Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In this paper, I argue that the standard media narratives about the production and distribution of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" reinforced a number of inaccuracies and misperceptions about the operations of the contemporary media industries. These stories constructed certain dichotomies between "Hollywood" and "independent" which obscured the interconnectedness and fluidity existing within the contemporary film and television industries.

This paper consists of two parts. First, I survey three dominant "claims" made in mainstream publications about the film. In this section, I complicate assertions that the film can be labeled as the “most successful independent film of all time”; I challenge the assumption that film such as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” are rarely made by Hollywood anymore; and I problematize declarations that the film represents a triumph in “grassroots” marketing tactics.

Second, I propose that the film's extraordinary financial success should not be interpreted as evidence that Hollywood has lost its way, but rather as proof of the existence - and effectiveness - of specific business practices and aesthetic parameters within the contemporary media industries. Ultimately, I encourage media analysts to cease from viewing "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as an example of one woman and one film defying the odds. Instead, we should consider the film as an example of the uniformity of journalistic discourses, the complexity of the operations of contemporary Hollywood, and the continuing ideological power of the so-called American dream.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The democratic peace at the dyadic level is well established, and since two democracies rarely if ever go to war with each other, a cluster of democratic states is certain to be peaceful. Little research, however, has been conducted on the nature of clusters wherein a state of one regime type is surrounded by states of a different regime type. If democracy continues to spread, it may matter for the prospects of war and peace where new democracies are established. This investigation, utilizing COW and Freedom House data and based on t-tests for equality of means of 142 possible clusters, suggests that the establishment of a democracy in the midst of surrounding autocracies is likely to make the cluster of states more war-prone. This finding has practical relevance: were Iraq to become democratic, the cluster of which it is the center would likely become even more war-prone in the future.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The current study investigated the impact of exposure to prescription drug advertisements on public opinion regarding preferred treatment options for youth who suffer from depression or anxiety. The study recruited a random nationally representative sample of 402 adults aged 18 to 88 through the Annenberg National Health Survey, from June to July 2007. The study examined the distribution of public support for the use of antidepressant drugs to treat depression and anxiety disorders in youth, comparing groups who were exposed to advertising for antidepressant drugs with those who were not. The analysis was adjusted for effects of demographic characteristics, prior knowledge about prescription drugs, and personal and familial drug history. Attitude towards direct-to-consumer advertising was shown to moderate the effect of exposure to drugs for treatment of depression and anxiety on support for treating youth afflicted with of these conditions with antidepressants as a preferred treatment. Among respondents whose attitude towards direct-to-consumer advertising was negative, with increased exposure to ads for antidepressants the level of support for the use of these drugs to treat youth decreased (OR=0.43). However, this effect was offset among respondents whose attitude toward direct-to-consumer advertising was positive, among whom increased exposure to ads for antidepressants was associated with increased support for their use to treat youth (OR=2.99). The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the public debate surrounding the question of the potential benefits, and possible long-term adverse effects, of treating depression and anxiety disorders among children and youth with antidepressant drugs.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Controversy regarding whether domestic violence is sanctioned under Islamic law stems from confusion over multiple interpretations of Chapter 4, Verse 34 in the Koran, which seems to refer to "wife-beating." Through analysis of scholarly interpretations of multiple translations of the verse, this paper argues that domestic violence is not sanctioned under Islamic law. Additionally, through discussion of countries whose criminal justice systems misinterpret Islamic law, the paper shows how culture and patriarchal values rather than religion contribute to the confusion regarding whether domestic violence is sanctioned under Islamic law. In other words, lack of awareness of women's rights under Islamic law contributes to the privatization of domestic violence within Muslim communities. The paper concludes with a discussion regarding how this information might be utilized when working with Muslim domestic violence victims in the United States.

Author Information: Christine DeCleene is a law student at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has conducted research for the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women and the Hague Domestic Violence Project at the University of Minnesota.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper proceeds from the assumption that entertainment texts – particularly controversial ones – function in a broad inter-textual field, and that their political significance does not lie solely in their direct influence on political knowledge, attitudes, opinions or behaviors, but in their ability to instigate politically-relevant discussions in other media venues. The paper examines the degree to which the mediated discourse generated by two controversial U.S. docudramas – The Reagans and The Path to 9/11 - constituted a substantive political discussion, and identifies the factors associated with higher or lower levels of political substance in the examined discourse. It offers a distinction between “issue substance” and “media substance” as the two major types of political substance that emerge in the discourse surrounding controversial texts, demonstrates how the level of the two types of political substance varied across the two docudramas, the time in which the discussion took place, different media outlets and different types of journalistic texts, and investigates which of these factors were significant predictors of political substance, while controlling for the other factors and for the length of the examined journalistic texts.