Criticism Post #8

Framing

This week I chose to write about the theory, framing. From our in-class notes, we learned that framing consists of eight different poetic frames: tragic, comic, epic, elegy, satire, burlesque, grotesque, and didactic. Tragic emphasises on punishment and leads to closure and scapegoats, to relieve collective guilt/sin. Comic emphasises humility, self-awareness and reflection, and shared responsibility, which leads to conversation and action. Epic pairs a hero/heroine with grand-scale context, and leads to the elevation of an individual. Elegy is the victim, who is passive, and resigned to a situation. Satire rejects flaws and scapegoats others who portray a weakness in an effort to unmake the flaw. Burlesque makes fun of flaws/faults, not to attack the position or flaw, but just to make fun. Grotesque is reductive, and favors entertainment/gratification, with an emphasis on the absurd, without seeking reform. And finally, didactic is suppression of the imagination to advance an agenda. When applying framing, the main goal is to see how the story is told and what is revealed by the rhetor’s worldview. I will be applying the frame, epic, to my chosen text. “Epic, an acceptance frame that celebrates the ideals of the dominating order through the admiration of a hero who embodies the ideal attitudes and goals of the community,” (Buerkle, pg 191).

In this particular post, I will not be focusing on a specific season or episode, but instead, I will be focusing on a specific, main character that tends to always play the same role throughout the Netflix series, Grace and Frankie. I will be discussing Grace, one of the main characters in Grace and Frankie. If you watch the shows, you know there is no Grace without Frankie and vice versa. I believe Grace and Frankie each play a specific role towards each other. I believe the rhetor uses Grace’s character to play a more epic role towards Frankie, and we can see it throughout the series.

Frankie always seems to get herself caught up in some situation, where in the end, she must rely on Grace to come in and save the day. Frankie also depends on Grace to remember things for her, because she knows Grace is good at keeping schedules and staying organized, which is the complete opposite of Frankie. I will list a few examples of how Grace always comes in to save the day. Frankie went out to eat with a friend and they both forgot their wallets, Grace came to the rescue to pay for their meal. Frankie accidently posted a tweet on their company twitter profile that they would give out free donuts and vibrators to whomever retweets the tweet she posted. Grace had to come in and clean up the mess, by coming up with a public apology to everyone, so their business would not be affected by Frankie’s recklessness. Frankie always loses something, but Grace is always the one to find it for her. One time, Frankie challenged a time limit on a crosswalk, so she had as many people as she could walk the crosswalk slowly, so more time could be added to it. Frankie almost accomplished adding that extra time, until a team of crossfit athletes ran across it. Grace showed up at the very end, to Frankie’s rescue, and walked that crosswalk so slowly, getting the added extra time to the crosswalk for Frankie. Grace saves Frankie when she gets injured, sick or gets a broken heart. Grace is always there for Frankie. 

I believe the frame, epic, applies to my theory of Grace’s character towards Frankie being heroic. The audience can see that the rhetor’s goal of the worldview for Grace is based on the frame epic from watching the series or in this case, by the examples I wrote about. Not only does Grace save Frankie throughout the series, but Frankie looks at Grace as someone who she can depend on and knows how heroic she is to her. I don’t believe this was ever Grace’s intention towards Frankie in the beginning, but as their relationship grew, (and the series grew), Grace’s character turns out to be a heroine for Frankie.