General Motion Pictures

Dana H. Hodgdon and Stuart M. Kaminsky BASIC FILMMAKING (New York: Arco Publishing, 1982—$12.95/$7.95)

Stewart Bronfeld WRITING FOR FILM AND TELEVISION (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981—$11.95)

Leonard Maltin TV MOVIES (New York: New American Library, 1982— $4.95)

Alan Frank THE HORROR FILM HANDBOOK (Totowa, NJ: Barnes E. Noble Books, 1982—$24.95)

Richard Dyer MacCann and Jack C. Ellis CINEMA EXAMINED: SELECTIONS FROM CINEMA JOURNAL (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1982—$9.95 paper)     

The Matrix and Critical Theory's Desertion of the Real

This article uses the narratives of the popular films The Matrix, Matrix: Reloaded, and Matrix: Revolutions as a lens through which to discuss the problems of the real and human agency in contemporary critical theory. Alongside a reading of the films’ invocations of social theory, the article describes parallel academic theories whose strongest structuralist and poststructuralist manifestations abandon conceptions of the real and willful human agency. In a field whose pessimistic narrative of Marxism often begins with anti-humanist structuralism, classical Marxist discourse theories offer a viable standpoint-based concept of reality upon which to found solidaristic human action.     

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? The Effect of Race-Related Visual and Verbal Exemplars on Attitudes and Support for Social Policies

The present study experimentally assesses the relative influence of visual and verbal exemplars on news readers’ judgments regarding use of emergency room health care services by undocumented immigrants and uninsured U.S. citizens. Assumptions from exemplification theory and theories of information processing guided the investigation. A series of two studies found that pictures and personal stories have comparable effects on perceptions of and attitudes about the issue. Furthermore, conflicting personal stories and pictures embedded in the same news item nullify each other's effect.     

Development of an alexithymia instrument to measure the diminished communication of affect

Although scholars recognize the importance of the communication of affect to the study of communication, no valid operationalization of the motivation and / or ability to communicate affect exists. This study describes alexithymia—an individual variable reflecting the reticence to communicate affect—and reports the reliability and validity of an instrument to measure alexithymia.     

A Content Analysis of Social Groups in Prime-Time Spanish-Language Television

The popularity of Spanish-language television in the United States has been increasing rapidly, yet little is known about the images viewers are likely to encounter when exposed to this content. As such, the present study investigates the representation of men and women in the 2004 prime-time, Spanish-language television season. Social identity theory provides a framework for understanding the potential influence of exposure to these depictions. Most notably, wealthy women were characterized as the slimmest, most provocatively dressed, and most submissive characters on Spanish-language television, whereas wealthy men were the heaviest, most conservatively dressed, and most dominant figures in prime time.     

Redefinition,Differentiation, and the Farm Animal Welfare Debate

Animal welfare advocates have increased publics' scrutiny of the way animals are handled by everyone from pet owners to circuses to farmers. The case of farmer Gary Conklin illustrates a popular recent tactic of activists to secretly film working farms and then release videos that purport to show abuse. This essay uses the concepts of legitimacy and image restoration to examine how Conklin, with a small farming operation in Ohio, responded to allegations spread by social media. Two important principles emerged: first, an effective differentiation strategy for reducing offensiveness is “redefining the act,” a combination of image repair tactics where an undisputed fact is redefined and transformed with support from third-party affirmations. Second, even small organizations like this dairy cattle business face the same challenges and opportunities as larger organizational rhetors. The essay concludes with applications both for agriculture and for crisis communication scholars, asserting that agricultural enterprises will continue to face struggles over meaning that will require sophisticated methods of issue and crisis management.     

A Review of: “Going Beyond Google: The Invisible Web in Learning and Teaching. Devine,Jane and Egger-Sider,Francine.”

As technology rapidly changes, libraries remain go-to points for education and technology skill development. In academic health sciences libraries, trends suggest librarians provide more training on technology topics than ever before. While education and training have always been roles for librarians, providing technology training on new mobile devices and emerging systems requires class creation and training capabilities that are new to many librarians. To appeal to their users, many health sciences librarians are interested in developing technology-based classes. This column explores the question: what skills are necessary for developing and teaching technology in an academic health sciences library setting?     

A Comparison of Exposure Control Procedures in CAT Systems Based on Different Measurement Models for Testlets

The purposes of the study were twofold: (a) to test for evidence of construct validity related to social and academic (general, English, mathematics) competencies, as measured by self, teachers, parents, and peers, for children in Grades 3 (n = 175), 7 (n = 193), and 11 (n = 159), and (b) to examine the extent to which ratings by significant others were concordant with self-ratings for these four constructs. Based on a comparison of nested multitrait-multimethod covariance structure models, results demonstrated that despite evidence of global convergent and discriminant validities, method effects were instrumental in attenuating trait variances. In particular, self-ratings for early preadolescents and peer ratings for all ages were the most vulnerable to this anomaly. Overall, results suggest that researchers consider making greater use of parent ratings in the measurement of social and academic competencies for elementary children.