DOCUMENT RESUME ED 362 925 CS 508 359 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting ofthe Association for Education in Journalism and MassCommunication (76th, Kansas City, Missouri, August11-14, 1993). Part XIII: Miscellaneous Studies. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE Aug 93 NOTE 337p.; For other sec:ions of these proceedings, see CS 508 347-361. For 1992 proceedings, see ED 349 608-623. PUB TYPE Collected Works Conference Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC14 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Abortions; Content Analysis; Ethics; *Females; *Films; Mass Media Effects; *Mass Media Use; Media Research; Photographs; *Programing (Broadcast); *Radio IDENTIFIERS Federal Communications Commission; Historical Research ABSTRACT The Miscellaneous Studies section of this collection of conference presentations contains the following 12 papers: "Revelatory Silences: A Critical Analysis of the Structuring Absences in Sydney Pollack's 'Out of Africa" (Brenda Cooper and David Descutner); "The Cox Fight with the FCC: Gamesmanship, Hidden Agendas, and Personal Vendettas" (Mickie Edwardson); "Talk Radio: Motivation or Titillation?" (Eugenia Zerbinos); "Adult Radio and the Public Interest" (Mike McCauley and Ken Loomis); "The Struggle over the Meaning of Abortion: A Critical Examination of Two Films" (Sharon C. Semmens); "Exploring Birth-or-Abortion Decisions: Methodology for Researching Women's Private Values" (Maggie Jones Patterson and Kate Maloy); "The Scientific Management of Radio, 1919-1993: The Deskilling of Personalities, Programmers and Women" (Phylis Johnson); "Checkbook Journalism in the Electronic Media: Alive and Flourshing" (Mike Meeske and Fred Fedler); "Industry Response in the AM Stereo Marketplace: Letters to Trade Magazine Editors, 1982 to 1992" (W. A. Kelly Huff); "'Wisconsin Death Trip' as Case Study on the Questionable Uses of 19th Century Photographs in Historical Research" (C. Zoe Smith); "Alone...On the Ice: :Iarrative Strategies in Women's Figure Skating Competition Coverage" (Bettina Fabos); and "Covering Ethics: Evidence of Its Emergence as a Beat and an Argument for Its Inclusion as News" (Debra L. Mason). (NH) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR EDUCATION IN JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION (76TH, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, AUGUST 11-14, 1993). PART XIII: MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES. "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETHIS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTEDBY Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER tERIC) '15) Thie document has beenreproduced as received from the person or organization originating it 0 Minor Changes have been made to improve reproduction Ctutlity TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Pc 1f1eotopiniOvSStatedmnt5doci INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." ment 00 not necessarily represent of ficial OEM Position or policy 2 :37 UPI MALE REVELATORY SILENCES: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURING ABSENCES IN SYDNEY POLLACK'S "OUT OF AFRICA" Brenda Cooper Department of Communication & Theatre Kean College of New Jersey Union, NJ 07083 908-527-2349 David Descutner School of Interpersonal Communication Ohio University Athens, Ohio 45701-2979 614-593-4828 Presented to the Commission on the Status of Women of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication national convention, Kansas City, August 1993 3 Abstract REVELATORY SILENCES: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STRUCTURING ABSENCES IN SYDNEY POLLACK'S "OUT OF AFRICA" Isak Dinesen's autobiographies primarily focuson her relationships with the African people and the injustices endured by Africans under colonialism,but Sydney Pollack's film version "silenced" expression of these themes in favor of a romanticized Hollywood epic loosely basedon the relationship between Dinesen and Denys Finch Hatton. This critical analysis of the film's structuring absencesindecatesthat the film's ideological project serves the related functions of validating white male superiorityover both women and racial minorities through silencing the voices of Dinesen and her black servants and friends. Brenda Cooper Department of Communication & Theatre Kean College of New Jersey Union, NJ 07083 908-527-2349 David Descutner School of Interpersonal Communication Ohio University Athens, Ohio 45701-4828 614-593-2979 Presented to the Commission on the Status of Women of the Association for Educatior in Journalism and Mass Communication national convention, Kansas City, August 1993 4 Relevatory Silences 1 Introduction In Hollywood, more than anywhere else the cinema is not 'innocent:.. The American cinema, the main instrument of the ideological super-structure, is heavily determined at every level of its existence. Editors of Cahiers du Cinema In recent years, few autobiographies have generated the mass media attention of Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa (1937). In 1985, Dinesen's book, and her other autobiographical work, Shadows on the Grass (1961), provided the basis for Sydney Pollack's film, "Out of Africa," starring Meryl Streep as Dinesen and Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton. This romantic drama was one of the biggest Hollywood hits of the 1980s, grossing $27 million in the first three weeks after its release (Nixon, 1986) and winning seven Academy Awards, including best picture. Dinesen's books, many of which were out of print, have been re-issued inresponse to the new interest in her writing (Nixon, 1986). "Out of Africa" (1985), Hollywood's version of Isak Dinesen's (née Karen Dinesen) autobiography, received praise from many critics for its sensitive portrayal of a strong woman and her adult relationship with a man (Kipnis, 1989). A few dissenting voices emerged, however, that were critical of the movie's representation of colonialism and women. One male critic (Nixon, 1986) attacked the film's glamorization of colonialism, but ignored the sexual politics submerged in its narrative structure. Laura Kipnis (1989), a feminist scholar, argued that "Out of Africa" was "a series of running jokes at the woman's expense....the woman [Dinesen] is constantly undercut, ridiculed, instructed and put in her place bya white male" (pp. 45, 48). The film's underlying message, according to Kipnis, perpetuates the patriarchal ideals of male superiority and dominance and female dependence and submissiveness. Further, Kennedy (1987) stated the most sympathetic and sensitive feature of Dinesen's Out of Africa is her portrayal of the Africans with whom she lived and worked. In fact, two Africanservants, Farah and Kamante, tire the focus of Dinesen's autobiography. In contrast, the movie foregrounds Denys Finch Hatton and his romantic relationship with Dinesen,not the Africans. A fantasy theme analysis comparing Dinesen's autobiographies with Pollack's film revealed conflicting rhetorical themes and visions between thesetexts (Cooper, 1991). Three corresponding fantasy themeswere identified in the narratives of the autobiographies and the filmunity, dependence and 5 Relevatory Silences 2 acceptancebut the representation of these fantasy themeswere contradictory. For example, Dinesen's descriptions of her relationships with Africans conveyeda deep sense of unity and harmony for both the country and the people as well as a corresponding sense of the Africans' dependence upon Dinesen for their well-being. Indeed, Dinesen consistently represented herselfas fighting against other European settlers in their efforts to change the country and for the Africans and their struggles to maintain their identity and dignity. In Pollack's film, however, Dinesen is depicted in the role of the possessor rather than the protector of Africa; in fact, she was recast in the film as one of the offending settlers who violated the rights of the Africans. In addition, although Dinesen represented her relationship withDenys Finch Hatton in her autobiographies as a partnership basedon unity and equality, in the film, Dinesen is depicted as assuming a subordinate, dependent role intheir relationship. The varying critical responses to "Out of Africa" raisesome interesting questions. Although both the autobiographies and the film document thesame 18 years isak Dinesen lived on a farm during the time Kenya was still British East Africa, their respective accounts of Dinesen's life and timesseem to contradict each other. The tensions evident between Dinesen'sown accounts and the differing accounts presented in the film are the principal focus of this study. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to explicate the ideological projects embedded within the film's narratives in order to understand the rhetorical strategies usedto represent the woman, Isak Dinesen, to a mass audience. Structuring Absences as Rhetorical Strategies As a critical concept, a structuring absence refers to thegaps within a text that function to mask the ideological project underlying the text's narrative representations ("John Ford's," 1972). As a method of analysis, explicating the structuring absences of a text aims to identify the text's ideologicalprojects through a "process of active reading... tomake them [texts] say what they have tosay within what they leave unsaid" ("John Ford's,"p. 8). Rather than limiting a textual analysis to what the text says or intends tosay, a researcher analyzes the text in terms of its