Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Depiction Of American Litigation In Movies, Bryson Reeves

Honors Theses

The legal profession is a crucial institution of American society that impacts the lives of millions of Americans each day. Films act as an agent of socialization that can shape the public’s expectations of the legal field and its lawyers. Therefore, this study focuses on the levels of accuracy, impact, and quality of the representations that are found in films portraying the legal profession. It does so through two methods. More specifically, practicing attorneys reviewed film clips and completed a survey indicating their perceptions of the accuracy and impact of film representations. Second, a content analysis was performed to determine …

The Meaning Of The Mask: Darth Vader On The Screen And The Page, Brenna Renfroe

Honors Theses

Masks can be found throughout popular culture, and their roots trace back through history. Whether on the screen, the page of a comic book, the stage, or in the halls of a Comic-Con, masked faces are intriguing. Among the numerous masked faces that populate our imagination, few are as iconic and instantly recognizable as Darth Vader from Star Wars. Despite his popularity, most of the research devoted to masked characters has been interested in why heroes such as Batman wear masks. There is little research on why a tragic hero turned villain does so, since the connotation of masks seems …

Creation, Craft, And Covid-19: A Documentary, Joshua Stockstill

Honors Theses

Creation, Craft, and COVID-19 is a documentary film that looks into the creation and development of a small jewelry business called Novi Creations based in Laurel, Mississippi. This thesis interviews Shauna Stockstill, the owner of Novi Creations, and presents the history of the business, its daily processes, and its struggles through the COVID-19 pandemic. This thesis also covers the planning and pre-production of the film and the performative method of approach. It breaks down different styles of documentary filmmaking and addresses ethical dilemmas found commonly in documentaries. I express my reason for creating this film and desire to share Shauna’s …

The Underrepresentation Of Women In Filmmaking, Paola Sandoval

Honors Theses

My thesis project seeks to bring awareness to the ongoing problem of the underrepresentation of women in filmmaking. During the initial stages of filmmaking, many women contributed to the developing Hollywood industry. As film-watching grew in popularity in the 1920s, filmmaking turned into a lucrative business. Consequently, this boost of film production pushed women to the outskirts, making the field male-dominated. This has continued into the present-day leaving women having to overcome the challenges of garnering positions on a film crew.

Existing research on this topic mostly focuses on Hollywood. However, the underrepresentation of women in film is not only …

“Part Of That (Man’S) World”: Analyzing “Cinderella” And “The Little Mermaid” Fairy Tale Variants Through A Feminist Lens, K. Morgan Mitchell

Honors Theses

Fairy tales are often reduced to nothing more than the moral lesson that can be taught to children. However, when we move past the impulse to search for the simplified moral of the story, we can begin to ascertain the impact of fairy tales on different audiences. This thesis uses both impact theory, which yields a close reading of the textual and cinematic evidence, and reception research, which provides an opportunity to discuss the significance of the material by speculating about the message that readers receive. Under consideration are four variants each of the “Cinderella” and “The Little Mermaid” fairy …

A Queen’S Reputation: A Feminist Analysis Of The Cultural Appropriations Of Cleopatra, Chamara Moore

Honors Theses

While there is no doubt that Cleopatra is considered a notable historical figure and popularly regarded character throughout modern media, there is a distinct pattern in her portrayal throughout time as a woman whose power is defined by her sexual promiscuity. Even throughout periods of powerful female monarchs, political change, and social progress her prowess as a leader has been assumingly attributed to her affairs with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. The purpose of this study is to examine how literature and media has contributed to this sexualized reputation of a queen who yielded authority over such a prosperous nation. …

Changing The Nature Of The Beast: An Analysis Of Significant Variations From Madame De Beaumont’S La Belle Et La Bête In Disney’S Beauty And The Beast, Heather A. Stevens

Honors Theses

Madame Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont wrote and published La Belle et La Bête while working as a governess and educator in 1757. She told the tale to a young female audience as a means of teaching important life lessons. Walt Disney’s animated film Beauty and the Beast, released in 1991, is clearly inspired by Beaumont’s story, yet Disney makes many alterations to her characters. This thesis locates and analyzes these changes, arguing that they greatly alter the message of Beaumont’s story from one that is empowering to women to one that is harmful and ultimately anti-woman. This thesis also examines …

The Search Continues: Modernizing The Quest For The Holy Grail In Film, Jody C. Balius

Honors Theses

I focus here on The Natural (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and The Fisher King (1991). These three are clearly Grail-oriented stories that have different definitions of what the Grail truly is and means, but all have characters with internalized quests to find both greatness and peace within themselves. I used a literary approach to analyzing the films’ plots, themes, and motifs. Being a narrative analysis, the study focuses on the plot, characters, and content. Certain visual aspects of the films are also important to these narrative components, but the visual will be discussed insofar as it …

A Scenographic Transposition From The Stage To The Screen: An Excavation Of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, Jordan Randall

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the distinction between the scenic design of A Streetcar Named Desire’s original Broadway production and 1951 film. Using Streetcar as a case study, I evaluated the differences in the choices made in the scenography of the two mediums as a way to evaluate whether there are inherent differences between theatre and film. I examined the scripts of both mediums and analyzed how the story was transposed and how that transposition affected the choices made by the director and designer in the making of the film.