Vernacular deconstruction: undermining spin

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the way in which three popular culture texts are deployed to challenge discourse which naturalises war. Each text mobilises ideational resources to draw attention to the material cost of war and interpersonal resources to realign reader/viewers into peace seeking communities; in addition, each text deploys dramatic shifts in semiosis to re-focus reader/viewers understanding and evaluation of armed struggle. The analysis is offered as a contribution to the field of positive discourse analysis and its interpretation of texts which function to make the world a better place. KEY-WORDS: positive discourse analysis; discourse analysis; systemic functional grammar; interepersonal; ideational.RESUMO: Este artigo trata da forma como três textos da cultura popular são construí-dos para desafiar o discurso que naturaliza a guerra. Cada texto mobiliza recursos ideacionais para chamar a atenção para o custo material da guerra e recursos interpessoais para realinhar os leitores/observadores em comunidades que buscam a paz. Além disso, os textos constroem deslocamentos semióticos abruptos para mudar a compreensão e a avaliação dos leitores/observadores sobre a luta armada. Essa análise é oferecida como uma contribuição ao campo da análise do discurso positiva e à sua interpretação dos textos que têm como função transformar o mundo em um lugar melhor. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Analise de discurso positiva; análise de discurso; análise sistêmico funcional; interpessoal; ideacional.

Negotiating solidarity with potential donors: a study of the images in fundraising letters by not-for-profit organizations

“…While various approaches strive to explain how images communicate meanings, a number of studies have used the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (hereafter SFL) to explore the semiotic interplay occurring across words and images, and the ways in which this may mediate feelings that align readers into communities of attitudinal rapport, largely in (online) media and literary texts (e.g., Caple 2008Caple , 2010Caple and Knox 2012;Economou 2006Economou , 2008Knox et al 2010;Macken-Horarik 2003a, 2003bMartin 2001Martin , 2006Martin , 2008Unsworth 2015), as well as childrens' picture books (e.g., Painter and Martin 2011;Painter et al 2013). This study aims to extend this body of research to fundraising letters.…”

Persuasive narratives: evaluative images in picture books and animated movies

“…The persuasive narratives discussed here are picture books and animated movies that challenge discourses that naturalize war and armed struggle as ways of addressing conflicts among communities and nations (Martin, 2006(Martin, , 2008. A substantial number of picture books oriented to older children and adults have, and continue to be, potent vehicles for re-focusing readers' understanding and evaluation of armed conflict (Briggs, 1984;Coerr, 1995;Gallaz et al, 1985;Jorgensen and Harrison-Lever, 2002;Mattingly, 1985;Morimoto, 1990;Wild and Vivas, 1991;Wolfer and Harrison-Lever, 2005).…”

“…In Raymond Briggs’s (1984) The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman , his re-contextualization of the historical recount of the Falklands war as a ‘bedtime’ story, progresses through three phases (Martin, 2006). In the first phase the illustrations are caricatures of Galtieri and Thatcher with their ships and soldiers as toy ships and toy soldiers.…”

“…A number of studies in the tradition of SFL have addressed the multimodal semiotics of persuasive narratives – predominantly in media texts and texts of popular culture (Caple, 2008, 2010; Macken-Horarik, 2003a, 2003b, 2004; Martin, 2002, 2006, 2008; Martin and Rose, 2008). There is a need to extend this work in relation to multimodal literary narratives (Martin, 2006, 2008; Painter et al, 2013), particularly to inform emerging multimodal literacy and literary pedagogies responding to the multimodal re-conceptualization of English curricula in schools.…”