Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Dynamic Of Unity Writing, Virginia Gilroy

Department of Writing and Communication Theses

The Dynamic Unity of Writing (DUW) offers an object oriented theory of writing, based on the idea of a dynamic unit, which is the simultaneous manifestation of distinct thought processes acting as one. This thesis demonstrates how writing, while grounded in consciousness, fulfills the four characteristics of a dynamic unit: that in its unity of action, writing is a basic level structure; that writing is more than the sum of its parts; that it is observable only in a context of operation; and, that writing exhibits a pattern of correlation across elements. This theory blends the four elements of the …

Disrupting” The Broadcast: Female Showrunners As 21st Century “Fangirl” Feminist Rhetors, Veronica Diaz

Department of Writing and Communication Theses

Despite being considered a female-driven discipline, previous scholarship and personal testimonies indicate that composition remains solidly a “boys’ club.” Popular media is male-dominated as well, resulting in on-screen representations of women that, written from the male perspective, tend toward one-dimensionality. Recently, more women are permeating Hollywood writers’ rooms and producing multi-layered stories that offset the aforementioned portrayals.

This thesis examines how showrunners Marti Noxon, Jenji Kohan, and Shonda Rhimes have redefined female representation on-screen—and subsequently, perceptions of women in real life—by crafting nuanced, female-driven narratives. Elements analyzed include: themes present in Noxon’s Sharp Objects (2018) and Dietland (2018), Kohan’s Weeds …