Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Violence in literature; High school students' writings, American; College students' writings, American; School shootings; Scapegoat; College students' writings, American; High school students' writings, American; Scapegoat; School shootings; Violence in literature; Academic theses;
Abstract
In a period when students, parents, teachers and administrators are bombarded with images related to school shooting attacks, efforts to prevent such attacks in the future and to identify students who pose a threat to school safety have intensified. These efforts to fight the seemingly mounting wave of school violence have contributed to the rise of stereotypes of what a school shooter looks, talks, and acts like. This study examines one of these stereotypes: the writer-of-violence-as-school-shooter stereotype. This stereotype, which gained attention after 1990s rampages such as those at Heath High School (Kentucky) and Columbine High School and became highly visible after the 2007 attack at Virginia Tech University, suggests that high school and college-age writers of violent fiction, as well as other forms of art which contain violent language or imagery, are more conspicuous candidates to commit a school shooting. Through public discourse on violent writing's perceived relationship to the ongoing threat of school shootings, violent writing has become a stigmatized act that has become connected with mental illness or obsession with real-life violence. Negative commercial news media portrayals of students' violent writing have contributed to writers-of-violence being scapegoated for the threat of school shootings. This study examines the scapegoating of writers-of-violence for the ongoing threat of school shootings through the application of scapegoat analysis to both (1) news media stories and public discourse surrounding school shootings and (2) qualitative data gathered in original interviews with individuals who self-identify as having negotiating the stereotype in their life.
Year of Submission
2009
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Communication Studies
First Advisor
Paul J. Siddens, III
Second Advisor
Christopher Martin
Third Advisor
Catherine Palczewski
Date Original
2009
Object Description
1 PDF file (377 leaves)
Copyright
©2009 Matt Foy
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Foy, Matt, "The Writer-Of-Violence-As-School-Shooter Stereotype: How Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Public Fear Make Writing Violence Dangerous for Students" (2009). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2673.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2673
Comments
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