Digital Commons Network^™

Malicious Compliance, Sophia Shokraei

Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest

First-Time Comic Creator winner in the 2023 Jurgen Banned Art Comics Contest.

This comic depicts a musician's act of self-censorship and silent protest when faced with a broadcast network's performance restrictions. Inspired by real events.

Behind The Gate: Syrian Women In Soap Operas - Perception Vs. Reality, Tasnim J. Rahimah

Theses and Dissertations

Syria has witnessed what is known as al-fawra al-drameya, an eruption of drama since 2000. Every year, especially during Ramadan, dozens of Syrian soap operas are aired across the Arab world and beyond, depicting Syrians’ historical struggles as they fought for liberation from the French mandate at the beginning of the 20th century. Although women of those days were a vital part of that liberation movement and had prominent societal roles, these historical fiction soap operas chose to portray only the demure and dismissive female figures and not mention the women who were independent, courageous, and active members of the …

Distant Electric Vision: Cultural Representations Of Television From “Edison’S Telephonoscope” To The Electronic Screen, Ivy Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Do inventions that exist only on paper have less credibility than functional technologies? How has the meaning and significance of audiovisual media and technology changed over time? This dissertation examines historiography and methodology for media history, arguing for an interdisciplinary approach. It addresses methodological issues in media history—media in transition, media archaeology, and film history—through an examination of television’s speculative era. It tackles moving-image history through an historical investigation of Victorian and Machine age “television”.

Because the concept and terminology of “television” changed dramatically during this period, I use the phrases “distant electric vision” and “seeing by electricity,” to define …

The Netflix Effect And Defining Binge-Watching, Brenna C. Davis

Undergraduate Research Posters

With the accessibility of television programs provided by popular streaming platforms, like Netflix, consumers can watch episodes or seasons of their favorite programming in just one sitting. This new practice of watching television has been referred to as binge-watching, and is defined by Netflix as watching two to six episodes of the same show in one sitting. Netflix’s definition is the most widely used definition of binge-watching, but does not account for the varying lengths of episodes for the different types of programming. There is a lack of standardization in what constitutes a television binge, like the standards that exist …

The Integration History Of Kuwaiti Television From 1957-1990: An Audience-Generated Oral Narrative On The Arrival And Integration Of The Device In The City, Ahmad Hamada

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to compose an account of television history in Kuwait, one that focuses on its integration into society and is told from the audience's perspective and experience. This study represents a cultural alternative to the overwhelmingly national, institutional, and biographical focus that accompanies television history works in Kuwait and the Arab world.

The narrative is gathered and generated through the individual oral stories of 25 Kuwaitis over the age of 50, who generally represent the six geographical districts of Kuwait. Through their oral stories, the narrators examine the different areas in which television has integrated itself into society …

Progression Of The Representation Of Female Protagonists In The Sci-Fi/Fantasy Genres, Dakota S. Becker

Undergraduate Research Posters

Broadcast television has been plagued by the misrepresentation and absence of progressive female protagonists. Contemporary television programs have begun to address issues of diversity and empowerment, but it is questionable whether substantial strides in the representation of women have truly been made. The science fiction and fantasy genres in particular are infamous for perpetuating rampant sexism and the objectification of female characters. I analyze aspects of the television shows Orphan Black and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, two broadcast television series which aired over ten years apart, to broadly evaluate whether the science fiction and fantasy genres have progressed or …

Do You Fit The Alloy Mold? The Homogenization Of Structure And Audience In The Television Adaptations Of 'Gossip Girl,' 'Pretty Little Liars,' And 'The Vampire Diaries', Caitlin Murray

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways in which the television adaptations of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries become more homogenized during the adaptation process, thus contributing to an implied exclusivity from which Alloy, Inc.—the media and marketing company that owns these products—might benefit. This paper points out the ways in which the three products become structurally similar to one another during the adaptation process through the implementation of soap opera conventions. An exploration of consumption and class in each of the three works reveals an emphasis on class-based exclusivity in the adaptation process. Finally, a focus on …

Walk 14 Blocks, Bryant Mark Dameron

Theses and Dissertations

Walk 14 Blocks is a document that describes my two-year investigation of simulation in everyday life. It describes how I examine both simulated places and the tools of simulation. I explain the key elements relating my work to simulation; experience, language, and the video monitor. I trace how I have utilized these elements in several works that led to my thesis exhibition titled Evidence.

Wrestling With Tv “Rasslin”, Paul Duncum

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

TV wrestling stretches the envelope of what art educators might consider legitimate content under the emerging art educational paradigm of visual culture. (Duncum & Bracey, 2001) TV wrestling. Or "rasslin" as it’s known to its audience, is a significant cultural site because it is very popular and, under analysis, has much to say about contemporary cultural experience, especially that of its audience. While it provides pleasures and reference points to its audience, these reference points are often sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, and in terms of familial relationships, dysfunctional. They are also violent and obscene. This paper both acknowledges the lived experience …

Televised Gender Roles In Children’S Media: Covert Messages, Gaye Leigh Green

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

Encountering stereotypes promulgated by media representations is a daily occurrence. Information perpetuated in the media continually influences how people view the world. Female gender roles portrayed in television, for example, have altered from the 1950s stay-at-home mother portrayed by Barbara Billingsley in Leave It To Beaver, to postmodern portrayals of independent actress/mothers such as Jane Seymour. The messages that such diverse personifications suggest of motherhood are equally disparate. While television once perpetuated images of mothers as in the home caregivers, this domestic characterization has evolved into moms who now venture actively into the world.

Violence And Generation X: How The Right Is Managing The Moral Panic Through Television And Teen Films, Jan Jagodzinski

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

The continual "cultural wars" between "Generation X" ("baby busters" whose birth years begin with 1961, aged 11-35), and New Right "baby boomers" (whose birth years range. From 1946 to 1960), around the issue of violence as represented in the popular cultural forms of film and television provide critically concerned art educators with an opportune moment to examine how conservative rhetoric has made "moral panic" an object of current discourses. This highly-charged debate, now literally and symbolically represented by the censorship that "V-chip" technology provides, is explored in this essay from a seemingly non-populist position given the current tide against the …

Feminist Film Theory And Art Education, Michael J. Emme

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

Every ten years or so, lonely voices make themselves heard in the art education literature shouting something like ‘Pay attention to the “newer media” (Lanier, 1966, p.7), or ‘Have you heard? There a “new image world” (Nadaner, 1985, p.9) out there.’ One writer even suggested that “directed, critical inquiry of [television] will extend knowledge in art and aesthetics and enhance the quality of peoples’ lives (Degge, 1985, p.85) Despite these sporadic exhortations, Jaglom and Gardner’s (1981) observation that “our culture has not yet invented ways of presenting [the mass media] or teaching its structure to children” (p.35) is still true …