Entertainment Studies 2003 Abstracts
Entertainment Studies Interest Group
Rise and Fall of News and Entertainment: The Impact of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on Uses and Gratifications of Web Searchers • Debashis “Deb” Aikat and Cary Roberts Frith, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This paper examined the impact of 9/11 terrorist attacks on uses and gratifications of Web searchers. Grounded on uses and gratifications (U&G) theories, this paper analyzed Web search trends before and after 9/11 to explore how the information-seeking behavior of Web users’ changed as a result of the terrorist attacks. This study analyzed actual search terms and keywords entered by users of the Internet’s leading search engine Google <http://www.google.com/> in August September and October 2001.
Big Brother And The T-Group: How We Might Learn From Reality Television • Rod Allen, City University-London, and Nod Miller, University of East London-UK • In this paper the authors draw out the considerable parallels between the Big Brother television format, and those like it, and the Mini-Society and Mini-Economy experiments which developed from Kurt Lewin’s T-group methodology of the 1940s and which were used by academics to study social psychology and group dynamics. It is doubted that the originators of the Big Brother format were aware of these experiments, but ways of learning both from the academic processes and from Big Brother-style television programs are suggested in the paper.
Queer as Folk Audience Study: Gay Males, Social Support and Para-social Involvement in Identity Construction or Reinforcement • Laetitia J. Baehr, Hawaii Pacific • This paper investigated how the gay males audience, watch Queer as Folk, was actively involved in this drama, and was likely to engaged in Para-social interactions and self-identifications with television characters, which in turn would help them to construct a positive gay identity. This study extended the findings on psychological origins of media uses in the tradition of uses and gratifications, particularly in terms of how the audience developed or reinforced self-identity, while using media contents.
Humor in Pulitzer Award Editorial Cartoons 1922-1997 • Yun Jung Choi, Missouri • This study examined how humor was used in editorial cartoons that depicted international issues in terms of functions, objects of ridicules, and ways of expression: Function investigated whether humor in cartoons brought social cohesion or conflict to American readers; The objects of ridicules were divided into U.S. and foreign countries; and the way humor was expressed examined whether the humor was used directly or indirectly.
Learning to Cook: Applying Constructivist Learning Theory to Television and Online Programming • Michele Costanza and Ann Brill, Kansas • This paper examines how an audience for TV Food Network interacts with its Web counterpart, FoodTV.com, and assesses how and what learning occurs. The study’s hypotheses were developed using constructivist learning theory, examining how adults learn from using the Web. Studies show that compared to other media, the Web provides a broader experience for self-directed learners. A constructivist curriculum model is applied in three phases to the TV Food Network and FoodTV.com as an example of how audiences construct knowledge.
Sexual Content in Promotional Ads: Contributions of Visual Aspects to Exposure • John Davies, Alabama • Promotional advertisements from the February 2003 sweeps were content analyzed for verbal and visual elements of sexual content. Nearly forty percent of the promos contained some aspect of sexuality, which represents an increase over previous years. Duration of the visual aspects of the promos did not predict exposure to the programs advertised as measured by Nielsen ratings. However, visual intensity of the sexual content significantly predicted exposure to programs.
Hegemony and Counterhegemony in Bravo’s Gay Weddings • Erika Engstrom, Nevada • Gay Weddings, a new reality series on the cable channel Bravo, follows four gay and lesbian couples as they plan and subsequently participate in their weddings, or commitment ceremonies. While these couples challenge the heterosexuality inherent in the wedding ceremony, they simultaneously also follow wedding traditions. In this paper, the author examines how the program evidences both a counterhegemony and hegemony within the context of how mass media portray the wedding in contemporary society.
Media Tools in Adolescents’ Bedrooms • Stacey J.T. Hust, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • Much research has focused on the media’s presence in the home, but rarely have scholars considered the presence of media in adolescents’ private spaces such as their bedrooms. The few studies that have looked at adolescents’ private ownership of media have not fully analyzed the differences in ownership by demographic factors. This study reveals differences in media ownership in the bedrooms of a large sample of early adolescents by race, gender, and economic status.
Television Viewing And Attitude Toward Marriage: Does Program Genre Make A Difference? • Sara Baker Netzley, Southern Illinois • This study examined the relationship between attitude toward marriage and television program genres. Statistical analysis found no relationship between nine program genres and attitude toward marriage and no relationship between nine demographic variables and attitude toward marriage. However, post hoc analyses found that as sitcom viewing increases. attitude toward marriage decreases, and that children of married or widowed parents were more positive about marriage than children of divorced or never-married parents.
Judging a Movie by its Cover: a Content Analysis of Sexual Portrayals on Video Jacket Rentals • Mary Beth Oliver, Omatayo Banjo and Jinhee Kim, Penn State • A content analysis of video rental jackets was conducted to examine the prevalence and nature of sexual portrayals. The most common types of sexuality observed were attractive characters and characters in sexy clothing and with skin exposed. Female characters on the jackets were more likely than male characters to be portrayed in sexual ways, and films for violent genres were particularly likely to feature sexual portrayals.
The Elements of “Weekend Update”: Informing and Influencing Through Late-Night Comedy • Aaron Reincheld, Ohio • During the first five years of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” 1975- 1980, the news parody “Weekend Update” reached 30 million viewers each Saturday, disseminating alternative viewpoints on the noteworthy or absurd week’s events. “SNL” founders, such as creator and producer Lorne Michaels, saw their parody as more than entertainment, considering it as important as any newspaper, magazine, or television show. “Weekend Update” not only became a news outlet, but influenced politics and loosened censors’ restrictions.
Beyond Modem Racism: Backlash and Brutality on “The Shield” • John D. Richardson, Michigan State • This paper examines representations of race in popular U.S. culture through a textual analysis of the cable television series, The Shield. Significations of modem racism and hegemonic racial ideology are examined. Focusing on the construction of white, black and Latino identities, and relationships among them, ways in which The Shield promotes overt racism, including backlash and police brutality against racial minorities, are also considered. Theoretical implications for popular conceptions concerning race and crime are discussed.
Narrative Structure in Sex and the City. “I Couldn’t Help But Wonder…” • Cindy Royal, Texas • Sex and the City uses a unique narrative structure to portray the complex issues faced by single women. Each episode, the central theme is posed by the main character as she ponders a topic for her weekly column. This device performs several functions that aid in illustrating the meaning of the single woman and creating identification with the audience: voiceover narration and the development of spectatorship, construction of multiple meanings, and women’s relationship with technology.
Making it Personal: How Personality Affects Identification and Enjoyment of Heroes, Villains and Ambiguously Valenced Characters • Meghan S. Sanders, Penn State • While communication researchers recognize that the relationship between views and media characters is a large part of involvement with the media, there has not been a systematic examination of the direct and combined effects of personality and type of character (hero, villain, etc.) upon identification and enjoyment. Is it something within ourselves that makes characters more or less attractive and appealing?
Rated “R” For Reactance: The Application of Psychological Reactance Theory to the Likelihood of College Students for Viewing Films Based on Motion Picture Association of America Ratings • Aaron J. Siskow, Iowa State • This study searched for evidence of psychological reactance outlined by Brehm (1966) as it pertains to college students’ likelihoods to view films based on their Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating. Reactance theory would suggest that college students are most likely to view NC-17 films, followed by R films, PG-13, PG, and G. Results failed to display this but suggested that year in school, gender, and personal value characteristics all affect likelihood to view.
Crime, Romance and Sex: Washington Women Journalists in Recent Popular Fiction • Stacey L. Spaulding, Columbia Union College and Maurine Beasley, Maryland • This study of thirteen novels portraying Washington women journalists finds their portrayals have improved since 1990 when one authority concluded that most novels showed women as “unfulfilled unfortunates.” The fictional women in this study, featured most prominently in detective stories, are eager to expose male corruption to further their careers but make little effort to change underlying social causes. These women are searching for relationships, but their careers still take precedent.
Violence in Televised Professional Wrestling: A Legitimate Cause for Concern? • Ron Tamborini, Paul Skalski, David Westerman and Kenneth Lachlan, Michigan State • We investigate physical violence in professional wrestling by applying the NTVS coding scheme (Wilson et al., 1997) to a sample of televised professional wrestling. Prevalence and context of wrestling violence was coded using NTVS categories on the nature of perpetrators/targets, types of acts, rewards and punishments, and consequences of violence. Comparisons were drawn between wrestling and NTVS’s broad sample of television.
Partisan Politics in Popular American Political Movies: An Analysis of the Framing of Republican Villains in Dave, The American President and The Contender • Juile Yiotas, Texas • Politician-as-villain is a common representation in American film. However, in this classic theme, the politician is often set in opposition to the average citizen. When the heroes and villains are all politicians, which characters are heroes and which are villains? This paper examines three movies in which the heroes and the villains are all politicians. It explores how movies construct villains and partisanship finding in all three cases that the villains are Republican.
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