Critical and Cultural Studies Commons^™

Framing Farming: Communication Strategies For Animal Rights, Carrie P. Freeman

Carrie P. Freeman

Lisa And Phoebe, Lone Vegetarian Icons: At Odds With Television’S Carnonormativity, Carrie P. Freeman

Carrie P. Freeman

In this chapter, I examine how human privilege operates by studying the characterization of ethical vegetarianism as an alternative lifestyle and comedic fodder in primetime television. The rebellious dietary choices of Lisa on "The Simpsons" and Phoebe on "Friends" provide an opportunity to analyze the construction of animal rights identities and how that is perceived and negotiated by the meat-eating (carnistic) mainstream. I articulate how, and to what extent, these smart and strong vegetarian females serve as a challenge to the hegemony of carnism, an ideology that psychologist Melanie Joy (2010) says normalizes the practice of using and consuming certain …

Was Blind But Now I See: Animal Liberation Documentaries’ Deconstruction Of Barriers To Witnessing Injustice, Carrie Packwood Freeman, Scott Tulloch

Carrie P. Freeman

Many pro-animal documentaries are built around footage taken by undercover animal activists uncovering abuses in industries such as agriculture and fishing, fur, marine parks, and biomedical research labs. This analysis explores the central role of undercover activist footage in recent documentaries: Earthlings, The Cove, The Witness, Peaceable Kingdom, Behind the Mask, Fowl Play, and Dealing Dogs. Considering both form and function, I investigate how this undercover footage works in terms of providing an inherent critique of power in our relationship with nonhuman animals – a sense of witnessing a crime that is an injustice both in terms of causing animal …

Consuming Nature: Mass Media And The Cultural Politics Of Animals And Environments, Carrie Packwood Freeman, Jason Jarvis

Carrie P. Freeman

The commercially-driven mass media package human identity and all our surrounding environment for daily consumption in the public sphere. It is of critical importance whether media choose to ignore humanity’s responsibility toward the natural world and simply have us consume it as a product, or whether they actively cultivate ecological responsibility and newfound respect toward animals as fellow sentient beings. This chapter explores the necessity, potential, and challenges of relying on the media (journalism, television, advertising, film, radio, internet, etc.) to inspire the social change needed to reverse the destructive behaviors and beliefs that are contributing to our global ecological …

This Little Piggy Went To Press: The American News Media's Construction Of Animals In Agriculture, Carrie Packwood Freeman

Carrie P. Freeman

This textual analysis examines the representations of farmed animals in national print and broadcast news discourse in over 100 stories published from 2000-2003. Findings show these American news media largely support the speciesist status quo by favoring elite viewpoints and failing to provide balance. Although exceptions are provided, news media often objectify nonhuman animals discursively through: 1) commodification, 2) failure to acknowledge their emotional perspectives, and 3) failure to describe them as inherently-valuable individuals.

Pardon Your Turkey And Eat Him Too: Antagonism Over Meat-Eating In The Discourse Of The Presidential Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning, Carrie Packwood Freeman, Oana Leventi Perez

Carrie P. Freeman

To celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday for at least the last twenty years, the President of the United States has hosted a press conference where he uses his executive powers to pardon the life of a turkey gifted to him from the National Turkey Federation, an agribusiness industry group. Considering the reality that the President (and millions of Americans) will indeed eat a turkey as the traditional centerpiece of their Thanksgiving meal, this utopian spectacle of a life-saving public pardon for one bird reveals an antagonism – a discursive rupture disclosing an opening between the hegemonic advertising rhetoric of the meat …

Stepping Up To The Veggie Plate: Framing Veganism As Living Your Values, Carrie Packwood Freeman

Carrie P. Freeman

America’s animal rights organizations have increasingly focused on vegetarian campaigns to protect the growing number of animals who are farmed and fished. But on what basis do these animal rights organizations promote plant-based diets in ways that will resonate with a meat-eating American public? To determine how animal rights organizations align their values with those of the public, this textual analysis examines how values are framed in the print and electronic food advocacy campaign messages of five national animal organizations in 2008. Findings reveal that campaigns associate veganism with altruism, health, environmental responsibility, and humanitarianism. Campaigns appeal to Americans based …