{"title":"Media Construction of Sport Celebrities as National Heroes","authors":"Diana-Luiza Dumitriu","doi":"10.21018/RJCPR.2018.2.257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21018/RJCPR.2018.2.257","url":null,"abstract":"Within the broader media-sport nexus framework, sport is known for providing not only engaging performances for the entertainment market, but also important symbolic capital in terms of national identity and public diplomacy. The present paper looks at how these dimensions overlap, focusing on the centrality of the media logic within the dynamics of the social field of sport and its corollary celebrization imagery. The aim of the paper is, thus, to identify the contextual aspects and the legitimation strategies mobilized through media discourses in the overlap of the star status and the national hero image of a sport actor. When and how does media crown an athlete with the national hero aura? What does this national hero status involve in terms of identity and identification mechanisms? Focusing on a corpus of 310 online articles and 12 Facebook highlights published by two main Romanian sport newspapers during the 2014 Roland Garros Tournament, the study discusses the media construction of the raising sport star, Simona Halep (i.e. first Romanian tennis player to enter Top 3 WTA), as national hero. The analysis examines not only the symbolic power of the sport performances as national identity resources and celebrity input, but also the engaging deliberative spaces that emerge along with the national hero frame and the hybrid form of civic celebrity practices involved in legitimizing it.","PeriodicalId":40874,"journal":{"name":"Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89355242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Highlighting Racial Demonization in 3D Animated Films and Its Implications: A Semiotic Analysis of Frankenweenie","authors":"Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam, Chinedu Ononiwu","doi":"10.21018/RJCPR.2018.2.256","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21018/RJCPR.2018.2.256","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on a semiotic analysis of Frankenweenie, one of Disney Picture’s 3D animated films. Anchored within the psychoanalytic film theory, the aim was to highlight how animated films, as colorful and comic as they are, can demonize a certain group of people. Studying how animated films can do this can lead to an important understanding because children’s exposure to modelled behavior on television and in movies has the potential to influence a wide range of attitudes and behaviors, cause victimization, alter their perceptions of reality, reinforce stereotypes and make them acquire such negative emotions as fear and anxiety, and behaviors like retaliation and passivity. The possibility of these adverse effects is even of greater concern in Africa and similar contexts which are at the receiving end of cultural products such as films that emanate from the West. The findings suggest that the negative portrayal of ‘people of color’ or other characters that represent them, by American film producers and directors seems to be a reoccurring phenomenon. Significantly, from an African perspective, this study corroborates scholars’ position that Disney has continued to portray ‘people of color’ negatively over the years.","PeriodicalId":40874,"journal":{"name":"Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81468297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Brain Drain Phenomenon in Romania: What Comes in Line after Corruption?","authors":"Raluca Iacob (Bâra)","doi":"10.21018/rjcpr.2018.2.259","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21018/rjcpr.2018.2.259","url":null,"abstract":"Romanians’ rapidly increasing exodus over the borders, in the last years, propelled Romania to the top countries with the highest international migration rates worldwide. A rate of 7.3% per annum, recorded between 2000 and 2015, placed Romania second, after Syria (United Nations, 2016). Between 1990 – 2017, Romania registered the highest rise in the migration stock among all EU states – 287 per cent (The World Bank, 2018a). The boost of the migration phenomenon was supported by significant changes, including in the migrants’ profiles, in terms of their level of education, consequently the loss of human capital represented by the highly skilled Romanians already has an impact on the key sectors of the Romanian economy. The highly skilled manpower shortage has been a constant topic on the public agenda, especially after Romania’s integration in the European Union (2007), and after the burst of the most recent financial crisis (2008). The number of highly educated employees (tertiary education and upper secondary and post-secondary attainment) decreased in Romania, negatively affecting the key sectors of the economy. Furthermore, research shows that Romania has the lowest percentage of tertiary education graduates from the EU, with 26.3% for the age segment of 30 – 34 years (Eurostat, 2018a). \u0000The paper aims to show recent data on the determinant causes of the brain drain phenomenon in Romania (push factors) and to generate a classification of the three categories of mainly possible determinants: economic, socio-political and organizational factors, based on the results of an online survey addressed to Romanian high-skilled migrants.","PeriodicalId":40874,"journal":{"name":"Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations","volume":"83 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2018-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79335150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review of 'The New Age of Development. The Geopolitical Assertion of Eurasia' by Paul Dobrescu and Flavia Durach, Springer, 2022, 201 pages","authors":"Elena NEGREA-BUSUIOC","doi":"10.21018/rjcpr.2022.3.350","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21018/rjcpr.2022.3.350","url":null,"abstract":"The book by Paul Dobrescu and Flavia Durach is a reflection and a meditation on how economic, social, cultural, and technological developments have shaped the world to the way in which it is today. The book is a collection of ideas on contemporary development, some of which have been previously published in various outlets (books and specialized journals) by the two authors together or separately. The volume reviewed here examines the most impactful global developments based on a detailed presentation and analysis of facts and situations. The authors do not intend to offer solutions to challenges and problems faced by countries from the Eurasian continent; however, their declared aim is “to formulate questions and to signal perspectives” (p. ix) that readers might use to build their own interpretation of the development affordances and of the unfolding crises of the contemporary world.","PeriodicalId":40874,"journal":{"name":"Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations","volume":"45 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"1970-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79342914","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}