University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2018 "We'll Get Through This Together": Fan Cultures and Mediated Social Support on AMC's Talking Dead Jeremy Vincent Adolphson University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Adolphson, Jeremy Vincent, ""We'll Get Through This Together": Fan Cultures and Mediated Social Support on AMC's Talking Dead" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 1735. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1735 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. “WE’LL GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER”: FAN CULTURES AND MEDIATED SOCIAL SUPPORT ON AMC’S TALKING DEAD by Jeremy V. Adolphson A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication at The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee May 2018 ABSTRACT “WE’LL GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER”: FAN CULTURES AND MEDIATED SOCIAL SUPPORT ON AMC’S TALKING DEAD by Jeremy V. Adolphson The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, 2018 Under the Supervision of Professor Nancy Burrell In this rhetorical analysis, the role of fandom through the technological advances in new media communication and its impact on social media are examined. Specifically, I analyze the rhetorical strategies that individuals use online in order to create narratives reaffirming their own conceptualizations of what it means to be a fan.