Saw's Enthymematic Resonance: Structuring Meanings and Feelings of the "War on Terror"
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Lewis, Derek
- Graduate Program:
- Communication Arts and Sciences (PHD)
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 12, 2022
- Committee Members:
- Rosa Eberly, Major Field Member
Matthew Jordan, Outside Unit & Field Member
Ekaterina Haskins, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Kendall Phillips, Special Member
Andrew High, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Bradford Vivian, Major Field Member - Keywords:
- Horror Film
Media Circulation
Crisis
Rhetorical Criticism - Abstract:
- When a crisis strikes one of the quickly experienced realities is a lack of information. As crisis, such as a war, extends, information becomes available from a variety of sources. This dissertation examines popular entertainment as one potentially important source of meaning during prolonged crises. Specifically, the horror franchise Saw and its circulation in the United States during the “war on terror” in the 2000s offered various media that resonated with the ongoing conflict while official information was vague, confusing, or speculative. Through rhetorical analyses of several of Saw’s characters, scenarios, and spaces, I trace how particular features of the war were energized to take greater roles in public discourses at the time. These features carried structures of feeling that connected the fictions of Saw with the facts of conflict as they moved throughout television, video games, advertising, and fan art. This shaping of public feeling relied on the ability of modern media to move quickly and interact briefly with audiences while still leaving an emotional impression. I offer a theory of enthymematic resonance to describe how these small but powerful moments sediment to subtly, but powerfully, shape discourses during a crisis while more direct information is difficult to find.