| The rhetorical representations in MTV's Loveline advice/talk show are symptomatic of significant changes in the way that adolescent development in postmodern American culture is mediated. These representations are evidence of a turn toward the replacement of traditional institutions such as family and religion, and of their values, by the competing institution of media. The replacement of these institutional roles is accomplished through the media's cooptation of rhetorical representations of intimate para-social relationships and the agency of confession. The replacement of a traditional master value system is accomplished through the polysemic and multivalent nature of media discourse that provides for multiple readings through strategic ambiguity. This substitution of roles and values has significant implications for adolescents and American culture.;Building on the work of scholars in sociology, psychology, philosophy, media studies, and rhetoric, I present a rhetorical analysis and criticism using Kenneth Burke's cluster-agon method. |
