Hoerl, Kristen Hidden Rhetorics Mississippi Burning

Hoerl, Kristen. Remembering and Forgetting Black Power in Mississippi Burning. Uncovering Hidden Rhetorics: Social Issues in Disguise. Ed. Barry Brummett. Sage: Los Angeles. 2008.

“Barry Brummett describes a homology as a situation in which ‘two or more kinds of experiencing appear or can be shown to be structured according to the same pattern in some important particulars of their manifestiations” (15). =B

“By facing similar obstacles that black activists faced during the civil rights era, Mississippi Burning thus positions Ward and Anderson as symbolic stand-ins for black activists (22). =M

“Mississippi Burning is a homology for Black Power not necessarily due to any intentional or conscious efforts of the filmmakers but because both the film and Black Power proponents underscore the experience of African Americans and groups who have struggled to change oppressive laws, customs, and other structural barriers to political inclusion, economic equality, and social justice” =E

So, these homologies do not always (may even mostly) do not arrive through purpose. They simply happen, perhaps as a subconscious way of dealing with racial or gender issues?

“The patterns across Mississippi Burning and the Black Power movement suggest that films can give meaning to the past even if they aren’t explicitly based on historical events” (29) =E