Burke's Screens

“Terministic Screens” is the perfect piece to push the importance of language as symbols, word choice and association. According to Burke's theory, people build their own interpretation of a message by the language that is given; hence the reason you'll have multiple interpretations on one subject. Depending on the culture in a certain era, word choice sets up a “screen” which is sensed upon the viewer's perception of reality. Clever on Burke's part, to consider one's attitude on a subject as a “screen”; much like a TV or better yet a projector- which could symbolize a new world. He gives a great example of some photographs he once saw, “they were different photographs of the same objects, the difference being that they were made with different color filters” (45).
 
That's the beauty of representation, everyone has their own way of seeing things. Each photo Burke saw represents different and unequal ideas that reflect one object. However, the lenses that he speaks of are just our set vision that “directs to one field rather than another”; we can lose sight of what's truth (50). It's key to point out that there are many other layers of terministic screens that we just aren’t' conscious of. He mentions how the “media of symbolism” can either divide or unite with the 'reality' that they can create (52). This is scary, considering how our values as a culture is possibly established not by truth.

Work Cited Burke, Kenneth. “Terministic Screens.” In Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: U of California P, 1966. 44-57