FINAL EXAM Flashcards
2 Models of Communication
Transmission and Ritual Model
2 Models of Communication was theorized by
James Carey
Transmission Model
A process whereby messages are transmitted and distributed in space for the control of distance and people.
Ritual Model
A symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed
Transmission Model imparts, sends and transmits knowledge through
Transportation and across geographical distances
Ritual Model shares, participates and represented shared beliefs expressed through
Ideals, embodied in dance, plays and stories
3 Assumptions of Performance
Mimesis, Poiesis and Kinesis
Mimesis was theorized by
Aristotle
Mimesis is viewed as the
Faking of cult
Mimesis is an imitation or mirror
Reflection of work, staged dramas imitate action of life
Examples of Mimesis
Plays, movies, film, tv
Poiesis was theorized by
Victor Turner
Poiesis is performance viewed as the
Making of cult
Poiesis are performance produced in
Culture, makes that cult of tradition and sustains cultural traditions. New identities of self are created and maintained
Examples of Poiesis
Bar/bat mitzvahs, baptisms, quinceaneras, debuts
Kinesis is theorized by
Dwight Conquergood
Kinesis is performance is viewed as the
Breaking/remaking of cult
Kinesis performances can transgress
Boundaries, break structures and remake social/political rules, critique old structures and makes us question old traditions
Kinesis Examples
SNL, PETA, activist, protest art
Performance is constitutive =
Performance creates
Performance is Epistemic =
Is a way of knowing
Performance is Critical =
Is a way of staking claim about the creation of knowledge
Constitutive performance creates
Identity: race, gender, class, sexual orientation, abilities, age
Examples of Constitutive Performance
Weddings, football games, step shows… participate to create ourselves and cultures we embody
Performance is Epistemic through
Oral reading of literary texts, knowing the world through daily practice, repetition and subconscious acts
Performance is Critical through
Uncovering/exposing/challenging power structures and practices. Provides insight and inspires social activism
Examples of Critical Performances
Songs, dance performances, news coverage, social media, documentaries, films, books
3 Definitions of Performance
Process & Product, Productive & Purposeful, Traditional & Transformational
Process & Product
Derived from a set of activities, is a product, an accomplishment, an event
Productive & Purposeful
Causes, creates, produces both itself and things outside of itself. Is utilized to do meaningful things for individuals, groups and cults.
Traditional & Transformational
Makes reference to former ways of doing, acting, seeing and believing which upholds the status quo. Critiques or changes the status quo.
3 elements that mark or frame performances as a mode of communication:
Performer competence, audience evaluation and heightened experience
Performer competence
Displaying of effective skills and attitudes
Heightened experience
Performance is marked for enhancement of life experience
Audience evaluation
Skills & effectiveness of performance judged (positively/negatively)
Audience communicates positive expressions through
Applause, standing ovation, shouts of bravo, finger snaps
Audience communicates negative expressions through
Booing, hissing, silence
Frames
Ways of organizing understanding & Interpreting experiences.
Frames serve to
Delimit messages, are metacommunication (carry out instructions of how to interpret messages, events and actions), are transformative
Frames are generated through having something to
Observe, evaluate, analyze through theater, art, media.
However, Frames can be (3 things)
Broken, cause confusion, can slip
4th wall
Refers to an imaginary wall at the front stage of stage
Frame Breaking
Is a way to call attention to the performance itself (through asking audience participation)
Reasons the 4th wall is broken
Comic relief, actively enroll the audience, confessional (reality tv)
Frame Confusion
Occurs when people (actors and audiences) are “in the know” at the reality of the frame, while others are not.
2 genres that play with frame confusion
Television (punk’d) and mockumentaries (the offices)
Frame slippage
Occurs when the frames slip activity starts out as harmless - or for fun - but turns deadly or dangerous
Examples of frame slippage
Frat hazing, sporting events, concerts
3 Levels of Performer Consciousness
- Oneself performing aware of frame and relationships between self, frame and audience
- Ones inner dialogue between ordinary self and performance self
- Self awareness of audience feedback and adapting of the performance situation to appeal to aud emotions
Constitution Performance thru Audience Participation (4 Levels)
- Inactive-receiver
- Active-respondent
- Interactive-coproducer
- Proactive-producers
Inactive-receiver
Audience remains passive/quiet attentiveness (weddings, funerals)
Active-respondent
Audience is invited to complete cues offered during performance (church service, concert, poetry)
Interactive-coproducer
Audience expected to perform interactive/improvisational
Proactive-producers
Lines blurred between actors and audience and proactively produced (festivals, community, celebrations)
Social Drama was coined by
Victor Turner
Social Drama
Can be used to analyze how people handle conflict and restore order
Social Dramas are centered in
Conflict, unfold in unpredictable, observable stages and involves public forms of communication
4 Stages of Social Drama
- Breach
- Crisis
- Redress
- Reintegration or Schism
Stage 1: Breach
Occurs when a member of a community breaks a rule, the stability of the social unit is threatened
In order for the rule breaking to constitute a breach, the rule must be held by the
Community as “binding”
Stage 2: Crisis
Occurs when sides are taken for or against the rule breaker; there is “a widening of the breach into increasingly open or public displays
Stage 3: Redress
Occurs when repairs/alternative solutions are enacted to resolve breach
The act of redressing entails
Personal advice, formal/legal/judicial measures and performance of public ritual
Redressing involves
Reflexive (Ways a community looks at itself to measure what one member has done in relation to agreed upon standards) and Liminality (a suspended knowledge about the outcome)
Stage 4: Reintegration
If the repairs work, the group returns to normal, but it the repairs fail, the group breaks apart.
Rites of Passage was theorized by
Arnold van Gennep
Rites of passage
Marks life changes and milestones
3 Stages of Rites of Passage
- separation
- transition
- incorporation
ROP Stage 1: Separation
Allows for the individual to separate or be isolated from his/her customary environment
ROP Stage 2: Transition
The 2nd/middle stage allows for the individual to “cross” the new thresholds, learns new behavior for the new entering stage
ROP Stage 3: Incorporation
The 3rd/final stage allows for the individual to be incorporated into his/her new group or status and returned to customary environment
Catherine Bell claims there are 5 characteristics of ritual-like activities:
Formalization, traditionalism, invariance, rule governance, sacral symbolism
Formalization
There’s a degree of formality in dress or speech that marks an activity as ritual-like (costumes, languages, gestures)
Traditionalism
Honors and in keeping with traditional practices and ways of acting
Invariance
Stresses precise repetition and physical control; actions are performed the same each time
Rule governance
Maintains that ritual-like activities are governed by rules that guide and direct the activities
Sacral symbolism
Appeals to supernatural beings. People and objects become sacred through ritual acts
Cultural Performance was theorized by
Milton Singer
Cultural performances are marked by modes of
Action that display special features that frame performances as meaningful acts within a community. A limited time span, organized program of activity, a set of performers, audience and place
Notions of Liminality
The between Stages of ritualized events can be experienced in public places
Communitas
A sense of soaring & intimacy that develops among persons who experience Liminality as a group
Which theorist outlined the 4 ethical pitfalls performers should be aware of?
Dwight Conquergood
4 Ethical Pitfalls
Custodians rip off, enthusiastic infatuation, curator’s exhibitionism, skeptic’s cop out
Custodians Rip Off
Performer is selfish in his/her portrayal (take/steal from the other to make a profit)
Enthusiastic Infatuation
Performer superficially portrays the other without having done research - performer minimizes difference at the expense of erasing the other
Curator’s Exhibitionism
Performer stereotypically portrays the other by starkly highlighting difference - to shock - focus is on the exotic portrayal of the other
Skeptic’s Cop Out
Performer is cynical about performing the other - performer feels that they shouldn’t do performance because they don’t share cultural membership of the other
The worst pitfall out of the 4 is
Skeptics cop out
Social Self was coined by
Erving Goffman
4 Interlocking Components in performances of social roles
- Belief in the part
- Social Fronts
- Dramatic Realization
- Idealization
Belief in the part
The social roles we perform everyday to create the impressions for ourselves and for others that we are who we claim to be
Social Fronts
We perform these roles with the aid of expressive equipment (setting, personal fronts, appearances, manner)
Dramatic Realization
Social Roles are produced in the moment they are performed - during the “social” interaction.
Idealization
When we perform these roles we try to measure up to an “ideal”… which is often learned, practiced and culturally specific
Goffman defines performing spaces as
Any place bounded to some degree by barriers to perception
Front region
Front stage of everyday life
Front region behaviors include
Politeness, decorum, Formal behaviors, putting on a character, role
Back Region
Back stage of everyday life
Back Region behaviors
Are informal behavior, taking off mask, comfortable, casual spaces and behaviors
Dramaturge also refers to
Drama enactment, rules of that enactment
Goffman 5 techniques of managing impressions
- Dramaturgical loyalty
- Dramaturgical discipline
- Dramaturgical circumspection
- Protective practices
- Tact
Dramaturgical loyalty
Team members acting as if they have accepted the moral obligations of being a team member.
Dramaturgical discipline
The control of the face and voice by an individual, the presence of mind and poise necessary to pull off that role
Dramaturgical Circumspection
Performer must show prudence, foresight care and honesty in the performance; circumspect performer is one who is reflexive about her/his choices
Protective practices
Performance and people “stepping in” to save the show in moments of crisis, distress
Tact
Performers must always be alert for cues of mistaken impression and be ready to correct
Role Distance
Refers to detachment of the performer from the role he or she is performing
Discrepancy Roles
Roles that posses an unusual and perhaps unapparent combo of 3 essential factors: available information, region access and function of the performance
Informer
Someone who pretends to be a team member , but works for the audience
Shill
Pretends to be a member of the audience, but allies the performers
Non person
Who are present but are considered to be neither performers nor audience
