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Alex Dooley!
COMM 301!
A Whole New World: Fantasy Themes and the Alternate Realities We Create!

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Dr. Emily Langan!
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7 March 2014

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Alex Dooley!
COMM 301 Symbolic Convergence Theory Research Paper!
Dr. Emily Langan!
7 March 2014!

!
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A Whole New World: Fantasy Themes and the Alternate Realities We Create!

Bonnaroo. The mere utterance of this word transports the informed Chicago-

dwelling, concert-going college student out of the cold, arctic environment that is
wintertime Illinois and into a hot, June summer day in Coffee County, Tennessee, where
those in attendance will be privileged to be counted among the 150,000 people at one
of North Americas largest annual outdoor music festivals. From the moment a ticket is
purchased, particularly in the thick of winter, many questions are bound to begin forming
in the minds of future attendees. What kind of tent will be brought? Who will be the
campsite cook? Which bands and artists are at the top of the must-see lists? Indeed,
this yet-unexperienced state sounds much different and more desirable than a world of
papers, exams, projects, and presentations.!
!

Communication scholar Ernest Bormann refers to the phenomenon of a group

reflecting on a world outside of their collective reality as the creation of a fantasy theme,
which leads to symbolic convergence. Fantasy themes themselves are defined as the
content of dramatizing messages that successfully spark fantasy chains, or a chain
reaction of escalating group excitement centered on a specific topic of conversation.
The dramatizing message itself is the trigger mechanism that sparks the chain reaction
leading to the transport of the group into their self-created fantasy theme; in the given
example above, the word Bonnaroo is the dramatizing message that sparks the
fantasy chain both reminding a group of and continuing to build on the fantasy theme
centered on the summertime music festival. Establishing a fantasy theme leads to

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symbolic convergence in a group, which is defined as two or more private worlds
inclining toward each other, or even overlapping, thus creating a sense of group
consciousness and cohesiveness (Griffin, 2012). Rhetorical vision is defined as a
composite drama that catches up large groups of people into a common symbolic
reality, or a common hermeneutic through which a group of people creates their own
reality and makes decisions based on the fantasy themes they have created (Griffin,
2012).!
!

Fantasy themes themselves provide excellent fodder for research and

discussion. There is certainly a wide variety of motivation for creating fantasy themes
and a myriad of variance in their function within a group. This paper examines two
different types of fantasy themes that lead to symbolic convergence: positive fantasies
that unite groups through the fond nature of their makeup and negative fantasies that
provide cohesion by painting a separate group as inferior to the fantasizing group.
Several case studies will be examined and put in conversation with information and
commentary provided in Em Griffins textbook A First Look at Communication Theory.!
!

Upon the death of the creator and host of childrens television show Mister

Rogers Neighborhood Fred Rogers in 2003, many people around the nation felt the
need to publicly mourn the loss of someone who had been so influential in their lives. In
order to fulfill this desire, the Public Broadcasting Service set up a forum for posting
messages of remembrance and tribute on their website, PBSKids.org. Although his
program was not overtly religious or marketed specifically toward members of any
particular faith, several responses on the message boards took a very religious or
spiritual tone. These religious tributes fell into three broad categories: religious

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attribution, implying directly religious meaning to either Rogers, the program, or both;
religious language, including comments about prayers, blessings, or religious phrases;
and religious ideals, which focused on the moral and ethical value of the programming
(Perry & Roesch, 2004).!
!

Although Rogers was ordained as a minister by the Presbyterian Church after

having completed a degree in Theological Studies from Pittsburgh Theological

Seminary, his program was never overtly religious nor did he ever proselytize his
spiritual beliefs on air (Perry & Roesch, 2004). The dramatizing messages of him as an
angel, saint, somebody sent from heaven, and even as Rev. Rogers instead of his
more common title Mister (Perry & Roesch, 2004) indicate the construction of a
fantasy theme centered on the religiosity of a show that was not even inherently
religious itself. In this case, the fantasy theme constructed suggests that the members
of the community who were commenting on Rogers death took it upon themselves to
look inside themselves and introspectively find a reason for Rogers noble character
traits (Perry & Roesch 2004). The construction of this fantasy theme brought closure
and reassurance of Rogers nobility to those mourning his death, thus creating symbolic
convergence and group cohesion through the mediation of PBSKids.org even if the
group itself was scattered across a broad geographic area.!
!

Another way fantasy themes become constructed through mediated means for a

widely strewn group of people is with college admissions material. The task of recruiting
a new freshman class each year is no small one; casting an effective rhetorical vision
for prospective students and helping them develop some sense of unity before arriving
on campus is key when it comes to making the recruitment process a successful

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endeavor. In the event that prospective students and their parents are unable to
personally visit the campus, the print and online media provided by the college becomes
one of the key selling points for the institution (Agozzino 2008).!
!

A high school student can expect to experience two common themes in the

material they receive from most colleges and universities: a clear rhetorical vision about
academics and sports at the institution (Agozzino 2008). Pictures of modern science
laboratories, promotion of sophisticated classroom technology, and statistics about the
institutions academic accolades abound in viewbooks and promotional material.
Photographs of diverse groups of friends learning together in the classroom grace the
pages of much of the literature mailed to prospective students; varsity, club, and
intramural athletics are also represented along with catchphrases along the lines of
top-notch intercollegiate sports teams and athletics and academics go hand-in-hand.!
!

The dramatizing messages put out by a college or university in their recruitment

material go a long way toward sparking fantasy chains among the groups of students
and families who read them. Establishing fantasy themes for a place one has never
been is a pretty easy thing to do; ensuring that the themes constructed by prospective
students about your university are both positive and mostly accurate is paramount
toward drawing from the most desirable pool of applicants possible. These specifically
targeted messaged aimed at creating positive fantasy themes give the reader a sense
of belonging and reassurance that they will have a group to support them on campus
a family, even (Agozzino 2008); this is another example of how fantasy themes are used
to create symbolic convergence around a positive theme.

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!

While fantasy themes are often used to bring cohesion through symbolic

convergence or a common rhetorical theme based on positive commonality and good

will, other groups find a different kind of cohesion by creating fantasy themes that
discriminate and marginalize groups of people unlike the group themselves. Racism,
sexism, and other forms of hate are quite effective tools for uniting people under a
common purpose, albeit a sinister one. The internet is a particularly effective tool for
casting a discriminatory rhetorical vision given its perceived anonymity and ability to
broadcast hateful ideology in a mainstream way (Duffy 2003). !
!

In her analysis of particular selections of text from the website of the Ku Klux

Klan (KKK), Margaret Duffy examines the fantasy themes constructed by its curators
and the symbolic cues used to spark fantasy chaining among its members. Duffy (2003)
explains The KKK fantasy theme dramatizes good, decent, and honorable people who
seek to better the future of our children and Western Civilization through elimination of
anti-White policies, protection of Americans and American jobs, and elimination of
immigrants, foreign ownership, and current liberal social policies. Several commonly
repeated symbolic cues intended as pejorations include the liberal media/liberal media
lies, destruction of our race and nation, and the white common bond by blood and
faith.!
!

The rhetorical vision cast by the KKK allows the members of the group to recall

the days of Reconstruction, when Klan members saved the white south from the
tyranny of federal government, the extortion of the carpetbaggers, the treason of the
scalawags, and the hatred of the numerous renegade negroes (Duffy 2003) and look
outside their current perceived reality of discrimination against whites toward a day

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when white Christian America will regain its place as the dominant narrative in the
United States. Similar language and vision is cast by other white supremacist groups,
such as the Christian Identity movement, which sets up the white race as a pure, holy
race of people that stands to be polluted by intermingling with members of other races
(Stroud 2002). This hero vs. villain fantasy theme, portraying whites as the heroes and
members of other ethnic and racial groups as the villains, shows how fantasy themes
can serve to cast vision and bring group coalescence through negative, diabolical
means. !
!

Negative fantasy themes can also be constructed, broadcast, and responded to

via means of more traditional mass media, such as the radio and television. One
particularly noteworthy example of this occurring in the public eye involved remarks
made by television and radio personality Don Imus about the Rutgers University
womens basketball team on his morning radio show Imus in the Morning in April of
2007, syndicated over more than 70 radio stations and the MSNBC television network
(International Communication Association, 2011). He and two co-hosts began
commenting on the appearance and demeanor of the Rutgers team, a mostly black
squad, after their loss against the University of Tennessee, a team composed of mostly
white women (International Communication Association, 2011). Describing the women
as nappy-headed hoes rough girls they got tattoos, in contrast with the
Tennessee women, whom Imus remarked all look cute, you know (International
Communication Association, 2011).!
!

The fantasy theme constructed by Imus and his co-hosts, who caught on to the

cues being put forward by Imus and contributed to the fantasy chain themselves, set up

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a vision in which black women are portrayed as inherently rough, unkempt,
promiscuous, and inferior to white women. It allowed the men partaking in this very
public discussion to converge on a hegemonic mindset, disparaging black women as
less than ideal and reenforcing their own patriarchal ideal.!
!

The context in which this was done, however, differed from that of online white

supremacist groups. Whereas the audience of online groups tends to be more selfselective and desiring of discriminatory messages, Imus audience was much broader,
thus drawing a significant amount of negative attention to his comments (International
Communication Association, 2011). Although Imus gave an on-air apology the next
morning in response to public outrage over his remarks, MSNBC executives made the
decision to terminate his contract two days after the debacle; his contract would be
renewed in December of the same year after the controversy subsided from public
discourse (International Communication Association, 2011).!
!

Imus was incredibly effective in persuading his co-hosts to partake in the

chaining that led to the establishment of their fantasy theme, but as demonstrated by
the general outcry over the conversation, the process of chaining did not spread to the
mindset of the general public. Griffin (2012) advises this sort of chain-cutting whenever
a fantasy is destructive and would create paranoia or depression among group
members. Given that Imus radio and television audience expanded beyond that of
middle-aged, white men, the fantasy theme created by him and his co-hosts certainly
served to create discord among listeners who did not fit the ideal set forth in his fantasy;
this necessitated the need for the destructive chain to be cut off as early as possible,
which was exemplified by the response taken against his statements.

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!

The ordered, artistic way that fantasy themes are constructed provide

intentionally framed conditions for casting rhetorical vision and building means for
symbolic convergence and group cohesion (Bormann, 1994). Examining the differences
and similarities that fantasy themes take in function based on whether their context is
positive or negative sheds light on how symbolic convergence theory plays itself out in
multiple settings. Fantasy themes prove to be quite effective as an agent of cohesion.
While able to unite a group toward a positive end goal, the creation of destructive
fantasy themes also persists as a tool for discrimination and perpetuating sexist, racist,
and otherwise discriminatory ideology. Destructive fantasy chaining is able to be cut off
by group members who recognize the destructive potential of said chain, effectively
halting the process of creating negative fantasy themes. In our current atmosphere of
online communication, group cohesion will continue taking place as a result of the
creation of both positive and negative fantasy themes, thus contributing to an everdiversifying pool of ideas, visions, and philosophies that serve to shape our world.

Bibliography!
Agozzino, A. (2008). Recruiting the Right Class: Analysis of Admissions Publications.
Conference Papers -- National Communication Association, 1.!

Bormann, Ernest G., John Cragan, and Donald Shields, In Defense of Symbolic
Convergence Theory: A Look at the Theory and Its Criticisms After Two Decades,
Communication Theory, Vol. 4, 194, pp. 259-294!

Duffy, M. E. (July 01, 2003). Web of Hate: a Fantasy Theme Analysis of the Rhetorical
Vision of Hate Groups Online. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 27, 3, 291-312.!

!
Griffin, E. A. (2012). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.!
!
International Communication Association. The Nappy-Headed Ho: A Fantasy Theme
Analysis Of The Don Imus Scandal From A Black Feminist Approach. (2011).
Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, 1-24.!

Perry, S. D., & Roesch, A. L. (2004). He's in a New Neighborhood Now: Religious
Fantasy Themes About Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Journal Of Media & Religion,
3(4), 199-218.!

Stroud, S. R. (2002). Religion and Hate: Fantasy Themes within Christian Identity
Rhetoric. Florida Communication Journal, 30(1), 34-41.