| In recent years, researchers and theorists in political science, women's studies, communication, sociology and other academic disciplines, along with journalists and bloggers, have intensified their attention to the ways in which gender functions in presidential politics. Much of the pioneering work in this area has been done by feminists, who have looked primarily at women as candidates and voters, and the changes in U.S. politics occasioned by women's increasing political activity and electoral participation.;This study, by contrast, examines how cultural ideas about masculinity have---especially in the television era---played a powerful subtextual role in presidential campaigns and electoral outcomes. In fact, presidential elections themselves can be seen as quadrennial referenda on the qualities that comprise the hegemonic masculinity at a given historical moment. Until 2008, every election was a contest between two (or three) versions of white masculinity; Barack Obama represents a new archetype.;Because it is a cultural studies analysis, this study highlights the way media discourses and conventions help to construct presidential masculinities, the influence those constructions have on voter choices, and the pedagogical functions they play in the gender order. Attention is paid throughout to the transformative role of new media and information technologies.;Violence is central to the construction of masculinities, so this study examines presidential masculinity with particular reference to a set of major historical issues that directly involve violence: the Cold War, violent crime, and terrorism. The bulk of analysis is focused on presidential campaigns since the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, and includes an extended discussion of the George W. Bush presidency, and the 2008 election of President Barack Obama.;The methodology utilized is a multiperspectival cultural studies analysis, which draws upon and builds on multicultural and feminist perspectives, men's studies, political communication theory and critical media literacy.;The dissertation concludes with the proposed creation of a new media literacy sub-field: critical political media literacy. The idea is to incorporate critical media literacy analyses and pedagogical strategies into the study and practice of politics at all levels, and to integrate these into K-12 curricula, as well as undergraduate and graduate education. |
