Pentadic Criticism And The Hit show "Glee"

The artifact that I will be identifying via Pentadic Criticism is the hit show "Glee". First of all, I think it is important to pick an artifact that one likes, that way one can enjoy working on the process. I am a big fan of "Glee", so therefore, I will have fun reviewing this artiact.
The five elements of pentadic criticism are the agent, act, agency, purpose, and scene. For the show, these elements are as follows:
The Agent of the show "Glee" is the faculty and students of McKinley High. They are the agents becuase they are the main characters of the show.
The Act of the show "Glee" is to become popular and to maintain popularity for those who have it already. The strive for popularity is the major action taking place in the show.
The Purpose of "Glee" is to smooth out their high school years, and try not to make their teenage years so tough. This is what the cast of "Glee" is trying to to accomplish by performing the Act.
The Agency of the show "Glee" is manipulation and innocence. The reason that as the rhetor, that I chose those completely different attributes is becuase the agents of the show are different.
The Scene of the show "Glee" is McKinley High School, in a suburban neighborhood, in modern times. The scene is self-explanatory.
As for the ratios, that can be a bit more complicated. It's a bit more time consuming. Comparing the five elements to see which one is the more dominant one is done as follows:
Scene-Act: Unclear
Scene-Agent: Unclear
Scene-Agency: Unclear
Scene-Purpose: Unclear
Act-Scene: No
Act-Agency: Yes
Act-Purpose: Yes
Act-Agent:No
Agency-Act: Yes
Agency-Scene: No
Agency-Purpose: Yes
Agency-Agent: Yes
Agent-Agency: Yes
Agent-Act: Yes
Agent-Purpose: Yes
Agent-Scene: Yes
Purpose-Act: Yes
Purpose-Agency: Yes
Purpose-Scene: No
Purpose-Agent: Yes

So, according to my calculations, the Agent has the most direct influence over the other elements.

Buddha and Ideological Criticism

Ideological criticism is a good method to use when one is discussing an artifact such as a picture, or something perhaps more tangible. The artifact that I will be analyzing in this blog post is a statue of Buddha that I have in my home. I am interested in the ideology of the statue of Buddha in terms of Buddha being a role model and what it suggests about how to live one’s life.
The Buddha statue that I will be analyzing is sitting down, which symbolizes rest and relaxation. He is adorned with a necklace, which means wealth and prosperity, although it is a plain necklace without any jewels, which is parallel to the aura around Buddha, and his want for nothing but the basics. His rounded belly means he is full and satisfied, while his smile shows that he is happy and content with his life, while his teeth are strong looking and none are missing, which during the time of Buddha would certainly symbolize health. The “third eye” jewel in his head symbolizes an insight to the afterlife, perhaps, or knowledge of the “right” way to live. In his hand, he holds what looks to be a rock of some sort. This could possibly mean that he is content with the simple things in life, and does need anything but the basics. The big ears on the Buddha symbolize compassion and wisdom. According to Zen Master Dae Kwang, “In Western culture small ears close to the head are thought to be the most beautiful, but in the Orient large ears are looked upon as auspicious because they indicate wisdom and compassion. So, the Buddha is depicted as having big ears because he is the compassionate one” (kwanumzen.org).
With all of these symbolic images on this statue, one can believe that the suggested elements are simplicity and to be content. Several of my symbols attribute to the factor of not being extravagant, and the others feature a need to be content with one’s life.
With these themes, I can now formulate my ideology. This artifact asks the audience to think about how they live their lives, and whether or not they are being good, compassionate people. It asks the audience whether or not their lives mean anything. This artifact commends that one should follow his example, and live simply. As stated before, the values and conceptions of this artifact is to suggest that one should live a good life, with not much riches, and to be happy with that.
This artifact falls under many categories. The Buddha falls under the category of Membership, because there is a specific group who adhere to him, and that is the Buddhists; Activities, because these Buddhists are expected to live simply and to be content; Goals because the Buddhists are meant to realize that life is about compassion and helping others, then they themselves will be happy. Another category the Buddha falls under is Sacred Texts, because Buddhists have a number of sacred texts to help guide them to this way of life. For example, the Tripitaka would be an example of this.
Now I have successfully analyzed my artifact, and am now ready to formulate a research question, and continue on with the method of Ideological Criticism.

Works Cited:

Kwang, Dae. "Zen Master Dae Kwang - Why Does Buddha have Big Ears?" The Kwan Um School of Zen. Providence Zen Center. Web. 07 Feb. 2010. .

3 Artifacts Of Mine

Three artifacts that I could use when doing Ideological Criticism are artifacts that I am interested in and use in my everyday life.
One artifact that I think I could analyze using the ideological method of criticism is the popular television show "Glee." I think that "Glee" would be appropriate for ideological criticism. For example, the time period this show takes place in has the most influence on the message that the show is portraying. So that would fall under the element of "Defining Event" in Ideological Criticism.
Another artifact that I could analyze would be a modern art painting of flowers. I think that this painting would be good for this method because I could look at it, and make a list of the inferences that I feel this painting makes, and create a great essay on the underlying meanings of this painting.
The last artifact I could use when making Ideological Criticism is a statue of Buddha. This artifact has a deep religious meaning for some, and would be very easy to find an ideology for. I feel like this artifact would be the most intriguing to analyze.