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Description
This project examines the YouTube video "Break Free," a popular culture artifact created by, and starring, Ruby Rose, which belongs to the area of Transgender studies. My goal is to demonstrate one of the ways in which Rhetoric is applicable to Transgender studies, and show a way of connecting these scholarly areas. The video raises interesting questions regarding gender fluidity as it challenges the binary perception of femininity and masculinity. At the same time, the performativity of gender Rose exhibits problematizes notions of transness and cisness. I argue that the strategies Rose employs to portray her identity also help her build her ethos. As such, it is important to consider how rhetorical analysis can be used to analyze a popular culture artifact that problematizes exigent scholarly questions. My argument is that "Break Free" promotes the idea that gender expressions should not be constrained within binary views. My project treats identity as character, which is how Aristotle perceives ethos. Rhetorical scholars such as Nedra Reynolds and Julie Nelson Christoph have interpreted ethos as contextual, and I build on their work for my analysis. To view ethos as contextual means that rhetors are influenced by the values of the community in which they exist, and build a character that mirrors these values. I conclude that Rose's ethos-building strategies use available material possessions that signify different gender expressions. Therefore, Rose is recognized as belonging to different communities: the feminine, the masculine and the trans* community. My project views gender as performative, building on Judith Butler's theory. It is this understanding, I argue, that allows Rose to successfully showcase the fragility of gender expression. Rose is a rhetor aware both of the performativity of gender, and of the strategies she employs to exhibit this. I claim that this awareness empowers Rose so she can effectively demonstrate to her viewers that they can also free themselves from gender constraints. This shows that a popular text can make political arguments and promote political action. Therefore, rhetoric of the everyday life is an important lens to examine how the personal becomes increasingly political in the contemporary context.
