Fantasy Theme Analysis

Developed primarily by Ernest G. Bormann, fantasy theme analysis is a method of rhetorical investigation, designed to detect and describe the presence of group consciousness, or what Bormann called symbolic convergence. First introduced in a 1972 publication, symbolic convergence theory attempts to account for the development of a group mind through “dramatizing” or the dramatic sharing of narratives among group members. Bormann called these communal narratives “fantasies” and argued that such cooperative story-telling would enhance group cohesion and encourage the cultivation of a convergent point of view. Thus, a fantasy provides group members with symbolic common ground and, by extension, a shared social identity.

Emanating from both the social scientific and humanistic traditions of communication scholarship, fantasy theme analysis is often characterized as a bridge between these sometimes discordant lines of research. The social scientific component of fantasy theme analysis derives from the research conducted by Robert F. Bales and his Harvard associates on small group dynamics in the 1960s. A coding system was developed to enable them to apply content analysis techniques to group communication. They observed the process of dramatizing a narrative and the chain reaction that followed as group members interacted with excitement. Drawing upon Freudian thought, they described the phenomenon as group fantasizing and noted that it heightened group cohesion. Bales published these findings in a 1970 book titled Personality and Interpersonal Behavior.

The humanistic component of fantasy theme analysis emerged from the small group research of Bormann and his associates at the University of Minnesota, also in the 1960s. They too used content analysis, as well as journaling, interviewing, and recordings, to analyze small group interactions. In addition to these social scientific methods, however, the Bormann group also used rhetorical criticism to study the persuasive tactics of task-oriented groups. When the Bales research was published, the Bormann group recognized that the Bales approach to analyzing group fantasies was a form of rhetorical criticism. The Bormann group then set out to reproduce the findings of Bales's research and further investigate the occurrence of group fantasizing. Symbolic convergence theory evolved subsequently from fantasy research as a means to describe the emergence of group consciousness.

In order for a fantasy to emerge, a group member will “dramatize” or share a story that excites a response in the other members of the group. This excitement ignites a chain reaction in which group members begin to expand the original narrative, collaboratively refining and constructing the story in response to one another. Thus, the initial dramatization “chains out” among group members, generating a fantasy. Bormann used fantasy as a technical term within the confines of symbolic convergence theory, not as the word is used in everyday conversation—that is, it does not refer simply to the imaginary. Notably, a fantasy is always set in some other place and some other time, never the “here and now.” The specific content of this communal narrative, including its characters and plot, is called a fantasy theme. A fantasy theme then is the most basic manifestation of symbolic convergence; it provides evidence that group members have created a common understanding of some aspect of their experience.

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