"Save the Arcadian"

http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/The_Arcadian

We are going to stray from the norm a talk about not only something besides a person, the person we are going to be mainly focused on is not a member of "the gang" (*gasp*). We are going to look at the rhetoric of a specific social movement that is found in  Season 6: "Save the Arcadian." To look at this social movement we are going to take a look at Zoey Pierson, the leader of the movement. We will take a look into the stages of the social movement, the challenges we see Zoey face, and will identify the type of movement "Save the Arcadian" is. In doing this, we will show the ineffectiveness of this social movement as a whole.

http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/Architect_of_Destruction

The stages of the social movement are: Inception, development, and consummation. We see the inception of the social movement in "Architect of Disaster" (S6E5) where Zoey asks Ted to sign the petition to "Save the Arcadian." Development starts happening in "Canning Randy" (S6E7) when Zoey starts taking Ted's class to learn more about architecture and in "Natural History"(S6E8) where she gets Ted to admit that the Arcadian is a beautiful piece of historical architecture and GNB is a terrible company for wanted to tear it down, on tape. Zoey believes that she has reached the point of consummation in the movement when Ted agrees to be on her side in a city meeting in "Landmarks" (S6E23), but, Ted is betrayed and the social movement is never truly consummated. 

According to Simons, the leaders of a social movement have to meet three criteria or challenges. First, "they must attract, maintain, and mold workers into an efficiently organized unit... A hierarchy of authority and division of labor must be established in which members are persuaded to take orders, to perform menial tasks, and to forego social pleasures" (Simons, 1970, pg 37).  Second, "they must secure adoption of their product by the larger structure. The product of any movement is its ideology, particularly its program for change"(Simons, 1970, pg 37). Lastly, "they must react to resistance generated by the larger structure" (Simons, 1970, pg. 37). 

http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/Zoey_Pierson

Zoey goes through all of these challenges throughout her journey with "Save the Arcadian." We see her attracting members in "Canning Randy" in Ted's classroom and when she is protesting outside of his office throughout the entirety of Season 6. We also see her showing people to fall into place and saying who can and cannot be at certain protests when people with different causes come with signs. When Zoey tells Ted about the reasons she does not want the Arcadian to be torn down and how they are personal and very persuasive reasons she not only shows the adoption of goals in the social movement, she also sways Ted to her side in "The Perfect Cocktail" (S6E22). She finally shows her reaction to resistance in "Landmarks" where she uses Ted's testimony against GNB in the city meeting without his permission. She shows she is willing to sacrifice her relationship for her cause. 

http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/The_Arcadian

The three different types of movements that we have to look at are: Moderate, Intermediate, and Militant (Jones, 2016). There are times that this social movement shows signs of all three which lead me to believe it is probably an Intermediate movement this means it is trying to work with the existing structure but totally overhaul the part of the system that they do not like. The "Save the Arcadian" movement is not trying to save every single historical building in Manhattan, they are just trying to save the one building that Zoey has an emotional connection to. 

The "Save the Arcadian" movement is a rhetorical element in How I Met Your Mother that does not work as a social movement, but does as a plot device. The social movement ultimately fails and the Arcadian gets torn down to build the new GNB tower, but the social movement led to Ted meeting Zoey, Ted liking Zoey, Ted changing for Zoey, Ted dating Zoey, and Ted figuring out how to give Zoey up. Ted learned to stand up for what he knew was right even though it was hard while dating Zoey and he became a stronger man with "neoclassical fenestration, rusticated stonework, and marble cornices." ("Subway Wars" (S6E4)). 

References

 Simons, H. W. (1970). Requirements, problems, and strategies: A theory of persuasion for social movements. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 56(1), 1-11. doi:10.1080/00335637009382977 

Jones, H. (2016). Class notes on social movements.