Publication Date
2026
College
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Department
Communication Studies, Department of
Student Level
Undergraduate
Faculty Mentor
Michelle Shaw
Presentation Type
Talk/Oral
Summary
My chosen artifact is a live performance of Silver Springs by Fleetwood Mac. The performance originally took place at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, in May 1997, and the video was later published to Fleetwood Mac’s official YouTube account in September 2018.
My chosen critical lens is visual criticism, specifically analyzing visual escalation as a rhetorical strategy. This approach is appropriate because the emotional intensity of the performance extends beyond the lyrics, adding another persuasive layer through the deliberate use of camera angles and the physical actions of both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.
In the 1997 live performance of Silver Springs, Nicks employs progressive shifts in spatial distance and eye contact to intensify emotional confrontation between herself and her former lover, Buckingham, shaping how the audience interprets the performance as a powerful expression of unresolved emotion. This visual lens allows me to consider why certain shots were captured and why the performance as a whole was structured in the way it was. I will analyze the original stage positioning of the performance, the body language of Nicks and Buckingham, and how those elements shift throughout the performance. As the performance progresses, increasingly significant visual strategies are implemented and appear more frequently in succession, contributing to a sense of visual escalation.
By using visual criticism, this lens can reveal how emotional power is constructed through physical embodiment and deliberate actions by both Nicks and Buckingham, as well as through the choices of the camera crew, rather than simply through the song’s lyrics. This analysis will identify key visual elements that escalate throughout the performance, portraying the interaction between Nicks and Buckingham as emotionally charged and reflective of unresolved tension. Understanding these visual elements will help explain why the 1997 Silver Springs live performance has remained a powerful and widely recognized pop culture phenomenon.
Recommended Citation
Deker, Ashley, "Staging Emotion: Visual Rhetoric in Fleetwood Mac’s “Silver Springs” Performance" (2026). SPARK Symposium Presentations. 1148.
https://repository.belmont.edu/spark_presentations/1148
Comments
The final paper will be uploaded before SPARK.