A Comparative Analysis of the Intercultural Influence of American Media on Romanian Adolescents During the Ceauscescu (1978) and Post-Ceaucescu (2014) Eras

• In Event: Innovative International Media Research

Abstract

The Spring of 1978 was a formative time in Romania. Behind the so-called “Iron Curtain” under the control of President Nicolae Ceaucescu, an IREX-funded research study on the influences of American film and television on Romanian adolescents was begun.The research strategy in Romania involved a multiple operational approach which combined both quantitative and qualitative components with anonymity in the field. The research began with a month in Bucharest researching the media (television, cinema, radio, and, to a lesser extent, publishing) gatekeepers’ philosophies, strategies, and methods for deciding what could be used in the Romanian media and the resulting permitted materials decisions. Followed by five months in the small industrial town of Busteni, located in the Carpathian mountains between the ancient regions of Transylvania and Walachia, the focus of the research was on adolescents (identified as students between 12 and 18 years of age) for several reasons: 1) they were the most accessible population, since they were not too young to meet and work on materials, nor already tied up with work and family, 2) they were the most open to discussion with “foreigners”, and 3) their ideas and eventual life choices were considered by both Romanian and American academics to be an indicator of the future success of the Socialist agenda. Fast forward 35 years to a new political system, new life-styles and choices, freedom of speech for the population. Using the same research multiple operational research methodology (slightly adapted for the new circumstances), the researcher explore whether the influences which existed in the previous generation are still affecting the current adolescent generation.

Author

• Rebekah Jorgensen, Webster University Geneva