Uncovering Hidden Rhetorics: Social Issues in Disguise

"One of the most important benefits of this book is that Brummet and his contributors demonstrate interesting ways to read critically." —T.B. Dykeman,CHOICE Unmasking the social and political messages found in popular culture   Sometimes movies, television shows, political speeches, and music lyrics seem to be about one thing on the surface but express other serious social and political issues when we examine them more closely. Using methods of formal analysis, Uncovering Hidden Rhetorics: Social Issues in Disguise offers students and scholars a key to unlocking hidden text that abounds in popular culture.   Key Features   Weaves meticulous analysis with popular culture throughout, keeping students and scholarly readers alike engaged and interested   Empowers students to find hidden themes in texts of everyday life and inspires ongoing critical thinking   Using a clear and engaging style and examples of well-known works makes formal analysis more accessible   Intended Audience   Interested scholars and upper-level undergraduate students enrolled in such courses as rhetoric and popular culture, contemporary rhetorical theory/criticism, media criticism, popular culture and mass communication, rhetorical methods, and so forth will find this compelling text an informative and delightful read.

Table of Contents:
Social Issues in Disguise: An Introduction to Sneaky Rhetoric - Barry Brummett Remembering and Forgetting Black Power in Mississippi Burning - Kristen Hoerl Limited Representation: A Homology of Discriminatory Media Portrayals of Little People and African Americans - Lisa Glebatis Perks, Luke Winslow, Sharon Avital Whispers of a Racial Past: Forms of White Liberal History in The Horse Whisperer - Barry Brummett The Evil Albino: Cinematic Othering and Scapegoating of Extreme Whites - Lisa Glebatis Perks Detecting a Common Interpretive Framework for Impersonal Violence: The Homology in Participants? Rhetoric on Sport Hunting, "Hate Crimes," and Stranger Rape - Kathryn M. Olson Classy Morality: The Rhetoric of Joel Osteen - Luke Winslow The Re-Visioned American Dream: The Wildlife Documentary Form as Conservative Nostalgia - Angela J. Aguayo Weathering the Storm: Pirates of the Caribbean and Transnational Corporatism - E. Johanna Hartelius A Hystery of Colonial Witchcraft: Witch-Hunt Tourism and Commemoration in Salem, Massachusetts - Roger Gatchet Outing the Marlboro Man: Issues of Masculinity and Class Closeted in Brokeback Mountain - Teresita Garza Making Gay Sense of the X-Men - William Earnest References About the Editor About the Contributors Index

About the Author :
Barry Brummett is the Charles Sapp Centennial Professor in Communication and chair of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1978, and taught at Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin before coming to the University of Texas, Austin in 2001. Brummett has authored, coauthored, or edited numerous articles, scholarly essays, and books, including Contemporary Apocalyptic Rhetoric, Techniques of Close Reading, Rhetoric of Machine Aesthetics, and The Politics of Style and the Style of Politics. His research pursuits include the rhetoric of popular culture, epistemology, homologies relating the troubled physical structures represented in popular culture and troubled social structures, and the theories of Kenneth Burke.

Review :
"One of the most important benefits of this book is that Brummet and his contributors demonstrate interesting ways to read critically."