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The “1984” Macintosh Ad: Cinematic Icons and Constitutive Rhetoric in the Launch of a New Machine
Abstract
The “1984” Macintosh ad was broadcast only once in 1984 to launch a personal computer that could easily be used by non‐expert consumers, but the ad has remained in the public eye via numerous television and advertising award ceremonies. Applying a theory of constitutive rhetoric with analysis of the ideological codes and cinematic narratives that construct the ad, this essay explores the integral role ads play in the cultural discourse of new technologies. Ultimately, the ad's rhetoric of freedom and revolution is used to constitute consumers, not rebels, leaving intact capitalism's ideological investment in the technological realization of social progress.
... Scholarship regarding the identification power of icons abounds in rhetorical studies. In addition to the work of Hariman and Lucaites (2001, 2002 and the scholarship their work fostered (Born, 2019;Dreschel, 2010;Greenwalt & McVey, 2022;Jenkins, 2008;Mortensen, 2017;Mortensen & Grønlykke Mollerup, 2021), scholars broadly examining the identity building capabilities of icons also include Olson (1983), Edwards and Winkler (1997, Stein (2002), Cloud (2004), Palczewski (2005), Goldman (2005), Mitchell (2013), and Truman (2017. In determining the constitutive materiality of iconic objects, I utilize Hariman and Lucaites' (2007) five constitutive influences of iconic images as a framework to ascertain if objects are uniquely able to function as both visual and material vectors of identification. ...
... Scholarship regarding the identification power of icons abounds in rhetorical studies. In addition to the work of Hariman and Lucaites (2001, 2002 and the scholarship their work fostered (Born, 2019;Dreschel, 2010;Greenwalt & McVey, 2022;Jenkins, 2008;Mortensen, 2017;Mortensen & Grønlykke Mollerup, 2021), scholars broadly examining the identity building capabilities of icons also include Olson (1983), Edwards and Winkler (1997, Stein (2002), Cloud (2004), Palczewski (2005), Goldman (2005), Mitchell (2013), and Truman (2017. In determining the constitutive materiality of iconic objects, I utilize Hariman and Lucaites' (2007) five constitutive influences of iconic images as a framework to ascertain if objects are uniquely able to function as both visual and material vectors of identification. ...
... In particular, scholarship at the nexus of icons, rhetoric, and collective identity largely remains centered upon the visual modality. Most notably, Hariman and Lucaites' (2001, 2002 To address this inattention, this chapter supplements the scholarship of nondiscursive constitutive rhetorics in two overarching ways. First, it considers the constitutive iconicity of objects by positioning the composition of nondiscursive rhetorics as distinct modalities with the capability to work both independently from and collaboratively with the other modality housed within an artifact to assist in the creation, alteration, and maintenance of a collective identity. ...
This dissertation examines the constitutive functions of multimodal cancer rhetoric in America and critiques the resulting ideological consequences. This study locates the multimodal manifestations of American cancer rhetoric within three realms – textual/oral, visual/material, and bodily/performative. Beginning in the discursive realm, it traces the metaphoric evolution of the “War on Cancer” and the “Cancer Moonshot Initiative” in presidential rhetoric before then moving to an analysis of artifacts from American cancer rhetoric’s nondiscursive formations. For the visual/material modality, this study analyzes the pink breast cancer “awareness” ribbon and the yellow Livestrong cancer “support” bracelet; for the bodily/performative modality, it then considers two portrayals of cancered bodies in popular media – Walter White from the television series Breaking Bad and the featured childhood cancer patients from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
To better understand the ongoing identification processes within and among the various modalities of American cancer rhetoric, this dissertation expands upon several theories of constitutive rhetoric. First, it utilizes an extended concept of constitutive metaphors to properly ascertain the identification and ideological power of the martial and space exploration metaphoric frameworks underlying the “War on Cancer” and the “Cancer Moonshot Initiative.” Second, it positions the pink ribbon and yellow bracelet of American cancer culture as iconic objects and locates their identificatory and ideological impact as emanating from their constitutive materiality. Finally, this study advances a narrative-based framework for understanding the constitutive corporality of cancered bodies in media. By attending to the physical contours of cancered bodies, this study effectively demonstrates the identity and ideological force of such bodies.
Overarchingly, however, this dissertation contributes to a more nuanced understanding of constitutive theory through its focus upon cancer’s paradoxical status as an “invisible illness.” That is, although initially invisible, cancer transforms into a highly visible disease when medically treated – and this tension between what is visible and what is not, and its impact on processes of identification – demonstrates the latent power of invisibility in constitutive rhetorics.
... The prominent instance of path creation is exemplified in the narrative of Apple Inc. and its visionary founder, Steve Jobs. In the narrative of Apple and Steve Jobs, the commercial 1984 devised by Apple in 1984 for their epochal product Macintosh stands as an emblematic case of path creation (Stein, 2002). This advertisement challenged the longstanding dominance of IBM in the computer industry at the time to cultivate a new personal computer market (Isaacson, 2011). ...
... Back to the instance mentioned above, Apple's commercial 1984 is contingent and incompatible with the existing business computer industrial structure that IBM maintained, a path formation locked into the production of expensive and big machines for large companies (Stein, 2002). In studying the emergence of the personal computer industry in Silicon Valley in the late 1970s and 1980s, it is essential to delve deeply into the emergent properties of the entrepreneurs who challenged Big Blue. ...
This conceptual article aims to reintegrate existing path theories meta-theoretically, furthermore proposing an alternative theory termed ‘Dialectical Path Analysis.’ In existing path studies, determinist path dependence and voluntarist path creation meta-theoretically constitute an unhappy dualism. This article reintegrates the two existing path theories based on analytical dualism, a meta-theoretical concept of human nature of critical realism. From analytical dualism, the path formation process is not formed by completely alienating self-reinforcing mechanisms, nor do voluntarist actors create it from nothing. It is continuously reproduced or transformed by the dialectic interplay between existing social, economic, cultural, and material structures and the emergent properties of human agencies representing various backdrops. This article underscores not only the implication of comprehensive and deepening consideration of social phenomena, including management, economy, and industry, but also the importance for scholars themselves to embrace a reflexive and dialectical epistemology.
... Iteration is key here. Stein (2002) mentions saliency as a method for producing and reproducing hegemonic discourse. One key strategy for creating saliency is repetition. ...
This paper examines public discourse on data and digital infrastructure in Ghana to understand how dominant actors are framing the conversation to galvanise support for the implementation of the technology in the country and its consequences. Using publicly available information on social media, this paper finds that the discourse is led by the government, contending with consistent optimism and iterations from an abstract idea of data positivism that data and digital infrastructure are prerequisites for the country's development. The government claims that building digital infrastructure would accelerate the digitalisation of the country to increase data flow. Hence, going digital with its immense data outcome would then become a means to fighting corruption, ensuring smooth and efficient governance and ensuring economic development. By carefully selecting and presenting these benefits of the technology to the public, the discourse goes unchallenged becoming the sole truth to which citizens have to believe.
... Iteration is key here. Stein (2002) mentions saliency as a method for producing and reproducing hegemonic discourse. One key strategy of creating saliency is by repetition. ...
... The company was undoubtedly the forerunner of a breakthrough in thinking about electronic tools used today by a broad and diverse audience. A milestone in thinking about the use of computers and the design of their interfaces was the introduction of the Macintosh computer in 1984 [2]. This was an all-in-one computer with a graphics interface, keyboard, and mouse. ...
Scholarly inquiry into labor issues in the digital industry has primarily centered on workers, with less attention devoted to employers, or entrepreneurs. Turning the scrutiny toward tech entrepreneurs, this article reports the results from a critical discourse analysis of how China’s Internet giant founders are participating in the construction of a long-hours culture through discourse practices. It uncovers that the default assumptions related to tech work, tech workers, and tech firms are carefully designed, taught, and cultivated by tech founders to sustain the exploitative and unsustainable mode of technical production. Situated at the historical juncture of China’s “great reversal” since late 2020, this research examines the dynamic and uneven triangular relationship among the state, entrepreneurs, and workers in technical production. It enriches the analysis of entrepreneurial discourse in the digital industry beyond the Euro-American context and reflects on entrepreneurs’ ambivalent power in late-developing nations.
This paper examines public discourse on data and digital infrastructure in Ghana to understand how dominant actors are framing the conversation to galvanise support for the implementation of the technology in the country and its consequences. Using publicly available information on social media, this paper finds that the discourse is led by the government, contending with consistent optimism and iterations from an abstract idea of data positivism that data and digital infrastructure are prerequisites for the country's development. The government claims that building digital infrastructure would accelerate the digitalisation of the country to increase data flow. Hence, going digital with its immense data outcome would then become a means to fighting corruption, ensuring smooth and efficient governance and ensuring economic development. By carefully selecting and presenting these benefits of the technology to the public, the discourse goes unchallenged becoming the sole truth to which citizens have to believe.
Purpose
Prior research has drawn from entrepreneurial practice to conceptualize a variety of discreet narrative types. Research has also demonstrated that narratives are a practical and useful tool for entrepreneurs in many stages of the entrepreneurial process. This paper proposes a new narrative, shared narrative, and a conceptual model for how entrepreneurs might build such a narrative that is strategic in nature.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the authors review the types of narrative and introduce shared narrative as an account that narrativizes both the entrepreneur and relevant stakeholders. Then, integrating theoretical concepts from constitutive rhetoric and value co-creation, the authors introduce a conceptual framework as a three-stage process guide for entrepreneurs to build shared narratives for strategic stakeholder engagement. Leveraging the power of shared roles and salient values as the key to pre-story building process, the intended audience of the story (i.e. consumer, investor) is present from the inception of the story and integral to its success.
Findings
The authors assert that entrepreneurs need to adopt a shared narrative approach for strategic purposes. Further, the development of a shared narrative begins at the pre-story process of co-creation, focused on identifying the roles and values entrepreneurs share with their various stakeholders. Incorporating these shared roles and salient values into the entrepreneurial narrative will result in a narrative that is compelling, authentic and adaptable to different stages of the entrepreneurial process and for multiple stakeholder audiences. Post-story, this authentic narrative will result in higher levels of engagement from both the audience and the entrepreneur in the form of reciprocal action.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a new narrative and provides a structured process to support entrepreneurs in building shared narratives for strategic engagement with a wide range of stakeholders.
The discursive construction of sociotechnical imaginaries by the leaders of platform companies can help legitimate their platforms, shaping how they are perceived and ultimately regulated. Scholars have identified the construction of “future imaginaries” by large platform companies such as Meta—but do smaller platforms also seek to construct imaginaries, and if so, what form do they take? In this article we undertake a critical discourse analysis of statements by John Matze, co-founder and CEO of the fringe social media platform Parler, that garnered media coverage in 2020. Parler gained significant popularity among US right-wing users during 2020, before it was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores in January 2021 following the riot at the US Capitol. Using Van Leeuwen’s framework for discursive legitimation, we analyze a curated dataset of 186 news articles to identify the legitimating themes that Matze invoked in media coverage of Parler in 2020. We find that Matze foregrounded free expression, and with it the vision of Parler as a “town square,” which can be seen as an attempt to legitimate the fledgling platform. However, this discursive legitimation must be understood in the context of Parler’s base of predominantly US right-wing users, many of whom turned to Parler because of the perceived “bias” and “censorship” of mainstream platforms. We argue that, in contrast to the future imaginaries constructed for large platform companies such as Meta, Matze’s discursive strategy constructed an imaginary that was fundamentally retrograde. Parler’s “past imaginary” resembles efforts by far-right groups to justify and legitimate hate speech in increasingly platformized societies.
Fritz Lang’s famous and infamous extravaganza Metropolis has never had a good press. While its visual qualities have been praised,1 its content, more often than not, has been condemned as simplistic, ill-conceived, or plain reactionary. When the film was first released in the United States in 1927, Randolph Bartlett, the New York Times critic, reproached the director for his “lack of interest in dramatic verity” and for his “ineptitude” in providing plot motivation, thus justifying the heavy re-editing of the film for American audiences.2 In Germany, critic Axel Eggebrecht condemned Metropolis as a mystifying distortion of the “unshakeable dialectic of the class struggle” and as a monumental panegyric to Stresemann’s Germany.3 Eggebrecht’s critique, focusing as it does on the emphatic reconciliation of capital and labor at the end of the film, has been reiterated untold times by critics on the left. And indeed, if we take class and power relations in a modern technological society to be the only theme of the film, then we have to concur with these critics. We would also have to agree with Siegfried Kracauer’s observation concerning the affinity that exists between the film’s ideological punch line, “The heart mediates between hand and brain,” and the fascist “art” of propaganda which, in Goebbels’ words, was geared “to win the heart of a people and to keep it.”4
