Budd, Michael N.

The tremendous changes in the lives of American women and the dynamics of the American family have gone unnoticed by Disney in some of its animated films. Aside from a few superficial changes, representations of Disney's heroines consistently depict them within the limiting boundaries of stereotypically traditional women. Disney's families also remain firmly within the traditional patriarchal mold. This thesis applies ideological film criticism to Disney's films The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), in the contention that these films function to refine and promote a static, sexist, and decidedly patriarchal myth.

This thesis explores the manner in which whiteness is represented and constructed in Western media through analysis of six narrative films about vampires. The study hypothesizes that vampire films have been underexamined as a site of contestation over the meanings of racial differences because they have been considered a "white" genre. Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model is used as the principal methodology, but other theories (e.g. semiotics) are used to explore the subtexts of the films. The study pays attention to the historical moment of the films' production and explores instances where race works in tandem with gender to construct Others.

This textual analysis of the film Not Without My Daughter examines the discourse of empire contained within this movie. Specifically, I analyze representations of Islam, Arab people, and blackness within the context of the traditional literary elements of narration as presented in the film through the use of mise en scene and cinematography. I define, identify, and analyze types of colonial discourse such as negation and affirmation. In addition, I make the argument that another type of colonial discourse at play, war-nography, defines the film within a specific genre.

Despite increasing racial diversity, the growth of multicultural awareness, and constantly changing ideas regarding gender roles in the United States, some Hollywood films still, directly and indirectly, stereotype "others" via images. Through methods of ideological film criticism, genre analysis of the science fiction film, some feminist theory and psychoanalysis, and the theory of the cyborg, this thesis argues that the Hollywood film Alien Resurrection is a cultural text which promotes racism, sexism, and Eurocentrism. Various film techniques, narrative elements, characters along with their development, and other aspects of the film serve to stereotype and confine those with multiple social identities.

We are living in a society where the commercial imperative of the mass media rather than the public interest is shaping our cultural environment. In response to the deleterious consequences of this phenomenon, many educators, parents, and community and religious groups are promoting the teaching of media literacy. This study looks for signs of hegemonic containment within the Media Literacy Movement, and delineates why an understanding of the political-economic implications of media institutions is vital in developing an effective media literacy program. The study concludes that the diversity found in the promotional texts of the Media Literacy Movement generally reflects the diversity of the political spectrum of our society. Some signs of hegemonic containment are observed in the politically centrist and conservative organizations.

The theory of the commodity is used by critical theorists to explain the general organization and development of capitalist society. It was originally proposed by Marx, and subsequently developed by Lukacs and later Adorno and the Frankfurt School. Media scholars such as Dallas Smythe, Judith Williamson, Robert Goldman and Eileen Meehan have identified the commodity structure in several forms throughout the process of mass communication. Although commodity theory is not always articulated as a part of critical studies, it is useful for understanding the process of mass communication under capitalism. By investigating the dynamics of market processes and cultural innovation, this paper shows where the theory of the commodity fits into Critical Media Studies and suggests where some productive applications may be found.

This thesis examines jazz music first as a language developed by African-Americans to communicate their desire for personal freedom and community, then as a commodity exploited by the commercial music industry dominated by European-Americans. Ownership and the ideology of critics are specific problems of cultural politics which hinder African-American innovators from attaining the commercial success enjoyed by white imitators, producers, and critics. Because real jazz is the creation of African-American musicians struggling to have a voice in society, it is critically denounced and underexposed, lauded and rewarded far less than commercial jazz, its diluted counterpart designed for mass consumption rather than for nationalistic expression. European-Americans largely determine the commercial fortunes of jazz because they control the entertainment industry which consists of publishing, recording, literature, radio, television and film.

As in drama and fiction, conflict is the chief criterion in news story selection. This drama of news is chiefly one involving individuals, causing journalists often to create instant celebrities, who must cope with the various phases of his or her public status. The involuntary celebrity presents journalists with ethical challenges embedded within the deep structures of their organizational and professional newswork. This thesis considers the case of Carol Lynn Kendall, who became famous in 1985 after her involvement in a car bombing for which her brother was convicted. This work focuses on news columns and interviews with journalists and with Kendall and on theory about newswork and the creation of fame. From this, the thesis draws an ideal type of the involuntary celebrity and shows how it is constructed and destroyed as well as how we might use it to understand the media's relationship with such individuals.

Since World War II, the number of college educated, white-collar workers has grown substantially. A critical analysis of the college training these workers receive will show a "professional" ideology with a strong pro-management bias. It will show a world view dominated by fear of failure and by strong intragroup competition. To the extent this ideology becomes accepted as common sense, graduates come into the workforce alienated from their fellow workers, identifying with an elite of which they are not a part. Using Fredric Jameson's methodology, we can analyze the narrative framework and content of one aspect of this training, the business communication course. Although part of an educational system that prides itself on intellectual independence, it is actually an adjunct of contemporary capitalism and its ideological structure.

In 1998 Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line debuted in theatres and critics in the popular press were quick to discuss the revival of the World War Two film and to classify both films within this genre. Through an examination of genre, art cinema, the styles of the Steven Spielberg and Terrence Malick, and a close textual analysis of both films, this thesis argues that Saving Private Ryan, although updating generic conventions of violence through its opening segment, quickly turns traditional in its depiction of plot, character, masculinity, and nation. The Thin Red Line, however, combines conventions of the war film with elements of art cinema, producing a film that popular critics often labeled in an inadequate or incomplete manner, creating inappropriate generic expectations among viewers.