The Pitying Witnesses: An Exploratory Study of Indonesian Audiences' Reception of "Listening to Our Voices" and "Operation Fine Girl"

• Other Authors: Saputro, Kurniawan Adi (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Communication
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-3011

This study aims to examine audience's reception of ethical claims in human rights documentaries. Since the nature of human rights campaigns is international, audiences' responses will have to deal with the distance between themselves and the people in the video. In this study, two groups of Indonesian audiences were shown two human rights documentaries; one is about torture cases in Indonesia and the other one is about rapes in war in Sierra Leone. To examine how the Indonesian audiences received the ethical claims, the study uses a discourse analysis approach to unpack subject positions constructed by the audiences. The findings indicate that the pain shown in the documentaries invokes the Indonesian audiences to align themselves with the sufferers. They sympathize with the sufferers based on their preexisting, or inexistent, knowledge about them. Their ability to receive the transfer of responsibility from the documentaries' world to their real world is determined by the structure of the stories and their knowledge of Sierra Leone and Indonesia. The audiences' intention to act is influenced by the setting of the screenings and the resources provided to them. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. === Spring Semester, 2009. === March 19, 2009. === Audience, Reception, Human Rights Media, Indonesia === Includes bibliographical references. === Stephen McDowell, Professor Directing Thesis; Jeanette Castillo, Committee Member; Jennifer Proffitt, Committee Member.