Rhetorical Situation
In the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, two women, who were not friends in the first place, who also have complete opposite personalities, end up living with each other after their husbands leave them. Their husbands, Robert and Sol, are business partners at a law firm, and have been secretly in love with each other for the last twenty years of their marriages. They finally come out and tell Grace and Frankie the news, over dinner together, because they want to finally get married.
In this series, we witness Grace and Frankie’s world flip upside down under this bizarre circumstance, and see how they overcome this and many other life alternating events that take place. A running theme we see throughout the episodes is learning to adapt to your new reality. That no matter how old you are, (Grace and Frankie are both in their 70’s), it is never too late for new beginnings and new memories. In this post, I will be referring to a rhetorical situation in one of the episodes. “The rhetorical situation can refer to the speaker, the subject, the occasion, speech, audience, anything surrounding or impacting what may be said,” (Bitzer, p.46).
In Season one, episode one, we see Grace and Frankie’s lives beginning to unravel in the first few minutes of the show. The rhetorical situation takes place when Robert and Sol announce that they are not only leaving them (Grace and Frankie), but that they are also in love with each other. The exigence of the rhetorical situation is when Robert and Sol make this announcement at dinner:
Robert: “I’m leaving you. And he’s leaving you.”
Grace: “Who is she?”
Robert: “Oh it’s not what you think. It’s a He. And it’s Sol. I’m in love with Sol. Sol and I are in love.”
Frankie: “My Sol?!?”
Sol: “Your Sol.”
The audience is Grace and Frankie since they are being presented with this new information, and it was intended only for them. However, the audience is also all the other people eating dinner at the restaurant, where this announcement took place, because Grace makes sure to cause a scene, so others may witness and hear this news as well.
The constraints are all characters involved in this episode, because they all take an effect on the situation that occurred. (They are also all key characters throughout the entire series). The characters involved are: Robert, Sol, Grace, Frankie, and all of their children, who find out about the news the day after Grace and Frankie were told. Sol and Frankie’s two sons find out first, Bud and Coyote, when they are invited over to their parents’ house. Shortly after, Robert and Grace’s two daughters, Mallory and Brianna, find out from Bud and Coyote, before they get to their parents’ house for dinner, which Grace and Robert were not planning on telling them just yet. All of their children are adults, with very different personalities than each other, living very different lives, (which we also get to witness throughout the series). They all take part in this situation that is unfolding in the beginning of the show, and it continues to unfold over the next five seasons.
Loni’s 142 Blog 
You’ve applied the method completely (all 3 parts), and supported it with details from the text (including direct quotes). Good start! You’ve also figured out how to include images 🙂
I have a few suggestions:
1) First, you should add a paragraph that explains the method. You have a quote from the reading dropped in there, but it would help to walk the reader through the steps. Pretend you are explaining it to a COMM major not in our class. What are the steps for the method? Use the reading report bits to help you with this. So, for example, you can find definitions for the rhetorical situation (like the one you have here — which you could just move into the new paragraph), exigence, and constraints in the Bitzer or Biesecker reports. Use that material to explain the steps of the method.
2) Remember, your goal with this method is determining if this is a “fitting” response to the situation. Given the exigence, do you think the audience (Grace & Frankie, and later Bud, Brianna, etc.) responds in a fitting way? Do they take advantage of the opportunities presented? Why or why not?
Note that revision suggestions aren’t for right now. They’re to use at the end of the semester, when we will revise and polish everything for the final post/paper. For now, they’re just in the bank of comments you can revisit later. 🙂
This is a solid start. You’re using the method, providing sufficient examples, and heading down the right path. Keep at it!
PS> I finished the most recent season, so no worries about spoilers!! 🙂
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I read this
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I think this was a great application of the Rhetorical Situation. I too am a fan of Grace & Frankie and I was excited to see that you chose this show as your artifact for analysis this semester. When I initially watched this show it was before I had taken any rhetoric classes, but there is much to say from a criticism perspective now that I go back with the knowledge of these theories. Specifically in regards to the rhetorical situation, one constraint that I identified and had not thought of before is the idea that social norms or expectations would also be considered a constraint. In the scene you referenced they were out at dinner when the discourse unfolded. This location plays a large role in how the conversation progressed because there are certain expectations about how people should interaction in conversation while in public. I’m sure that when Sol and Robert were deciding the best time and place to have this conversation they considered the location as a possible constraint that could help them in getting their desired message across.
Overall I really enjoyed your analysis and I look foreword to seeing what you do next week!
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I’ve yet to watch the Netflix series, Grace and Frankie, but am able to follow along with the plot easily with the straightforward articulation of the plot. Good use of article quotes, it helps explain clearly to comm or even non-comm students what method you’re using to analyze the series. The scene you chose was appropriate and articulate for examining rhetorical criticism. Paragraphs are well developed and address all areas of rhetorical situation. If I were to offer you one tip, it would be to summarize rhetorical situation one last time in a conclusion paragraph. Overall, your critique was a great read and a step in the right direction! Good job Loni!
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