Joint Session
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
The Joint Session is invoked as the audience before which the inaugural rhetoric will be delivered; Toby critiques Will's techniques against that institutional stage, using it as a test of appropriateness and decorum.
Imagined formality and gravitas, a place where rhetorical missteps are painfully obvious.
Referenced standard of performance and the institutional audience that governs acceptable speech tactics
Embodies institutional scrutiny and the need for measured statesmanship
Highly formalized and limited to national leaders and invited delegates — rhetorical performance must meet congressional decorum.
The 'Joint Session' is invoked by Toby as the decisive performance context that shapes his critique of Will's Stanford Club speech; it operates conceptually to limit rhetorical devices like call‑and‑response and demands a certain gravitas.
Evoked as a stern, high‑stakes forum — formal, ceremonial, and unforgiving of gimmickry.
Reference point that constrains acceptable speech tactics and justifies Toby's gatekeeping.
Represents institutional gravity and the public stage against which private stylistic choices are judged.
Highly restricted in reality (legislators, dignitaries); in the scene it's an invoked constraint rather than an accessible location.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
Toby, furiously battling writer's block, literally sets another failed draft on fire before Will Bailey interrupts. Will arrives expecting to help with the inaugural—Toby misreads it as a job interview—and …
Toby, immobilized by creative block and arrogance, endures a quietly combustible audition when Will Bailey arrives at his office. They trade barbs—Toby dismisses Will's stylistic instincts; Will quietly establishes résumé …