The artifact that I have chosen for my Dramatisitc Perspective using PENTAD is the short animated film Hair Love. Hair Love is a short animated film about a dad trying to do his daughter’s hair.
PENTAD is the way Dramatistic Analysis is done. PENTAD identifies and describes the agent(s), act, agency, scene, purpose, and motive of an artifact. Attitude is considered part of the PENTAD and is attached to the agent. The main purpose of a Dramatistic Analysis is to identify the motive behind people’s actions and why they break society’s rules.
The agent(s) is/are the character(s) engaged in breaking society’s rules, which is the little girl’s dad and his attitude about the act is initially confused but then becomes determined after trying to cop-out of the act after upsetting his daughter by trying to put a beanie on her hair. The act is how society’s rules are being broken, in this case it is the dad doing his daughter’s hair when that is typically a role in society’s eyes for the mom. The agency are the tools, means, and methods employed to accomplish the act, in this case it is the girl’s tablet which is on a site called “Hair Love” and the girl’s hair products, including combs and hair gel. The scene is where the act takes place in this case there are two scenes, the bathroom and the little girl’s room. The purpose is the reason behind doing the act, in this case it is to get the little girl’s hair done so that her and her dad can pick up her mom from the hospital on time. The motive is what is used to justify the rule breaking, in this case it is transcendence. Transcendence is when a person breaking society’s rules is justified because they are following a “higher calling” The dad is doing his daughter’s hair hair because his wife is not there to do it. While he relies heavily on his daughter’s tablet to figure out how to put her hair in a particular style, he does her hair because he doesn’t want to cop-out by putting a beanie on top of his daughter’s hair.
The main implication of this artifact is the stereotype placed on parental roles, in this case it’s which parent should be doing the daughter’s hair. Initially a lot of people would believe that the dad can’t do his daughter’s hair in the style that she wants, but he manages to do it successfully. I can personally relate to this because when I was younger and wanted my hair braided I went to my dad to have it done. If people complimented to me that my mom did such a good job braiding my hair I would immediately correct them by telling them that my dad did my hair, not my mom.
Miranda, this was an interesting artifact to choose for the Dramatistic Perspective. I really liked how the rule-breaking act of a father doing his daughter’s hair is not necessarily a criminal act like I had always thought of when thinking about an example act for the pentad. I think you did a good job of analyzing this artifact and talking about how the artifact addresses traditional gender roles, but I also think you could add to the implications. The artifact also shows how valuable hair is in our culture and how people, especially women, feel like they have lost a part of themselves when they lose their hair during cancer treatments. Another implication might be that fathers fulfilling traditional mother roles, like grocery shopping, changing a baby’s diaper, or, in this case, doing their daughter’s hair, are generally praised more so than when mothers fulfill a father’s role; all of which can lead to more questions about gender roles in this short film.