Contemporary film and the representative anecdote of ‘unmasking’: Coping strategies for a narcissistic society

1 June 1987

journal article
research article
Published by Taylor & Francis in Central States Speech Journal

Vol. 38 (2) , 111-121
https://doi.org/10.1080/10510978709368235

Abstract

Kenneth Burke's concepts of the “representative anecdote” and “equipment for living” are prolific tools for rhetorical and media criticism. As applied to the discourse of contemporary film, these methods reveal an underlying story of “unmasking” which effectively provides equipment for living or coping strategies to an audience struggling to deal with the problems associated with narcissism in today's society.

Keywords

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:

Electric literature as equipment for living: Haunted house films
Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1985
The representative anecdote as a burkean method, applied to evangelical rhetoric
Southern Speech Communication Journal, 1984
Burke's representative anecdote as a method in media criticism
Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1984