The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Are You Okay

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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Are You Okay?

• A Cluster AnalysisAaron Nadler

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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

• Debuted on Comedy Central in 1996
• 30 Minute fake news show satirizes news
• Jon Stewart became the host in 1999
• Broadcasts Monday Thursday from theComedy
  Central World Headquarters in New York

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Are You Okay?

• Aired September 20, 2001
• First broadcast since September 11, 2001
• Stewarts opening monologue takes up nearly half
  the show (9 out of 22 minutes)
• Very serious spots of self-conscious humor
• Conveys heavy emotion and a message of a hopeful
  future, despite the shows late timing and
  redundancy

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Cluster Analysis

• Chosen to identify what the rhetors word choices
  tell us about his motivations
• Key terms - repeated or intense words
• Chart clusters words around the key terms
• God and devil terms polar opposites that serve
  to convey the rhetors message
• Identify what the message reveals about the
  rhetors attitude

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Key Terms

• Group and Self Identifiers
• I / Me 29
• We / Us
• As a member of The Daily Show staff 19
• As a member of his elementary school class - 6
• As an American citizen 5
• As a member of the comedy community - 2
• As a citizen of New York 1

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Key Terms

• Emotional References to 9/11 Attacks
• Tragedy, unendurable pain, shaken, situation,
  grieve, despair, dream, this feeling, they
  attacked it and its gone
• Religious References
• Lord willing, God, pray
• Stewarts Role as a Public Figure
• Entertainment, TV, show (x9), fun / funny

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Key Terms

• References to Terrorists / Terrorist Lifestyle
• Criminal masterminds, fool, chaos, too easy
• References to America / American Lifestyle
• Martin Luther King, democracy, weve already
  won, brave people, this country, New York,
  Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center, symbol of
  American ingenuity, strength, labor, imagination

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Clusters

• We pray for your families
• Stewart is not speaking alone
• Use of I / Me / We / Us implies that he sends the
  message doesnt speak for an unknown source
• Includes self in the American / NYC population
• 9/11
• All references are severe(These attacks
  happened - its not a dream)
• Calls himself shaken he shares your feelings

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Clusters

• Lord willing, pray
• Implies a shared faith with othersprayer for
  viewers shows compassion
• Another shaken TV host
• Sympathizes with viewers emotional overload
• They live in chaos
• Denounces terrorists and their philosophy
• Weve already won
• You cant beat the Statue of Liberty
• American spirit dominates any adversary

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God / Devil Terms

• Message is not a burden but a privilege
• Its not just his job, but an honorable act
• Democracy vs. Chaos
• The American way is a worthy struggle while the
  terrorist philosophy is too easy /
  unsustainable
• WTC is ultimate God Terrorists are ult. Devil
• World Trade Center is the ultimate symbol of
  America, and it was destroyed by chaotic fools

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The Rhetors Motives Revealed

• Stewarts vocabulary clearly reveals his attitude
  of sorrow and anger over the attacks
• His main motive is to ease the audiences fears
• MLK story shows precedent of troubled times and
  precedent of the American people surviving
• He uses the reveal of the Statue of Liberty to
  symbolize the bright American future hidden
  behind the current state of emotional turmoil

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Conclusion

• Stewarts excessive use of unity phrases (we as
  in all Americans, MLKs dream fulfilled, etc.)
  serve to convince the audience that New York
  isnt an emotionally isolated place - the whole
  country is coming together
• His main idea is that democracy and the American
  spirit is strong enough to overcome the current
  obstacles see America through to a bright future.

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(No Transcript)