Sharon Ross | Columbia College Chicago (original) (raw)

Papers by Sharon Ross

Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 2017

Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2010

Action Chicks, 2004

Over the past three decades, female action heroes have risen to the surface of American televisio... more Over the past three decades, female action heroes have risen to the surface of American television as well as other media and captured the attention of viewers and feminist scholars. Two shows that have garnered much attention are Xena: Warrior Princess and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These series and their heroines have offered new visions of heroism by inflecting the concept of toughness with the notion of flexibility. While traditional heroes of the past have been made tough via their individualism and their ability to confront obstacles by themselves, these women grow as heroes because of their female friends. Xena and her friend Gabrielle and Buffy and her friend Willow encourage each other to push the limits of what it means to be a hero, emphasizing the importance of flexibility. In particular, both television series stress that a woman can be "tough enough" to fight patriarchy when she learns to listen to other women's perspectives on the world and when she values her emotional bonds with other females as a source of strength. In both Xena and Buffy, each lead woman finds that, increasingly, her sense of purpose is enmeshed with her friend's. The primary purpose of both Xena and Buffy is to be heroic and tough enough to fight evil forces, and because this becomes inextricable from their best friends' purposes, Gabrielle and Willow become heroes, too. This is a fundamental challenge to traditional notions S. A. Inness (ed.), Action Chicks

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 2004

This article examines the possibilities for qualitative audience study afforded by the Internet, ... more This article examines the possibilities for qualitative audience study afforded by the Internet, carefully detailing both the benefits and dangers of such research. In answer to methodological issues resulting from online communication with subjects, the essay calls for the application of various feminist and anthropological methodological practices, and considers methodological dilemmas related to perceived privacy, natural data and lurking, informed consent procedures, balancing anonymity, and data accessibility. In the course of outlining methodological considerations especially salient when finding audiences through internet spaces, we reflect on our own dilemmas in designing studies that meet the ethical standards of feminist methodology. The increasing dissemination of Internet technologies may provide the greatest revolution in the study of media audiences since critical media scholars began turning their attention to audiences in the early 1980s. As is often the case with new technologies and applications, computer-mediated communication (CMC) provides a previously unimaginable tool, but also forces a revision of the standards and practices that governed qualitative audience study prior to its introduction. Researchers in a variety of fields have begun adapting traditional methodological practices and ethics to the new research tool of CMC and the "field space" provided by the Internet, but using the Web to research audiences of television series poses specific challenges that this research has not addressed. This particular article and the type of research it envisions require slightly revised concepts of field and audience. The changing nature of "going into the field" depends largely upon how researchers use the Internet and the new virtual spaces it offers. Throughout most of this article, we primarily focus on the Internet as a tool for research rather than as a space to research. In this approach, the Internet facilitates communication by helping to find audience members (who become respondents)

Feminist Media Studies, 2004

particularly its analysis of institutional contexts and processes, useful for exploring mainstrea... more particularly its analysis of institutional contexts and processes, useful for exploring mainstream US films. The essay centers upon the US context; however, theoretical exchange with British and Australian feminists has been particularly crucial, consequently taking the history beyond national boundaries despite this focus. The Origins of Feminist Television Criticism Feminist television critics have occupied a central role within television criticism nearly from its origin. The critical study of film possesses a longer history and consequently was moderately developed by the time feminists began finding space to assert their voices as various national cultures began attending to gender inequity in the 1970s (Francesco Casetti 1999). Feminist criticism and television studies were born together in that decade, and while both struggled for a place in academic institutions, the youthfulness of television studies made it possible for feminist voices to emerge without having to overthrow an "old guard." Feminist approaches and topics were well represented and even the area of focus in many of the earliest anthologies of television criticism (