Abstract

Recently, academic researchers have brought critical attention to representations of the Iraq War in popular culture. Most of this work, however, focuses on film and music, leaving the influential medium of music video largely unexplored. A number of artists produced music videos that capture the zeitgeists of competing movements leading up to and following the United States' involvement in the Iraq invasion. This project, "Stars, Stripes, Cameras and Decadence: Music Videos of the Iraq War," seeks to survey music videos in order to understand how music video helps shape Americans' relationship to heavily polarized public discourses in the United States regarding this controversial military act. The thesis will take a multi-dimensional approach to analyzing each music video. The study will incorporate data on public opinion, audience reaction and political shifts in relationship to each video. On the most elementary level, the thesis will address the "anti" and "pro" war stances portrayed by music videos to understand both how they were shaped by their relationship to power and how they consequently shape their audience's relationship to power. The study will also undertake to understand these music videos aesthetically. Both "anti" and "pro" music videos draw upon schools of political messaging that largely dictate the art of the music video. Each school portrays soldiers, violence, war, enemies, families and loved ones in different ways. The thesis will delve into the histories of how various political traditions use images of war to shape their messages and how music videos continue (or break from) these traditions.

Notes

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Thesis Completion

2011

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Mauer, Barry

Degree

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Degree Program

English

Subjects

Arts and Humanities -- Dissertations, Academic;Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Humanities

Format

PDF

Identifier

CFH0003796

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Document Type

Honors in the Major Thesis

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