Title page for ETD etd-05122010-182828

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Hensley, Katharine Elizabeth

URN

etd-05122010-182828

Title

“Terrorism Is Theater”: How Antagonist Portrayals in Action Films Affect Stereotyping and Impression Formation

Degree

Master of Arts

Department

Communication Studies

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Magee, Robert G.	Committee Chair
Ivory, James D.	Committee Member
Tedesco, John C.	Committee Member

Keywords

Action Films
Terrorism
Narrative Persuasion
Mortality Salience
Stereotyping

Date of Defense

2010-04-30

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

This study examined portrayals of terrorists in several action films and their effects on
participants’ thoughts concerning the films and their characters. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment
was used to test the effects of antagonist ethnicity (white or non-white), antagonist portrayal type (sympathetic or non-sympathetic), and mortality salience (treatment or control) on narrative transportation, attitude toward the antagonist, attitude toward the video, stereotype endorsement, and response time for attitude toward the antagonist. Gender differences were also investigated.
Participants viewed one 15-minute clip from an action film that manipulated antagonist ethnicity
and antagonist portrayal. Then, participants answered several questionnaires surrounding the
previously mentioned dependent variables.
White terrorists and sympathetic portrayals were preferred over non-white terrorists and
non-sympathetic portrayals. Participants in the mortality salience control condition evaluated
Arabs more favorably than those exposed to the mortality salience treatment. In addition, males
rated antagonists more favorably than females, and males were also less likely to engage in
stereotyping of Arabs and African Americans. Implications for theory and suggestions for future
research were discussed.

Files

Filename		Size	Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
Filename		Size	28.8 Modem	56K Modem	ISDN (64 Kb)	ISDN (128 Kb)	Higher-speed Access
	Hensley_KE_T_2010.pdf	325.17 Kb	00:01:30	00:00:46	00:00:40	00:00:20	00:00:01
	Hensley_KE_T_2010_IRB.pdf	253.56 Kb	00:01:10	00:00:36	00:00:31	00:00:15	00:00:01
	Hensley_KE_T_2010_IRB2.pdf	307.77 Kb	00:01:25	00:00:43	00:00:38	00:00:19	00:00:01