Open AccessBecoming the Change Witnessed: Strategic Use of Empathy in Morgan Spurlock’s “Straight Man in a Gay World”
Author(s) -
Michael Warren Tumolo,
Jennifer Biedendorf
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.335
H-Index - 35
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2278
Subject(s) - empathy , key (lock) , psychology , extension (predicate logic) , sociology , social psychology , psychoanalysis , aesthetics , media studies , epistemology , art , philosophy , ecology , computer science , biology , programming language
This essay examines the strategic use of empathic communication that fosters a loving struggle for Existenz in “Straight Man in a Gay World” (2005), an episode of Morgan Spurlock’s documentary-styled television program 30 Days. The show functions as a persuasive discourse designed to influence the heterosexual participant and, by extension, the implied audience. This essay offers an overview of key terms in the study of empathy and analyzes key moments of empathic communication in the episode.