Kenneth Burke's Camping Analysis

During the episode “Camping” of Parks and Recreation Leslie Knope, the deputy director of the Pawnee, Indiana Parks and Recreation department, organizes a camping trip for her employees in order for them all to come up with some new ideas for the department. Throughout this episode Leslie’s employees see her through a totally different frame than she sees herself. By using Kenneth Burke’s method of framing I’m going to show the frames in which Leslie is seen as well as how the way she is seen by her peers can actually help to evolve the way she sees herself. According to Kenneth Burke there are nine types of frames used to categorize and analyze scenes. These frames can also however be applied to people. Sometimes we see people through …show more content…
Leslie’s Park and Recreation team sees her through the epic frame; which according to Kenneth Burke is the exact opposite of the elegy frame. They see her as the hero; the one with the all great ideas that swoops in and saves the day as well as them. We see this when they are all sitting around the campsite and April tells Leslie that she didn’t come up with any ideas because none of theirs would be as good as hers. It’s also here that we see the group take advantage of the fact that they see her as the hero. They believe that just because she’s been the hero to them before she’ll be it again; allowing them to not have to put in any work. The epic frame through which the group sees Leslie emerges again through Ben. When Ben and Leslie go on a walk and she starts to open up to him about the hypothetical situation of what if she didn't have any good ideas left in her Ben responds with, “then you wouldn’t be Leslie Knope.” This one statement shows how highly Ben thinks of Leslie. With it he elevates her and shows us that he truly believes in her abilities as a leader; solidifying her epic frame. We see the epic frame emerge again later through Ron. Ron tells Leslie, “You’ve done more for this group of people than anyone else. You are the only reason we all still have jobs.” This again paints Leslie in a positive light. By Ron emphasizing she’s the only