Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2006, Film (Fine Arts)

Mainstream news media organizations have adopted classical Hollywood narrative storytelling conventions in order to convey vital news information. In doing so, these organizations tell news stories in a way that paints political realities as causal agents, delicate international crises as sensational conflicts, and factual profiles of public figures as colorful characterizations. By establishing artificial narrative lines and unnecessarily antagonistic conflict, the press has at times become an unwitting agent of government policy and, in part, altered the course of international events. The classical Hollywood narrative is the storytelling model on which the American media based its coverage of United States foreign policy after September 11, 2001. The sensationalized coverage culminated in a cinematic presentation of events that led to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Since September 11, a narrative plot unfolded, the characters were defined, and the tension rose. The news media primed the audience as if the American people were watching a well-executed and often predictable Hollywood narrative. And though there was no evidence that proved Iraq had played a role in the September 11 attacks, by March of 2003 the war seemed inevitable and possessing of seemingly perfect narrative logic.

Committee: Adam Knee (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2016, Communication Studies

This study situates invasion as a form of what Michel Foucault called governmentality. According to Foucault, governmentality determined how a society was ruled and by whom it was ruled, and under what conditions. A central argument in this dissertation is that invasion, both actual and imagined, has become a fundamental means of governing the population and body, and is as much a productive force as it is destructive. Turning to media representations across a variety of formats, this study examines four key case studies. The first is the Critical Art Ensemble, a tactical media group whose work designed to expose the working of the corporate food supply brought them into direct conflict with the federal authorities. Along these lines, this study argues that tactical media functions as both a form of surveillance and governmentality. Another tactical media group analyzed is the Yes Men, who use their own bodies and the visage of corporate America to expose the often twisted logic at work. This study then turns to representations on film and television, analyzing the film Cloverfield (2008) and the science fiction television series Fringe, both of which rely heavily in the tropes of invasion. Invasion has become a loose term and its workings are not fully theorized. By looking at how invasion, surveillance, and bodies interact, this study lays out a path that not only interrogates the concept of invasion, but also how invasion may be subverted or, by contrast, unquestioned. Methodologically, this study combines visual and ideological analysis, as theorized by Nicholas Mirzoeff and Lisa Nakamura and others, in order to uncover the myriad ways by which invasion works. By combining these methods, the study examines key components from each of these sites. By examining closely the visual representation, and by turns the obfuscation of the such visual representations, of science, law enforcement, the military, surveillance, and destruction - as well as the obfu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Radhika Gajjala (Advisor); Lara Lengel-Martin (Advisor); Scott Martin (Committee Member); Alberto Gonzalez (Committee Member); Clayton Rosati (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2012, American Culture Studies/Sociology

The thesis explores the notion of national unity propagated on the media post-9/11 and argues that unity is a constructed myth that works to maintain the grand narrative of the American past and American values. The study answers three major questions: 1) how was national unity post-9/11 constructed by the media?, 2) how was this constructed unity built into the memory of 9/11?, and 3) in what way is national unity post-9/11 a myth? To answer these questions, the thesis examined the press coverage and television news broadcasts of 9/11 commemoration along the theme of commemoration and unity. The period of examination is from August to September in 2010 and 2011. Five major newspapers were chosen, shortlisted from the ten most circulated newspapers, and the model of “generative” and “derivative” media: USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Daily News, and the New York Post. Also, four major television news channels were selected, which are ABC, CBS, MSNBC and Fox News. Then, in-depth interviews with Muslim Americans were conducted to discover what they actually thought about unity. Six participants were recruited. The interviews were done face-to-face and via phone. Each interview did not last longer than thirty minutes. Answers of the respondents were important to the construction of national unity as myth. Investigation of the press coverage and the news broadcasts showed that national unity was constructed as an “issue” of long-lasting influence, or as a discourse and an unquestionable norm. Incidents that might challenge unity were presented as temporary “events” of little importance, or as deviations of little implications. With this habitual exposure to unity, the readers/ viewers were customized to think of unity as a legacy of 9/11. However, national unity can be argued to be a myth as it did not reflect the complete reality. Interviews with Muslim Americans showed that they did not think of unity as a norm, but rather, as an (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Andrew Schocket PhD (Advisor); Lara Lengel PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies