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The purpose of this book is to analyze how potential college-bound and current students make meaning about the higher education experience from the film that is pivotal in the American college culture and sets the trend for future college-themed films National Lampoon´s Animal House (1978). The research question is offered: What does National Lampoon´s Animal House (1978) communicate about administrators, students, professors, and in general, the college experience? Another research question addresses meaning: Is the screenwriter´s message the message received by audiences? This book will be useful to college admissions consultants and recruiters as they attempt to understand students´ perceptions of higher education and how these perceptions may affect enrollment as well as degree persistence; shed light on the effects of mass media and how the media may influence viewers´ perception of reality; serve as a guide for how one creates news patterns of meaning, extends current attitudes and behaviors, and/or dissolves a way of thinking by applying the Kaleidoscope Effect.

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Dr. Kristy Tucciarone is Assistant Teaching Professor and Advising Coordinator of Media Studies at the University of Missouri St. Louis. She was previously employed with an advertising and public relations agency and then by the world´s largest direct marketing agency. Dr. Tucciarone holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

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