"Doing the Work" Through Mockumentary
A Rhetoric of Irony in Daily Wire's Am I Racist
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5654558 |
|---|---|
| Authors | G Brandon Knight (0000-0001-5322-9472, William Carey University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1321 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel16101321 |
| OpenAlex | W4415361706 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
In 2024, the conservative media outlet Daily Wire produced a documentary film entitled Am I Racist? Created by political commentator and author Matt Walsh and director Justin Folk, the film became one of the highest-grossing documentaries of the last decade. Unlike traditional documentaries, Walsh employs a rhetoric of irony against anti-racist adherents to obstruct their influence and inoculate mostly conservative viewers. His method, however, is unusual and even questionable in conservative Christian circles. The film is analyzed using a Bakhtinian analysis of dialogic opposition wherein Walsh embodies three ironic characters-Rogue, Fool, and Clown-in order to expose the monologue of anti-racism. The analysis demonstrates the dialogization of the anti-racist monologue through rhetorical enactments of anacrisis and syncrisis. Through juxtapositions of anti-racist ideologists and their everyday racist opponents, Walsh obstructs the future effectiveness of the ideology. Even more, by becoming a DEI expert himself, he performatively distorts the monologue to victimize opponents and entertain viewers through the public spectacle. Ultimately, Am I Racist? demonstrates a unique modern turn and strategy in conservative and, more importantly, Christian rhetorical strategies that needs more attention in the future
Dialogic · Irony · Public discourse · Rhetoric · Rhetorical criticism · Rhetorical question · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Theater, Performance, and Music History
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |