Popular culture and politics: Exploring the agenda-setting capability of major motion pictures.

摘要

This study represents the synthesis of two bodies of work: (1) mass media effects studies, and (2) popular culture investigations. These two lines of inquiry are closely connected--the former is, in fact, a part of the latter. The relationship between the two is, however, seldom identified, and the two bodies of research have largely followed separate paths.;Mass media studies have concentrated on finding the effects of news on public opinion. Proof of a direct impact on political attitudes has been tenuous, but evidence of Lippmann-esque agenda-setting abilities has been more easily established. Popular culture analysis has concentrated on finding evidence of a direct relationship between entertainment and political attitudes, and results have largely been disappointing.;This study, therefore, searches for proof of the entertainment-politics connection through agenda-setting analysis. The impact of a variety of major motion pictures on the media agenda is observed, and the results provide reasonable evidence of their agenda-setting abilities.