How to do Things with Misunderstandings
Deepfakes, hoaxes and Metanoic Rhetoric
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52610/rhs.v28i89.314Keywords:
Metanoia, Narrative Rhetoric, Deepfake, Hoax, FictionAbstract
This article focuses on a specific form of rhetoric that uses misunderstandings strategically through experiments with fictionalization. The overall argument is twofold. First, I argue that such experiments create a unique form of reflexivity; second, I argue that this reflexivity can be termed metanoic. Theoretically, the article engages in dialogue with recent theories of fictionality and with ongoing revitalizations of the concept of metanoia. The article reads two case studies that both stage misunderstandings by inviting the audience to perceive them as factual and then revealing them to be fictionalized. The two cases are examples of hoaxes and deepfakes, two discourse types that the ideas of experimental fictionality and metanoic reflectivity can illuminate further. The article expands and sharpens the understanding of what metanoic processes are and how they work, and provides a precise set of concepts for discussing how experiments with fictionalization function in contemporary, innovative rhetoric.
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