“The Rhetoric of the Frame” and Bolter & Grusin Reflection

The photographs we discussed at the Snite Museum and “The Social Network” are both examples of digital rhetoric because they make a claim not through words on a page, but rather through a compilation of images. Each example draws attention to and away from its medium in different ways. In “The Rhetoric of the Frame” reading, the author, Judith Lancioni, claims that, “the text positions the spectator as an active participant in the making of meaning” (106). This is especially true in the case of the film because the filmmakers are relying on the assumption that viewers are already at least somewhat familiar with the context of the film and that it’s because viewers have the appropriate “background knowledge” that they will be able to assign meaning to what they see presented to them. In this sense, the use of cinema as a rhetorical medium is immersive and as stated in the Bolter & Grusin chapter, “Virtual reality is immersive, which means that it is a medium whose purpose is to disappear” (3). I believe that in the case of “The Social Network,” the medium draws attention away from itself by being immersive. Instead of audiences being asked to read, with an outsiders’ perspective, about the events portrayed, they are directly involved and immersed in what is happening because the story is conveyed cinematically. The fact that audiences are immersed, rather than on the outside, helps to shape the way the viewers consider the subject matter and ultimately changes the rhetorical impact that the piece has upon the viewers. In a similar nature, the photographs at the Snite Museum also provide an immersive experience for the viewers. The Bolter & Grusin chapter quotes Howard Rheingold in saying, “at the heart of virtual reality is an experience—the experience of being in a virtual world or remote location” (4). The photographs created this experience by providing viewers with a broad perspective of the text and by fostering within the viewer a sense of being present and immersed in the scene. The fact that the images were photographs also increases the viewers’ potential to think of what is presented as “real life” because we are accustomed to photography as a medium through which “real life” can be portrayed. Because the photographs portray nonfictional subject matter, I believe that attention is drawn away from the media itself and can be more easily focused on what text is actually being presented. Ultimately, both cinema and photography are immersive digital media and in the two above-mentioned cases, both serve to frame the text in ways that draw attention both to and away from the media used.