Entertainment Studies 2007 Abstracts
Entertainment Studies Interest Group
The effect of the writers’ Communist ideology on the 1950s Television Series The Adventures of Robin Hood • Mary Blue, Tulane University • The Adventures of Robin Hood was produced in England and first aired in England, Canada and the United States between 1955 and 1958. The show is a perfect choice for a content analysis of the television writing of blacklisted communist writers since recent articles have added to the list of blacklisted writers, the series to which they contributed, the pseudonyms used by most of the writers, and what is known about their level of participation.
Too Late to Make it Right? Country music, patriotism, & the Dixie Chicks • Naeemah Clark, Kenneth Levine and Daniel Haygood, University of Tennessee • In March 2003, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines told a London audience, “Just so you know….we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” In the days following this statement, the Dixie Chicks were ostracized by the country music community. Radio stopped playing their music and some former fans publicly tore photos and destroyed their CDs.
The Scope of Music and Film Piracy on College Campuses: A Study of Knowledge, Behaviors, and Perceptions • Victoria Smith Ekstrand and Terry Rentner, Bowling Green State University • The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the scope of music and film piracy on campus as the basis for effective anti-piracy education programs. The study concluded that students thought their peers illegally downloaded more than was the case; that students don’t understand the laws regarding file sharing; and that they don’t perceive their actions to be unethical. The study recommends that such findings be addressed in the creation of anti-piracy campaigns.
Violently Sexy: A Content Analysis of Newspapers’ Schizophrenic Coverage of Violence in Videogames • Howard Fisher, affiliation • Videogame controversy has grown over the years, most recently with the release of “Grand Theft Auto III” that buried graphic sex scenes deep inside the game. The news media have wrung their hands at the content while also praising the games through glowing reviews. This content analysis of videogame articles from 1991-2006 analyzes the language used to discuss videogame violence and finds that it changes when the article is an editorial vs. a review (X2 (50, 934), = 571.609, p < .001).”
Sexuality on Network TV: A Comparison of Sexual References and Behavior by Gay/Lesbian and Heterosexual Characters • Rhonda Gibson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Joe Bob Hester, Texas Tech University • Critics have claimed that although the number of gay and lesbian characters on network television shows is increasing, they are portrayed as less sexual than straight characters because of television executives’ fears of offending viewers. This content analysis of references to romance or sexuality and sexual behavior indeed found disparities between heterosexual and homosexual characters.
What Encourages Online Sports Fan’s Gratification? • Moonki Hong and Arthur A. Raney, Florida State University • Sports websites are among the most popular sites on the Internet. Using survey responses among 442 individuals, the current study investigates why frequent visitors (online sports fans, n=299) of sports information or news websites (e.g., ESPN.com, Yahoo!Sports.com, etc.) use their favorite sites. Based on Uses and Gratification (U&G) approaches and discussion of mediated sports events, three key antecedents of attitude toward and satisfaction with the sites are identified: entertainment, informativeness, and perceived interactivity.
Simplification and Entertainment in the Public Sphere: Habermas Reconsiders the Mass Culture Critique • Thomas Hove, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This commentary traces revisions in Habermas’s normative assessments of mass culture, the mass media, and their influence on the public sphere. The early Habermas emphasized the public sphere’s critical function of holding state authority to public account. But his recent work assigns it the neutral, pragmatic functions of disseminating information and seizing public attention. Correspondingly, he has reconsidered his earlier critique by recognizing the positive political functions of mass media simplification and entertainment.
The potential for crime dramas to educate: Popular crime dramas and knowledge about sexual violence • Stacey J.T. Hust, Moon Lee, Ana Haase-Reed and Mija Shin, Washington State University • A survey of 934 college students indicated viewers of crime dramas were more likely to believe that sexual violence is more prevalent than what is portrayed on television, yet they were more aware that sexual violence is often committed by non-strangers. Given that an awareness of who is likely to commit the crime is instrumental to preventing sexual violence, these findings indicate that future research should investigate the potential educational impact of crime dramas.
Emulate the style: A content analysis of body image and social behaviors in teen-centered films • Tahlea Jankoski, Brigham Young University • The purpose of this study was to evaluate body image and social behaviors in teen-centered movies. This film sample was chosen to understand the common messages being presented to adolescents as they can emulate the images and behaviors disseminated by their celebrity peers. A content analysis found an overrepresentation of underweight or average weight characters, limiting the portrayal of overweight characters. It also found negative associations existed between overweight images and social characteristics.
Western news media complicity in the shameless spectacle of Borat • Rick Kenney, University of Central Florida • Western news media reporters and editors abandoned their ethics in their complicity in publicizing, projecting, and promoting the image of Borat Sagdiyev, protagonist in the wildly successful feature-length film Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan as a racist, sexist and anti-Semitic documentary journalist from Kazakhstan.
Coping with Loss: The Use of Media and Entertainment as a Mood-Management Device • Cynthia King and Rebecca Calagna, Cal State Fullerton • This study examined how people use media and entertainment to cope with feelings of grief resulting from relational loss. Adults in divorce support participated in a survey study on coping with loss and entertainment preferences. Consistent with predictions based on mood management, catharsis and empathy theories, participants indicated film and music preferences consistent with their stage in Kubler-Ross’s five stage grief process.
Doing what is “necessary”: The legitimization of torture on Fox’s 24 • K. Maja Krakowiak, Pennsylvania State • As the topic of torture gains prominence in news reports, its depiction in media content becomes worthy of examination. This paper examines the use of torture on Fox Network’s show, 24, and argues that the show focuses on the necessity of such techniques for the preservation of national security while eliminating discussion of alternatives to torture, and discrediting calls for the upholding of human rights. The implications of these depictions are discussed.
Glen, Stacey, and Me, Too…?: Textual Analysis of 2004 Starbucks Advertising Campaigns • Ji Hoon Lee, University of Florida • This study examines, compares, and contrasts the texts of DoubleShot Espresso and Frappuccino TV commercials by Starbucks in 2004. The study text-analyzes and describes key elements that are essential to the foundation of true message and moral behind the ads and explores what make them entertaining, yet equally appealing and persuasive. By combining humor and music, the commercials allow us to identify with the main characters and the situations depicted in the texts.
Popular Music Nostalgia: A Refined Approach • Ji Hoon Lee, University of Florida • Although any culture can be defined by its nostalgia, there is little scholarly work on nostalgia as a cultural phenomenon as exemplified in the historical re-emergence of the pop music of the past. By explicating the concept of nostalgia and by providing historical examples, the study focuses on the proliferation of nostalgia in popular music, including discussion on the retrograde tendencies and general characteristics of nostalgia in popular music.
Through the Eyes of Pornography: The perceptions men come to hold about women • Jaime Loke, University of Texas • Numerous studies have emerged about the role of pornography in social and sexual behavior as well as the wellbeing of the consumers’ psychological health. This study examined the perceptions of women from men who were heavy consumers of pornography. Obtaining testimonials from men who reported to watch more than an hour of pornography daily, similar patterns amongst the interviews surfaced during the analyses of the transcripts. The results revealed the men’s skewed perceptions of women.
A Common Media Culture? Patterns of Magazines, Movies, and Music Among Early Adolescents • Carol J. Pardun, Middle Tennessee State University, Jane D. Brown and Kelly Ladin L’Engle, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • A sample of Black and White early adolescents (Mean age: 12.8 years; N= 2,942) completed media use questionnaires, noting which magazines they read, which musicians they listened to regularly, and which movies they had seen recently. Comparisons by race and gender found few commonalities across demographic groups. Blockbuster movies and a few of the most popular rap musicians were consumed by large proportions of males and females and Blacks and Whites.
Dora the Explorer: Giving Power to Preschoolers, Girls, and Latinas • Erin Ryan, The University of Georgia • “Dora the Explorer” is a highly successful animated program on Nickelodeon; its title character has captured the imaginations of children across the globe. This study examined Dora within the framework of Gramsci’s hegemony, exploring how the program is changing the “face” of children’s television while giving power to three traditionally powerless groups: preschoolers, girls, and Latinas. Two episodes of the program were analyzed: “Dora Saves the Prince” and “Dora’s Fairytale Adventure.”
From “Where the Boys Are” to “I am Curious Yellow”: Sex in the Cinema 1960-1968 • Danny Shipka, University of Florida • This paper examines the few short years between 1960 and 1968 when sexuality in the movies moved out of the backrooms of private projectionists and into the mainstream of popular culture. Considered landmark years for the abolishment of censorship in motion pictures due to court actions, government intervention and the changing social morals of the mass population, the paper will look at the films and auteurs that successfully navigated the changing political and cultural waters.”
“The Daily Show Effect” Revisited: Satire’s contributions to political participation in trust in young audiences • Daxton Stewart, University of Missouri • In 2006, Baumgartner and Morris examined what they called “The Daily Show Effect,” which suggested that viewership of the humor-based news show on Comedy Central corresponded with an increase in political efficacy but a decrease in perceptions of trustworthiness of candidates. This effect was further examined in this study in the context of political participation and trust in politicians in general.
Scenarios USA: Identity Construction, Friendship and Male Narratives in Entertainment-education • Kallia Wright, Ohio University • This paper presents the findings of a textual analysis of three short films produced from the 2004 Scenarios USA scriptwriting competition. These are entertainment-education products which first present characters with evolving identities. Second, all three films emphasize the role of peers in defining identities and demonstrating behaviors. We also observe that in the construction of male identity, men are often defined as being irresponsible. However, counternarratives are presented which resist negative definitions of men.
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