This book will introduce you to the basic history and concepts of Rhetoric, and demonstrate those concepts by allowing you to experience the rhetoric in the music at Walt Disney World. Starting with the prayer theory of Homer and the ancient Greeks, we learn that Flattery, Quid pro Quo, and appeals for consistency are persuasive. Then Plato coins the term "rhetoric," but uses it in a negative sense. His student, Aristotle, writes the most important work on Rhetoric in history, emphasizing ethics, emotion, and logic. We believe some things just because we trust the word of someone else. Aristotle also taught the three basic uses of rhetoric: in the courts, in the political assemblies, and in the culture. The Romans added the 5 basic considerations of Rhetoric: Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, and Delivery. Contemporary rhetoricians, Kenneth Burke, Chaim Perelman, and Stephen Toulmin add concepts like identification, cultural values, and the two-sided message. Disney provides musical experiences of all of these. Everyone is familiar with Disney Music. But, few have analyzed what types of persuasive messages are communicated through Disney music. Find out for yourself what the rest of the world is being persuaded by listening to the music. Take, for example, the song "Two Brothers" in The American Adventure. Is it pro-war or anti-war? How would you analyze the rhetoric of such music? This book explains the methods rhetoricians have been using for thousands of years.
About the Author: Dr. Stan A. Lindsay currently teaches Communication at Florida State University. He has taught classical languages, business communication, biblical studies, English, rhetoric, marketing communication, literature, stress management, and many other courses for the following additional universities: Purdue University, Indiana University, Loyola University Chicago, and Butler University. He is the author of the following books: The 21 Sales in a Sale, Implicit Rhetoric: Kenneth Burke's Extension of Aristotle's Concept of Entelechy, Revelation: The Human Drama, The 7 Cs of Stress: A Burkean Approach, A Concise Kenneth Burke Concordance, Persuasion-Proposals-and-Public Speaking (2nd ed.), and Psychotic Entelechy: The Dangers of Spiritual Gifts Theology, Disneology: Religious Rhetoric at Walt Disney World, and Basic Public Relations Documents.