Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Poetry As A Means Of Adding Depth To Character In Memoir, Kasey Brianne Carr

Masters Theses

The sections of this thesis proposal were written in a natural progression as the author pursued a yet-to-be-known truth she believed could be found within herself. The artist’s statement details the domino effect of questions that led her to ultimately pursuing the concept of writing a memoir. It roots the reader in the mind of the author as she establishes exactly what it is she is wanting to do with her manuscript: to finally find her place in the world. In her critical theory paper, the author investigates the best way to tell her story by studying the impact of …

Timely Dissonance : Anachronistic Music In Film, Ayda Tuncay

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Music in film is used as a tool that can psychologically transport the viewer and alter their perception of a narrative. It is a highly influential aspect of the mise-en-scene and can influence both our reality and the fictional world in the film, depending on whether it is non-diegetic or diegetic. The elaborate soundscapes of period films typically utilize period accurate scores and soundtracks to embed the audience in the environment of a different age. However, this paper will examine ‘musical anachronism’ and the correlation between music and emotion through an analysis of films such as A Knight’s Tale (Brian …

Ground-Breaking Stories In Contemporary Cinema: In A Market Full Of Remakes, What Form Does Cinematic Originality Take Today?, Elisa Fong-Hirschfelder

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This work aims to analyze the evolution of both international and American cinema as an art form, specifically in relation to the abstract concept of originality, to determine what possible future trends in cinema may look like and the potential for the manifestation of “new waves” in cinema. Emerging during the Industrial Revolution, cinema has evolved as an entertainment medium from brief moving pictures presented as novelties to lengthy feature films. With its evolution arose trends in visual storytelling, including experimental, narrative, and remakes, whose own categories comprise the retelling of old stories, remakes of films in other languages, and …

Ratings Creep: The Increase In Offensive Content In Movies Over Time, Alexandria N. Tatum

2024 Spring Honors Capstone Projects

Aggression, influenced by a range of factors including media exposure, remains a significant societal concern. Drawing from Bandura's social cognitive theory, it is important to examine violence in media because its exposure can have a long-term effect on the viewers. Furthermore, studies suggest a correlation between media exposure and aggressive behavior, emphasizing the need for comprehensive analysis of content portrayal. To regulate exposure to offensive content, movies are usually ranked using the MPAA’s rating system. Yet, there has been an observed ratings creep in this system (i.e., the progressive escalation of offensive content in films). The current study hypothesizes that …

Crimes In Different Mediums Of Art, Chloe Milhouse

ENGL 1102 Showcase

There are a few different ways we see crime and art come together as one without even realizing it and there are other topics that showcase crime punishment as well. Crime can be portrayed through music. When certain artists sing about their crime-like behaviors, this can lead to people also doing that same crime because they listened to it in a song. Crime can be derived from art itself, causing people to react emotionally and criminally to something they’ve seen. Lastly it can be represented through film and TV showcasing elements of human behavior for society to see. All of …

Taylor Swift As Religion: The Deification Of An International Pop Music Superstar And The Ramifications Of Fame, With A Comparison To Vox Lux, Jessica Cotturone

Religion and Film

This paper explores the ways in which the culture surrounding pop music superstar Taylor Swift is a religion. Taylor Swift has had an indelible impact on her fans, who are known as Swifties, and this paper brings attention to the ways that she establishes a strong connection with her fans such that they come to view her as a religious figure. Definitions of religion proposed by scholars Clifford Geertz and Meghan Johnston Aelabouni are used to analyze how this popular music culture can fit into a broader conceptualization of religion. Special attention is given to the deification of celebrities in …

Theorizing Folk Cinema, Cora M M Lewis

Media and Cultural Studies Honors Projects

This honors project theorizes the concept of folk cinema. The project grapples with the complex history of the study of folklore and cinema’s historic inaccessibility as a medium in order to position folk cinema as a revolutionary project capable of reimagining both cinema and folklore. Avoiding concrete definitions or the urge to label any specific films as folk cinema, the project explores folk cinema theoretically through the experimental Spanish short film Aguaespejo Granadino, the films of the Bolivian Third Cinema filmmaking collective the Ukamau Group, and finally my own creative intervention via the creation of a short diary film.

Alienation In Life And Film, Chase A. Hawkins

Masters Theses

The thesis begins by detailing the philosophy motivating the plot of the screenplay, which is the majority of the work. A short critical paper explores the way Wes Anderson uses dialogue to create or avoid emotional moments in some of his more complicated works.

The Art Of Animation: How Animation Is Creating A Better Film Industry, Judah Cooper

Senior Honors Theses

With the progression of streaming services in recent years, the art form of animation has gained traction, continuing to develop into exceedingly creative forms through the work of talented artists. Animation has developed alongside the film industry, achieving great success in the process. This thesis will define animation and its place within visual effects, critically analyze categories of character design, theme, and story while demonstrating their relationship with animation, and contrast animation with live action films to understand its strengths and differentiations. The research concludes that animation has great benefits to offer the film industry and should be continued to …

Off The Rails: Cinematic Trains As Technological Controls Of The Natural World, Trinity Thompson

Honors Theses

Short train rail lines across the United States are seeing increased national funding to reduce toxic chemical spills caused by train derailments, the most notable of which happened in February 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. A year prior, the film White Noise (2022) featured a similar toxic train derailment incident, taking place, too, in Eastern Ohio, and featuring actors from the town of East Palestine. In considering other films featuring trains, I identified a pattern of environmental conflict, leading me to question the relationship between trains and the natural environment as portrayed in popular cinema. To conduct my research, I …

Figures Of Radical Absence: Blanks And Voids In Theory, Literature, And The Arts, Alexandra Irimia

Languages and Cultures Publications

Although post-structuralism highlighted the importance of what is offstage, lost, forgotten, hidden or discarded, silent or silenced, the poetics and politics of absence (much like its ethics and aesthetics) have rarely been discussed across media and disciplines. This book proposes the concept of ‘radical absence’ to describe a certain tradition of resistance to ontology, predication, and representation, contesting their reliance on a metaphysics of presence. Apophatic speech, empty signifiers, and figural voids are some of the figures through which radical absence becomes apparent with unprecedented intensity in twentieth-century theory, literature, film, and the arts. Phantasmatic and outrageous, such figures play …

Spit Brimming With Futures, Penny Molesso

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

SPIT BRIMMING WITH FUTURES is an immersive video and audio installation that uses ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) to investigate the intersection of transgender and neurodivergent identity, expressing an urgent need to imagine stories about transgender, autistic people that affirm our agency and autonomy amidst a political climate that weaponizes neurodivergence to delegitimize trans experiences. The American political right’s vilification of transgender people is used to uphold structures of white supremacy and heteropatriarchy that become destabilized when rigid binary gender categories are challenged. The political right has a vested interest in keeping trans people out of public view, thus weaponizing …

The Theory Of Shot Composition Applied To Various Genres Of Film, Elizabeth Scott

Senior Honors Theses

I am fascinated by the composition of shots in movies, specifically as it applies to the various different genres. However, there seems to be a lack of research into this particular area of the theory of composition. In that case, I am planning to research the history and theory of shot composition as it applies to films throughout the history of film and into modern times. This will be supplemented by my own experience in the Fall of 2022 where I will be a Director of Photography for four individual films of varying genres as well as by a film …

What Makes A Salesman: Death Of A Salesman And The Politics Of Adaptation, Thomas Alvarez

Honors Scholar Theses

Arthur Miller has regularly been regarded as one of the most prominent American playwrights of all time, producing timeless and often innately political works designed in part to speak to his perspective on history as it has taken shape. This thesis will discuss the 1951, 1966, and 1985 American adaptations of Death of a Salesman—one of his greatest defining works—to draw attention to his specific perspective while exploring how this messaging can be recontextualized when decades and mediums separate an adaptation from its source text. Furthermore, this thesis will explore choices made by actors and screenplay writers, working to ascertain …

Song Of The South: The Silence Of A Song, Magdalena E. Fernald

Student Publications

A persuasive essay explaining the history of the film Song of the South and the Uncle Remus stories that its based on, and why the film deserves to be re-released with educational materials.

And The Oscar Goes To... Tiktok, Dawson Bley

Senior Honors Theses

Companies have been forced to take note of the emerging social media app, TikTok, which has attracted more than a billion users to its platform and invited businesses into an uncharted market ready to be exploited. By seeking to understand and employ the unique features which have led to TikTok’s far-reaching success, many companies can similarly improve their position. In particular, traditional movie companies, which have recently suffered blows at the box office due to factors such as competition with online streaming, could benefit from an analysis of this tech to restore lost engagement and revenue. Specifically, how can the …

The Evolution Of Computer Generated Images And Special Effects Design In The Jurassic Park Trilogy, Samantha Renee Pearson

Whittier Scholars Program

Based on Michael Crichton’s unpublished novel, The Andromeda Strain, the awe-inspiring Jurassic Park trilogy (1993-2001) emerged from Steven Spielburg’s determination to make extinct characters come to life again. Early on in their careers, Crichton and Spielburg met at Universal Studios while working on Duel (1971) with ambitions to direct a film that would completely immerse their audience into a dinosaur-encompassing world. About five years later, Spielberg attempted to form a digital rendering for his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), but later concluded that “‘The technology wasn’t there yet'” (Mottram 20).

Fast-forward to 1990, Spielburg was fixated on …

How A Balanced Christian Message In Film Can Inspire Christ-Like Transformation, Makayla Marrin Jacobs

Masters Theses

This thesis will attempt to examine the need for a balanced Christian message in film and how everyday acts of the Christian faith can inspire Christ-like transformation within society. This thesis will also explore the importance of developing faith and spiritual disciplines through the creative screenplay, All Hail the Hoodlums. Throughout history, living as a faithful Christian and practicing spiritual disciplines can appear to go directly against society’s natural flow as belief in a Creator oppose man’s selfishness and sinful nature. Seemingly, society at large currently projects that believing in a Monotheistic and Triune God and having a deep personal …

The Reality Of Bipolar Disorder: A Dance Film To Bring Awareness To The Misconceptions Of Mental Health, Julia Woolums

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

For my project, I researched bipolar disorder to create a dance film highlighting the associated symptoms and emotions of hypomanic and depressive episodes. The purpose of this research is to bring awareness to and educate on the reality of these mental health symptoms to reduce mental health stereotypes and stigma. I researched academic texts and peer-reviewed articles about bipolar disorder written from the perspective of those diagnosed with it and used the symptom criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to compose, choreograph, film, and edit my dance film. The completed film showcases what daily life could …

Mum00705 Gary Hawkins Multimedia Collection, Danielle N. Townsend

Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids

Physical and digital files including moving image files, audio, photographs, small manuscripts, and ephemera related to the films Joe and The Rough South of Larry Brown created by filmmaker Gary Hawkins.

Vienna-Berlin, 1890-1930 (Unknown Date) (Whitman College), Robert D. Tobin

Syllabi

"Fin de siècle Vienna and Berlin in the era of the Weimar Republic were centers of a great flowering of culture and art. In this course, we will look at the literature from these places and try to get a sense of the new perceptions developing in them."

Off The Rails: Cinematic Trains As Technological Controls Of The Natural World, Trinity Thompson

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Short train rail lines across the United States are seeing increased national funding to reduce toxic chemical spills caused by train derailments, the most notable of which happened in February 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. A year prior, the film White Noise (2022) featured a similar toxic train derailment incident, taking place, too, in Eastern Ohio, and featuring actors from the town of East Palestine. In considering other films featuring trains, I identified a pattern of environmental conflict, leading me to question the relationship between trains and the natural environment as portrayed in popular cinema. To conduct my research, I …

In Search Of Pandora Experimentia, Brian Hauser

Faculty Contributions to Books

Wes Craven's first film was a 45-minute color 16mm student film titled Pandora Experimentia, for which Craven served as director of photography when he was a faculty member at Clarkson College of Technology in 1968. This essay tells the story of the making and exhibition of this early Craven film before he left teaching to pursue a successful career in filmmaking.

Christian Values Guide Generation Z To A Better Future In Post-Apocalyptic Screenplay, Charlotte Ashleigh Rice

Masters Theses

Echo’s Calling is a screenplay written with the intention to relate to modern teenagers and young adults (Generation Z) and teach them the Christian values of forgiveness, love, and acceptance. According to research, Generation Z relates to post-apocalyptic narratives because they feel as if they are currently living in the apocalypse. Their dismal worldview is perpetuated by negative news, “cancel culture,” and the media. Despite all this, Generation Z strives for a better future free from hate. In order to produce such a future, the Christian values of forgiveness, love, and acceptance need to be relatable and teachable to Generation …

Sociocultural Pressures Among Parents Of Queer Children In Films With Non-Western Environments, Samay Bhasin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The heteronormative and cisnormative nature of society has required queer individuals to undergo the phenomenon of “coming out” as their queer identity. This phenomenon has the potential to take great tolls on queer individuals especially when it comes to parents. Queer individuals with unaccepting parents are eight times more likely to attempt suicide, six times more likely to experience clinical depression, and three times more likely to suffer under substance abuse (Ryan et al., 2009; Ryan et al., 2010). However despite such concerning statistics, there is still a significant gap in scientific research on creating supportive environments …

Masculinity In American Movie-Musical Films, Christopher Sparks

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

My presentation explores the relation between American masculinity and film musicals. I demonstrate how the dominance of the musical at the box office in the middle of the 20^th century reflects historical events and technological change. Drawing on both scholarly and popular criticism, I show how the images of masculinity that Americans once encountered on the silver screen have transformed as musicals became marginal to popular culture in the United States. My research considers both classic 20^th century musicals, such as Wizard of Oz (1939) and 42^nd Street (1933), and more recent experiments with the genre, including …

Introduction To Film, 2nd Edition, Teresa Fisher

Open Educational Resources

This textbook explores the world of cinema providing a students a look at the various elements of filmmaking to develop an appreciation for the film form. The textbook begins with a look at film history and the fundamentals of cinematic language. It then continues looking at film through a different lens for each chapter -- mise-en-scene, narrative, cinematography, editing, acting, and sound. The book ends with a look at documentary films, experimental films, and animation.

Paul J. Rainey: Northeast Mississippi's Hidden Legend, Peyton Elizabeth Holliday

Masters Theses

Paul J. Rainey was a man of the 20th century who had it all. A fortune, land, ability to travel, and fame. He was a big game hunter who out did all others and a wildlife filmmaker who broke records and helped to finance the beginning of Universal Studios. While all his claims to fame were with hunting and filmmaking, Rainey went on to serve in the Great War as an ambulance driver, spy, and Captain in the British army. Rainey was originally from Ohio, but in 1901 he bought land in Northeast Mississippi. Here, Rainey established his Tippah Lodge …

Girls From The Heights: From Mexican Spitfire To Maddy Perez, Gabi Martinez

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The stereotype of the “Spicy Latina” is as prevalent today as it was in the early days of film, and tracing its origins leads to the discovery of a complicated root system of prejudice and stereotype. From the days of Lupe Velez and the film Mexican Spitfire, to the TV shows Modern Family and Jane the Virgin, Hollywood has never seemed to know how to portray Latinas in all of their complexity. This paper investigates how the white male gaze has shaped the perception of Latinas in the media, and how even the modern, more diverse media landscape contributes …

The Revealing Art Of Film: A Review Of Seeing Is Believing, Joshua Matthews

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Goodwin believes that great films are great art, and as such, are able to move viewers affectively and even change their lives."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the book Seeing is Believing from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/the-revealing-art-of-film-a-review-of-seeing-is-believing/