This blog post is for COMM333 Persuasion; in this blog post, I will be analyzing the interpersonal persuasion in relationships within the movie Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion, released in 2006. I decided to take a different approach and look into the persuasive technique of the film’s main character. Looking at the communication throughout the film, there are various amounts of persuasive communication throughout the film that showcase a unique approach into analyzing persuasion. The film tells a story of a family matriarch assembling a family reunion. During this adventure, she discovers her grand-niece, Lisa, is being abused and seeks to help her in an inspirational, yet interesting, way that will be analyzed for its unique approach to persuasion. I will be analyzing this artifact of persuasion against gender & age, aggression, and credibility through ethos.
Gender & Age: Madea, 86, is portrayed as a tough, street-smart grandmother. Her largest take in this film is when she begins to support Lisa after she becomes aware of the abuse. In the infamous “grit ball” scene, Madea talks Lisa through how to handle her situation. Through lessons built upon Madea’s experience and advice from the situation at hand, the film shows Lisa intently listening to her great-aunt and appreciating what she is hearing. Most notable is Madea’s advice for Lisa to through a bowl of hot grits on her fiancé as to retaliate to all his physical abuse. While this advice may seem wild, Madea carried credibility due to being an older woman talking to a younger woman. The artifacts of gender & age are evident solely due to Madea’s character in the film, being an 86 year old grandmother. This creates credibility, and for some (during the movie) a sense of comfort, which supports her persuasive techniques in communication.
Ethos: Along with both being woman, they are also both black women—which plays are large role in how effective the persuasion is communicated. This ties into the ethos aspect of the persuasive communication, both within the specific “grit ball” scene and throughout the entirety of the film. Based in the urban districts of Atlanta, Georgia, Madea is surrounded by individuals that look like her. One of the largest notions of credibility that are noticed in this film is that Madea is a black grandmother, who often aides “trustworthiness and authority” within the black community, as noted in The History of Grandmothers in the African American Community— these two characteristic traits are heavily witnessed with Madea (Jimenez, 2002. pg. 5). The artifact, ethos, is evident through the film in regards to Madea’s presence as an elderly black woman talking with various members of the black community (being family members, friends, and enemies) and ultimately aides to her credibility and supports her persuasive techniques in communication.
Aggression: In one of the most transparent examples of verbal aggressiveness, Madea displays a very destructive form of persuasion via threats throughout the film. Utilizing her tall and heavy statue, Madea takes advantage of her physical existence and enhances her presence through loud, profane language. Throughout the film, Madea showcases her persuasive techniques in specific examples such as when she fosters a young girl, named Nikki, and directs her to change her behavior. In a specific scene, Madea yells at Nikki and threatens her, to which Nikki initially rebuttals. Though, through commitment to the technique, Madea’s actions persuade Nikki to behave (in this specific instance, it was a matter of chewing gum too loud). In the film, Madea uses a lot of hyperboles in her persuasive communication, an example of this is “Stop popping that gum before I come back there and snatch you up.” In this specific moment, Madea would not be able to do this but the persuasive communication, in this instance a “threat,” comes with a lack of reality that relies heavier on social referent of the moment. As noted by Irving Goodwin in The Effects of Persuasive Communication By An Aggressive And Biased Jury In A Simulated Jury Task, the “less physical reality… the greater the importance of the social referent.” (Goodwin, 1978, pg. 7). Madea is able to use this aggressive technique effectively because of this.
With Madea’s aggressive approach, you can also see her low-monitoring behavior in which she as many moments where she is more individualistic and invalidates the dynamic around her so that she gets what she wants, in what could also be considered a lack of social-cues. An example of this is her yelling inside of a church when upset as to persuade an event planner of a wedding to display submissive behavior compared to her dominant behavior. Though not the most effective technique, due to Madea’s age, gender, and credibility as a black woman, Madea is able to apply aggressive techniques to her family members, friends, and enemies throughout the movie in ways that demonstrate persuasion.
ELM/TRA: After viewing the movie, I have been persuaded to have more confident in myself with interpersonal relationships that are deemed toxic and/or abusive. While my approach to this would be an opposite of playing “grit ball,” I know that my options are not limited in how I can handle situations where I feel victimized, knowing that the confidence I have in myself with be a resource in handling this tough circumstances. I am motivated to change my beliefs after watching the film in that I should better value certain aspects of credibility that I haven’t before. I often do not consider age to be a factor to credibility, but with age comes experience and that is an important aspect to have when attempting to persuade someone of something. That experience will support the persuasive techniques in having more resources in getting the desired outcome.
Thinking Beyond the Research: Thinking beyond the research showed me that all aspects to someone’s persuasive techniques in how they communicate all play vital roles in the outcomes they receive. No one trait, approach, topic, theory is too significant that ignoring the others would result in a same or similar approach. I also have learned that, regardless of my credibility in certain aspects, I will not also be the most effective in being persuasive if I am missing what might be a key trait in my characteristics. Should I have a similar circumstance as Madea in regards to situations or my family members, friends, or peers, I might not receive the same response to being persuasive if I was too young, of a different ethnicity, or not committed to aggressive behavior.
References
Bushman BJ, Baumeister RF, Stack AD. Catharsis, aggression, and persuasive influence: self-fulfilling or self-defeating prophecies? J Pers Soc Psychol. 1999 Mar;76(3):367-76. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.76.3.367. PMID: 10101875.
Goodwin, Irving Bernard. “The Effects of Persuasive Communication By An Aggressive And Biased Jury In A Simulated Jury Task” pp. 1-13, University of Central Florida 1978
Jimenez, Jillian. “The History of Grandmothers in the African‐American Community.” Social Service Review, vol. 76, no. 4, 2002, pp. 523–51. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1086/342994. Accessed 14 Nov. 2022.
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