Strategic Communication and Deformative Transparency: Persuasion in Politics, Propaganda, and Public Health

125 Pages·2018·3.119 MB·English

by  Isaac Nahon-Serfaty

Strategic Communication and
Deformative Transparency
This book illustrates commonly used discourses of extremists, radicals, and
organizations advocating for difficult causes. Emergent communication
technologies enhance the outrageous character of images and metaphorical
expressions aimed to capture the imagination, attention, and interest of
distracted and increasingly fragmented audiences. Dr. Nahon-Serfaty’s
strong academic and professional authority adds legitimacy to this
innovative scholarship.
—Juan-Carlos Molleda, University of Oregon, USA
This book examines deformative transparency and its different manifestations
in political communication, propaganda and public health. The objective
is to present the theoretical foundations of deformative transparency,
as grotesque and esperpentic transparency, and illustrate the validity of
such approach to understand the strategic and ethical implications of the
proactive disclosure of the “shocking”, “ugly” or “outside the norm”. Four
areas are discussed: political communication with particular focus on such
populist politicians as the deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez;
the campaign and presidency of Donald Trump; the tenure in office of the
mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford; propaganda strategies of Islamist terrorist
organizations such as the Islamic State’s escalation of the visually horrific;
and public health campaigns that use “disturbing images” to promote public
awareness and eventually influence behavioural change. This study on the
transparently grotesque is part of a research program about the economy of
emotions in public communication.
Isaac Nahon-Serfaty is Associate Professor in the Department of Commu-
nication at the University of Ottawa, Canada.
Routledge Focus on Communication Studies
A Relational Model of Public Discourse
The African Philosophy of Ubuntu
Leyla Tavernaro-Haidarian
Communicating Science and Technology through Online Video
Researching a New Media Phenomenon
Edited by Bienvenido León and Michael Bourk
Strategic Communication and Deformative Transparency
Persuasion in Politics, Propaganda, and Public Health
Isaac Nahon-Serfaty
Strategic Communication
and Deformative
Transparency
Persuasion in Politics, Propaganda, and
Public Health
Isaac Nahon-Serfaty
First published 2019
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Isaac Nahon-Serfaty to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-65665-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-62180-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Ô flots abracadabrantesques . . .
Arthur Rimbaud
Lift up your eyes
Look around you,
Here it is!
I see,
the eyes of any child see
how the guts and intestines
of the strong sensations
hang from the belly of the cinematography
that the spur of the revolution has pierced . . .
Dziga Vertov

Contents
ContentsContents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgements x
Visual Preface xi
Introduction 1
1 Grotesque Transparency: Theoretical and
Methodological Foundations 7
The Grotesque and the Esperpento 9
Strategy and Tactics 10
Transparency and Opacity 12
The Aquarium Metaphor 13
The Economy of the Affects 15
Epistemological Boundaries 17
Methodological Notes 19
2 Alternate Reflexivity: The Politics of Excesses 22
Between Chaos and Control 24
Disclosure and Denunciation 26
Chávez’s Affective Transparency 27
Chávez as Serpent-Charmer 28
Trump and Ford: Grotesque Revelations 36
The Aesthetics of Spectacular Politics 40
3 Sacralization and Profanation in Public Communication 44
The Return of the Repressed 45
Beyond Horror: Values 47
viii Contents
Terror Performance and Reception 48
Mediations of the Grotesque 52
Counter-Strategy and Anti-/de-radicalization 56
4 Public Health, Fragmentation and the Legitimacy of
the Grotesque 59
Larger, Bigger Grotesque: Fighting Tobacco 62
Toscani’s Touch: Branding Public Health Issues 65
Visually Framing the Excesses 70
From Moral Outrage to Stigma Normalization 71
5 Strategy, Transparency, Aesthetics and the Ethics of
the Realistically Grotesque 73
Revisiting Strategy 73
Double-Edge Sword Transparency 76
Grotesque Aesthetics 79
The Sacred and the Ethics of the Invisible 81
Beyond the Human Body 86
The Future Will Be Kitsch 89
6 Conclusion: Change and Atavism in Grotesque
Transparency 91
References 94
Index 110
About the Author 112
Figures
List of FiguresList of Figures
0.1 Cyril Winter, Anti-Abortion Activist xi
1.1 The Aquarium Metaphor as Transparent mise-en-scène 14
2.1 The Skeleton of Simón Bolívar during the Exhumation as
Shown on National TV 29
2.2 Hugo Chávez Presenting on National TV the Digitally
Reconstituted “True” Face of Simón Bolívar 31
2.3 Hugo Chávez During the Holy Thursday Mass; behind
Him Is the Image of Jesús el Nazareno 32
2.4 Donald Trump’s Tweet after the Public Disclosure of the
Access Hollywood Video 37
2.5 Rob Ford Smoking Crack 39
3.1 ISIS’ Escalating the Grotesque: Burning Alive the
Jordanian Pilot Muath Safi Yousef Al-Kasasbeh 49
4.1 The Evolution of a Strategy: From Grotesque Realism
(Left) to Esperpentic Transparency (Right) 63
4.2 Benetton’s HIV-AIDS Campaign 66
4.3 Isabelle Caro in Nolita’s Billboard Denouncing Anorexia
in the Fashion Industry 68
5.1 The Emaciated Polar Bear 89