Is Zac Efron Hot or Not?
This is a question that was asked between my friends and I as we were planning our day. My friend volunteered to drive me to the grocery store because I was excited to try a new curry receipt. As the three of us were driving to the store one of my friends asked us “is Zac Efron hot or not.” We were not talking about anything related to Hollywood or even Zac Efron. I was actually talking to the driver about good crockpot dishes. Thus, this random question is an example of a Dramatizing message. A Dramatizing message is considered to be imaginative language that talks about events not in the present moment. As in, “occurring elsewhere and/ or at some time other than the here and now"(According to Griffin (2012). The message also needs to be “creative and paint a picture or call to mind an image” (According to Griffin (2012). I can attest that after her question was asked Zac Efron’s face appeared in my head. We all started to talk about his physical characteristics. Does he have a nice nose? Do his eyes look too far apart? Wasn’t he attractive in that one movie? These questions created a conversation in which we all attributed to. Because everyone was involved in the conversation and showing interest about the topic it quickly became a fantasy chain. We were all laughing and enjoying the conversation even though it was not an intelligent conversation and was probably killing more brain cells than our initial conversation about curry. Dramatizing messages can create a fantasy chain in which symbolic convergence occurs and possible symbolic cues ignite a conversation (According to Griffin (2012)). The conversation I had with my friends was fun and we sometimes talk about him from time to time if a symbolic cue ignites the conversation. Symbolic convergence is when members of a group lose some of their individuality on a subject and embrace the knowledge that others have the same opinions or likeness of the shared subject and a cohesive mentality between the individuals occur(According to Griffin (2012)). In this situation the dramatizing message brought us closer. I had not seen my friends for over 6 months due to my travels and I was a little apprehensive to jump back into everything. The Dramatizing message definitely fueled a fantasy chain that allowed for all of us to feel comfortable with one another allowing for symbolic convergence to unite us.
Fantasy chains can ignite from dramatizing message and fuel symbolic convergence within the public. For example, Justin Bieber became the topic of occurring dramatizing messages. His fame and charm was the topic of people's conversations as well as his bizarre behavior and entitled personality. Justin Beiber began to be the topic of discussion for every media outlet. One could be watching the news and Justin Bieber's face would flash on the screen. Justin Bieber became a Dramatizing message that occurred because of his presence in everyone's lives due to the amount of times he was talked about and the mannerisms in which his stories were presented. More importantly people felt a connection to him and understood that others shared the same beliefs toward his fame. Thus, Beliber's fans started emerging and became Belibers. Group cohesion occurred because individuals understood that others shared the same likeness of Justin Bieber. Now a days Justin Bieber is a huge phenomena in which millions are praising his every move.
Hope you understand that fantasy chains can occur after a dramatizing message is shared and everyone interacts in the conversation. Also, fantasy chains can escalate into symbolic convergence in which people start to identity as a group rather than keep their individual identity. This can all occur in different degrees!
reference: book
A First Look At Communication Theory
by, Em Griffin
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