Remixing Culture: Exploring the Rhetoric of Turntables and Tropes

In the digital age, where information flows ceaselessly across the internet and boundaries blur between disciplines, the art of remix has emerged as a powerful and influential force. Whether it is found in the realm of music production, literature, or visual arts, remixing enables artists to bring new life to existing works, challenging and transforming their original meaning. Among the various mediums making use of remixing techniques, turntables and tropes stand out as prominent examples, revolutionizing the creative process and evolving the rhetorical language through which artists communicate with their audiences.

The Birth of Turntablism

In the late 1970s, an innovative movement known as turntablism emerged, shaping the future of music production. Turntablism involves manipulating vinyl records on individual turntables to create unique compositions by sampling, scratching, and recontextualizing sounds. This artistic practice brought attention to the carefully crafted sounds locked within vinyl grooves, giving DJs the ability to manipulate and remix them to their heart's content. Through the use of crossfaders, phono cartridges, and mixers, DJs were able to blend various tracks seamlessly, creating new sonic landscapes that captivated listeners and expanded the possibilities of musical expression.

Remixing Tropes in Literature and Film

While turntablism reshaped the music industry, remixing tropes revolutionized the way we consume literature and film. Tropes refer to recurring themes, motifs, or storytelling devices used by artists to evoke specific emotions or convey certain ideas. Remixing tropes involves subverting expectations by twisting, deconstructing, or combining them in unexpected ways. This approach breathes fresh life into familiar narratives, challenging traditional assumptions and prompting critical engagement with the work.

Turntables and Tropes: A Rhetoric of Remix

by Scott Haden Church (Kindle Edition)

5 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	1294 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Print length	:	271 pages
Screen Reader	:	Supported

FREE

Through tropes remixing, acclaimed authors like Jorge Luis Borges and Margaret Atwood have disrupted conventional storytelling structures. Their works, such as Borges' "The Garden of Forking Paths" and Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," utilize genre-bending techniques to explore themes of identity, societal control, and the nature of reality. In filmmaking, directors like Quentin Tarantino successfully remix tropes by incorporating elements from different genres, creating unique cinematic experiences that both pay homage to and subvert established conventions.

The Rhetoric of Remix

As a rhetorical tool, remixing has the power to redefine, challenge, and recontextualize. Artists who engage in the art of remixing blend their unique perspective with existing works, offering new interpretations and encouraging fresh dialogues with their audience. In this sense, the act of remixing becomes an act of persuasion, as the artist seeks to convince the viewer or listener of their reimagined message.

This rhetorical power is exemplified in the world of advertising, where remixing is often employed to capture attention and convey a specific brand message. By remixing familiar imagery, slogans, or jingles, advertisers can create memorable campaigns that resonate with consumers, prompting them to engage with the brand in new ways. Remixing in advertising taps into the audience's existing cultural references, embedding the brand's message within a broader framework that evokes emotion and connection.

Embracing the Remix Culture

As remixing continues to shape and redefine our creative landscape, it is essential to embrace and encourage this culture of appropriation. Remixing allows us to celebrate the power of collaboration, as artists draw inspiration from one another to create fresh and exciting works. Furthermore, the act of remixing promotes critical thinking, challenging us to reevaluate existing norms and explore new possibilities. It is through remixing that the ongoing conversation between artists and their audiences flourishes.

In , the rhetoric of remix can be seen as a powerful tool for creative expression, both in musical and literary realms. Turntables and tropes showcase the transformative potential of remixing, challenging traditional boundaries and opening up new dialogues. As we navigate the digital age, it is crucial to embrace remix culture, celebrating the ever-evolving nature of art and the endless possibilities that emerge from the blending of ideas and perspectives. So grab your turntable, remix those tropes, and let your creativity soar!

Turntables and Tropes: A Rhetoric of Remix

by Scott Haden Church (Kindle Edition)

5 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	1294 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Print length	:	271 pages
Screen Reader	:	Supported

FREE

The creative practice of remix is essential to contemporary culture, as the proliferation of song mashups, political remix videos, memes, and even streaming television shows like Stranger Things demonstrates. Yet remix is not an exclusively digital practice, nor is it even a new one, as there is evidence of remix in the speeches of classical Greek and Roman orators. Turntables and Tropes is the first book to address remix from a communicative perspective, examining its persuasive dimensions by locating its parallels with classical rhetoric. Through identifying, recontextualizing, mashing up, and applying rhetorical tropes to contemporary digital texts and practices, this groundbreaking book presents a new critical vocabulary that scholars and students can use to analyze remix. Building upon scholarship from classical thinkers such as Isocrates, Quintilian, Nāgārjuna, and Cicero and contemporary luminaries like Kenneth Burke, Richard Lanham, and Eduardo Navas, Scott Haden Church shows that an understanding of rhetoric offers innovative ways to make sense of remix culture.