Media, Youth, and the War on Terror

• In Event: Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: Race, Space, and Popular Culture

Abstract

Anxieties associated with the global war on terror surround youth, and ideological narratives mediating global conflicts can be seen in the popular media youth consume. This investigation uses contemporary cultural-theoretical conceptualizations of ideology to analyze screen-based cultural artifacts created for youth consumption in order to determine how young audiences are invited into the ideoscapes and discourses of the war on terror. Findings indicate that in providing schema in which viewers can orient themselves in relation to global Others, popular culture scripts fundamental understandings of global conflict in terms of innovative Orientalisms, invites young people to identify with an aggressive defense of the West, and serves as an ideological support for the U.S. in the context of ongoing global conflicts.

Authors

• Noah De Lissovoy, The University of Texas - Austin

• Venkat Ramaprasad, The University of Texas - Austin

• Stacia Cedillo, The University of Texas - Austin

• Courtney Cook, The University of Texas - Austin