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Full-Text Articles in American Studies
Robots Are People Too: Posthumanism In Battlestar Galactica, Rebecca Seel
Robots Are People Too: Posthumanism In Battlestar Galactica, Rebecca Seel
Honors Theses
The science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica explores the differences between human and machine and the nature of identity. It expresses both our fascination with machines and our technophobia. In a society of explosive technological advances come technological anxieties. What will happen when we create life? As BSG posits, with autonomous machines come destruction and a new race of people who, not unlike us, are trying to define who they are. As the series progresses, an overarching question emerges: what is a "person"? Is personage determined by biology or by decision? Can machines have souls? This thesis approaches BSG through …
When Predator Becomes Prey: The Gendered Jargon Of Popular Culture, Melissa R. Ames
When Predator Becomes Prey: The Gendered Jargon Of Popular Culture, Melissa R. Ames
Melissa A. Ames
Throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century the vernacular of popular culture has been bombarded by sexualized terminology. Although these terms are often formed with humorous intent, their staying power and use as cultural descriptive categories is both intriguing and disturbing. Also troubling is the fact that the majority of these new terms, such as puma (a thirty-something female “dating” a younger male), cougar (a forty-plus female “dating” a younger male), and MILF (“mother I’d like to fuck”), are restricted to the female gender alone. This article analyzes the etymology of these terms, their use in popular culture (ranging …
From American Bandstand To Total Request Live: Teen Culture And Identity On Music Television, Kaylyn Toale
From American Bandstand To Total Request Live: Teen Culture And Identity On Music Television, Kaylyn Toale
American Studies Senior Theses
Because television succeeds or fails based on its ability to attract an audience large enough to entice advertisers, this project will operate under the assumption that popular television conveys some important cultural attributes of both its creators and its audience. American Bandstand and Total Request Live (TRL) each presented the most popular music of the day in ways that drew massive audiences from America’s youth, between 1952-1989 (Bandstand) and 1998-2008 (TRL.) I will treat these and related shows as venues through which to view American youth culture. The music itself adds an exciting component to the project: as music changed, …
When Predator Becomes Prey: The Gendered Jargon Of Popular Culture, Melissa R. Ames
When Predator Becomes Prey: The Gendered Jargon Of Popular Culture, Melissa R. Ames
Faculty Research & Creative Activity
Throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century the vernacular of popular culture has been bombarded by sexualized terminology. Although these terms are often formed with humorous intent, their staying power and use as cultural descriptive categories is both intriguing and disturbing. Also troubling is the fact that the majority of these new terms, such as puma (a thirty-something female “dating” a younger male), cougar (a forty-plus female “dating” a younger male), and MILF (“mother I’d like to fuck”), are restricted to the female gender alone. This article analyzes the etymology of these terms, their use in popular culture (ranging …