Disease as drama: dramatistic constructs and models of redemption in covering illness in Glamour magazine

Abstract

This study sought to explore how personal medical crises are narrated in Glamour, a popular women's magazine. The study employed Kenneth Burke's dramatism, specifically his pentad and the concepts of guilt and redemption (Terms of Order). The research question was: What modes of redemption and pentadic elements dominate personal narratives of disease in Glamour magazine? This analysis found that: The disease narratives explored, although secular in nature, are structured along the lines of religious tales of struggle and salvation. Suffering and disease are represented as cathartic, thus somehow justified The majority of articles place responsibility on the individual person rather than the medical establishment or the public health system Medical nuance is largely lacking in favor of predictable conflict-resolution, fable-like structures. The medical information presented in these articles is basic and minimal and serves a scene-setting purpose (a prop) against the background of which the drama develops.