The series 50 Shades of Grey, by E.L. James has become an internet and media phenomenon since its publication June 20th, 2011. Originally based as fan fiction for Stephanie Meyer’s teen sensation Twilight, it has become well known for the steamy relationship between its main characters, Christian Grey and Anastasia Steels, as well as its sex scenes, widely fanaticized by both men and women. Since its release, 50 Shades of Grey has led to many fan clubs and media sites but recently has become the center of a new magazine, 50 Shades of American Women Who Love the Book and Live the Life. Huffington Post blogger and author Lois Alter Mark responds to this new magazine with a funny introduction and humorous take on this ever-expanding phenomenon. In her blog post she examines different subjects covered throughout the magazine and provides us with 25 random but hilarious things she learned from it.
Mark’s response to this new magazine is effective because of her use of kairos as well as ethos to engage the reader and make her point that this magazine is unrealistic for the average person but a juicy and at times funny read. According to hashtracking.com, as of 8:37 AM on October 1, 2012, the total number of impressions left by #50shadesofgrey on twitter was 1,313,515. These reached 922,072 followers with 581 tweets, 166 retweets, and 77 @mentions. Mark displays appropriate use of kairos as she utilizes the release of this new magazine and its growing popularity as an opportunity to explore this expansion of the 50 Shades trilogy and create a response to this current phenomenon for the Huffington post, all for the sake of her readers. Through her 25 random things, Mark also uses ethos to appeal to her audience and create credibility through the use of humor and casual but ironically nonchalant tone. One of my favorite examples of this is number two on her list “93% of women surveyed want a spanking NOW. Really? Do that many of you feel that way? I’d like to make it clear NOW — especially to my husband — that I am in the 7%.” By giving an example from her personal life and tying in the rhetorical questions through this as well, she increases her reliability while appealing to her Huffington Post audience.
I chose to look at the rhetorical features ethos and kairos in this post because although a little on the sexual side, this blog post provides us with a good example of timeliness and currency that does not relate directly to our main discussion topic of privacy vs. publicness. Mark’s response still relates to what we have recently been discussing in class with the use of the previously mentioned features as well as their effectiveness, however, I thought we could change it up a little and could use some humor while getting to the same ending point. Overall, I enjoyed Mark’s blog post as I found it to be a good pick-me-up while drinking my morning coffee and because it gave me a much more relatable sense of kairos as it was applied to a subject and style of writing that I am more familiar with.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lois-alter-mark/50-shades-of-grey_b_1907994.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
This was a very insightful post, and while I am unfamiliar with the “50 Shades of Grey” trilogy and the resulting magazine, it is indeed easy to spot out rhetorical strategies employed by Mark to make this blog post effective. Without the timeliness (kairos) of when this blog was posted, the blog would not be nearly as humorous, for readers would not have the ideas presented in the magazine as fresh in their heads. Another great example of this would be “The Onion” Newspaper. “The Onion” chooses to satirize relevant and current issues in our world so that readers have a stronger connection with the material before the satire is read. Using current topics also helps to establish ethos because readers have a better chance of understanding what it is you are talking about, hence making you seem more credible.
Here are a couple questions to consider: Mark certainly takes many of her 25 things she learned out of context, shaping the tone and intention of the quotes by using her own narration. Do you think this harms ethos? How important is ethos in a satirical blog post like this? Would the authors of the magazine take offense to this blog post, or is it simply meant for a quick laugh and nothing more?
I enjoyed reading your blog post and you are right that seeing kairos and ethos utilized in different contexts helps me understand different techniques used to achieve similar reactions.
I think that this post was originally intended for a laugh from the 50 Shades audience and that it wasn’t supposed to be taken to extreme literality. I agree that her tone is casual and that in most cases, one would not advise using personal narrative, however, I think that the intention of the quotes strengthens her ethos in this case because she is aiming more towards being personable than she is on analyzing what she learned from the magazine. I chose this because I thought it was funny, not because it held any aspect or fact in overwhelming significance.
I really appreciate your analysis and the way you chose to use to observe rhetorical devices in an article that was more satirical than informative or persuasive. Your background information about “Fifty Shades of Grey”, Lois Mark, and the number of tweets pertaining to the book is an effective use of ethos in your own writing and allows me to feel like your words are credible. I agree with you that the use of kairos in Mark’s article is especially important to creating humor with her readers who all probably have read “Fifty Shades of Grey” or have heard the hype about the novel as it has been a booming topic in the recent.
I think you are right on the target when you say that “Mark also uses ethos to appeal to her audience and create credibility through the use of humor and casual but ironically nonchalant tone.” It is exactly that that makes this article work for readers!!
I have a thought about the use of social networking for “Fifty Shades of Grey”. A large part of me wonders if the widespread interest in individuals to read the book was influenced by the number of people who were tweeting about the topic, after all having lots of people talk about the book is free publicity for authors and their books.