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Comments, discredit, ridicule in TV broadcasted debates Multimodal strategies to raise one's power by lowering the other's| old_uid | 11818 |
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| title | Comments, discredit, ridicule in TV broadcasted debates Multimodal strategies to raise one's power by lowering the other's |
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| start_date | 2012/11/15 |
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| schedule | 13h30 |
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| online | no |
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| location_info | Ampère |
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| summary | The struggle for power, in which non-human animals sometimes engage, is daily tradition in a contemporary kind of humans’ interaction, TV broadcasted debates.
There are two ways to gain power against an opponent: one is to display your skills, if they are higher than the opponent’s. But if you are less smart than he is, to win over him you cannot display your strength, but you may usefully show his défaillances: you raise your own power by lowering his.
In this presentation I will overview some ways in which participants in TV broadcasted debates try to lower each other’s power by commenting on the opponents’ turns, by discrediting them and by making fun of them.
A typical way to lower the other’s power in a debate is to cast discredit over him. To discredit someone means to spoil his public image and reputation by showing his flaws on three dimensions: competence (for example by showing the other is stupid or ignorant of some important issues), benevolence (by pointing at his immorality, dishonesty, or cheating behavior), and dominance (by showing he is weak, unable to impose his will). I will show moves of discredit concerning all three dimensions, and performed through verbal, gestural, facial and gaze behavior.
A peculiar act of discredit is making fun of the other: a very humiliating move since it shows an audience a flaw of a victim, but marking this flaw as not even threatening, but only worth being laughed at, without crediting it any power to scare or worry. Making fun of the other is a way to abase the opponent and to discredit him on the dimension of dominance. Some ridiculization moves, performed by facial behavior, laughter, and parody, will be analyzed in judicial and political debates.
Another subtle way to discredit an opponent during a debate is to express comments about his speaking turn. A comment is an unrequested evaluative communicative act: it is unexpected on the basis of a previous turn, and it provides additional information concerning some opinion about it, generally of an evaluative kind. As a person performs a comment he in some way claims the right to judge the other or his turn, so he puts himself in a position of power – actually, one of a judge – both with respect to him, and to the turn-taking rules that impose not to take the turn when not entitled to. Moreover, comments may be performed through speech acts, but also through gestures, posture or facial expression, and in this case they are a way to take the turn even during the very turn of the other. The presentation will show how participants in talk shows or political debates perform comments through face or posture, by taking advantage of the structure of interaction in the TV medium. |
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| responsibles | Lœvenbruck, Welby |
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