The Analysis of the Discourse Community - Essay Example

A Definition of a Dis Community: a case of Angelina Jolie A group of people may share an activity and display severalcharacteristics that are similar. Such a group is referred to as a discourse community. John Swales, a professor of linguistics at the University of Michigan, offers his definition of a discourse community in his book, Genre Analysis. He provides a set of characteristics for identifying a group as members of a particular discourse community. The characteristics include some set of shared common goals, some mechanisms for communication, and some way of providing the exchange of information among its members. It must also have its particular genres, its set of specialized terminology and vocabulary, and a high level of expertise in its particular area. Fans of popular celebrities such as musicians, movie stars, and politicians are examples of discourse communities. Angelina Jolie has many fans that form a discourse community. As such, the fans exhibit the aforementioned features, and hence they qualify to be categorized as a discourse community. Jolie is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. She has starred in movies that include Looking’ to Get Out, Cyborg 2, Hackers, George Wallace, Maleficent, Unbroken, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Wanted, and Salt. She has directed and produced dramas that include In the Land and Honey and Unbroken. She is also a humanitarian and promotes causes that include conservation, education, women’s right, and is a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). A discourse community has a common goal. Swales states that a discourse community “an agreed upon set of common objectives” (471). The Jolie fan community meets Swales’ characteristic of a common goal in a discourse community. Personal motivations among the members may differ, but they acknowledge a common, well-known goal. They may have different interests in the same community, but they must align their interests with the common goal of the discourse community to feel part of the group (Garzone & Sarangi 312). The goals of fans of Angelina Jolie are to see her succeed in her acting career. It is also to stay updated on what Angelina Jolie does. For members to remain up-to-date with the activities carried out by Jolie, they participate and remain in touch with each other to obtain first-hand information. Jolie fan community looks up to Jolie for influence in body image, beauty, and fashion. A video uploaded in YouTube, “Angelina Jolie Makeup Tutorial”, shows how to put a Jolie style of makeup. The video shows that members of the community view videos to learn about Jolie and look like her. A fan of Jolie, Nadya Suleman, underwent plastic surgery to look like Jolie (Mail Foreign Service). Through the behavioral patterns of the fans and their dedication to Jolie’s image, it is clear that they have a common goal as stated in the definition of a discourse community to behave and look like her. A discourse community has communication among the members. Swales states it “has systems of intercommunication among its members” (471). Members have intercommunication through interactions in the use of various media such as the internet (Burns 11). The fan community meet Swales characteristic of intercommunication through the means of Jolie fan sites, blogs, Twitter accounts, Instagram pages, and forums, for communication. A website, www.team-jolie.com has been set up to inform fans about Jolie and has a vigorous and moderately entertaining list of current threads relating to all Jolie news, photos, and gossip. The fan community also has opened several social media accounts that have many followers, for instance, Angelina Jolie Facebook fans account has over one million likes. There are also several Twitter accounts opened by fans such as @Joliefans that has over two hundred thousand followers. Members of the community also have intercommunication through uploading videos in YouTube and other members comment. Fans upload videos online to show their support and interact with other members. Viewers offer their feedback. A discourse community has mechanisms to provide feedback. Swales states “a discourse community makes the use of participatory mechanism fundamentally to provide feedback and information” (472). The fans of Jolie meet participatory mechanism characteristic through sharing of information and ideas. Fans send feedback to their stars through comments (Regis 116). Fans join fan sites to send their opinions and comments (Hutchins & Rowe 107). Jolie fans comments on videos uploaded about her or her activities. Members have intercommunication through interactions in media such as the internet. Fans participate in Tumblr, which is a popular micro-blogging and social networking website. www.brangelinaforum.tumblr.com is a specific blog that showcases this fan pathway of communication. Such blogs that relate to Jolie with a huge presence of photos, gifs, videos, and text posts offer fans the opportunity to connect. Fans also participate through Facebook by sharing the posts. They also like the posts about Jolie and give their feedback through comments. The more likes a post has, the more people have shared or liked it. Gigler and Bailur (162) states that Facebook provides feedback. A Facebook post by Jolie on 17th June 2015, wishing Ramadan Kareem to Muslims has 28732 likes, 1919 shares, and 1577 comments. They also use Twitter such that they can post new information about Jolie, share information through retweets, or simply favorites the status. It is easy for fans to search news, gossip, posts, and other information about Jolie. They can also give feedback by replying to tweets about Jolie. They can also discuss current affairs or trends on Jolie through Twitter by starting and contributing to hashtags about her. The social media pages generate thousands of comments, likes, and sharing showing that they serve as a communication tool between fans. With over hundreds of thousands of followers and constant fan activity, Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter reveals the sharing of information and feedback characteristics of Swales’ definition. A discourse community has a unique genre. Swales states that a discourse community “utilizes and hence possess one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims” (472). The fan community of Jolie meets this characteristic by interacting based on the topics shared among the community using a wide variety of communication types. They purchase news article about their movie idol. The fans eagerly buy products advertised by their idolized stars. Fans use the fan magazines to learn about their star’s latest activities and product preferences (Oregon 1). Celebrities advocated for particular products and services through the personal use of these commodities. They show it by endorsing the product, connecting with their fan groups to adopt particular commodities that they are asked to buy out of their symbiotic relationship with their chosen celebrity (Bell 173). Fans of Jolie have followed in the beauty products that Jolie prefers because by endorsing the products, fan community believes that it shows her tastes, beliefs, and values. In an article in the DailyMail, Kirkova suggests that people are more likely to purchase products that celebrities have endorsed than those not endorsed. Over 6000 bottles of a wine, The Miraval Rose 2012, were sold out in five hours because they had an endorsement of a Jolie and Pitt (The Associated Press) A discourse community also specific and unique vocabularies it uses. Swales states that a discourse community “has a specific lexis” (473). The fan community of Jolie has a certain language among its members that outside members would not understand. These jargons are specific and unique to only the community. Such lexis includes Ange, Angie, Catwoman, and AJ, which they use to refer to Jolie. They also use Brangelina to refer to the union between Jolie and her husband, Brad Pitt (Duca). Lexis is important for the growth of a discourse community. Members who do not know the meaning of the words that relate to the topic or individuals are not important to the rest of the community. When they begin to lose their importance in the community, they exit because they are unable to contribute or understand. Members of the community may understand the meaning of the lexis after they are repeated. The existence of specific and unique vocabularies in the fan community of Jolie shows that it fits Swales’ characteristic of a discourse group. Swales declares that a discourse community “has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant constant and discourse expertise” (473). It means that it is constantly changing such that new members are always joining while others are leaving. Members of the community leave voluntarily or through death. There also has to be a balance between experts and novices such that experts have more information than novices. New members are needed to ensure the survival of the discourse community. The fan community of Jolie meets this characteristic by always increasing in number as new fans join. Jolie has transformed from a simple, beautiful woman to one of the most glamorous and sexy actress because of the increasing members of the fan community. Fans have created Facebook accounts that have gained hundred of thousands of followers, and they are constantly increasing in number. There are also websites that fans post new information while new followers subscribe. The fan community of Jolie shows that it is a discourse community. It has the six characteristics of Swales discourse community that include having a common goal, intercommunication, participation, genre, lexis, and expertise. The common goal among all community members is to show Jolie their support and stay updated on information about Jolie. They have constant communication and participation through news channel and the internet. They have websites and social media pages that have hundred of thousand of followers. They also have specific lexis that they use such as AJ, Ange to refer to their idol. The members are always increasing ensuring the survival of the fan community. References Bell, Christopher E. American idolatry: celebrity, commodity and reality television. McFarland, 2010. Burns, Kelli S. Celeb 2.0: how social media foster our fascination with popular culture. ABC-CLIO, 2009. Duca Lauren. The Legend Of Brangelina. The Huffington Post. Web. 06 May 2015. Accessed on 18 June 18, 2015 at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/05/brad-pitt-angelina-jolie-mr-and-mrs-smith_n_7483546.html Garzone, Giuliana, and Srikant Sarangi. Discourse, ideology and specialized communication. Vol. 33. Peter Lang, 2008. Gigler, Björn-Sören, and Savita Bailur, eds. Closing the Feedback Loop: Can Technology Bridge the Accountability Gap?. World Bank Publications, 2014. Kirkova Deni. Are YOU swayed by a famous face? Women buy twice as many celebrity-endorsed products as men. Daily Mail Online. Web. 30 May 2014. Accessed on 17 June 2015 at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2641476/Susceptible-women-buy-twice-celebrity-endorsed-products-men.html Hutchins, Brett, and David Rowe. Sport beyond television: The Internet, digital media and the rise of networked media sport. Vol. 40. Routledge, 2012. Mail Foreign Service. Angelina Jolie creeped out by octuplets mother after receiving letters from her - and hearing rumours of her plastic surgery. Daily Mail Online. Web 20 February 2009.Accessed on 18 June 2015 at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1144715/Angelina-Jolie-creeped-octuplets-mother-receiving-letters--hearing-rumours-plastic-surgery.html Orgeron Marsha. "You Are Invited to Participate." Journal of Film and Video 61.3 (2009): 1-3._Print. Pixiwoo “Angelina Jolie Make up Tutorial.“ Online video clip. YouTube 17 November 2011. Web.24 May 2015. Regis Meta. Daydreams and the Function of Fantasy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Press, 2013 Print. Swales, John M. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. Print. The Associated Press. Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitts Wine Sells Out in Five Hours. People.com. 7 March 2013. Accessed on 18 June 2015 at http://www.people.com//people/mobile/article/0,,20680047,00.html Read More