RHETORICAL GENRE
Pugs of
Instagram
“CLASSIC RHETORIC” VS “RHETORICAL
GENRE THEORY”
Classic Rhetoric:
“Although informative, directive, or
persuasive objectives can be
realized in the stop-and-go, give and
take form of the dialogue, rhetoric
has traditionally been concerned
with those instances of formal,
premeditated, sustained monologue
in which a person seeks to exert an
effect on an audience” – (Edward
Corbett)
Aristotle’s 5 Canons:
•
•
•
•
•
Invention
Arrangement
Style
Memory
Delivery
“A means of so ordering
discourse as to produce an
effect on the listener or reader”
(Marie Hochmuth Nichols’
“CLASSIC RHETORIC” VS “RHETORICAL
GENRE THEORY”
Rhetorical Genre Theory (RGT)
“…how humans create, maintain,
and participate in repeated
discourse practices—from causal
conversations to doctoral theses—
and in what consequences those
generic actions have.” (Anthony
Pare)
Considerations of
RGT:
• Genre definition
• Rhetorical Situation
• Genrefication of Situation
• Audience/Communities
• Agency
PUG LIFE AS A GENRE
In a discussion of RGT, it is important to hold a working definition of what ‘genre’ is.
Here we can define it as a community collective’s recognized, repeated pattern of reality
in which ideology is fulfilled and replicated to achieve certain goals.
Enter Doug the Pug. @pugsofinstagram • Instagram photos and videos
The posting of images of pugs to the social network site Instagram is an example of
genre as it is a frame for social action. Here, a community joins in the rhetorical situation
by posting their photos of their pugs to the Pugs of Instagram page. They fulfill the
desires for representation and participation in the social commentary as well as
influence the subculture of the pugs on social media by their participation and
replication of the pattern.
Images of pugs on the internet have morphed from cute little curly-tailed animals being
walked on a leash, whose photos are snapped by an adoring and probably obsessive
owner who assumedly bombards friends and family on Facbeook with these photos…to
anthropomorphic images of pugs as human members of society—whether stereotypical
or not—sporting a hoodie and rep-ing the “Pug Life”, enjoying a night of “Netflix and
Chill”, or taking the place of Hilary and Donald. And this examples one of the
considerations that Pare gives genres: that they are not inevitable realities but
constantly molded by the participants even as the participants are responding to their
position as part of the genre. It fulfills desires and creates them in reciprocal manner.
Exigence: the need that
summons the rhetorical
situation, to which the
genre (social action)
responds.
An invitation to
discourse.
I would propose that one
of the very objectives of
participants in this
community, is to facilitate
community
Possible exigence
in Pug Life:
•
•
•
•
connect with “pop culture”
take ownership of media
give voice to dog lovers
imitate/reproduce favorite things
Taking into account
Audience: Community
In this Pugs of Instagram photo, we get to
meet Rocky. Or at least the Rocky Pugboa
version. We see that not only is the pug
personified, but also we guess that this pug is
probably Rocky’s biggest fan. I would dress up
as him too, if he was my favorite.
Already in that informal description, it shows
that the probably audience or “community” of
Pugs of Instagram, those “typified participates”
included in the typified situation are “younger”,
people who use Instagram effectively, who
would ‘get’ the Rocky reference, who have
pugs or love them, who like taking photos.
I would argue the one of the very
objectives of participants in this community,
is to facilitate community
“Agency entails an ability to coordinate one’s action with others and against others, to form
collective projects, to persuade, to coerce, and to monitor the simultaneous effects of one’s own
and others’ activities. Moreover, the extent of the agency exercised by individual persons depends
profoundly on their positions in collective organizations.” – W.H. Sewell, A Theory of Structure:
Duality, Agency, and Transformation