Disinheriting the father: The nature and function of feminist rhetorical appropriation

This study constitutes an investigation of feminist rhetorical appropriation, in which an original, patriarchal artifact is addressed clearly in the text so that new messages, challenging patriarchal conceptions of gender in the original, are apparent. The research questions guiding this project are: (1) What features characterise feminist appropriation; (2) How does feminist rhetorical appropriation correspond with what we know about appropriation; (3) What messages of emancipation are implied by various instances of appropriation; and (4) Is appropriation a technique that should be used by feminist rhetors to achieve emancipation?;I have analysed three examples of feminist rhetorical appropriation in this project. The first artifact is the film, Shame, a cinematic appropriation of the Western film, Shane. The second artifact is Susan D. White's painting, The First Supper, as an appropriation of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. The third artifact, Margaret Atwood's poems, "Orpheus (1)" and "Eurydice," is a collective appropriation of the original, classical Greek and Roman myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The method of analysis I employ--steeped in grounded theory and framed by my perspective as a feminist rhetorical critic--includes the following steps: (1) I identify significant similarities between the two texts in each appropriation; (2) I identify significant differences between the two texts; (3) On the basis of these similarities and differences, I interpret the messages regarding emancipation that each appropriation suggests; and (4) I offer an assessment of the effects of using the type of appropriation demonstrated in each artifact as a strategy to the end of women's emancipation.;My analyses led me to conclude that the risk of reifying and reinforcing patriarchal norms within the new, feminist text and by virtue of the particular style of appropriation is high and thus may not contribute to women's emancipation as defined exclusive of patriarchal terms. I also conclude, however, that appropriation premised upon referencing but not engaging the original text so that a new understanding is available to the audience is promising because this sort of appropriation offers the audience an experience of women's emancipation not conditioned by patriarchal principles and values.