Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Dehexing Postwar West Balkan Masculinities: The Case Of Bosnia, Croatia, And Serbia, 1998 To 2015, Marko Dumančić

History Faculty Publications

Focusing on Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, this article examines film and music that emerged in the region since the end of the Yugoslav Wars of Succession. We analyze how the uncertainties of the postwar era facilitated a dynamic field of cultural contestation in which the music and film industries simultaneously challenge and affirm normative masculine sociocultural roles. Although traditional norms have not lost their primacy in public life, we emphasize the fact that attitudes toward masculinity have, in general, become increasingly ambiguous and multivalent. While local sociological studies accurately observe that violence and intolerance constitute central traits for the majority …

How To Save...A Nation? Televisual Fiction Post-9/11, Melissa R. Ames

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

To claim that the national tragedy of 9/11 is a defining moment in thefirst decade of the tV1renty-first century for the United States is not profound,nor is the statement that it directly and indirectly influenced thecultural production within American society throughout these years.Regardless of the obviousness of these claims, it is exactly upon theseassumptions that this chapter rests. In the years following the attackson the World Trade Center and Pentagon, cultural products have beensites for interrogating and remediating the trauma that 9 /11 causedfor the citizens of a country that believed itself to be untouchable.Although these cultural concerns were played …

Dark Humor And Suicide: Exploring Viewer Suicidality In "The Long Way", Sarah M. Rosen

Scripps Senior Theses

Death, dying, and the actual loss of life are some of the broadest sweeping concepts that typically evoke a wide array of emotions from sadness and anger to fear and despondence. It is unlikely that the first words associated with death are comedy, humor, or laughter. However, that is precisely what creators and comedians of dark, death, and gallows humor seek to achieve. For my senior capstone project, I have created a short fictional narrative film encompassing the traits of a dark comedy. However, noticing that few dark comedies delve into topics surrounding suicide, I wondered if it was possible …

How And Why Has American Media Shifted The On-Screen Image Of Asian Americans From Stereotypical Roles To Lead Roles?, Sohail A. Syed

UROP Posters

Growing up as an Asian American, I never really had a role model of sort that I could relate to entirely. There were the general characters in movies that I looked up to but there was never that one character that I could possibly see myself as because there was never any lead characters that looked like me. Every time an Asian character was showed on-screen they were never a normal relatable person; they were always rather a living stereotype or unrealistic. Asians are always portrayed as intellectuals that are very awkward and geeky or one who has a very …

Film Tourism And Expectation: Using The Hallyu Wave To Model How Governments And Media Exports Influence National Image, Aishat O. Bello

UROP Posters

Film tourism encompasses the interest, investment and influence that exported media products can contribute to cultural globalization, and subsequent visitation of a nation. The Korean Wave or Hallyu wave has been studied and commended for its rapid spread and growing popularity within Asia and more recently, on a more global scale. By comparing and contrasting the methods used by the Korean government to enhance Hallyu, with several trade deals made by the US government to support Hollywood, we can see how the effects of film tourism were directed towards modifying perspectives on Korean culture. A few consequences of making trade …

How 9/11 Changed The Movies: The Tony Scott Barometer, E. Deidre Pribram Ph.D.

Communications: Faculty Publications

In an essay written some years ago on the 1945 film, Mildred Pierce, Linda Williams raises the intriguing question, why does the narrative frequently allude to but refrains from ever specifically mentioning World War II (22)? Williams’ assessment is that certain films are capable of addressing the most significant political events of the era in ways they could not have had they chosen to use direct depictions (24). Released in October 1945, following the end of U.S. involvement in the war, Mildred Pierce coincided with a period of demobilization and the economic and social reintegration of the returning American, largely …

On The Factory’S Ruins: The Death Of A Nation And The Birth Of A Museum, Anthony Haughey

Conference Papers

Stuart Hall describes ‘living archives’ as a field of […] rupture, significant breaks, transformations, new and unpredicted departures’. For an artist, the interpretation of archival and historical materials is not solely an academic exercise; it can also be viewed as a societal intervention, where historical narratives are ruptured and re-contextualised, generating an emerging critical and contested site of reinterpretation. In this article I discuss my work as an artist and researcher with particular emphasis on cultural memory, archival formations and the production of contemporary artworks, including my recent video installation, UNresolved which reflects on the twentieth anniversary of genocide in …

The Minstrel Legacy: African American English And The Historical Construction Of "Black" Identities In Entertainment, Jennifer Bloomquist

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

Linguists have long been aware that the language scripted for "ethnic" roles in the media has been manipulated for a variety of purposes ranging from the construction of character "authenticity" to flagrant ridicule. This paper provides a brief overview of the history of African American roles in the entertainment industry from minstrel shows to present-day films. I am particularly interested in looking at the practice of distorting African American English as an historical artifact which is commonplace in the entertainment industry today. Dialogue which is clearly meant as an imitation of African American English still results in the construction of …

Hollywood & Media Portrayals Of Veterans Who Suffer From Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Francesca C. Katafias

Senior Theses

According to the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs: National Center for PTSD, it’s recorded that, “approximately 11-20 out of every 100 Veterans (or between 11-20%) who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom have PTSD in a given year”. In my research study, my focus is to better understand Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, how prevalent it is in military veterans, and how the media (Hollywood) projects our veterans to be to the public. There are three important questions I have put together to further explore my topic without losing direction on my prime focus. The three questions I …

Becoming American: Constructing Mexican Immigrants In Local Newspapers, Zheng Zhu

Publications and Research

Media representation of Latino immigrants has been extensively studied by scholars across diverse academic disciplines. Particular to the U.S. context, preceding scholarships pertaining to the ways in which Latinos were represented centered on the media representation of Latino immigrants either as the exotic racial other or undesirable foreigners. In light of the important role that the Mexican immigrants played in understanding the current national debate on illegal immigration and the overall historical experiences of immigrants in Washington State (WA), this study critically investigated how news articles published in WA represented Mexican immigrants. As a crucial point of departure from prior …

American Perceptions Of Iran, Avery Bissett

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

American foreign policy in regards to Iran has been among the most visible stories in recent years and will certainly continue to be as negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program continue. Although many factors influence how Americans view other countries, one of the most important factors is the media and how it covers Iran. In addition to investigating how specific media outlets shape our views of Iran, it will also investigate how the medium (print, TV, online, radio) influences our perception. It will use data from the 2012 American National Election Study, which asked participants whether they believe Iran is pursuing …

Digital Takeover Of News: Journalism As A Public Service In The Social Media Age, Jenny Hauser

Conference Papers

Research into the use of social media by news organisations to source information and user-generated content has shown substantial changes in the news production process. It is argued that these changes are resulting in increased access to established mainstream media for ordinary citizens, mainly through citizen-journalism.

To date, the news industry has been fixated on how free information and visual content shared on social media platforms can be sourced and verified in such a way that standards of accuracy are maintained. While news organisations focus on reaping the benefits of citizen-journalism on social networks, a growing trend of de-professionalisation in …

More Than Just An Image: Pop Culture Representations Of Latinxs And The Immigration Debate, Vanessa Reyes

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

No abstract provided.

The Western Way: Democracy And The Media Assistance Model, Daire Higgins

Articles

International media assistance took off during a time where the ideological extremes of USA vs. USSR were set to disappear. Following the Cold War, international relations focused on democracy building, and nurturing independent media was embraced as a key part of this strategy. Fukayama called it the ‘End of History’, the fact that all other ideologies had fallen and Western style democracy was set to become the one common ideology. The US and UK led the way in media assistance, with their liberal ideas of a free press, bolstered by free market capitalism. America was the superpower, and forged the …

Media Narratives And Drug Prohibition: A Content Analysis Of Themes And Strategies Promoted In Network News Coverage, 2000-2013, Maria M. Orsini

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Illicit drugs and drug users have been criminalized and stigmatized in social life and in mass media for more than a century in the United States. Researchers have reasoned that media accounts have contributed to the social construction of drug use as deviant behavior. Depictions of drugs and drug users which utilize alarmist rhetoric have been prevalent in media discourse and have targeted allegedly disreputable populations. The ideology which underpins drug prohibition, punitive public attitudes, and media sensationalism has contributed to the tendency of American society to disallow alternative approaches. This study examines the contribution of televised news broadcasts in …

“Rip It!”: A Juxtapositional And Critical Discourse Analysis Of Gender Violence In 3 Tyler Perry Films, Avina Ross

Graduate Research Posters

This qualitative study uses juxtapositional, intersectional and critical discourse analyses as one composite framework to assess Black female victimness and matriarchy in three Tyler Perry films. Findings exposed a transitional archetype model consisting of 5 domains (Victim, Bitterfruit, Matriarch, Forgiver and Princess) whereby victimized characters are portrayed using racist and sexist stereotypes. Additionally, rich juxtapositions in the films with regard to Black female victimness and matriarchy were also revealed. These juxtapositions play out in the transitional archetype model and reiterate a harmful racist gendered stereotype: strong, Black women (matriarchs) are not and cannot, by way of their strength, aggressiveness and …

Much Of Society's Unrest Caused By Barrage Of Negative Stereotypes In Films, Anthony Major

UCF Forum

Everybody has a perception about what the image of art should say – or not say – but few have an informed opinion. The power of the communicative arts transcends the mere power to inform. That power is used in film, television, newspapers, radio, art, magazines, music, theatre and the new social media network as a means of influencing and shaping attitudes by providing images and opinions.

A Hot Mess: Knowing Juliet Through Accidental Encounters In Popular Culture, Kirk Hendershott-Kraetzer

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Speed In Context: Real-Time News Reporting And Social Media, Jenny Hauser

Conference Papers

Dubbed the ‘tyranny of real time’, the immense acceleration of the news cycle poses serious challenges to professional journalism. As news media struggle to keep up with the speed at which news is reported on social media while maintaining journalistic standards of accuracy, real-time coverage is blamed for de-contextualising news events. While reports may be accurate, the question asked is if they also show the truth? This paper compares the effects of the real-time news coverage of both the Ukrainian uprising and the Gaza-Israel conflict in the summer of 2014, examining how context was shaped and relayed in both instances.

Cybertheology: Thinking Christianity In The Era Of The Internet, Antonio Spadaro S.J., Maria Way

Religion

How has Christianity and theology changed in the wake of the internet and mass communication? Tracing concepts in media studies, anthropology, and theology, Spadaro investigates this complex and enlightening topic.

Are Approval Ratings An Accurate Reflection Of Success? Effects Of Media Coverage On Public Opinion Of Colin Powell, Michaela Dalton

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Convergence Culture On Spectatorship, Amanda Marcus

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Media convergence has changed how we receive and process information. No longer are we passive spectators, but we are part of the media we consume. Because of the explosion of technology since the turn of the century and a new definition of spectatorship, producers of media can no longer control how their messages are received; they have to engage their audience and listen to feedback in order to remain functioning. Fellow peers serve as informants or as a new source of media. This also affects our individual identities, which shapes our cultural identity. Social media enables us to present ourselves …

Defining The Audience: Redefining Public Service, Ann-Marie Murray

Books/Book chapters

No abstract provided.

From Superhero To Human: A Genealogical Criticism Of Depictions Of Police Officers In Media From The 1970s To The Present, Samantha Wendy Ann Neher

Communication Studies

This senior project suggests that media depictions of law enforcement encourage viewers to adopt certain viewpoints towards police officers. In addition, the more realistic and humanizing that these presentations become, the more positive that the general public’s perceptions of police officers become. By utilizing a genealogical criticism of eight different law enforcement movies, and with support from public opinion polls and the communication theory of Cultivation, this paper will exemplify how the above statement is true.

The Criterion Of Quality: A Paratextual Analysis Of The Criterion Collection In The Age Of Digital Distribution, Jonathan Charles Hyatt

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

In 2011, home-video distribution company, The Criterion Collection, teamed up with streaming-content provider Hulu, extending their business model to include online streaming to subscribers through Hulu Plus. With the rise of Over-The-Top (OTT) media distribution services into the at-home market, the question that Criterion now faces is: how will the company survive as the market shifts away from Criterion’s established values? And, more pertinently, how does Criterion, by rebranding their image to compete in the streaming market, hope to attract new users without alienating their established fan base or sacrificing their brand identity? This thesis examines the Criterion Collection’s brand …

Blind Advocacy: Blind Readers, Disability Theory, And Accessing John Gower, Jonathan Hsy

Accessus

Toward the end of his life, medieval poet John Gower (d. 1408) composed Latin poetry about his own progressive blindness, and later nineteenth-century Blind readers appropriated Gower’s work as part of a platform to advocate for changed perceptions and opportunities for the blind and other people with disabilities. In this essay, I approach nineteenth-century narrative compilations of blind lives (which include Gower’s) as transformative acts of literary historiography. These compilers not only appropriate the medieval blind poet to advance their own social and political ends, but they also create a new disability-centered approach to the entire Western artistic tradition. I …

The Unrecognized Problem: An Analysis Of Masculinity Stereotypes In Advertising Across Six Channels, Darcy Semmler

Honors Thesis

Because advertising relies on simplifications to get messages across more quickly, gendered stereotypes are prevalent in advertising media messages, and have been well- researched for their content and effects. Researchers have been more critical of the messages that perpetuate stereotypes involving women, but have focused less on the stereotypes men must face. This thesis uses content analysis to examine commercials on six channels for the frequency of male or female voiceovers and the frequency in which men and women appear in commercial advertisements. The analysis also investigates the masculinity stereotypes present in the commercials in comparison to neutral or gender- …

Does Movie Viewing Cultivate Unrealistic Expectations About Love And Marriage?, Lauren F. E. Galloway

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The present study examines the association between consumption of media messages via movie viewing and endorsement of ideals and expectations about romantic relationships in a university-based sample of 228 respondents. Frequent viewing of romantic comedy and drama films was significantly and positively correlated with idealized notions that love conquers all, greater expectations for intimacy, and endorsement of the eros love style. Viewing preference for romantic movies was also significantly and positively correlated with fantasy rumination and marital intentions. However, participants who frequently watched romantic movies did not endorse beliefs in sexual perfection, mindreading, or disagreement disallowance. Implications of the findings …

#Yo Soy 132 And Occupy: Social Movements And The Media, Elizabeth A. Crumpacker

Scripps Senior Theses

I am comparing the tactics of Mexican youth movement #Yo Soy 132 and Occupy to better understand how these groups work against the hegemonic views presented by mass media. I aim to understand the media structures in Mexico and the United States through the lens of these social groups and consider how they are similar or different. I also take into consideration societal structures, such as varying levels of Internet access, that influence the way these groups function. These movements are in constant flux and their interaction with the public is changing everyday, but I hope to provide some insight …

Recognition For The ‘Beautiful Jewess’: Beauty Queens Crowned By Modern Jewish Print Media, Kerry Wallach

German Studies Faculty Publications

This chapter demonstrates how women’s bodies were appropriated (in times of adversity) to promote Jewishness and Jewish ethnic/racial body aesthetics in a variety of locations, including Europe (Germany, Poland, Hungary), Tel Aviv, Argentina, and the United States.