Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in American Popular Culture
Dramatizing Oppenheimer And Reagan: Theatricality And American Historical Memory, Sarah J. Rogers
Dramatizing Oppenheimer And Reagan: Theatricality And American Historical Memory, Sarah J. Rogers
American Studies Senior Theses
Building on Anthony Kubiak’s analysis of the lack of a theatrical tradition in America, this thesis engages the question of what it means to see figures from American history represented theatrically onstage. Kubiak argues that the lack of a uniquely American theatrical tradition sets the precedent for modern Americans’ inability to identify the theatrical events of our lives and our histories. Can this inability to identify the theatrical be affect by representing historical figures on the modern American stage? Analyzing the text and production of The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Carson Kreitzer will prove that representing historical …
“Fast Food For The Filipino Soul”: Consuming Identity At Jollibee In Queens, Rebecca Gehman
“Fast Food For The Filipino Soul”: Consuming Identity At Jollibee In Queens, Rebecca Gehman
American Studies Senior Theses
On February 13, 2009 in Woodside, Queens an estimated 4,500 Filipino- Americans formed a line outside in thirty five-degree weather. Braving the cold and a nearly four hour wait these Filipino-Americans were desperate for the first east-coast extension of Jollibee to open itʼs doors. The media that covered the opening attempted to understand what was behind this Filipino fervor, one New York Times article was titled “Fast Food for the Filipino Soul”. Filipinos told reporters they were desperate for a “taste of home.” But what is this “taste of home”? The Filipino owned and operated fast food chain serves hot …
Sand, Sun, And Sex Tourism: What Really Happens During College Spring Break, Melissa Lee Brumer
Sand, Sun, And Sex Tourism: What Really Happens During College Spring Break, Melissa Lee Brumer
American Studies Senior Theses
College spring break has become a popular event that lasts for a week or two each year in March. The partying and drinking that occur on the beaches of popular North American vacation destinations may seem unrelated to the prostitution found in Amsterdam’s red light district. What, if anything, do travelers to these two different destinations have in common? Recent scholarship has argued that it is necessary to expand the definition of ‘sex tourism.’ Scholars have also researched college students’ behaviors during spring break trips. These studies show that students engage in drinking and sexual behaviors that pose threats to …
An Important Year: Competing Images Of Womanhood In The Ladies’ Home Journal, 1919, Eva Krupitsky
An Important Year: Competing Images Of Womanhood In The Ladies’ Home Journal, 1919, Eva Krupitsky
American Studies Senior Theses
This thesis explores the two main images of womanhood found in the editorial and advertising contents of the Ladies’ Home Journal, a popular mass-market magazine from the early 20th century. My specific focus is on the year 1919 because several important events that affected American women were prevalent during this time. I place my research about the two images of womanhood in the magazine within the context of WWI’s end and the proximity of women to reaching voting rights. This is a transitional year during which both historical happenings can be discerned by looking “in between the lines” of …
The New Media Deal: Obama, The Information Age, And The Shadow Of Fdr, Grace Loughney
The New Media Deal: Obama, The Information Age, And The Shadow Of Fdr, Grace Loughney
American Studies Senior Theses
This thesis project focuses on the ways in which American presidents use media to engage the public in political discourse and reassure the masses in times of economic crisis. In a comparative analysis of the different media and political rhetoric employed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the 1933 banking crisis and Barack Obama during the 2009 recession, I explore why Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” proved more successful than Obama’s imitations on YouTube and other media platforms in 2009. By engaging in media theory on how political discourse is shaped by the medium within which it is presented, as well as historical …
Fun, Fearless, Feminist?: Gender And Sexuality In Cosmopolitan, Gabriella Wilkins
Fun, Fearless, Feminist?: Gender And Sexuality In Cosmopolitan, Gabriella Wilkins
American Studies Senior Theses
Magazines, like other forms of popular culture, impact our identities and perceptions of ourselves and of the society that we live in. In my thesis, I seek to draw a connection between a fashion and beauty magazine, Cosmopolitan, and Third Wave feminism. Criticism of the magazine has stemmed from the idea that Cosmo expresses contradicting ideologies and focuses too closely on women’s ability to please men. For my research, I look at the history and motives behind the Second and Third Wave movements and how they differentiate. Then, by considering and applying contemporary feminist theory, I deconstruct and analyze …
From Clayton Bigsby To Stuart Hall: Conceptions Of Blackness And Authenticity In Chappelle’S Show, Andrew O'Connell
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 …
“I Ran My Fingers Through Her Coal Black Hair To Cover Up My Sin” : Violence, Gender And Faith In 19th Century Appalachian Murdered Girl Ballads, Ariadne Blayde
“I Ran My Fingers Through Her Coal Black Hair To Cover Up My Sin” : Violence, Gender And Faith In 19th Century Appalachian Murdered Girl Ballads, Ariadne Blayde
American Studies Senior Theses
My thesis presents a literary and historical examination of the genre of songs known as “Murdered Girl ballads” in the canon of 19th century Southern Appalachian folk music. The Murdered Girl ballad, which tells the story of a young woman murdered by her male lover, became an archetypal narrative in Appalachian folklore in the 1800’s. In my research I examine some of the many Appalachian Murdered Girl ballads and the mountain society they sprang from, drawing connections between the lyrics of the ballads and three specific aspects of Appalachian mountain life: violence, gender roles, and religion. I argue that at …