Myths & Meanings

A Fantasy Theme Analysis of Selected Threads on Gilberto Teodoro Jr.'s official Facebook fan page

ABSTRACT Roxas, C. P. (2011). Myths and Meanings, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

This study examines how the dynamics of symbolic convergence work in the accounts of political candidates in online social networking sites, specifically in former presidential candidate Gilberto Teodoro, Jr.’s official Facebook fan page. It examines how symbolic convergence of meanings for candidate traits occurred for Teodoro’s supporters. According to Blumer’s symbolic convergence, the realities of people—their rhetorical vision—are shaped according to their interaction with others. Hence, though coming from different backgrounds and initially having different realities, or in this case varied definitions of different candidate traits; Teodoro’s supporters, through their constant interaction with each other on the discussion board of Teodoro’s Facebook page, eventually created a shared reality. This shared reality of the Teodoro supporters is what this study aimed to find out. To do this, a fantasy theme analysis of selected posts on the discussion board of Teodoro’s Facebook fan page was conducted by the researcher. Through analyzing how and why certain fantasy themes chained out through the online conversations of Teodoro’s supporters, the researcher was able to find out that Teodoro supporters use familial values in politics; and because of this transfer of familial values into politics, they regard the Philippine nation as a family and Teodoro as its ideal father.

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