A Rhetoric of Motives: Order | Kenneth Burke Explained

Hello, rhetorical scholars and pop culture enthusiasts! 📖🎬

I’m Dr. Bobby, "The Best Assistant Professor Who Never Was," and in today’s video, we’re diving into the third and final section of Kenneth Burke’s A Rhetoric of Motives—Order.

Burke’s exploration of positive, dialectical, and ultimate terms reveals how meaning-making operates across various forms of media. From poetry to politics, and even comic books, we analyze how Burke’s rhetorical theory extends beyond literature into multimodal storytelling.

Along the way, we’ll break down key concepts using Superman Red / Superman Blue, the Death and Return of Superman, and other iconic moments in comics to illustrate Burke’s ideas of dialectic, consubstantiality, and hierarchical order. How does a character’s evolution reflect rhetorical structures? And what does it mean for dialectic conflicts to strive toward an "ultimate" order?

Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe if you enjoy deep dives into rhetoric, media studies, and pop culture analysis! Let’s keep the discussion going in the comments.

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