Comfort Through Humor: The 9/11 Issue of the Onion
Location
CSU
Student's Major
Communication Studies
Student's College
Arts and Humanities
Mentor's Name
Daniel Cronn-Mills
Mentor's Department
Communication Studies
Mentor's College
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Description
In September of last year, the satirical newspaper The Onion covered the tragedy of 9/11. According to the Daily Northwestern of May 14,2002, this issue of The Onion was the first major media outlet to take a humorous look at 9/11. In this study, I shall analyze the September 26,2001 edition of The Onion, which covered the attacks of 9/11. To analyze The Onion's discourse, I shall utilize a frame of humor analysis established by Kathleen Hurley in her 1996 doctoral dissertation Humor and Technical Communication: The Culture, the Text, and Implications. Hurley's theory is appropriate as the method provides for a comparative reflection of 9/11. To understand The Onion's rhetoric I must ask the following critical question; What rhetorical and social purpose did The Onion's humor serve in framing our understanding of 9/1 l?To answer the question we must first, detail a rhetorical framework for analyzing the use of humor in a serious situation and second, apply this framework to The Onion. Finally, I will draw implications concerning the rhetorical dimensions of humor.
Comfort Through Humor: The 9/11 Issue of the Onion
CSU
In September of last year, the satirical newspaper The Onion covered the tragedy of 9/11. According to the Daily Northwestern of May 14,2002, this issue of The Onion was the first major media outlet to take a humorous look at 9/11. In this study, I shall analyze the September 26,2001 edition of The Onion, which covered the attacks of 9/11. To analyze The Onion's discourse, I shall utilize a frame of humor analysis established by Kathleen Hurley in her 1996 doctoral dissertation Humor and Technical Communication: The Culture, the Text, and Implications. Hurley's theory is appropriate as the method provides for a comparative reflection of 9/11. To understand The Onion's rhetoric I must ask the following critical question; What rhetorical and social purpose did The Onion's humor serve in framing our understanding of 9/1 l?To answer the question we must first, detail a rhetorical framework for analyzing the use of humor in a serious situation and second, apply this framework to The Onion. Finally, I will draw implications concerning the rhetorical dimensions of humor.
