Faculty

Vincent Rocchio

Assistant Professor

Office Location: 219 Holmes Hall
Office Phone: 617-373-8423
Email: v.rocchio@neu.edu

Office Hours:
Monday: 1:30-2:30
Thursday: 10:30-11:30
By Appointment

Education:
Ph.D., Cinema Studies, New York University
MA, Cinema Studies, New York University
BA, Communications and English, University of Detroit

Courses Taught:
Introduction to College
Media, Culture, Society
Television Studio Production
New Media Culture

Research Interests:
Professor Rocchio's research focuses on three main areas: contemporary theories of media, teaching pedagogy, and independent film and video production. An increasingly active media practitioner, Professor Rocchio has directed and produced documentaries, music videos, and narrative shorts, and most recently, video for web distribution by political campaigns. He has also directed studio productions for community organizations. His interest in politics and the media has led to his work in two Massachusetts gubernatorial gampaigns as an issues advisor, media designer, and debate coach. His last screenplay, "Keys to the Kingdom," placed as a finalist in two international screenplay competitions, and a quarterfinalist in two others.

Professor Rocchio's main interest as a practitioner is examining how the lower cost of digital video production can create more opportunities for alternative approaches, styles and programming in our contemporary media landscape, as well as making video technology accessible to more people . He is particularly active in developing the internet as the future distribution network for video production--allowing small, independent groups the opportunity to compete for niche audiences with traditional broadcast networks.

In media studies, Dr. Rocchio's work incorporates contemporary theories of cultural studies such as psychoanalysis, semiotics, and critical theory to examine how media texts persuade their audiences, shape public opinion, and drive social agendas. In particular, his work examines the rhetorical and aesthetic strategies that moving image texts employ to promote social heirarchies and inequality, and repress or marginalize discourses of social equality. His work also explores how images and discourses transcend and resist the representational strategies that organize them. He has published two books with this research focus: Cinema of Anxiety: A Psychoanalysis of Italian Neorealism (University of Texas Press, 1999) and Reel Racism: Confronting Hollywood's Construction of Afro-American Culture (Westview Press, 2000).

His most recent work in media studies examines the limitations of analytical critique. In essays on the music of Michael Jackson and Madonna, and the evolution of computer networking models, Dr. Rocchio advocates using analytic critique as a foundation for constructing strategic solutions to specific social problems. He is particularly interested in the marginalization of peace making in contemporary culture, and developing new strategies to counter militarism.

In addition to his work in media studies, Dr. Rocchio's research examines higher education pedagogy. He has lectured on media studies pedagogy at an NIH seminar, and published a chapter on teaching race and media literacy in Teaching Ethnic Diversity in Film (McFarland, 2006). He is currently co-developing a theory oriented and analytically based textbook for introductory courses in mass communications. With a particular focus on the teaching of writing, Dr. Rocchio has lead seminars on teaching the analytic essay, and is co-authoring a book on teaching writing through literary theory.