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A Rhetorical Analysis Of Richard Pryor's Peoria Archive

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Comedian Jerry Seinfeld gave Richard Pryor the title as, "the Picasso of comedy and considers him to be the heart and soul of comedy." This archive was created by Scott Saul the editor and publisher of Richard Pryor 's Peoria compiled information from his biography called Becoming Richard Pryor. The archive is a jump into societies technological norms, a challenge to expose the work of a biography for the digital age. This rhetorical analysis of Richard Pryor 's Peoria archive is important because it preserves artifacts, or in many instances, the visual pieces, that reconstruct the worlds view of Richard Pryor 's childhood and adolescence. One critical question that Hollywood historians, comedy fans, and academic researchers commonly ask is how the materials within the archive offer a snapshot of Richard Pryor 's life and what items in the archive provide the most significant stories? The overall style of this archive was designed by William Bottini. The archive …show more content…

The most significant materials within the archive that offer a snapshot of Richard Pryor 's life are split into two stories. The two main stories of the archive are Richard Pryor 's first experience with performing and his hostile brothel upbringing. The first story can be found by clicking the themes button on the categories bar then a category opens called the making of a comic. He received his first taste of the stage thanks to Margaret Yingst, his sixth-grade teacher at Blaine Sumner Middle School. Richard was given 20 minutes on Fridays to perform a skit, but only if he had good attendance. She became a positive role model that helped him find a successful way to cope with his situation. This story is a critical component of the archive because it details the unknown television personalities and teachers that molded a poor black child into an innovator. Without this information in the archive, the readers do not get a clear view of what shaped his thought process or motivations to become a

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