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Settler Colonialism in U.S. Popular Media as Influencing Perceptions of Material Culture and Museum Ethics

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.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/119424
Date12 June 2024
CreatorsPatrick, Cara Rose
ContributorsMaterial Culture and Public Humanities, Polanco, Dominique Elise, Ansell, Aaron, Baniya, Sweta
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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