Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Ursinus College

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Communicating Climate To Ourselves And Others, Connor Bernier Jul 2023

Communicating Climate To Ourselves And Others, Connor Bernier

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

My Summer Fellows experience has focused on the essential importance of communication in the climate crisis, and on personal exploration to reconnect with the natural world. Grounding practices such as hiking in the woods and gardening mitigate climate anxiety, renewing environmentalists’ ability to continue their work. This presentation will discuss why how we talk about communication matters and review the climate communication scholarship. Throughout I will incorporate reflection and analysis of my outdoor experiences.


Diversity Casting Within Reality Tv Competitions, Maximus Moore Jul 2022

Diversity Casting Within Reality Tv Competitions, Maximus Moore

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

When it comes to casting in reality TV competition shows, many of the casts suffer from an imbalance in diversity, allowing majority white players to stick together and eliminate the few minority players every season. This paper deals with deconstructing how casting works as well as offering up solutions for change to the broken system.


Let The Monsters Out Of The Closet: Overt Queer Depictions In Hollywood Horror Films, Miles D. Noecker Jul 2022

Let The Monsters Out Of The Closet: Overt Queer Depictions In Hollywood Horror Films, Miles D. Noecker

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

According to Harry M. Benshoff in his book Monsters in the Closet, Hollywood has a long history of demonizing queer people in horror films with what he refers to as the “monster queer.” The monster queer can be read as a key fixture of most horror narratives as a destabilizing force to heteronormative society which must be vanquished. As a gay man and avid horror enthusiast, I find myself drawn to overt (rather than connotative) examples of monster queers, from Norman Bates to Buffalo Bill to Megan Fox’s Jennifer Check. I seek to analyze Hollywood horror films for the …


Trepidation: A Film Project On Cultural Trauma, Courtney A. Duchene Jul 2017

Trepidation: A Film Project On Cultural Trauma, Courtney A. Duchene

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

A trailer and a screenplay for a docudrama film that examines cultural trauma in relation to police shootings and the 2016 election.


The Rise Of The Alt-Right Movement, Ryan T. Summers Jul 2017

The Rise Of The Alt-Right Movement, Ryan T. Summers

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

The alt-right was once seen an obscure subculture festering on sites like Reddit and 4chan. They were written off as a bunch of trolls and racists too scared to organize, and media outlets saw them as a fringe movement with little hope of growing. However, the 2016 Presidential election of Donald Trump is one of many important events the alt-right rallied behind. They are even leaving their computer screens and beginning to hold ‘free-speech’ rallies across the country. This project asks very important questions about how this has become possible. What are the nuances of this movement? How were they …


Children's Perceptions Of Cyberbullying, Julissa Bonilla Jul 2017

Children's Perceptions Of Cyberbullying, Julissa Bonilla

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

This study analyzed children’s perceptions of cyberbullying in a focus group of six youths, ages 10-15. The primary goal of this research was to supplement and expand on previous cyberbullying research that focused heavily on surveys, but didn’t provide youths’ voices or perspectives (Lenhart, 2010; Wang et al., 2009). Specifically, participants were asked to share their definitions of cyberbullying, their opinions about its pervasiveness, and their thoughts about the connection between cyberbullying and self-disclosure. Findings show that children’s perceptions of cyberbullying are similar to those identified in previous, survey-based research. Participants noted the role of technology in facilitating regular bullying …


Girl Crush: Liminal Identities And Lesbian Love In Children's Cartoons, Madison Bradley Jul 2017

Girl Crush: Liminal Identities And Lesbian Love In Children's Cartoons, Madison Bradley

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

A textual analysis of the cartoon Steven Universe, this project takes a semiotic approach to explore anti-essentialist messages of gender identity. I argue that within the mainstream media, the cartoon expresses prosocial messages about gender by representing nonbinary characters and gender fluid themes. Using children’s media studies, queer studies, and reception studies, I investigate how the show portrays liminal identities. In particular, I focus on how lesbian existence and gender fluidity are simultaneously normalized and othered through the text’s visuals and dialogue. Critically analyzing the ways in which the media represents queerness as ‘too adult,’ this study reveals that children’s …


Perceptions Surrounding Cyberbullying And Self-Disclosure Among The Lgbtq Community: A Qualitative Approach, Alec Martin Jul 2016

Perceptions Surrounding Cyberbullying And Self-Disclosure Among The Lgbtq Community: A Qualitative Approach, Alec Martin

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

LGBTQ adolescents, like all youth, face challenges: the push for high academic marks, the desire for positive relationships, and the right to be themselves in a safe environment. Unfortunately, LGBTQ youths are far more likely than their heterosexual peers to experience bullying and cyberbullying. According to a 2005 study by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, the second largest cause of bullying was actual or presumed sexual orientation or identity. Gay males were more than twice as likely to be bullied on school property than their heterosexual peers, 43.1% and 18.3%, respectively (Olsen et al, 2014). In addition, 23.1% …


Female Moments / Male Structures: The Representation Of Women In Romantic Comedies, Jordan A. Scharaga Jul 2016

Female Moments / Male Structures: The Representation Of Women In Romantic Comedies, Jordan A. Scharaga

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again. With this formula it seems that romantic comedies are actually meant for men instead of women. If this is the case, then why do women watch these films? The repetition of female stars like Katharine Hepburn, Doris Day and Meg Ryan in romantic comedies allows audiences to find elements of truth in their characters as they grapple with the input of others in their life choices, combat the anxiety of being single, and prove they are less sexually naïve than society would like to admit. In 1999, a character struggles …


Talk About Race In The Undergraduate Classroom: A Discourse Analysis, Leighnah L. Perkins Jul 2016

Talk About Race In The Undergraduate Classroom: A Discourse Analysis, Leighnah L. Perkins

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

As researchers have noted, many people are afraid to talk about race (Alexander, 2010; Miller & Harris, 2005). Given the race-related events and tragedies occurring in the U.S. today, people need to find ways to move past this fear in order to work together to solve societal problems. Harris (2003) suggested that the undergraduate classroom is a key place to engage in discussions about race. This research project examined the ways that college students talk about race and race-related problems in the classroom. The data collected for this project included observations and audio recordings of three sections of a seminar …


The Spectacle Of Black Violence: Historicizing Worldstarhiphop.Com, Caylon Fowlkes Jul 2015

The Spectacle Of Black Violence: Historicizing Worldstarhiphop.Com, Caylon Fowlkes

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

Have you ever watched, and possibly laughed, at videos of Blacks fighting? You’re not the only one. Worldstarhiphop.com was created in 2005; it is an online hub for “everything” in regards to hip hop culture. This includes sports highlights and new rap artists as well as “crazy fights” mainly between Black people. The videos are primarily made by Blacks and exploited by many. The purpose of this project is to investigate the attraction society has to the behavior of black youth. There are many things that contribute to this phenomenon of violence occurring among black youth. I have chosen to …


The Association Of Different Types Of Bullying With The Mental Health Of Children And Teens From The United States, France, And Canada, Christina Fisher Jul 2015

The Association Of Different Types Of Bullying With The Mental Health Of Children And Teens From The United States, France, And Canada, Christina Fisher

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

Bullying continues to trouble youths around the world, sometimes with devastating effects for victims’ mental health. This suggests an ongoing need for awareness, intervention and tolerance for everyone involved. This study, a literature review, explored the extent of these mental health effects found in 50 studies of victims, bullies, and bully-victims, those who are victims of bullying and who also bully others, in the United States, France, and Canada (Willard, 2007). Particular attention was paid to the impact that gender, age, ethnicity, and the LGBTQ community had on researchers’ findings. Findings show that 25.9% to 33% of students in these …