| This work examines Babe Ruth and the concept of celebrity, to trace how political and economic systems use mass communications to shape and maintain a media presence long enough for its evolution into a cultural icon. An historical perspective allows the study to return to a time, the early 1920's, when political/economic forces were becoming aware of the persuasiveness of media, and when media were being formed into a powerful net of influence for the people in control.;The work starts with the political and economic environment in which Babe Ruth emerged as a cultural hero then follows the media influences surrounding Ruth's life to examine how they mediated Ruth's image to change over time, developing an iconic presence with multiple meanings, reaching newer and more diverse audiences.;This examination demonstrates how political/economic systems work together to deliver ideological messages to a mass audience that insures the stability of the social order. It also shows how audiences use these messages for their own purposes. The symbiotic relationship between media-producers and media-users creates an interconnected web of meaning---an intertextuality. The messages conveyed and the goals of those messages are what this dissertation seeks to discuss.;The methodology of this work is a combination of the political economy paradigm used by communications scholars with a cultural studies approach which emphasizes textual analysis. While these two theoretic models are not often used in tandem, neither are they exclusive of one another. Political economy privileges how the interconnectedness of politics, economy, and mass communications supports a system of power dedicated to the maintenance and security of the dominant social class while cultural studies examines how groups of media consumers make use of media content, often in a hegemonic manner, to maintain the status quo. Together, these media models can be used to examine the evolution of Babe Ruth from his creation as a media icon in the 1920's to its continuing presence in the new millennium. |
