Pentad in the "It Gets Better" Campaign

“Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that "It Gets Better." (Itgetsbetter.org). 
          This is the pledge taken by millions of Americans across the country that have joined the “It Gets Better” campaign.  This campaign is dedicated to spreading a positive message to the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, and Questioning) community.  The rate of suicides within this community is rising due to bullying and other hate crimes.  Many celebrities have joined this campaign and film their testimonies about their experience with being bullied because of their differences.  They are trying to spread the message that although things may look bleak now, things do get better—so no one should give up one life. 
          Pentadic criticism involves categorizing the aspects of artifacts into specific terms: agent; act; purpose; scene; and agency.  The agent ( “or the “who”) in this message is the community of celebrities and other members of the “It Gets Better” campaign.  Their act is to spread a message of hope and improve morale of the LGBTQ community.  This important message hopes to serve the purpose of decreasing the number of suicides within the homosexual community.  The scene is more difficult to define, because these celebrities are being filmed and working with this campaign all over the world.  One could say the television and radio stations are the “scene” because these are the places where these messages are being presented; however, this method of messaging can also be viewed as the agency, or how the act is being done.  So the categorization in this section is a little tricky.
          The most prominent or powerful element in this campaign is the purpose.  All over the country, people in the LGBTQ community are being bullied and suffering from hate crimes which is causing more and more of them to commit suicide.  Many people want to stop this from continuing, which is why they are joining the campaign.  The purpose provokes the action.  It creates the agents.  It sets the scene all over the world.  The purpose of stopping suicide and sending a positive, hopeful message to the community is the most important force within the pentad because it leads to the creation of everything else in order to achieve this purpose. 
           

The Pentad of "Born Into Brothels"

          

           I recently viewed the documentary “Born into Brothels” in my Cross Cultural Psychology class. Kids-with-cameras.org describes the film as “A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art . . . a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.”

            This film had a surprising effect on me.  There were many moments when the young children would talk to the interviewers and would say things that were very profound.  For instance, Kochi, a young girl in the film, said “One has to accept life as being sad and painful—that is all.”  This struck me as both poetic and heartbreaking.  For children to have such an outlook on life is very disheartening. 

            Pentadic criticism has critics classify portions of artifacts into five terms: agent, act, scene, purpose, and agency.  In this particular film, the scene is the Red District in Calcutta, India.  Zana Briski is a photographer who travels to the Red District to take photographs of the culture.  While traveling here, she meets the children of the sex oracles and develops a close bond with them.  The children are the agent.  Briski sees the children’s longing to do more and be more than what their culture encourages them to be.

This longing is what creates the “act”.  Briski decides to teach the children about the art of photography.  She provides them with cameras and discusses their photographs with them and teaches them about the meaning of art.  This, however, is not the main act in the film.  The central act comes later when Briski decides to try to enroll these children in schools—particularly boarding schools outside of the red district community. 

Briski says in the film that she is not a social worker.  She did not come to this area to save the children—she only came to take photos.  But after getting to know these children and seeing their desire to be valuable members of society, she decides that she cannot walk away without trying to help them.  Her purpose is to show them that they are more than what society tells them they are.  She tries to prove to them that there is more to life than drugs, alcohol, and prostitution.  The agency, or how she goes about doing this, is by going to non-profit organizations and selling the children’s photographs. 

In this film the scene (Red Light District) and the agent (children) are the dominant “terms”.  Briski did not go to India with the intention of teaching and helping young children.  She went for herself.  It is because of the scene and the society that the children are immersed in that she decides to help.  The children are the main focus of this film.  We see each of their families and hear their individual stories.  The interviews and scenes of the children give an audience an understanding of their culture and help them to understand the work the Briski is doing in the film.  The children were not Briski’s reason for coming to India, but they because her reason for everything that she did there. 

This film shows how artifacts in pentadic criticism are not always what they are intended to be.  The acts and purposes of a person often change when they enter a situation.  Things do not always go according to plan, and this film shows that this change of plans works to better the lives of the children and those who work to help them.   

Narrative in Avon Products Mission Statement

“Avon Products is a direct selling company that distributes both cosmetics and other beauty items” (missionstatements.com).  In their mission statement, the Avon Products company states that they are a company which strives to “surpass competitors” in quality and service.  They offer the “convenience of multiple brands and channels” and try to create lasting customer relationships.  The statement includes a number of indications that the company wants their employees to succeed and to see Avon as “the best place to work”.  The Avon company mission statement tries to make it very clear that they hire women in the hopes of giving them a more independence and a sense of empowerment. 

            Is Avon’s mission statement really trying to empower women?  Or, is this tactic of empowerment their way of improving their own economic standing?  Avon is a cosmetics company.  They sell makeup and other “beauty items” to women throughout the world.  However; the mission statement of the company seems to say that Avon is much more than a producer of cosmetics:

“The Largest Women's Foundation: We will be a committed global champion for the health and well-being of women through philanthropic efforts that eliminate breast cancer from the face of the earth, and that empower women to achieve economic independence” (missionstatements.com).

This statement sounds more like a campaign for women’s rights than a statement of purpose for a company.  Rather than saying they participate in “philanthropic efforts” in hopes of eliminating breast cancer, they simply say that they their efforts eliminate breast cancer.  What are these efforts that are so affective?  In what way will selling makeup for Avon decrease the number of women suffering from cancer?  They do not tell the audience how they plan to do this—simply that it is being done. This makes Avon sound like a charity, when in reality they are a company.  They need to make a profit.  They need to sell as many products as they possibly can in order to remain a successful business.  If women think that they are working for a good cause, they will be more motivated to sell more products.  The more products that are sold, the more profit the Avon Company makes. 

Also, the company seems to be saying that by selling their products, employees will have a deeper sense of self-worth.  They claim that women will feel more empowered with every cosmetics sale that they make.  The company is speaking to the audience of women who feel that they need more purpose in life.  They are speaking to those who have low self esteem.  They are saying, “Come work for us; sell our products.  It will make you feel better.” 

The Avon Company gives the impression that their objective is to empower women.  They are saying that they are a company which needs women to help other women.  Working for them will improve the female population in multiple ways.  Although some of their efforts may be amicable, these apparent statements of purpose mask the true objective of the mission statement, which is to get more employees so that they can sell more products.  To put it simply, the Avon company has the same objective that every business has: to make money. 

The company’s mission statement makes employees feel good about the work that they are doing.  Avon believes that if employees feel good about what they are doing, they will happily do more work—which benefits both parties.  The Avon Products statement makes the company appear to be something other than what they are.  They are not a feminist organization traveling around speaking to women about their rights and to know that they are worthy members of society.  They are a business.  They need workers.  They need profits.  Giving audiences the impression that they are a company simply created to empower women is not an appropriate or honest message.