Digital Commons Network^™

‘Poetry Is Not A Luxury’, Rage Should Not Be A Privilege: The Potential Power Of The ‘Racial Imaginary’, Georgia Mcgovern

CMC Senior Theses

Female rage exists outside of the constructed masculine ideal of anger. To examine female rage, one must analyze the intersections between gender and race. I examine white women's privilege and access to female rage in reality and the fictional world. I explore Black Feminist poetry as a form of storage for rage at gender-based prejudice, racial injustice, and their intersection. Using Myisha Cherry’s term “Lordean Rage”, I recognize this specialized manifestation of female rage as an artistic, intergenerational source of energy for change.

I examine Claudia Rankine’s term “racial imaginary” as an imaginative space in which white people draw lines …

Cultivating Desire: Media Technologies In Fashion Branding, Jad Gorman

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the symbiotic relationship between media technologies and fashion branding, examining how the latter is increasingly mediated. In an age where digital platforms dominate, designers have adapted by utilizing a range of media technologies to cultivate desire and construct their perception and identities. The main argument is that media technologies are not just tools for communication but active agents in shaping their brand narratives and consumer perceptions. Whether that be a cult fanbase, reaching a wide consumer audience, or creating anticipation for a certain item, the use of media is often more important than the consumer object itself. …

Nnuba 0h47min/Couleur. Réalisatrice : Sonia At Qasi-Kessi, Farida Aït Ferroukh

Journal of Amazigh Studies

N/A

The Man In The Fiber Optic Cable: A Short Film, Lucas Cunningham

Pomona Senior Theses

A man runs through a fiber optic cable.

菠蘿包(Pineapple Bun): Exploring Memory And Language Through Animation, Elaine Yang

Scripps Senior Theses

菠蘿包(Pineapple Bun) explores the themes of reconstruction, evocation, and memory through my childhood in Taiwan. Inspired by other Asian American animators, I aim to tell a simple story of connection through my grandfather and I's daily swimming ritual. The film is a 3-minute animated short film following our language barrier and how we engage with each other's differing backgrounds.

The Burden Of Artificiality: Always The Servant, Never The Patron, Alia Biswas

Scripps Senior Theses

I examine three robots in Science Fiction, Data from the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, David from the movie A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, and Deckard from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? to examine how they are analogous to marginalized bodies. I analyze how the marginalization of robots works to disorient robots so their labor can be extracted, as I focus through their embodiment of a happy object, and how their desire is directed towards the narrative of the good life, the myth that a happy life is achieved through adhering to heteronormativity. I use heteronormativity as …

(Re)Constructing National Memory In Neoliberal Chile Through Patricio Guzman's The Cordillera Of Dreams (2019), Mica Barrett

Scripps Senior Theses

One of the most renowned Chilean exile filmmakers is Patricio Guzmán. Best known for his documentary work regarding the Allende years, Guzmán has continued to make films regarding his homeland in the decades following his initial exile.

The Cordillera of Dreams is the concluding film in a trilogy exploring the natural lands of Chile and their relationship to physical remnants of the human past. The initial and most renowned film in the series, Nostalgia for the Light, centers the Atacama Desert and Chileans’ relationship to the geography as a gateway to revealing artifacts of Chile’s recent history of genocide …

My Physical-Digital Self: Exploring The Detrimental Effects Of The Metaverse On Relationship & Identity Development, Sophia De Castro

CMC Senior Theses

The metaverse, which is the next iteration of the internet--an immersive, virtual world--poses a threat to the essential human need for healthy relationship and identity development. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of isolation and virtual socialization led many to prefer physical experiences, despite society’s overall dependency on and connectedness to the internet and technological devices. Framed by Maslow’s hierarchy of human psychological needs, Turkle’s analysis of the human relationship to earlier forms of virtual reality, and Foucault’s principles of caring for and knowing the self, this paper argues that the metaverse will be detrimental towards developing participant’s …

Reimagining Identity Through Photography: The Experience Of Intersectionality For Asian-American Women, Noelle Song

CMC Senior Theses

"Reimagining Identity Through Photography: The Experience of Intersectionality for Asian-American Women'' aims to challenge the common stereotypes of Asian-American women in modern society by examining the history of their identities as both women and Asian Americans. The project highlights the negative consequences of complacency to these stereotypes, exploring the complexity of the model minority myth, intersectionality, and standpoint theory, while providing historical context to understand the violent crimes committed against this demographic. I curated a physical gallery space of 18 images featuring 9 Asian-American women to deconstruct racial and gender myths that contribute to the model minority myth. This exhibition …

Simulacra And Simulation Hypothesis: How Real Is Our Reality?, Annika Larson

CMC Senior Theses

Metaphysical quandaries have plagued humans for centuries, beginning with Plato, who in his Allegory of the Cave, illustrated a world where people misinterpreted shadows on the wall as reality. This paper examines the notion that our reality is a simulation, either created by us or by external forces. The ontological theories presented in this paper are mainly derived from the work of media theorist Jean Baudrillard and his concept of hyperreality as well as Nick Bostrom’s argument for the simulation hypothesis. I also analyze Slavoj Zizek’s comments on media depictions of simulations in mainstream movies like The Matrix and The …

Portrait Of An Insecure Young Man; An Exploration Of The Online Propagation Of Mewing, Jamie Cockburn

CMC Senior Theses

As social media becomes more ubiquitous in our cultural existence as humans it plays an increasingly large role in the formation and expression of identity. On many social media platforms, the way people look is emphasized, with more attractive people garnering the most attention. This results in the phenomenon of upward social comparison, which leads to the lowering of self-esteem. Social media and the internet also enable the spread of information and ideologies, which has resulted in the propagation of pessimistic and misogynistic world views in in communities that make up the manosphere. One popular topic on the manosphere is …

The Ilm Industrial Complex: Star Wars And Vfx In The Digital Age, Jane Baldwin

CMC Senior Theses

This paper proposes an expansion of Tom Gunning’s seminal theory of the “cinema of attractions.” Advancements in visual effects (VFX) technologies—such as the rise of George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and the advent of the digital age, among others—necessitate a more rigorous, updated understanding of effects as objects of media study. Using the Star Wars franchise as an analytical center, I aim to bring the subfield of effects study closer to compatibility with the ever-evolving VFX landscape.

Playing To Win: The Effects Of Implementing Gamification Strategies In Product Marketing, Sabrina Stone

CMC Senior Theses

Let’s play a game. What effect do you think video games have on twenty-first-century marketing? In this age defined by its nature of digitality, capturing the attention of consumers is an arduous competition. Through market segmentation, research, and the observable variables of consumer behavior, product marketing has turned to video games as a solution to appeal to younger demographics. Gamification is an increasingly applied product marketing strategy employed to increase favorable metrics. Of those key performance indicators (KPIs), boosted measures such as click-through rates, impressions, and engagement rates suggest that gamification is a strategic opportunity to persuade consumers to take …

#Mentalhealthmatters: Mental Health Awareness Campaigns In Media And Its Effectiveness On Stigma Reduction In Third Culture Kids, Airi Sugihara

Scripps Senior Theses

The recent amplified attention towards mental health and overall wellbeing has been accelerated by awareness campaigns in media, which are culturally and regionally tailored to encourage efficacy and positive attitude changes. Some of these mental health awareness campaigns are disseminated on the social media platform Instagram, which is contradictory to Instagram’s corporate lack of acknowledgement towards its addictiveness and negative impacts on user mental health. The aesthetic and influencer culture surrounding social media empowers its systemic problems, which is exacerbated by modern society’s media dependency. Within its discriminatory and oppressive algorithm, mental health awareness campaigns created by Instagram represent corporate …

Seaglass: An Animated Rejection Of Narrative Permanence, Alejandra Louise Blackmore

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores how popular narrative structures imply that our reality should be stagnant, thereby leaving us as viewers unprepared for the notion of change. I introduce the term “narrative permanence” as a story structure that assumes the foundations of a narrative are absolute. These stories therefore consider structural change as a threat or abnormal. I analyzed examples such as The Simpsons and news coverage of the BP oil spill to demonstrate how popular media frames change as an unnatural occurrence that must be neutralized. My thesis then culminated in an animated short about a person living in a seaside …

Masochistic Drive & Horror, Anne Farley

CMC Senior Theses

Human nature is inherently masochistic, meaning we self gratify through the means of some type of self-harm. The term masochism usually refers to sexual tendencies, but in this paper, it will be used as a reference to some sort of self-infliction of pain whether it be mental or physical. It is rare that we, as individuals, do not partake in masochism on a daily basis. When we engage in an activity or task that inflicts a type of pain, or stress on our bodies and mind, we are rewarded with gratification. This can be observed in gym-goers, individuals who thrive …

Greenpeace In Germany And The U.S.: A Case Study In Non-Profit Web Design, Maximilian J. Weirauch

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis draws on Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model, connects it to basic principles of web design, and applies it to a website analysis of the global non-profit organization Greenpeace. This case study of cultural dimensions in web design utilizes Hofstede’s framework from 1974 throughout all its chapters and focuses on the cultural differences between Germany and the U.S. My hypothesis that successful marketing materials such as websites must communicate differently with their U.S.-American and German audiences is partially borne out. But it is important to note that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model cannot fully account for certain intercultural dimensions of …

Reimagining Abandoned Community Space In A Post-Pandemic Environment, Julia Drooff

Scripps Senior Theses

Earlier this year, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the demise of the Great American Mall by forcing temporary and permanent closures across the country. The low-end malls that remain are dealing with crippling debt and the closing of key department stores like JC Penney and Neiman Marcus[1]. With only super-luxury malls thriving, many of the standard malls set up in the eighties are just abandoned parts of a community. So, what should happen to these abandoned malls? And what role does that space now play in the post-pandemic community? Since malls began to shut-down pre-Covid-19 did the need for …

El Inmigrante En El Cine Del Siglo Xxi: Un Análisis De La Identidad Indocumentada Y Sus Esfuerzos Por Mantener Una Comunidad Unida Dentro Y Fuera De La Pantalla, Guadalupe Valente

CMC Senior Theses

El cine en los Estados Unidos ha sido una parte clave de su cultura por muchos años. La industria del cine en los Estados Unidos es un negocio de miles de millones de dólares y con unas de las influencias más inmensas en el país. En términos del género inmigratorio en el cine, existen varias percepciones negativas de la comunidad Latina – incluyendo entre ellas: el traficante de drogas, el violador, el ladrón de trabajo, el empleado doméstico o el trabajador de “blue collar.” Aunque existen muchos estereotipos para los latinos, unos de los personajes más maltratados es el inmigrante …

Traumatized Characters In Traumatized Environments: A Look At Repression And Horror, Rebecca L. Goldman

Scripps Senior Theses

Using Sigmund Freud’s theory of ‘return of the repressed’ as a theoretical basis, this paper takes a case study approach using three critically acclaimed horror films. These films include Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1974), Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), and Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019). With use of each film, the interaction between the repressed trauma of the protagonists’ and the film environment is explored, utilizing the notion that repressed trauma will always manifest itself as a symptom of the unconscious mind. Supporting theories include Slavoj Zizek’s notion that dreams must be read in terms of their form, stemming from …

Tracing Biometric Assemblages In India’S Surveillance State: Reproducing Colonial Logics, Reifying Caste Purity, And Quelling Dissent Through Aadhaar, Priya Prabhakar

Scripps Senior Theses

Tracing Biometric Assemblages in India’s Surveillance State seeks to understand the historical conditions that rendered the nation-state of India as having the world’s largest biometric surveillance system: Aadhaar. Surveillance practices used by the British Raj mirrors the current social order of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as they use surveillance to similar ends in today’s political economy, through the intersecting forces of neoliberalism and ethnonationalism. This thesis is an exploration into how India’s current surveillance regimes cultivate biometric surveillant assemblages through Aadhaar. Contrary to claims that Aadhaar was created to empower the poor, I argue that these surveillance regimes …

Globalized Interfaces And Anticolonial Engagements With Material Technologies Of Empire: Tabita Rezaire And Morehshin Allahyari’S Works, Neelufar Franklin

Scripps Senior Theses

The virtual is far from immaterial and its expressions are multifarious. The infrastructure of a technologic-globalism has opened new pathways of desecration, created new networks of exploitation, and reinforced fraught foundations. Tabita Rezaire and Morehshin Allahyari are two artists whose radical technofeminist and new materialist practices engage with counterdiscourses in the face of the globalized interfaces of technology; from mappings of submarine fiber optic network cables or understanding water as a knowledge repository, to 3D printed queered figures of Islamic mysticism and hypertext narratives. In these anachronistic approaches to technological use and analyses, archives become possibilities for renderings of futurity …

Constructing Memory In The Wake Of Tragedy: An Analysis Of Film As A Tool Of Collective Memory In The Aftermath Of The Dictatorships In Argentina And Chile, Megan C. Schneider

CMC Senior Theses

Acting as an audiovisual vector of catharsis, film has proved an innovative and effective tool in the process of reconstructing collective memory in the aftermath of traumatic events. This thesis focuses on the emergence of filmmakers and their movies in the post-dictatorial periods in Argentina and Chile as both nations sought to confront their violent pasts. A general overview of the process of memory construction is included to provide background for the subsequent analysis of film as a vector of collective memory following trauma. An examination and comparison of various films produced for both domestic and international audiences detail each …

Star Wars And Franchising: Emotional Ownership And Tensions In The Digital Age, Claire A. Pukszta

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper unpacks the franchise system and the often-tumultuous relationship between Producers and Consumers, especially around the release of new films by the Producers. Star Wars represents far more than just a corporate product. There is a thriving ecosystem around pieces that have touched fans lives personally.

The reaction of fans to new media texts in existing franchises is in constant flux. Tumultuous emotions of betrayal come in waves from fans immediately following the release of new content. Specifically focusing on reception to prequel films, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999) and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), reveals …

Like Me: Generation Z, Instagram, And Self-Branding Practices, Emily Longley

Scripps Senior Theses

The newest generation, raised and immersed in today's hyper-consumer culture, has learned to define the self within a neoliberal and capitalist framework in which self-branding and ascribing to hegemonic principles appears imperative to one’s personal success.

Photography And Mourning: Excavating Memories Of My Great-Grandmother, Eva Weiner

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper explores how photographs have affected mourning processes in the past and how photo-technology may be able to change the way in which we mourn in the future. It includes an overview of the history of post-mortem photography and discusses the perspectives of well-known media theorists such as Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag. It engages with psychologists by including their perspectives on the effect that photographs have on the mourning process. A project was created to investigate how photo-technology can affect the bereaved. The project places photographs of a mother into pictures of her children taken after she had …

Democracy At Stake In The Digital Age: Engaging In The Net Neutrality Debate For The Preservation Of Free Speech And The Redemption Of Public Interest, Christina (Sung Min) Yoh

CMC Senior Theses

Net neutrality is currently one of the most topical government policies up for debate. In the following paper, I will examine three cases in which net neutrality has been threatened by internet service providers and the Federal Communications Commission and reinforced by public interest groups, major website companies, and the public. The online regime has been a critical instrument in the outcome of all three cases, highlighting the role and influence of internet users in the virtual and physical public spheres.

Some say that the battle is already lost. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and his Republican majority in the agency …

Jocks For Justice: How Sports Media Reflects And Propagates Societal Narratives, Laura Kathryn Reifsnyder

CMC Senior Theses

Sports presents one of the most popular forms of entertainment in society, and sports media continues to expand its billion-dollar influence through new television deal and broadcasting rights. But with a population of journalists who are overwhelmingly white, straight, and male, sports media is promoting the hegemony of said image by reproducing stereotypes in its broadcasts to audiences around the country. Mainstream media regurgitates these stereotypes in their coverage of minority athlete by portraying black players as unintelligent or “thug”-ish, women as “butch”, and gay athletes as effeminate. These representations allow for the perpetuation of the white, heterosexual male narrative …

21st Century Film Criticism: The Evolution Of Film Criticism From Professional Intellectual Analysis To A Democratic Phenomenon, Asher Weiss

CMC Senior Theses

Film criticism has changed since its inception and will continue to change moving forward. The evolution of film criticism has largely been a story of the shift from an elite field of intellectual exploration by a few knowledgeable experts to a democratic phenomenon where expert analysis is aggregated and averaged, and the lines are blurred between true expertise and the random opinions of the masses. This paper will address the transition from the birth of film criticism to its popularization through the 90s, to what it has become today. By exploring the nature of film criticism historically and reviewing the …

A To Z Of Superhero Movies, Jiyeon Kim

CMC Senior Theses

This project explores the question of originality and appropriation in the creative world by using mashup video as a medium. How can old repetitive stories be deconstructed and transformed into something new? I have created alphabetically ordered montages of shots/scenes containing words/letters from superhero films. By doing so, I do not provide a concrete answer to what is really original in today’s world, but rather encourage the audience to actively participate in the viewing experience of the carefully structured ontology and see the infinite possibility of the modern-day mashup culture.