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The Ballad of the Internet Nutball: The Xenaverse
in Cyberspace
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Fantasy Theme Rhetorical
Analysis of Community in the Xenaverse
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| B1 | In another
section of this dissertation I discuss the method of analysis used in this
study, but before we begin a direct analysis of some of the "texts"
collected in the course of my observations of the Xenaverse, it may be helpful
to review some of the technical terms and the mechanics of Fantasy-Theme
Analysis. This method gathers fantasy themes that have been dramatized and
"chained out" in the Xenaverse culture. According to Ernest
Bormann, the originator of the method, this chaining process helps to
unify rhetorical communities by providing a meaningful context for past
actions or projections of future actions. Events or activities themselves,
while they are happening, are not fantasy themes as such, but within minutes
people can begin speaking about them in the past, making sense of the actions,
characters, settings, and put them into a dramatic story that gives them
meaning. In this respect, the word "fantasy" is not used in its
conventional sense as a wild dream or a wish. Rather, fantasy is "the
creative and imaginative interpretation of events" (Bormann,
qtd in Foss 123). A fantasy theme is "the means through which the
interpretation is accomplished in communication. ...Fantasy themes tell
a story that accounts for the group's experience and that is the reality
of the participants" (Foss). It is interesting to note a qualification
Bormann makes as to how the symbols converge to create the "reality
of the participants." He does not say ,"A fantasy
theme drama is the social reality." Rather, he says, "The fantasy
theme drama when shared is a key to the social reality. It is not
by itself the social reality" (author's emphasis 304). |
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| B2 | Fantasy-Theme Analysis is a dramaturgical
approach to rhetorical criticism. It uses the basic elements of a dramatic
story as units of analysis. The elements are setting, characters (dramatis
personae), and action (or plot). Some characters can also be identified
as "sanctioning agents" in the unfolding drama. Heros and villains
have roles to play as multiple fantasy themes chain out into "fantasy
types" or families of themes that are often invoked and dramatized
as a form of in-group shorthand. According to Bormann, "The presence
of a fantasy type in the communication of participants in a rhetorical vision
indicates that they have shared the fantasy themes that comprise the type
prior to the time they drew the comparisons upon which the abstraction was
based" (Ten
Years Later 295). A rhetorical vision is a "unified putting together
of the various shared fantasies" creating a "credible interpretation
of reality" (Foss
125). Numerous fantasy types emerge in the Xenaverse and provide evidence
then that a great deal of fantasy theme chaining is being carried out, enough
to fill several books. In my analysis here-- I focus specifically on themes,
types, and rhetorical visions relating to power and constructions of authority
in the Xenaverse. In doing this, I am not necessarily selecting themes,
types, and visions which have the highest frequency of appearance in the
Xenaverse (although sometimes they do). Instead, I consider the impact of
the rhetorical actions on the Xenaverse, and the ethos that can at times
give a speaker greater authority. Sometimes one tiny utterance can have
greater impact than screenful after screenful of endless debate on some
topic that has already been discussed to death.
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| B3 | In the data
sector of my study I provide a context for many of the themes I analyze
here and in the nodes of Community and Fan
Fiction. This review of the technical terms of Fantasy-Theme Analysis
appears at the introduction to those sections as well. The icon of Gabrielle's
Staff below takes you to a general description of the primary activities
of Fandom Culture in the Xenaverse. The icon of Xena's Sword discusses fantasy
themes and types specific to Fandom Culture, and the icon of Xena's Breastplate
relates those themes to fantasy types and rhetorical visions which appear
throughout other sectors of the Xenaverse as well.
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The Ballad of the Internet Nutball: The Xenaverse
in Cyberspace
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