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For this Roundtable, we asked several leading scholars working on issues of social justice and cognition in film and media studies for a brief response to the prompt: "Explain one current theory, approach, or research finding that you think is particularly important in addressing stigma and inclusivity in screen media." Participants drew from their own current work and insights, and they pointed to new strands of inquiry that they found exciting. Their responses represent a range of interests across diverse specialisms, and comprise an interdisciplinary showcase for the state of current research in social justice, cognition, and media, including ideas on how the fields could grow from here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas biblical texts were used to justify the practice of discrimination and prejudice, Christian principles have also been the motivation for social activism. However, today it is arguable that the Christian church has lost sight of this mission in light of other goals such as expansion and profit. Rapper Lecrae Moore has been the topic of controversy as his music aims to carry out the mission of social justice by intentionally challenging the assumptions of whiteness rooted in the institution of the American Christian Church. Using Stewart's (1980) functional approach to the rhetoric of social movements, this study examines the extent to which Lecrae uses his music to transform perceptions of history, transform perceptions of society, and prescribe a course of action. The mission of this research and arguably of Lecrae's work is to hold people of the Christian faith across all races accountable to the mission and biblical commands of unity and social justice often overlooked or dismissed in the American church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on co-viewing (or group viewing) is scarce. Yet, co-viewing has important implications for the viewers’ entertainment experience and the way viewers respond to and evaluate entertainment—especially those with controversial messages. The present study investigated responses to racial humor content among racial in-group and out-group viewing contexts. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which Blacks and Whites would experience discomfort when viewing racial slurs in comedies with in-group compared to out-group members. Employing real-time psychophysiological data and multilevel time series models, the study found a significant increase in emotional arousal (indicated by SCRs) and distraction (indicated by RSA) among Blacks in the context of out-group viewing compared to in-group viewing, but not for Whites. Implications of findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Race and media research in the United States emphasizes the representations of ethnic minorities in mainstream media. These sometimes-poor representations of minority groups have implications for social attitudes. However, social groups are defined in relation to one another, and race specifically is a hierarchical category with Whites positioned above. Some scholars suggest that whiteness has meaningful implications for Whites’ racial identity formation. Yet little empirical attention has been given to the portrayals of Whites in racially targeted or ethnic-oriented media, where whiteness is most conspicuous. This study uses social identity theory and critical race theories to examine the portrayals of Whites in Black films. We conduct a content analysis of 32 Black-oriented films spanning two decades. We argue that such investigations (a) position race-oriented films as necessary sites for understanding racial discourse and (b) shed insight into how ethnic media creators may use film as a platform to accept or resist dominant ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A number of studies across disciplines have examined the influence of popular music on identity; however, comparative study of Christian music genres, which are clearly racially marked, is lacking. Based on Tajfel and Turner's social identity perspective, this article examines the ways in which Black listeners of Black gospel and White listeners of Contemporary Christian music (CCM), evaluate themselves and one another. Although there have been popular speculations about these differences, there is no empirical evidence of these assumptions. Findings suggest that while in-group members are generally more favorable toward their music than the out-group, privilege allows for Black listeners to be more open toward White majority music while the opposite is not true. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]