Rainforest protest and believed-in-imagining

The Melbourne Rainforest Action Group’s use of protest is thought to be offering the public a means of interposing itself into social relations aligned to the continuance of life on Earth. The thesis examines a sample of newspaper articles reporting the group's protests over rainforest destruction. It is argued that if an audience believes in the stories the group creates, an audience's involved imagining may lead to the group's rainforest concern being successfully shared and acted upon. The method used is semiotic, the paper identifies the signs the group uses in its protests and how these are interpreted by journalists with reference to actual objects to create meaning. It is argued that the interpretations created by journalists are structured into a story through the use of a sequential social frame. Further, it is argued that the phases used within this frame have their antecedents in theater, ritual and myth. Specific examples of the group's protests are analysed and discussed in detail from within this framework. Particular reference is made to the group's use of the carnival genre. This thesis was scanned from the print manuscript for digital preservation and is copyright the author.