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Title: Communicating space and time perception and ideology in online texts.
Creator: Dushi, Nava., Florida Atlantic University, Scodari, Christine
Abstract/Description: This thesis emerges from the realization of the paradox that lies beneath online technology which promises to change the way we think, yet penetrates our lives by employing a systematic simulation of our most basic cognitive skills. In order to understand this paradox in terms of space and time, the research examines the ways in which time and space are communicated on two disparate Internet websites. The assembled data are analyzed using an interdisciplinary approach that leads to a textual...
Show moreThis thesis emerges from the realization of the paradox that lies beneath online technology which promises to change the way we think, yet penetrates our lives by employing a systematic simulation of our most basic cognitive skills. In order to understand this paradox in terms of space and time, the research examines the ways in which time and space are communicated on two disparate Internet websites. The assembled data are analyzed using an interdisciplinary approach that leads to a textual analysis based in theories of semiotics. The study finds that the Internet is fundamentally framed in spatial terms. The space bias is ideologically significant; commercial websites use it to produce a textual environment that assimilates the user and, thus, enables the promotion of conspicuous consumption.
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Date Issued: 2002
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12905
Subject Headings: Mass media--Semiotics, Internet--Social aspects, Digital media, Mass media and culture
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Credibility and the Internet: can credibility levels indicate news medium choice?.
Creator: Herring, Katrina., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Political Science
Abstract/Description: The Internet has revolutionized the way in which people are entertained, communicate and collect information. As people increase their ability to connect with the outside world from inside their homes, they hold the power to become their own gatekeepers filtering information as they see fit. Many question whether this will weaken the power of the traditional media sources that are often seen as elitist and potentially biased. This researcher hypothesized that people who cite high credibility...
Show moreThe Internet has revolutionized the way in which people are entertained, communicate and collect information. As people increase their ability to connect with the outside world from inside their homes, they hold the power to become their own gatekeepers filtering information as they see fit. Many question whether this will weaken the power of the traditional media sources that are often seen as elitist and potentially biased. This researcher hypothesized that people who cite high credibility ratings of news media channels are more likely to use traditional media channels such as television and newspapers and people who cite low credibility ratings of news media channels are more likely to use alternate media channels such as the Internet. While the researcher was unable to reject the null hypothesis, a pattern of general mistrust of traditional news media was revealed when nearly three-fourths of respondents gave traditional media channels a "not-credible" rating.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927304
Subject Headings: Electronic information resources, Evaluation, Information behavior, Mass media, Social aspects, Mass media and technology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Flesh impressions: Television texts of cosmetic surgery and audience negotiation.
Creator: Hutton, Heather O'Neil., Florida Atlantic University, Scodari, Christine
Abstract/Description: Both incredibly personal and inherently social, cosmetic surgery procedures intended to reconfigure the body toward a more culturally acceptable physicality and the increase in television representations of the phenomenon provoke a complex debate regarding the social, psychological, medical and ethical implications of such practices. This thesis raises the question: Do television texts of cosmetic surgery and their potential consumers reproduce or challenge the hegemony of cosmetic surgery as...
Show moreBoth incredibly personal and inherently social, cosmetic surgery procedures intended to reconfigure the body toward a more culturally acceptable physicality and the increase in television representations of the phenomenon provoke a complex debate regarding the social, psychological, medical and ethical implications of such practices. This thesis raises the question: Do television texts of cosmetic surgery and their potential consumers reproduce or challenge the hegemony of cosmetic surgery as a cultural practice? Using qualitative, social scientific methodology to analyze current examples of such television texts and study viewer negotiation of these texts, the study concludes that television texts are most likely to present cosmetic surgery in ways that perpetuate hegemonic notions of beauty, and that while viewers may negotiate readings that suit their preconceived notions of cosmetic surgery, they are unlikely to condemn such messages for fear of compromising an individual's power to choose cosmetic surgery for "acceptable reasons" such as improved self-esteem or social acceptance.
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Date Issued: 2004
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13127
Subject Headings: Surgery, Plastic--Social aspects, Body image--Social aspects, Mass media--Research, Mass media--Audiences
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Centrality of Self in Response to Humanitarianism: An Ethnographic Approach to the Global Peace Film Festival.
Creator: Wahlberg, Katherine E., Charbonneau, Stephen, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Lingustics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines how the Global Peace Film Festival of Orlando, Florida, facilitates the construction of cosmopolitan identities within the context of humanitarianism and activism. An expansion of the notion of "peace"to include multiple levels of meaning is crucial to the identity of the festival, as it allows the screening of an array of films that appeal to the broad range of spectators and community organizations that interact with the event. Within the context of the Global...
Show moreThis dissertation examines how the Global Peace Film Festival of Orlando, Florida, facilitates the construction of cosmopolitan identities within the context of humanitarianism and activism. An expansion of the notion of "peace"to include multiple levels of meaning is crucial to the identity of the festival, as it allows the screening of an array of films that appeal to the broad range of spectators and community organizations that interact with the event. Within the context of the Global Peace Film Festival, various discourses surrounding peace participate in the process of cognitively mapping the world and situating the self within it as a cosmopolitan citizen. The centrality of the self is key to understanding how audiences create solidarity with the other, and how they might choose to respond to appeals for humanitarian aid. The contemporary humanitarian imaginary builds solidarity between the viewer and the other-in-need in a manner that is rooted in self-reflection, creating an ironic spectator of vulnerable others and setting the stage for solutions to humanitarian problems that fit into personal lifestyle choices. This study examines the complexity inherent to the articulation between producers, audiences and films, and how meaning is negotiated on a local level. Witnessing and testimonial are key practices for engaging spectators, and the testimonial encounter has a transformative power for audiences that may be channeled into various responses to calls for action. An emerging practice is significant as well, a new situatedness of the documentary filmmaker as a central figure in the promotion of both films and humanitarian causes. This practice provides a role for the filmmaker as both entrepreneur and activist, easing the tension between the goals of humanitarianism and capitalistic concerns, while positioning the film as a tool rather than an aesthetic object and echoing the preeminence of self in our contemporary society. The Global Peace Film festival takes an innovative approach to promoting change, moving from a traditional exhibition model to an "engagement" model that focuses on the involvement of the local community.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004555, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004555
Subject Headings: Film festivals -- Political aspects, Film festivals -- Social aspects, Globalization -- Social aspects, Human rights film festivals, Humanitarianism, Mass media -- Social aspects, Social problems in mass media
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The “Shepard” will guide us: a textual analysis of hegemonic reinforcement and resistance in the mass effect video game series.
Creator: Gonzalez, Maricruz, Scodari, Christine, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: Mass Effect is a Science Fiction/Action Role Playing/Third Person Shooter video game series that takes place in the year 2183, in which the player assumes control of Commander Shepard. Players can choose to customize the character based on his/her gender, appearance, sexual orientation, background origin and occupation. The choices that show up in the game are also based on how the player wants their version of Shepard to interact with other characters and allows players some leeway to shape...
Show moreMass Effect is a Science Fiction/Action Role Playing/Third Person Shooter video game series that takes place in the year 2183, in which the player assumes control of Commander Shepard. Players can choose to customize the character based on his/her gender, appearance, sexual orientation, background origin and occupation. The choices that show up in the game are also based on how the player wants their version of Shepard to interact with other characters and allows players some leeway to shape their own narrative. The series also discusses and acknowledges issues of race, gender, subjecthood and sovereignty, politics and sexual orientation within its narrative. This analysis focuses on the text of the series and its implications concerning hegemonic reinforcement and/or resistance in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, politics, and warfare tactics.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004288, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004288
Subject Headings: Computer games -- Social aspects, Electronic games -- Social aspects, Feminist theory, Gender identity in mass media, Mass Effect video game -- Social aspects, Mass media and culture, Sex role, Video games -- Moral and ethical aspects, Video games -- Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Assessing Situations On Social Media: Temporal, Demographic, And Personality Influences On Situation Experience.
Creator: Serfass, David G., Sherman, Ryne A., Nowak, Andrzej, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
Abstract/Description: Social media posts are used to examine what people experience in their everyday lives. A new method is developed for assessing the situational characteristics of social media posts based on the words used in these posts. To accomplish this, machine learning models are built that accurately approximate the judgments of human raters. This new method of situational assessment is applied on two of the most popular social media sites: Twitter and Facebook. Millions of Tweets and Facebook statuses...
Show moreSocial media posts are used to examine what people experience in their everyday lives. A new method is developed for assessing the situational characteristics of social media posts based on the words used in these posts. To accomplish this, machine learning models are built that accurately approximate the judgments of human raters. This new method of situational assessment is applied on two of the most popular social media sites: Twitter and Facebook. Millions of Tweets and Facebook statuses are analyzed. Temporal patterns of situational experiences are found. Geographic and gender differences in experience are examined. Relationships between personality and situation experience were also assessed. Implications of these finding and future applications of this new method of situational assessment are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004632, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004632
Subject Headings: Personality and situation., Personality assessment., Social media., Mass media--Social aspects., Thematic Apperception Test., Social psychology., Impression formation (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Identities for sale: Advertising's construction of the ideal teenage girl in "Teen", "Seventeen," and "YM".
Creator: Puritz, Judi Anne., Florida Atlantic University, Scodari, Christine
Abstract/Description: This essay examines the messages embedded in the advertisements appearing in 'Teen, Seventeen and YM. A combined multi-textual analysis followed by detailed semiotic study of paradigmatic cases helped to unearth several key themes in the advertisements. It was possible to determine that 'Teen, Seventeen, and YM construct an image of the ideal teenage girl, one primarily concerned with beauty, fashion and romance. Given the fact that many young girls turn to these publications for guidance, it...
Show moreThis essay examines the messages embedded in the advertisements appearing in 'Teen, Seventeen and YM. A combined multi-textual analysis followed by detailed semiotic study of paradigmatic cases helped to unearth several key themes in the advertisements. It was possible to determine that 'Teen, Seventeen, and YM construct an image of the ideal teenage girl, one primarily concerned with beauty, fashion and romance. Given the fact that many young girls turn to these publications for guidance, it is argued that the messages put forward in these texts may have a profound effect on the social reality of their readers.
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Date Issued: 1995
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15144
Subject Headings: Mass media and teenagers, Advertising--Psychological aspects, Symbolism in advertising, Advertising, Magazine--Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Focusing on the local, connecting to the global: the role and success of local media stations in Kargil.
Creator: Khan, Abdul Nasir, Fejes, Fred A., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis is a study of the role of local television stations in Kargil (India), which investigates whether the success of local media in Kargil is a result of fulfilling the needs and desires of the local community, using the methods of content analysis, interviews, and surveys. Kargili local television stations have adopted global media technologies for disseminating their programs, but at the same time have changed some of the television convention to feed their needs and expectations of...
Show moreThis thesis is a study of the role of local television stations in Kargil (India), which investigates whether the success of local media in Kargil is a result of fulfilling the needs and desires of the local community, using the methods of content analysis, interviews, and surveys. Kargili local television stations have adopted global media technologies for disseminating their programs, but at the same time have changed some of the television convention to feed their needs and expectations of local viewers. The forces of globalization have not only exposed places like Kargil to new technologies, but it has given them an opportunity to participate in new discourses, to create a local media that is being used to address the specific concerns and problems of the local community.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004449, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004449
Subject Headings: Kargil (India)--Social aspects., Jammur and Kashmir (India)--Social aspects., Mass media--Kargil (India)--Social aspects., Mass media--Kargil (India)--Moral and ethical aspects., Online social networks--Influence.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Like, Follow, Share.
Creator: Goodarzi, Naghmeh, Afanador Llach, Camila, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Visual Arts and Art History
Abstract/Description: My intention for this show is to explore the effect of alienation that ironically is being produced by social media. The principal concept is developed around shame, sharing, and notoriety on three different social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram. This show explores the social media perception of myself in the realms of human interaction, identity, and memory in social media through the critical appropriation of the languages of design and photography. The...
Show moreMy intention for this show is to explore the effect of alienation that ironically is being produced by social media. The principal concept is developed around shame, sharing, and notoriety on three different social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram. This show explores the social media perception of myself in the realms of human interaction, identity, and memory in social media through the critical appropriation of the languages of design and photography. The installation with four Facebook profile pictures in large scale and framed looks at the way a personal image can convey the impression of widely different personalities. The selections of personal exchanges over Facebook and Instagram show the degree to which social media creates its own visual language and mode of communication, which sometimes becomes separated from reality and intention. The show extends its reach to performance and direct interaction with the viewer through the availability of stickers for comments by the profile pictures and a third area, where viewers can write or draw their own messages through the simple medium of chalk, which can then be rendered in virtual form through posts on a specially created webpage. The viewer should thus be challenged to ask, to what degrees do words and images communicate the essence of our selves and our own will.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004731, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004731
Subject Headings: Self-presentation., Online social networks., Social media--Semiotics., Digital communications--Social aspects., Digital media--Social aspects., Internet--Social aspects., Visual communication--Digital techniques., Emoticons., Social conflict in mass media., .
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Healing Transcendence: Social Media Use by Persons in the Transplant Journey.
Creator: Grumme, Valarie S., Gordon, Shirley C., Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Abstract/Description: An increasing number of individuals are looking for health information, interacting with health care providers, and participating in health-related online support groups The virtual landscape of the internet offers the opportunity for individuals to establish contact and relationships with persons having similar health concerns anywhere, anytime The phenomenon of health-related social media use generated an interest in why persons in the transplant journey chose to participate in an online...
Show moreAn increasing number of individuals are looking for health information, interacting with health care providers, and participating in health-related online support groups The virtual landscape of the internet offers the opportunity for individuals to establish contact and relationships with persons having similar health concerns anywhere, anytime The phenomenon of health-related social media use generated an interest in why persons in the transplant journey chose to participate in an online support community, how they interacted and made use of the online community, and how this knowledge could assist nursing in improving care for this growing population A six month sample of internet postings from an international transplant-related social media site was analyzed using an inductive qualitative content analysis adapted from Graneheim and Lundman (2003) within the theoretical lens of Unitary Caring Science (Smith, 1999) The study provided a unique perspective of how members used the social media support group The synthesis of four pandimensional interconnected patterns, expressing emotions, sharing experiences, exchanging information, and offering reciprocal support lead to a theme of being known and understood Healing transcendence emerged as a unitary transformative metatheme that reflected the holistic nature of the member interaction in the online support experience
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004768
Subject Headings: Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc--Social aspects, Mass media--Social aspects, Social media, Interpersonal relations, Self-help groups
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Embodied Mimicry: Lightening Black Bodies in the Visual Rhetoric of Popular 20th Century Black Media.
Creator: Judge-Hemans, Janéa, Heidt, Stephen, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This study analyzes various forms of visual and textual rhetoric found in popular black-owned print media from 1900-1970, including: beauty product advertisements, magazine cover photography and feature articles in order to contribute to a rhetorical history of color bias within the African-American community. The imagery included here validated and encouraged the transformation and lightening of African-American bodies through what I call embodied mimicry in order to achieve dominance within...
Show moreThis study analyzes various forms of visual and textual rhetoric found in popular black-owned print media from 1900-1970, including: beauty product advertisements, magazine cover photography and feature articles in order to contribute to a rhetorical history of color bias within the African-American community. The imagery included here validated and encouraged the transformation and lightening of African-American bodies through what I call embodied mimicry in order to achieve dominance within the racial group and a semblance of acceptance outside of it. Mimicry of white societal standards by African-Americans including: formatting of print media, circulation of beauty ads and physical embodiment of white physical features ultimately re-inscribed the tenets of racism into the black public sphere in the form of colorism. The intention of this research is to analyze the rhetorical history of colorism in order to better understand the current state of colorism in American society.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004719, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004719
Subject Headings: African Americans -- Color -- Social aspects, Black race -- Color, Colorism -- United States, Ethnicity in mass media, Human skin color -- Social aspects, Mass media and minorities, Race awareness, Racism in mass media
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Deconstructing the politics of culture jamming: true cost economics.
Creator: Seidl, Jana, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: Culture Jammers, an activist guerilla-like movement, entered the global scene in the 1990s and, through public performances, attempt to draw attention to their claim that the US economic structure is facing a fundamental need to shift away from a consumer-oriented capitalist economy. As an alternative, the activists propose--True Cost economics, a model that would include the costs of negative production and consumption externalities in the pricing of commodities. In this paper, I focus on...
Show moreCulture Jammers, an activist guerilla-like movement, entered the global scene in the 1990s and, through public performances, attempt to draw attention to their claim that the US economic structure is facing a fundamental need to shift away from a consumer-oriented capitalist economy. As an alternative, the activists propose--True Cost economics, a model that would include the costs of negative production and consumption externalities in the pricing of commodities. In this paper, I focus on culture jammers' critique of neoclassical economics, more specifically, the clash of the--new paradigm (True Cost economics) and the old paradigm (neoclassical economics). In evaluating whether True Cost economics is a feasible alternative, I graphically examine how the True Cost solution and the neoclassical market model correct for negative externalities to reveal similarities in the two models.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77690
Subject Headings: Consumption (Economics), Social aspects, Neoclassical school of economics, History, Microeconomics, Mass media and culture
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Viral advertising: conceptual and empirical examination of antecedents, context and its influence on purchase intentions.
Creator: Petrescu, Maria., College of Business, Department of Marketing
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this paper is to focus on viral advertising and study the conditions under which ads become viral, how they are intentionally transmitted by consumers to their social network and their relationship with classical advertising variables, such as attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intention of the consumer. We first analyze studies focusing on different aspects of the viral communication, "electronic word-of-mouth", "word-of-mouse", "viral marketing"...
Show moreThe purpose of this paper is to focus on viral advertising and study the conditions under which ads become viral, how they are intentionally transmitted by consumers to their social network and their relationship with classical advertising variables, such as attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intention of the consumer. We first analyze studies focusing on different aspects of the viral communication, "electronic word-of-mouth", "word-of-mouse", "viral marketing" and "buzz" in order to clarify the concept of viral advertising. After clarifying the viral advertising concept, the project analyzes the viral process and its main antecedents and influencers, by taking into consideration emotional and ad appeals theories. The results show that ad appeals influence attitude toward the ad and viral intentions, with humor being the most significant appeal in the context of viral advertising. The study also focuses on the social aspects of advertising and consumption , including influential differences related to the source of the message, social influencers analyzed in the socialization literature, such as family and peers, the tie strength element from the social network theory and consumer market maven traits. The findings show the significance of family communication and market maven characteristics in relation to consumers' viral intentions. We then integrate our key variable, viral intentions, in a classical advertising framework based on attitudes theory and their influence on behavioral intentions. The results confirm previously studied relationships between attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions., The findings bring into attention two key new relationships: the significant effect of attitude toward the brand on viral intentions, and the positive relationship between viral intentions and purchase intentions, a very important relationship for marketing research the viral advertising concept, analyzes its key antecedents, and studies the relationship between attitudes and behavioral intentions in a viral advertising context. The paper also establishes a key positive relationship between viral intentions and purchase intentions regarding the advertised product.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3352280
Subject Headings: Viral marketing, Marketing, Management, Relationship marketing, Internet marketing, Mass media, Social aspects, Consumer behavior
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Un-resistive reproduction? Medical hegemony, pregnancy, and reality television.
Creator: Bruno, Serena R., Florida Atlantic University, Scodari, Christine
Abstract/Description: A new trend of unscripted, reality television programming chronicling the real-life childbirth experiences of American women and families has gained considerable ground in recent years. These programs, especially Discovery Health's BirthDay and The Learning Channel's A Baby Story, record, edit and broadcast the prenatal, childbirth, and postnatal health care of "everyday" women volunteers, including their physical, social, and emotional concerns. This research study focuses attention on the...
Show moreA new trend of unscripted, reality television programming chronicling the real-life childbirth experiences of American women and families has gained considerable ground in recent years. These programs, especially Discovery Health's BirthDay and The Learning Channel's A Baby Story, record, edit and broadcast the prenatal, childbirth, and postnatal health care of "everyday" women volunteers, including their physical, social, and emotional concerns. This research study focuses attention on the authoritative, technological and therefore, medically hegemonic perspective of this type of programming, illuminating through content, textual, focus group, and survey analyses the abundance of medically hegemonic meanings in both the discursive and visual aspects of these texts as well as the negotiations of their target audience.
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13300
Subject Headings: Reality television programs, Mass media and culture, Television program genres, Television--Social aspects, Childbirth, Television--Psychological aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Democratization and exogenous cultural influence: Western mass media and democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe.
Creator: Batey, John R., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Political Science
Abstract/Description: Democratic forms of government are either consolidating democratic institutions or unraveling into authoritarianism in the former Soviet Union. Among the possible causes of each success or failure to consolidate democracy is the character of civil society and its cultural proximity to long-standing, modern state-based, consolidated democracies of the West. What impact does Western or Westernized media have upon the indigenous civil societies of Eastern Europe, and is this impact sufficient to...
Show moreDemocratic forms of government are either consolidating democratic institutions or unraveling into authoritarianism in the former Soviet Union. Among the possible causes of each success or failure to consolidate democracy is the character of civil society and its cultural proximity to long-standing, modern state-based, consolidated democracies of the West. What impact does Western or Westernized media have upon the indigenous civil societies of Eastern Europe, and is this impact sufficient to consolidate democracy among the states of the former Soviet Union? As case studies, Eastern Europe contains two states, Estonia and Russia, where democracy has either succeeded or failed alongside the presence of exogenous cultural influence in the form of Western or Westernized television broadcast media. To what extent does the presence of Western broadcast media and associated cultural memes predict the iv consolidation of democratic political values, and how ought any impact of these memes be interpreted in the light of modernity, Eurocentricity and cultural hegemony? To account for the impact of exogenous cultural influence, foreign policy prescriptions that encourage the growth of indigenous, mimetic, democratic civic culture would appear to be an effective means of supporting democracy in the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3360741
Subject Headings: Post-communism, Post-communism, Social aspects, Democratization, Mass media policy, Mass media, Political aspects, Politics and government
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Towards a feminist funny: exploring myth, power and postfeminism in the work of Chelsea Handler.
Creator: Walleser, Lauren., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: Chelsea Handler is a comedian and host of the TV show Chelsea Lately. She has been successful in the late night comedy talk show genre to a degree that no woman has before. While she represents the most significant advancement for women in the genre, she also plays to patriarchal themes in order to maintain her foothold. In my thesis, I locate Handler within the history of women's stand-up comedy, analyzing her appeal via the figure of "The Unruly Woman" and other image types. I apply a...
Show moreChelsea Handler is a comedian and host of the TV show Chelsea Lately. She has been successful in the late night comedy talk show genre to a degree that no woman has before. While she represents the most significant advancement for women in the genre, she also plays to patriarchal themes in order to maintain her foothold. In my thesis, I locate Handler within the history of women's stand-up comedy, analyzing her appeal via the figure of "The Unruly Woman" and other image types. I apply a mythic analysis as I look for Handler's manifestation of mythic types, including archetypal Goddess representations. I analyze her treatment of violence against women, exploring how Handler approaches these themes in ways that allow her into the "old boys club." I use textual and audience analysis to assess Handler's ability to be a transformative and empowering figure for women in comedy and beyond.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3322513
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Women in popular culture, Feminist theory, Performance art, Social aspects, Mass media and women
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Vetting sources in social media environments: strategies emplyed by journalists of The Palm Beach Post.
Creator: Brown, Michelle D., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This qualitative research study explores the relationship between reducing uncertainty and assigning source credibility in the context of social media sites (SMS) and examines the effect of uncertainty reduction within the social media environment on the development of relationships between journalists and their sources. For this study, interviews were conducted with professional journalists to determine whether uncertainty was reduced and credibility was established with sources via SMS (i.e...
Show moreThis qualitative research study explores the relationship between reducing uncertainty and assigning source credibility in the context of social media sites (SMS) and examines the effect of uncertainty reduction within the social media environment on the development of relationships between journalists and their sources. For this study, interviews were conducted with professional journalists to determine whether uncertainty was reduced and credibility was established with sources via SMS (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) and what theoretical strategies journalists used to reduce their uncertainty. The study also aims to determine if correlations exist between a reporter's age, beat, and/or personal adoption of SMS and the reporter's usage of SMS for source development. The interviews were conducted with 15 journalists of The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida), using a standardized interview protocol. Subjects were asked to voluntarily participate in a face-to-face interview with the researcher. Reporters were selected based upon their gender and cultural ethnicity, which was representative of the newsroom demographics of The Palm Beach Post at that time. This research aims to contribute to the uncertainty reduction theory in the realm of computer-mediated communications, specifically with regard to the use of SMS in forming and maintaining journalist-source relationships.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3360765
Subject Headings: Digital media, Social aspects, Mass media, Technological innovations, Newspaper publishing, Social aspects, American newspapers, Objectivity, Journalistic ethics, Journalism, Moral and ethical aspects, Newspapers, Sections, columns, etc, Sources
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Hegemonic "realness"?: an intersectional analysis of RuPaul's Drag Race.
Creator: Jenkins, Sarah Tucker, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: RuPaul's Drag Race is one of the few realilty television shows focusing on QLGBT (queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) identified individuals that has made it into mainstream consciousness. Drag Race provides a unique perspective on the ways that gender identity, sexuality, size, class, race, and ethnicity intersect and interact in people's lives.The television show augments many of these intersedtions and the challenges related to these identities while still reflecting the daily...
Show moreRuPaul's Drag Race is one of the few realilty television shows focusing on QLGBT (queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) identified individuals that has made it into mainstream consciousness. Drag Race provides a unique perspective on the ways that gender identity, sexuality, size, class, race, and ethnicity intersect and interact in people's lives.The television show augments many of these intersedtions and the challenges related to these identities while still reflecting the daily struggles that people experience.The show works to promote messages of self-love and acceptance ; however, it also promotes many problematic and damaging stereotypes. This thesis conducts a feminist analysis in order to answer the question: How does RuPaul's Drag Race relate to hegemonic and oppressive stereotypes and roles associated with gender identity, sexual orientation, size, class, race and ethnicity? Does it challenge or reinforce such hegemonies? In order to answer these questions, this thesis examines visual imagery, narrative, and dialogue in the show, utilizes theories from cultural and women's studies, English and communications. It concludes that although Drag Race does engage in some subversive behavior, it ultimately reinforces harmful hegemonic stereotypes.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360799
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Reality television programs, Social aspects, Mass media and culture, Mass media and women, Feminist theory, Television program genres, Stereotypes (Social psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Multiple birth families, religion, and cultural hegemony: patriarchal constructions in reality television.
Creator: Cittadino, Emily M., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: Reality television programming chronicling the daily workings of multiple birth families within American culture has gained notoriety in recent years. Such programs, especially Discovery Health and TLC's 17, 18 Kids and Counting and TLC's Jon and Kate Plus Ei8ht, film, edit and broadcast the "everyday" life of these families. This research study focuses attention on hegemonic ideologies surrounding family values, motherhood, gender roles and religious faith, illuminated through textual and...
Show moreReality television programming chronicling the daily workings of multiple birth families within American culture has gained notoriety in recent years. Such programs, especially Discovery Health and TLC's 17, 18 Kids and Counting and TLC's Jon and Kate Plus Ei8ht, film, edit and broadcast the "everyday" life of these families. This research study focuses attention on hegemonic ideologies surrounding family values, motherhood, gender roles and religious faith, illuminated through textual and audience analysis. Working from an interdisciplinary approach combining feminist media and cultural studies, this study finds that hegemonic notions of family values, gender representations, religious faith and conceptions of motherhood are evident to varying degrees in the television texts and accepted by fans who negotiate their meanings online.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2684311
Subject Headings: Mass media and culture, Feminist theory, Popular culture, Women in popular culture, Reality television programs, Social aspects, Television program genres, Sex role in popular culture
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Documentary theatre: pedagogue and healer with their voices raised.
Creator: Morris, Kathryn M., Gamble, Richard J., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Theatre and Dance
Abstract/Description: The beginning of the new millennium finds documentary theatre serving as teacher and “healer” to those suffering and in need. By providing a thought provoking awareness of the “other,” it offers a unique lens with which to examine the socio-political similarities and differences between various cultures and ethnicities in order to promote intercultural understanding. Documentary is also used by teachers, therapists, and researchers as a tool for healing. By sharing personal stories of trauma...
Show moreThe beginning of the new millennium finds documentary theatre serving as teacher and “healer” to those suffering and in need. By providing a thought provoking awareness of the “other,” it offers a unique lens with which to examine the socio-political similarities and differences between various cultures and ethnicities in order to promote intercultural understanding. Documentary is also used by teachers, therapists, and researchers as a tool for healing. By sharing personal stories of trauma and illness with others who are experiencing similar difficulties, emotional pains are alleviated and fears are assuaged. Documentary theatre has expanded in definition from the “epic dramas” of German playwrights Erwin Piscator and Bertholt Brecht during the height of the German Weimar Republic to the recent “verbatim” scripts of playwrights such as Anna Deveare Smith, Emily Mann, and Robin Soans. The dramaturgical duties of the playwright along with the participatory role of the audience have grown in complexity. In verbatim documentary the playwright must straddle a fine line between educating and entertaining while remaining faithful to the words of the respondents as well as to the context in which they were received. The audience, by responding to questionnaires and by engaging in talk-back sessions, plays a pivotal role in production. Documentary serves as an important vehicle for informing and inspiring audiences from all walks of life. In 2010, researchers Dr. Patricia Liehr of the Christine E. Lynn School of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University and Dr. Ryutaro Takahashi, Vice Director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, approached me to create a documentary based on their combined interviews of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima survivors. The resultant script, With Their Voices Raised, is included as an appendix to this dissertation as an example of the documentary genre and its unique capacity for research dissemination. With Their Voices Raised not only conveys the memories and fears of the survivors, but in its conclusion reveals how these victims of war have elected to live their lives in a quest for peace- choosing “hope over hate” in a shared world
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004142, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004142
Subject Headings: Atomic bomb -- Japan, Hiroshima shi -- Personal narratives, Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.), Documentary mass media -- United States -- Social aspects, Experimental theater, Liehr, Patricia -- With their voices raised -- Criticism and interpretation, Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) -- Attack on -- 1941 -- Personal narratives, Takahashi, Ryutaro -- With their voices raised -- Criticism and interpretation, Theater -- Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Theses and Dissertations (19)	+ -
Honors Student Theses (1)	+ -

Social aspects (8)	+ -
Mass media and culture (6)	+ -
Feminist theory (4)	+ -
Mass media (4)	+ -
Reality television programs (3)	+ -

Television program genres (3)	+ -
Criticism and interpretation (2)	+ -
Digital media (2)	+ -
Mass media and women (2)	+ -
Women in popular culture (2)	+ -
. (1)	+ -
Advertising, Magazine--Social aspects (1)	+ -
Advertising--Psychological aspects (1)	+ -
African Americans -- Color -- Social aspects (1)	+ -
American newspapers (1)	+ -
Atomic bomb -- Japan, Hiroshima shi -- Personal narratives (1)	+ -
Black race -- Color (1)	+ -
Body image--Social aspects (1)	+ -
Childbirth (1)	+ -
Colorism -- United States (1)	+ -
Computer games -- Social aspects (1)	+ -
Consumer behavior (1)	+ -
Consumption (Economics) (1)	+ -
Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.) (1)	+ -
Democratization (1)	+ -
Digital communications--Social aspects. (1)	+ -
Digital media--Social aspects. (1)	+ -
Documentary mass media -- United States -- Social aspects (1)	+ -
Electronic games -- Social aspects (1)	+ -
Electronic information resources (1)	+ -

Europe, Eastern (1)	+ -
Florida (1)	+ -
United States (1)	+ -

Drag Race (Television program). (1)	+ -
Drag Race. (1)	+ -
Palm beach post (West Palm Beach, Fla.). (1)	+ -

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