The everyday person living in the United States does not first encounter ethics of material culture and collecting solely by visiting a museum. This MA Thesis seeks to look at how action-adventure "treasure-hunting" media introduces people to fields such as archaeology, anthropology, and museum studies through entertainment media. Frameworks of settler colonialism are used to understand the intentionality behind and subsequent impact of these films in a US-based context. Media effects theories of cultivation, framing, and agenda setting are also applied to understand how messages are facilitated through media such as the Indiana Jones (1981-2024), National Treasure (2004-2023), and "Outer Banks" (2020- ) franchises. The core aim for future thought and research is to understand how museums and filmmakers alike may more ethically and equitably represent people and material culture. / Master of Arts / In the United States, the allure of museums is supported by action-adventure "treasure-hunting" media, like the Indiana Jones (1981-2024), National Treasure (2004-2023), and "Outer Banks" (2020- ) franchises. Settler colonial ideologies, which seek to legitimize white settlers' relationship to the land in the United States, are present in the production and consumption of this media. Communication-based media effects theories, which explain how media messages influence an audience's point of view as a result of the media they consume, support that there is a relationship between action-adventure "treasure-hunting" media and museums on audience outlook.

Notre sujet de thèse a pour objectif d'éclairer le sens de la notion française de trésor national, catégorie spécifique de biens culturels qui échappent aux principes de la libre circulation des marchandises au sein de l'Union européenne / The aim of our thesis is to enlighten the sense of the French notion of national treasure, a specific category of cultural goods, which are not submit to the classical rules of the free movements of goods in the European Union