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REVIEWING THE IMAGE OF THE PHOTOJOURNALIST IN FILM: HOW ETHICAL DILEMMAS SHAPE STEREOTYPES OF THE ON-SCREEN PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER IN MOTION PICTURES FROM 1954 TO 2006 A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri-Columbia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by KYLE ROSS MCDANIEL Dr. C. Zoe Smith, Thesis Supervisor AUGUST 2007 The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled REVIEWING THE IMAGE OF THE PHOTOJOURNALIST IN FILM: HOW ETHICAL DILEMMAS SHAPE STEREOTYPES OF THE ON-SCREEN PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER IN MOTION PICTURES FROM 1954 TO 2006 Presented by Kyle McDaniel A candidate for the degree of Master of Arts And hereby certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Professor C. Zoe Smith Professor Earnest Perry Professor Yong Volz Professor Roger Cook ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is dedicated to those who assisted to the research portion of this academic study. Most notably, I would like to thank Dr. C. Zoe Smith for guiding me through this process, and answering my seemingly countless questions on topics ranging from formatting style to previous research on the image of the photojournalist in popular culture. Furthermore, this work would not have been possible without help from the members of my thesis committee, including Dr. Earnest Perry, Dr. Yong Volz and Dr. Roger Cook. Their professional counseling, support and assistance during the fall and winter semesters of 2006 and 2007 helped motivate me into carrying out this research study as well. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Joe Saltzman of the University of Southern California-Annenberg for the creation, development and maintenance of the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Database, which aided in providing the names of text sources used for analysis during this study. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................ ii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................v Preface .......................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION AND QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH..........................................1 2. CONCEPT EXPLICATION THROUGH LITERATURE REVIEW............................6 Structuralism ...............................................................................................................6 Introduction to the Concepts........................................................................................8 What is a “Photojournalist?”........................................................................................8 Do films “stereotype” photojournalists?.....................................................................11 What are “photojournalism ethics?”...........................................................................14 3. METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN.......................................................20 Textual Analysis as Working Methodology ...............................................................20 Textual Analysis in Previous Studies .........................................................................21 The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Database ...........................................24 Querying the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Database .............................27 4. ANALYSIS...............................................................................................................31 Textual Analysis in Practice for this Study.................................................................31 1954 to 1979: The Photojournalist as Young, Caucasian, Male, Loner......................32 1980 to 1989: The Heroic War Photojournalist .........................................................55 5. ANALYSIS PART 2 .................................................................................................71 1990 to 2006: Alternative and Varied Interpretations of the On-Screen Photojournalist ..................................................................................................................................71 1954 to 2006: The Female Photojournalist in Film....................................................97 iii 6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................114 Findings from Analysis and Discussion ...................................................................114 Limitations of the Textual Analysis Method for this Study ......................................122 Future Research on the Image of the Photojournalist in Film ...................................126 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................132 Appendix A. SAMPLE QUERY FROM THE IMAGE OF THE JOURNALIST IN POPULAR CULTURE DATABASE FOR FILMS FROM 1965 TO 1979.....................................139 B. PRIMARY SOURCE FILMS .................................................................................140 iv REVIEWING THE IMAGE OF THE PHOTOJOURNALIST IN FILM: HOW ETHICAL DILEMMAS SHAPE STEREOTYPES OF THE ON-SCREEN PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER IN MOTION PICTURES FROM 1954 TO 2006 Kyle R. McDaniel Dr. C. Zoe Smith, Thesis Supervisor ABSTRACT Since the 1930s, photojournalists in motion pictures have been portrayed as everything from screwball and comic relief characters to stubborn and ruthless sidekicks. With the exception of James Cagney’s tabloid photographer in Picture Snatcher (1933), the early on-screen photojournalists were largely supporting characters who displayed absurd, unethical behaviors. However, the 1930s and 1940s image of the photojournalist changed with James Stewart’s portrayal of a lonely and voyeuristic magazine photographer in Rear Window (1954). Stewart’s cynical and detached L. B. Jeffries established a stereotype that would persist through the 1970s. By the 1980s, the heroic but ethically challenged war photojournalist stereotype evolved. Under Fire (1983), The Killing Fields (1984) and Salvador (1986) were a few of the films that perpetuated this recurring leading character. Varied and alternative characterizations of photojournalists were found in the films from the final decade of the 20th Century, and into the mid-2000s. Although the number of appearances of on-screen cameramen in motion pictures has increased in recent decades, their role-related responsibilities and ethical dilemmas have changed alongside trends and technological advances within the field. v Preface Why research the image of the photojournalist in films from the past 50 years? What does this add to the existing body of communications research? Why am I qualified to perform this study? These were the questions I asked myself when I began this study in August 2006. In order to properly address these issues, I had to look at my background, both as an individual and as a budding scholar. I took a serious interest in film at a time when most pre-adolescent males my age were more intrigued with sports. While others were playing touch football or riding bicycles, I was tuned in to the television set in my family’s living room. On most days, I rifled through my collection of action-adventure and comedy films, searching for the perfect movie for that particular day and time. Whether I knew it or not, I became infatuated with the ways in which motion pictures had the ability to hold my attention, entertain me, and influence my thinking. By my mid-teens, I was viewing more serious work, and soon began watching the films of Hitchcock, Scorsese and Spielberg. Through these auteurs and others, I noticed that cinematic magic was something that happened only when all of the elements were in place. A good film contained a solid storyline, interesting characters who related to the audience, and intriguing dialogue that helped reveal the characters’ feelings and motives. Shortly thereafter, I began developing my own short films, along with the help of my brother and another close friend. Usually, the setting for the feature was our backyard or a nearby patch of woods, and our dialogue was always improvised. But as we morphed into early adulthood, we began taking our work and ourselves more seriously. By the time I was 19, our trio had developed over 10 short films, primarily for vi church groups and the like, and we even created several sketches just for the fun of moviemaking. Additionally, we started basing our material from other, more notable work, such as acclaimed films and novels. As our final project for College English, we created a loose adaptation of Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying,” a thirty-minute opus that won raves from our high school peers. However, by the time I entered college, my filmmaking had become a thing of the past. In the fall of 2000, I entered the biology program at Arkansas State University with aspirations to become a dentist. Needless to say, I never managed to immerse myself in the medical field. By the time I was classified as a junior, I found myself enrolled in the film studies program at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. During my brief stay in Wilmington, I was able to take classes on both film history and film narrative, both of which, furthered my education and interest in the cinematic arts. It was also during this time that my mother mailed me an aging, 35-millimeter SLR camera that

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