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Social and Behavioral Sciences

Macalester College

Identity

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Deciphering A Duality: Understanding Conflicting Standards In Sex & Violence Censorship In U.S. Obscenity Law, Rushabh P. Bhakta May 2012

Deciphering A Duality: Understanding Conflicting Standards In Sex & Violence Censorship In U.S. Obscenity Law, Rushabh P. Bhakta

Political Science Honors Projects

This research examines the division in US obscenity law that enables strict sex censorship while overlooking violence. By investigating the social and legal development of obscenity in US culture, I argue that the contemporary duality in obscenity censorship standards arose from a family of forces consisting of faith, economy, and identity in early American history. While sexuality ingrained itself in American culture as a commodity in need of regulation, violence was decentralized from the state and proliferated. This phenomenon led to a prioritization of suppressing sexual speech over violent speech. This paper traces the emergence this duality and its source.


Popular Representations Of Jewish Identity On Primetime Television: The Case Of The O.C., Tamara Olson May 2006

Popular Representations Of Jewish Identity On Primetime Television: The Case Of The O.C., Tamara Olson

Media and Cultural Studies Honors Projects

Relying on a close reading of the primetime television soap opera The O.C., this thesis argues that Jewish identity on television has become perfectly compatible with normative Whiteness. While The O.C. is filled with signifiers of Jewishness, they are cultural rather than religious and are celebrated rather than rejected by WASPs. This analysis highlights the way Jews have been transformed from racialized “Others” in popular culture to Whites who embrace Jewish cultural styles, especially Jewish humor.