Chuck - Fictional Discourse - Multimodal Analysis

8/10/2019 Chuck - Fictional Discourse - Multimodal Analysis

1/32

Carmen Gregori-Signes. 2010. Magnifying the ordinary: a multimodal

perspective on the analysis of TV series. Talk Presented at the XXVIII

International AESLA Conference.

http://aesla2010.tucongreso.es/aesla2010/files/programa150310.pdf

[email protected]

IULMA, Universitat de ValnciaDpt. Filologia Inglesa y Alemana
http://aesla2010.tucongreso.es/aesla2010/files/programa150310.pdfhttp://www.uv.es/gregorichttp://www.uv.es/gregorichttp://aesla2010.tucongreso.es/aesla2010/files/programa150310.pdf


2/32

[email protected]


3/32

@ Carmen Gregori Signes


4/32


5/32

Tension between

Spy life

Life as a member of the Nerd Herdat the

Humour..


6/32

Chuck_montage
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Chuck_videosTalk/ChuckS2E03_montage.avihttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Chuck_videosTalk/ChuckS2E03_montage.avi


7/32

ExcitingEqually

exciting?

Spylife

Lifeat


8/32

intention isto reveal to what extent readers rely on inferentialresources when attempting to transform the verbal-visual

information into cognitively relevantinterpretations

Yus (2008:223)

& soundtrack/ audio

PURPOSE

How it may be possible for the audience to reach an identification

between life at the Buy More (an electronics store) andSpy life, thusmagnifying the workplace.


9/32

Multimodal approach (Kress and van Leeuwen 2001) toanalyse the internal elements in the series .

Drawing upon the principles of:Genre analysis

Discourse analysisPragmatics/ relevance theory

Media studies

Framework for the analysis

Television text in its dual interpretation: internally orexternally (social impact)


10/32


Following Yuss (2008) proposal for the analysis of graphic

novels

and Altmans (1989) concept of genre and intergenericinfluences (syntactic and semantic elements in film genres)

I propose a framework for multimodal analysis that may help us

understand how the introduction of generic conventions fromother genres may used both:

a) to build central coherence in the series;

b) to build humour


11/32

Language Module + Perceptual Module (Fodor 1983) +

Audio/sound Module________________________________

a) syntactic (Altman 1989) generic conventions from other genres: visual and

verbal-non-verbal language/ soundtrack. E.g. generic structure, plot,

transition themes, vocabulary, tone of voice, etc.

b) symbolic /semantic (non/-verbal/visual/ soundtrack ) generic conventions

from other genres ( internal vs. real world) (e.g. in Westerns: horses, guns,

sheriff etc.)

d) implicatures and explicatures: visual/non/-verbal/ soundtrack;

e) relevance driven-interpretations (i.e. inferential task to interpret the

meaning of whole episode/ series)

(cf. Fodor 1983, Altman 1989, Yus 2008)



12/32

Focusing on the relationship between

Humour

&

Central coherence

Genericmixture


13/32

Context /Parallel stories

Two parallel stories: conflict emerges in both contexts.

Story 1

Spy life

/Government/

world security

Story 2


14/32

E 1 Chuck vs. the First DateE 2 Chuck vs. the SeductionE 3 Chuck vs. the Break-UpE 4 Chuck vs. the Cougars

E 5 Chuck vs. Tom SawyerE 6 Chuck vs. the ExE 7 Chuck vs. the Fat LadyE 8 Chuck vs. the GravitronE 9 Chuck vs. the SenseiE 10 Chuck vs. the DeLoreanE 11 Chuck vs. Santa ClausE 12 Chuck vs. the Third DimensionE 13 Chuck vs. the SuburbsE 14 Chuck vs. the Best FriendE 15 Chuck vs. the BeefcakeE 16

Chuck vs. the Lethal WeaponE 17 Chuck vs. the PredatorE 18 Chuck vs. the Broken HeartE 19 Chuck vs. the Dream JobE 20 Chuck vs. the First KillE 21 Chuck vs. the ColonelE 22

Chuck vs. the Ring
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185867/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185872/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185873/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185874/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185875/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185876/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185877/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185878/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185879/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185868/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185869/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185871/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334822/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185870/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1368196/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375577/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389862/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389861/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390602/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390601/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390600/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408495/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1408495/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390600/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390600/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390600/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390601/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390601/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390601/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390602/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390602/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390602/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389861/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389861/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389861/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389862/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389862/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389862/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375577/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375577/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375577/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1368196/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1368196/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1368196/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185870/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185870/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185870/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334822/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334822/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1334822/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185871/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185871/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185871/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185869/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185869/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185869/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185868/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185868/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185868/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185868/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185879/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185879/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185879/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185878/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185878/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185878/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185878/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185877/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185877/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185877/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185876/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185876/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185876/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185875/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185875/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185875/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185874/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185874/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185874/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185873/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185873/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185873/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185873/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185873/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185872/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185872/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185872/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185867/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185867/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1185867/


15/32

Genre mixture: function

The inclusion of multimodal generic conventions (implicit or

explicit) from other genres in both stories leads to relevancedriven interpretations whose function is bring together bothparallel stories; and thus give coherence to the wholeepisode/series.

They also help the audience process the whole story accordingto certain schemata and realise that certain genres are beingparodied for the sake of establishing a relationship between the

two parallel stories:


16/32

The incongruity of the situation however(especially as exaggerated as they make it

look like at the Buy More) makes it possibleto identify the workplace with spy life, thushumorously magnifying it for the purpose ofmaking the audience laugh

[e.g. video extract the somersault,+ spy music]


17/32

Video game exhibition (vocabulary, limit situations when s.o. is

about to win the game and thus beat the software)

Women in Advertising (reproducing Sarahs entrance in the BuyMore in slow motion, as if announcingwomens products (cf. delSaz and Pennock 2009)

Bachelor Party (Chucks brother in law)

Concert/s ( Humour in music/ Zappa Is there

"Thunderdome", a cage match tournament (in the storage room

of the shop)

Parody of spy series (metadiscourse)

Robbery with hostages

A TV game show The Wheel of Misfortune to choose the

employee of the month

Other genres reproduced in the

context of the Buy More


18/32

Chuck womens advertising
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Chuck_videosTalk/Chuck_202_advertisement.avihttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/Chuck_videosTalk/Chuck_202_advertisement.avi


19/32

Episode 203: Chuck vs. the break-up

Spy Life Buy MoreFacingFulcrum FacingMighty Sports (bullies)

Chuck has to take decisions on his

own

Morgan also faces the bullies on

his own

Genre conventions: Classic Western

a) Soundtrack: High Noon/ Solo ante el Peligro

Spy music in the Buy More when tryingto get rid of the bullies

a) The figure of the lone ranger (Chuck & Morgan)

b) Attitudes and gestures of the characters

c) Vocabulary and expressions characteristic of classic

westerns dialogue


20/32

Episode 205. Chuck vs. Tom Sayer

Spy Life

Video game humanity

depends on it

The Buy More

Past references: Jeffrey

Barnes, the missile

Command world champion

(video game).

Genre conventions: military

Voice quality: tone and pitch of the voice: Stu Brewster (the boss)

imitating the military exhortation tone of voice, loud,

strong;while Jeffrey Milbarge is more ironical, subtle and

manipulates his voice quality in order to make it sound as

such

(cf. Pennock and del Saz 2009)

l


21/32

Genre Military inspection

Vocabulary:to tighten your slack-asses up. to meet all of you in theflesh;

looking forward to spending more time here in the Buy More

trenches, getting to know therankand thefile.

Non-verbal language: position of the arms of some of them, silence,

facial expression showing defiance in some of them


22/32


23/32


24/32

Interview with Milbarge


25/32

Implicature and explicature: The herd

nerd are all a bunch of loosers

Milbarge: We'll just start out simple. Why do you belong at theBuy More?

Jeff: I satisfy a quota. My dad's part Indian. The cool kind ofIndian though, not like Lester.

Morgan: Why do I belong at the Buy More? You know, I'm going to

have to think about that. I'm going to go grab a soda.

And... You want one? 'Cause it's my treat.I'll gr- I'll grab

you one. And I'll be back in a jiff.

Milbarge: (writes down on the report ) Untrainable

Ana: I speak more than one language, binary code. Zero, zero, zero,

one,e... zero.

Milbarge: (writes down on the report) Prostitute?


26/32

Symbolic information stereotypes)

The choice of the cast


27/32

Relevance driven interpretations

Yus (2008: 242): [graphic novels] In specific contexts, theinformationliterally coded in the utterances isinsufficient to account for their intendedinterpretations and hence the addresseesinference is needed in order to turn the

schematic input into relevant interpretations[] Similarly, readers of comics have to infer theintended interpretation of both the narrativetext (captions) and the characters dialogues inorder to grasp the story correctly.

The same would apply in the case of the interpretation ofall the elements included in a TV series.


28/32


29/32

Yus (2008:223) rightly points out thatperception is not as

automatic as it seems to be, but is always mediated bythe persons background knowledge, expectations and

assumptions about the world (actual or possible) and

thatwhatever the visual input, inferential hypotheses

have to be made in order to match [.] information andtheir referents.

As such, the final interpretation or vision of the Buy More

as an extraordinary place that may be perceived by the

audience as a competitor of spy life depends on the

inference that each spectator makes of the discourse in

Chuck which includes a mixture of generic conventions

from different genres

Conclusions: the role of inference and relevance driven

interpretations in the perception of the Buy More


30/32

Conclusion???

What so magnificent about ?


31/32

Thanks for your time


32/32

Chuck - Fictional Discourse - Multimodal Analysis

Documents