Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Censorship, Pandemic, And The Field Of Power: The Death And Revival Of A Chinese War Epic, Zhaoxi Liu

Communication Faculty Research

This case study examines the dramatic change of fortune of the Chinese war epic “The Eight Hundred”. The movie was censored in 2019 during China’s celebration of the country’s 70th anniversary but became the market-saving hero in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Through the lens of Bourdieu’s theory of the field of cultural production, this study argues that the movie’s changing fate is essentially the change of its political, symbolic and economic capitals, under different field conditions. The subfield of commercial films in China is subject to the control of political and economic forces in the field …

Spinning At The Border: Employee Activism In 'Big Pr', Camille Reyes

Communication Faculty Research

This article extends Coombs and Holladay’s (2018) social issues management model to provide new perspectives on activism and public relations. It also fills a gap in the literature on internal activism by analyzing the case of The Ogilvy Group and their employees, many of whom pushed for the agency to resign its work for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Through a textual analysis of a leaked transcript documenting a meeting between Ogilvy management and internal activist employees, the communicative tasks of definition, legitimation, and awareness (Coombs & Holladay, 2018) are explored in a way that complicates identity and power. As …

Illusion Vs. Disillusion: Chinese Viewers' Articulation Of "House Of Cards", Zhaoxi Liu

Communication Faculty Research

This study explores how Chinese viewers articulate the meaning of the Netflix series “House of Cards” through analyzing viewer comments posted on Sohu Video, which streamed the show in China. A qualitative textual analysis of the comments reveals that the Sohu viewers turned the commenting of the show into articulations of democracy and China’s political conditions. In their articulation, some endorsed American democracy as a superb political system, while others resented it as being dark and corrupt, similar to the one in China. Still other viewers made a connection between “Cards” with China’s lack of freedom of speech. These connections …

The Video Essay As Cumulative And Recursive Scholarship, Patrick Keating

Communication Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Blurring Boundaries: Exploring Tweets As A Legitimate Journalism Artifact, Zhaoxi Liu, D. Berkowitz

Communication Faculty Research

This study explores journalists’ use of Twitter and what it means for their craft. Based on 8 weeks newsroom observation and more than a dozen in-depth interviews with reporters and editors at a big metro newspaper, the study found that journalists had contradicting views on whether or not to accept tweets, a form of snippet artifact, as a legitimate journalism artifact, leading to the blurring artifact boundary. Related, journalists faced uncertainties and ambiguities regarding the implications of such snippet artifact for the journalism craft and its core mission of informing the public.

Exploring The Dynamics In The Environmental Discourse: The Longitudinal Interaction Among Public Opinion, Presidential Opinion, Media Coverage, Policymaking In 3 Decades And An Integrated Model Of Media Effects, Qingjiang Yao, Zhaoxi Liu, L. F. Stephens

Communication Faculty Research

Using data on environmental issues drawn from 41 series of poll questions and federal outlay in 43 years (1965-2007) and a content analysis of newspaper articles, television news summaries, and presidential documents in 28 years (1980-2007), with the multivariate Granger Causality test based on Vector Autoregression (VAR) models and bivariate Granger Causality (F and Chi-squire) tests, the study finds that public opinion has little influences on federal environmental expenditure in the past several decades. It also finds that for the presidents, the media, and the public, their agendas (volume of information) cause a change in the agenda and frame building …

Reading The Myth Of American Freedom: The U.S. Immigration Video, Camille Reyes

Communication Faculty Research

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) department offers immigrants wishing to naturalize, or become citizens, a package of study aids for the citizenship test, including a video. This essay argues that the video is much more than a study aid; it furthers the myth of American freedom, a myth that effectively erases the struggles of marginalized groups. Situated within critical cultural studies and semiotics, the essay describes the content of the video and interprets the myth. The deployment of diversity is considered, along with implications for immigrants who intersect with some of the marginalized or absent groups.

An Experimental Examination Of Binge Watching And Narrative Engagement, Sarah E. Erickson, Sonya Dal Cin, H. Byl

Communication Faculty Research

Increasingly, audiences are engaging with media narratives through the practice of binge watching. The effects of binge watching are largely unknown, although early research suggests binge watching may be motivated by a need for escape and could be associated with some qualities of addiction. In this study, we ask whether the practice of binge watching impacts audience engagement with a media narrative. Using an experimental approach, we manipulate the format of exposure to media narratives (binge or nonbinge) and test the effect of this manipulation on audience engagement, specifically parasocial relationships with favorite characters and narrative transportation. Results suggest that …

Rapper Gai, Style And Hegemony In China: Examining A Transformation From Jianghu Liu To Xinhua Liu, Zhaoxi Liu

Communication Faculty Research

Unlike several studies on rap musicians and the lyrics of their songs, this study examines both obvious and obtuse meaning embedded in the styles of Chinese Rapper, GAI, and their implications for hegemony in his country. Following state censorship, GAI changed his style from that of a gangster to a patriot. On the surface, the style change indicates sustaining the hegemony upheld by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). However, this study argues that the state crackdown on hip hop culture, its styles included, engenders a paradox for hegemony in China.

"Glued To The Sofa": Exploring Guilt And Television Binge-Watching Behaviors, Charles N. Wagner

Communication Honors Theses

In order to better understand the various aspects of television binge-watching behaviors and determine how guilt coincides with binge viewership, researchers administered a survey to 530 adults. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of responses suggested that viewers who watch less TV overall feel guiltier about binge-watching. Comedies and dramas were the most often binged genres, though viewers who binge-watched teen dramas felt guiltiest. Streaming services and digital video recorders (DVRs) were the most common platforms used for binge-watching television; those who used streaming services felt high levels of guilt afterwards, while those who used DVRs felt very little. Results indicated that …

“Holy Agency, Batgirl!”: Evaluating Young Adult Superheroines’ Agency In Gotham Academy And Ms. Marvel, Catherine Clark

Communication Honors Theses

This study utilizes textual analysis to understand the representation of two female protagonists’, Kamala Khan and Olive Silverlock, agency within the first volume of Ms. Marvel and Gotham Academy. Crossing comic worlds, this study seeks to determine whether or not these representations align with any waves of feminism, or continue postfeminist dialogue within media. Panel by panel, word by word, expression by expression, this researcher notes, categorizes, and analyzes these protagonists’ words marked as text, behaviors performed, and expressions shown through artistic representation on the page.

Situated on a cross-roads between postfeminism and the potential fourth wave of feminism, …

Cui Jian: Extolling Idealism Yet Advocating For Freedom Through Rock Music In China, Zhaoxi Liu

Communication Faculty Research

Examining Cui Jian's songs as text, this study attempted to provide a reading of its political meaning that is different from many previous studies. Through a textual analysis of the revolutionary symbols in four of Cui's hits, this study found that the political meaning of Cui's songs is much more nuanced than a simple oppositional message, as he simultaneously endorses the Communist rule for its idealism and disavows it for its political suppression. Being China's first rocker, Cui Jian is politicized by the social discourse surrounding him as well as his own expressions, as he pursues his idealism and identity …

Toward Omnipresent Journalism: A Case Study Of The Real Time Coverage Of The San Antonio Spurs 2014 Nba Championship Game, Zhaoxi Liu

Communication Faculty Research

Based on a field study, this paper examines how the San Antonio Express News practiced omnipresent journalism in its coverage of the Spurs’ NBA 2014 championship game. This study refines the concept of omnipresent journalism as having two dimensions: time (real-time coverage) and space (on multiple platforms); and consisting of three rounds of news presentation: live tweets, real-time website updates and print paper. Such omnipresent journalism primes mobile journalism and requires journalists to be proficient in multitasking while prioritizing their tasks. Meanwhile, in the omnipresent news environment, journalists have perceived the print newspaper as the holy grail of quality journalism. …

Media Use And Postmaterialist Values In China And The Us: A Comparative Study, Zhaoxi Liu

Communication Faculty Research

This study uses data from the 2005 wave of World Values Survey (WVS 2005), to explore and compare the relations between media use and postmaterialist value orientations in China and the US. The data analysis showed that the younger generations in China have stronger postmaterialist value orientations than the older generations. American society has stronger postmaterialist value orientations than Chinese society as a whole, but fewer obvious generational differences. The study also found that media use has a greater effect on values in China than in the US.

Increasing The Youth Vote: Communication Strategies For Nonprofits, Whitney Richards

Communication Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Honor Bound: The Casual Transmedia Game A Case Study Of A New Game Design Framework, Laura Schluckebier

Communication Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Fan Self-Identity In The Doctor Who Universe, Lyndsey Johnson

Communication Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Film For The Web, Rachel E. Rodgers

Communication Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Fragmented Liveness / Mediated Moments, Kristen R. Lovell

Speech & Drama Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

China's Official Media Portrayal Of Religion (1996-2005): Policy Change In A Desecularizing Society, Qingjiang Yao, D. A. Stout, Zhaoxi Liu

Communication Faculty Research

This content analysis of religion news coverage in the People's Daily during a 10-year period (1996–2005) found a more positive tone toward religion after 2001, when a significant policy change was announced by Chinese political leaders. The number of newspaper articles about religion increased steadily. Under-representation of Christianity suggested by previous studies was not found, but a prejudicial tone toward different religions was identified.

Dressing The Part: How Twilight Fans Self-Identify Through Dress At An Official Twilight Convention, Marisa Shipley

Communication Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Reality Hackers: The Next Wave Of Media Revolutionaries, Aaron A. Delwiche, Evan Barnett, Andrew Coe, Patrick Crim, Kendra Doshier, Christopher Dudley, Ender Ergun, Ashley Funkhouser, Cole Gray, Sarah Hellman, John Key, Christopher Kradle, Patrick Lynch, Shepherd Mcallister, Mark Mccullough, Justin Michaelson, Alyson Miller, Robin Murdoch, Aaron Passer, Maricela Rios, Laura Schluckebier, Raelle Smiley, Andrew Truelove, Richard Bartle, Annalee Newitz, Ekaterina Sedia, Steven Shaviro, R.U. Sirius

Faculty Authored and Edited Books & CDs

Just as the printing press gave rise to the nation-state, emerging technologies are reshaping collective identities and challenging our understanding of what it means to be human.

Should citizens have the right to be truly anonymous on-line? Should we be concerned about the fact that so many people are choosing to migrate to virtual worlds? Are injectible microscopic radio-frequency ID chips a blessing or a curse? Is the use of cognitive enhancing nootropics a human right or an unforgivable transgression? Should genomic data about human beings be hidden away with commercial patents or open-sourced like software? Should hobbyists known as …

Reincarnation; Or, How Bertolt Brecht Recreated Frank Wedekind, Jonathan Robert Glass Jr

Speech & Drama Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

"Glory, The Grape": Investigating Theatre, Intoxication, And Theatrical Intoxication, Chloe Rae Edmonson

Speech & Drama Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

“Let Us March Against The Fires Of Heaven:” Tamburlaine, Marlowe And Atheism, Nathaniel Beal

Speech & Drama Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Freedom In Dialogue : Huey Long, Father Coughlin, And Anti-Intellectualism In The Public Sphere, Ragan Updegaff

Speech & Drama Honors Theses

Senator Huey P. Long and radio priest Father Charles E. Coughlin were powerful forces in the public sphere of the United States in 1930. Often accused of being demagogues and Fascists, both men brought to the American people a message designed to relieve the suffering that had taken the country during the Depression. This message was rooted in the tradition of American Populism in which they had both grown up. The rhetoric of both men espoused faith in simple solutions and blamed Wall Street financiers, wealthy industrialists, and corrupt politicians for the hard times that had come. Just as interesting …

The Last Day On Earth: Encoding And Decoding Of Resistant Ideology In Music Video, Desiree Damon

Communication Honors Theses

According to Stuart Hall's theory of encoding and decoding, an audience member, based on their individual ideological perspectives, can read media texts in one of three ways: dominant, negotiated, or resistant. Hall's theory, however, also implies that the producer will always encode a dominant or hegemonic message. Given semantically messy texts like music videos, however, producers now have the freedom to either encode a dominant ideology or to resist it. In order for the audience to make sense of a resistant ideology, it must first be relevant to them. Their subject position, which includes personal experiences, as well as familiarity …

The Social Landscape: A Photojournalism Professor's Project, Gerald John Davey

Communication Faculty Research

Social landscape photography focuses upon aspects of our everyday environment and follows broadly in the tradition of straight, documentary photography. Significant digital manipulation acceptable in fine art photography, advertising, and increasingly in editorial photography, is out of place here. The social landscape photograph attempts to capture and replicate the initial visual experience or insight of the photographer. Such manipulation would undermine, over time, the fundamental believability of the image. On the other hand, the serendipitous nature of the subject matter and the widely varying conditions under which social landscape photographs are produced benefit greatly from the precise contrast control and …