Post #4: Dramatistic Perspective

Rhetorical Situation

She’s The Man is a romantic comedy that was released in 2006. It is about Viola Hastings who is a high schooler that loves playing soccer. She has a twin brother, Sebastian, who also plays soccer at a private all boys school. Sebastian decides to secretly go to London to tour with his band and is going to be skipping school. When the girls team for Viola’s school gets cut she decides to take matters into her own hands. Viola decides to dress up as her twin brother and attend his school to make a point that girls can be just as good as the boys.

Goal of Dramatistic Perspective 

To figure out what motivates people to do things in a certain way and how do we justify our actions. This analysis specifically looks at the actions that conflict with society’s behavioral norms.

Describe and Interpret 

In order to complete this analysis I am going to break apart the different elements of the rule breaking behavior.

The act: This is the rule breaking behavior inside of the film. For She’s the Man this act is when Viola dresses up as her twin brother in order to play soccer at his private all boys school. She does this without telling her family or brother. It is considered rule breaking because it is outside of society’s behavioral norms.

The agents: This element talks about the characters engaged in the rule breaking behavior. For She’s the Man the agents are Viola and her friends Paul, Kia, and Yvonne. Her friends are the ones who help her to complete different actions throughout the film and to keep her cover when people get suspicious.

The agency: This is the different tools, means, and techniques employed to accomplish the rule breaking behavior. In this movie the agency could include the costume that Viola wears to become disguised as her brother. Her friends helped her to get this costume and perfect it so that nobody would see her. The agency for this movie also include the different ways her friends help her keep the boys at the school distracted because without this than her cover could have been blown.

The purpose: The is the explanation offered as to why the act is being done. For this movie it is because Viola wants to prove to everyone that gender does not play a role in how well something is done. Just because you are a girl that does not mean you are less capable. She is also trying to help her brother not get caught for going away to London to be on tour with his band.

The motive: The motive is what makes the act justifiable. For She’s the Man the motive falls into victimage. Viola’s able to blame her high school for cutting out the soccer team due to gender. She is fighting against something else that was being deemed as normal. Viola is a comic hero in this film because she was doing something that didn’t require any punishment to be accepted back into the society.

Potential Implications

Potential implications of this movie are girls will begin to see that they are not less capable of something because they are not a boy. It will bring more light on the issue of gender roles and how people perceive what girls can and cannot do. This movie also shines light on forgiveness because in order to complete her act Viola had to betray a lot of the people close to her. These people choose to forgive her despite what she has done.

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2 Responses to Post #4: Dramatistic Perspective

  1. Miranda Mozingo says:

    Grace, I love how the artifact you chose had the rule-breaking being about going against society’s behavioral norms and not committing any crimes. Personally I believe the motive behind Viola’s actions is more of a mixture of transcendence and victimage. This is mainly because of how you say that the girl’s soccer team was cut out due to gender and not budgeting or limited participation.

    • Grace Girdley says:

      Thank you! I agree with how you mentioned the actions being a mixture of transcendence and victimage. When I wrote my essay on this artifact I actually went back and added that in there. I think all actions have more than one category that they fall into.

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