AND SOCIAL NETWORKS K. Shannon Howard March 3, 2014 Digital rhetoric creates opportunities for examining rhetoric as it evolves daily. This evolution may be described in terms of network circulation and immediate opportunities for publishing and creating. This project analyzes mobile applications and live feeds used during television broadcasts, where rhetoric is closely tied to the work of identifying with another point of view. Producers and designers of dual-screen applications prompt us to answer how we would act if we assumed the role of protagonist and saw the world through her or his eyes. These questions support the idea that identification is not just a relative of empathy or a way to engage emotionally with the text but also a way to approach problems and sharpen observation. From this dissertation’s findings we may reconsider the work of seeing and perspectival shifting as part of a sophisticated procedure of reflexive role play and public intellectualism. In addition, the analysis provides information about how mobile devices and second screens work to support consensus and a preferred reading (viewing) of popular narratives and group performances, thereby calling into careful consideration iv how we use such devices to influence others. Finally, the dissertation’s work helps us understand new forms of viral communication and the velocity (Ridolfo and DeVoss) at which they are transmitted. Consequently, we may approach textual artifacts as “living documents” and consider how such “living” properties may change our perceptions of authorship and composing. In Chapter One, “My Watch Begins: Complex Narrative, Transmedia, and Point of View,” I begin by offering an overview of my methodological approach to these applications. I situate the work of identification on mobile devices within the larger conversation surrounding transmedia and how it encourages viewers to participate in contemporary television narratives. This section provides explanations of how the terms procedural rhetoric (as introduced first by Ian Bogost), prosopopoiea (from ancient rhetoric), and point of view (from narrative theory) will function in this project, with most of the attention given to procedural and rhetorical studies of the various programs and websites associated with audience writings. This chapter also calls attention to the difference between empathy and perspective shifting. An example from contemporary culture that helps illustrate this difference and provides space for conversation is the viral blog post “I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother.” This editorial, written in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, features identification techniques used as persuasive tools but does so in a problematic way that might be better handled with a nuanced and careful study of how identification operates in other settings. Central to this project are questions addressing how we discuss and document the acts of viewing/seeing/looking, and in what ways the process of seeing from multiple perspectives is currently being lauded in society and the academy. In Chapter Two, “If v You See Something, Say Something: Syncing Audience Viewing and Response,” I reveal two opening examples that illustrate these premises: one from a Walking Dead advertisement that features the protagonist’s eye and one from a Department of Homeland Security ad—“If You See Something, Say Something.” These examples dovetail into a specific analysis of syncing devices, or dual screen viewing experiences, and the actual rhetoric accompanying the requests to see from multiple perspectives (“If you were Rick, you would ___”). I also call attention to shows where the act of identifying with the protagonist raises questions about the limitations of perspectives. To be specific, I suggest that the white middle-class male is the paradigm of identification exercises for shows that encourage participation from viewers. Examples from television suggest that women and minorities are less likely to be the characters with whom we align our interests; therefore, I argue we should interrogate this trend and think reflexively about the act of identifying. In Chapter Three, “Choreographing Conversation through Tagging, Tokens, and Reblogs,” I argue that analysis of audience reactions via live feeds and blogging platforms shows that textual artifacts, through increased circulation, promote a certain form of identification through consensus. This consensus reveals the tendency of viewers to gravitate toward preferred readings (viewings) of narratives and to identify with characters closely resembling themselves. By constituting viewers in a rhetoric specific to each fictional world, producers encourage identification and help secure appropriate and largely positive viewer behaviors through conversations online. Specifically, digital activities like “checking in” to a show and writing with specific hashtags become markers of narrative involvement. Producers, in turn, engage in reciprocal action by promoting or vi displaying fan activity on their own feeds, thereby sponsoring the work of the audience. While such activity often leads to conformity, I argue that these moments of group consensus may act as springboards for future conversation about other perspectives and narrative outcomes. In Chapter Four, “Texts as Bodies, Bodies as Texts: Tumblr Role Play and the Rhetorical Practices of Identification,” the rhetorical analysis of these online sites and mobile applications then leads to questions of how we perceive embodiment during identification. In this section I look closely at the writing found on the microblogging site Tumblr, where viewers of television narrative engage in role playing their favorite protagonists and creating dialogue with fellow role players. This practice, operating outside the jurisdiction of producer-designed apps, reveals new patterns of the work of identification. With attention to the ideas of Katherine Hayles and Deleuze and Guattari, we may reconsider how text, once circulated, acts as an extension of and a replacement for the physical body. Still, the work of these bloggers

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