A Rhetorical Criticism On Apple's Classical Advertisements:a Fantasy Theme Analysis

According to Boramannean Fantasy Theme Analysis method,fantasy refers to the creative and imaginative narrative of reality.Fantasy theme can be the narrative for the past experience,the imagination for future,and a word,phrase or a statement for the present event.Up to now,scholars and researchers apply Fantasy Theme Analysis in the interpretation of social campaign,public speaking and media coverage.Its effectiveness has been examined in many studies.This study tries to research and explain the symbolic behavior and product and serves as a qualitative research to interpret the rhetorical process of Apple's classical advertisements.Up to now,the domestic criticism researches focus on economic criticism,political criticism,and literature criticism but only a few of them are rhetorical criticism.Under this circumstance,this study employs Bormannean fantasy theme analysis to conduct a rhetorical criticism on Apple's classical advertisements.This study raises research questions before conducting research,aiming at effectively coding the fantasy themes and constructing rhetorical vision in the selected artifacts,and analyzing their function in products' advertising and marketing.Two advertisements are selected as the rhetorical artifacts,mainly "1984" and "Think Different".The research process includes two steps.Firstly,this study selects the artifacts which have some evidence that symbolic convergence has taken place that people have shared fantasy themes and a rhetorical vision.Secondly,this study analyzes the artifacts by using fantasy theme analysis,which involves two steps,coding the artifact for setting,character,and action themes;and constructing the rhetorical visions from the fantasy themes with professional terms.Based on what have been mentioned above,this study,on the one hand,provides an understanding perspective for Apple's classical advertisements under the guideline of Bormannean fantasy theme analysis method;on the other hand,this study regards rhetorical fantasies and dramatic elements as a narrative strategy,which sheds light on the advertising and marketing for domestic electronic products.