Abstract
The study of rhetoric is a complicated discipline with a long history. As a representative of new rhetoric, Kenneth Burke develops the rhetoric from the persuasion to identification and other points of view. Identification is concerned with the functions of language in identification, persuasion and inducement of emotions, values and actions. This paper aims to explore Burke’s theory of identification and its three basic ways of identification and its successful application in the sci-fi movie Avatar. As an important form of persuasion, movie is also rhetoric which makes it possible for the audience to accept its values, emotions, attitudes, etc, thus the identification among the characters themselves and the identification among the directors, characters and its audience could be achieved. Through analyzing how these three basic ways of identification are applied in the movie, the author concludes that they play an important role in persuading the audience and contribute a lot to the wide appeal of the movie.
Highlights
The study of rhetoric is a complicated discipline with a long history
This paper aims to explore Burke’s theory of identification and its three basic ways of identification and its successful application in the sci-fi movie Avatar
As an important form of persuasion, movie is rhetoric which makes it possible for the audience to accept its values, emotions, attitudes, etc, the identification among the characters themselves and the identification among the directors, characters and its audience could be achieved. Through analyzing how these three basic ways of identification are applied in the movie, the author concludes that they play an important role in persuading the audience and contribute a lot to the wide appeal of the movie
Summary
As one of the most famous rhetoricians of new rhetoric in western counties, Kenneth Burke defines the rhetoric as: “The use of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols” (Burke, 1969, p. 47). While admitting that the core of rhetoric is persuasion, he goes far beyond persuasion as he says “we might well keep in mind that a speaker persuades an audience by the use of stylistic identification. His act of persuasion may be for the purpose of causing the audience to identify itself with the speaker’s interests to establish rapport between himself and his audience According to Burke, the root of identification lies in the concept of “substance”. Burke puts forward three ways of identification, namely, identification by sympathy, identification by antithesis and identification by inaccuracy
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