American Popular Culture Commons^™

Imagining Woman Otherwise, Or Nothing: Sexuation As Discourse In Lacanian Thought, Rahna Carusi

Rahna M Carusi

My dissertation looks at the connections between Lacan’s four discourses and the sexuation graph in order to claim that sexuation is discursive and that, as Lacan presents it with the phallus as its quilting point, the sexuation graph is a narrative based on patriarchal hegemony, which is one of many possible narratives. I argue that through the hysteric’s discourse and a removal of the phallus as the Symbolic-Imaginary quilting point, we can begin to formulate new narratives of sexuated subjectivities. The textual objects I use for this project are literary and filmic works where women are the central topic or …

Chicago: A Movie Musical Mockery Of The Media's Razzle Dazzle Image Of Murder., Emily Sulock

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This thesis closely examines the adaptation of Rob Marshall’s 2002 movie musical Chicago, specifically how the music and choreography support the mocking tone against the media and criminal justice system. With a storyline that has lasted almost a century, its themes still relate to our society today as it exposes the corrupt industries that hold an unhealthy amount of power over public opinion. By breaking down musical numbers, “Both Reached for the Gun” and “Razzle Dazzle,” I argue that Marshall’s unique concept connects to a modern generation immune to over-publicized and infamous murder trials.

Movie And Television Fathers: A Positive Reflection Of Positive Changes, George J. Mcgowan

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Certain films and television programs depicting fathers have both enduring popularity and have reflected the advances in the institution of fatherhood. This has happened because of a symbiosis that has delivered positive results: popular films and television shows that earn money for producers and advertisers have depicted fathers who have changed to reflect the popular example. These depictions have contributed in their way to mending the family dynamic, specifically related to the father’s essential role in the family. Such family-oriented films and television shows have effectively showed fathers (and men that would become fathers) that they could be much more …

Psychedelia, The Summer Of Love, & Monterey-The Rock Culture Of 1967, James M. Maynard

Senior Theses and Projects

The structure of the ensuing analysis is divided into five chapters, the introduction being the beginning of chapter one, based upon a more or less chronological study of rock’s development, beginning in 1965 and ending at Monterey. Each chapter is intertwined with analysis of diverse scholarly material to extract and examine rock’s development and subjective observations utilized to paint an imagery-rich tale of one of America’s most fascinating eras of cultural growth. The first half of chapter one explains how one can understand the latter developments of rock-culture in the 1960s i.e. Woodstock and Altamont by simply observing that rock-culture …

"Thrown On Their Own Resources": Collaboration As Survival In Imitation Of Life, Kristi Branham

Faculty Publications

The article presents an analysis of the film adaptation of "Imitation of Life," a 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst. It states that the repetition of the story across the first half of the twentieth century shows its resonance for U.S. audiences. It mentions that the woman question and the race question are brought together in the passing story in both the 1934 and 1959 film versions of the novel.

From Clayton Bigsby To Stuart Hall: Conceptions Of Blackness And Authenticity In Chappelle’S Show, Andrew O'Connell

American Studies Senior Theses

From the years 2003- 2006, perhaps no one played a bigger a role on the American comedy scene than did Dave Chappelle. From the first episode of his critically acclaimed Chappelle’s Show, in which he depicted Clayton Bigsby, a black, blind white supremacist, to his controversial exit from the show early into season three, Chappelle served as a lightning rod for attention both positive and negative. In this thesis, I argue that in his comedy portrayed on Chappelle’s Show, Dave Chappelle portrays an image of essentialized Blackness through the lens of the “urban Black American experience” as being …

Slaves, Cannibals, And Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race And Religion Of Zombies, Elizabeth Mcalister

Elizabeth McAlister

Nostalgia For The Liberal Hour: Talkin' 'Bout The Horizons Of Norman Jewison's Generation, Daniel Mcneil

Daniel McNeil