Film and Media Studies Commons^™

The Reification Of Hegemonic Masculinity Via Heteronormativity, Sexual Objectification, And Masculine Performances In Tau Kappa Epsilon Recruitment Videos, Viki Tomanov

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Fraternity members constitute a large percentage of men who hold highly influential jobs in politics, large corporations, and the like. Since fraternities are limited to men-only, it is important to examine how masculinity is both rhetorically constructed and subsequently performed. Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), the fraternity with the largest amount of chapters nationwide, is the focus of my analysis. Its popularity among college campuses signifies that its recruitment is successful and that, regardless of initiation into the fraternity, many men (and women) view TKE as an example of masculinity. In my analysis, I examine TKE recruitment videos from various universities …

The Portrayal Of Child Soldiers In Documentaries And Hollywood Film, Jessica Tassava

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

People in the United States are becoming increasingly mindful of child soldiers, with film being a critical means of bringing about awareness. However, awareness can be dependent upon media representation since most individuals in the U.S. do not have direct experiences with child soldiers. The purpose of the present study is to discover how the media has portrayed child soldiers in Hollywood films and documentaries, with an emphasis on the portrayal of violence, the role of women, and the reintegration experiences of child soldiers that are shown. Through a combined qualitative and quantitative content analysis, this study explores the depictions …

Rediscovering Vaudeville: Influences On Film And Theatre, Audra Leigh Edwards

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The greatest thing that vaudeville contributed to the legitimate theatre and to films was talented artists. Many performers who became well known on the stage and screen began in vaudeville. It even occurred that performers with hardly any training at all had an opportunity to perform on vaudeville, and after some time became some of the best performers America has seen. Vaudeville is significant not only because it was an important part of American history in general, but also because it created and trained many artists for successful careers, particularly in film and radio. Without it, many famous and influential …

Feminine Purity And Masculine Revenge-Seeking In Taken (2008), Casey R. Kelly

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

The 2008 film Taken depicts the murderous rampage of an ex-CIA agent seeking to recover his teenage daughter from foreign sex traffickers. I argue that Taken articulates a demand for a white male protector to serve as both guardian and avenger of white women's “purity” against the purportedly violent and sexual impulses of third world men. A neocolonial narrative retold through film, Taken infers that the protection of white feminine purity legitimates both male conquest abroad and overbearing protection of young women at home. I contend that popular films such as Taken are a part of the broader cultural system …

Making E.T. Perfectly Queer: The Alien Other And The Science Fiction Of Sexual Difference, Brooke M. Beloso

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

In the wake of E.T.'s 1982 debut, film critics Marina Heung and Vivian Sobchack established that the enduring appeal of E.T. inheres in the dissolution of the nuclear heterosexual family over the latter half of the twentieth century and the film's “fairy tale” stand-in for the “mythology of family relations” that Dana Cloud terms “conservative familialism.” As Carl Plantinga puts it, E.T. offers a “virtual solution … to [a] traumatic problem.” Despite this, however, E.T. remains for many an inconsolable tragedy. Approaching E.T. from the perspective of the queer child who grows “more sideways than …

Performing And Interpreting Identity, Lee Farquhar

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

This one-year cyber-ethnography examines identity presentations and interpretations of 346 Facebook users. The social–psychological theoretical framework used drew specifically from symbolic interaction, Goffman’s performance of self, and schema theory. Generally, Facebookers sought social acceptance with their presentations. Primary findings indicate that the Facebookers present over-simplified imagery to reduce ambiguity and align with specific social groups. This study asked Facebookers to respond to strangers’ Facebook profiles, and the responses showed that due to the glut of identity-related information on the site, interpretations are heavily reliant on schemas. Online interview participants indicated several basic categories of identity performance that were used to …

Globalizing The Care Chain: Representations Of Latinas In Maid In America, Irune Del Rio Gabiola

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The article examines the portrayal of Latina women as housemaids in the U.S. as depicted in the documentary film "Maid in America" directed by Anayansi Prado. It discusses the social injustice and sacrifices undergone by the Latinas in order to survive in the host country. It also analyzes the image of the Latina as an ideal mother of both her native and host country.

Love In The Time Of Capitalism: A Marxist Feminist Reading Of Modern Times, Brooke M. Beloso

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Dr. Brooke Beloso's contribution to Marxism and the Movies: Critical Essays on Class Struggle in the Cinema, Ed. Kevin K. Durand and Mary K. Leigh, McFarland Publishers.

Still Hungover: Todd Phillips And Rape Culture, Terri Carney

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

As a textual critic who came of age in the '90s, it is difficult for me to talk about authorial intention. Indeed, most academics today tell their students to avoid declaring "The message" of a text, encouraging them instead to respect the multivalence of meaning, the slipperiness of poetic discourse, and the freedom of the author to engage discursive play without being pinned down by an absolute interpretation. But I confess that, despite my training, after having watched The Hangover and read all over the Internet about it, I can't help but wonder if director Todd Phillips is a misogynistic …

From Here To InFinnerty: Tony Soprano And The American Way, Terri Carney

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

As fellow critics have pointed out in a myriad of published studies on the series, The Sopranos challenges the traditional gangster genre formula and brings the mob closer to all of us: Tony and his gang inhabit a recognizable world of Starbucks, suburbia, and SUVs. They discuss issues of the day, the same ones we discuss when we turn off the TV after the episode. In short, they inhabit a quotidian reality that is continuous with our own, and we are prevented from drawing the neat lines that allow us a comfortable remove from the horror of the “criminal world,” …

A Wave Of The Magic Wand: Fairy Godmothers In Contemporary American Media, Jeana Jorgensen

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The increased personification of fairy godmothers in contemporary American media corresponds to an aspect of the American worldview that emphasizes "magical" quick fixes and solutions. The two fairy-tale pastiche works informing this study are a novel, The Fairy Godmother, by fantasy author Mercedes Lackey, and a movie, Shrek 2. Both of these works feature fairy godmother characters that depart from canonical folktale and fairy-tale depictions. Associated with fate and wisdom, fairy godmothers act much as folklorists do by rewarding traditional behavior with gifts. Recent fairy godmother roles are hybrid and multivocal, illuminating ideologies and power structures in both society and …

Televising 9/11 And Its Aftermath: The Framing Of George W. Bush’S Faith-Based Politics Of Good And Evil, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

For most of the four days following 9/11, TV viewers around the world were mesmerised by unthinkable images. Television brought home to Americans especially the polarising effects of the post-Cold War world, including the backlash of Islamic fundamentalism and the imminent threat of future terrorist attacks. A formulaic narrative quickly emerged; ordinary police and firefighters took the lead as America’s national heroes, while Osama bin Laden and the rest of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rose up as villains. On September 12, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush gave voice to this mythic small-screen storyline as “a monumental struggle of good …

Stratégies Pour L'Enseignement Du Cinéma Africain, Sylvie Vanbaelen

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Depuis plusieurs annees, les programmes de francais meme les plus "traditionnels" s'ouvrent au monde francophone, conscients de ses richesses et repondant ainsi aux exigences de la diversite culturelle. Les manuels d'enseignement du francais incluent des sections entieres sur les cultures et les litteratures des pays et des peuples francophones. Des cours specialises emergent, centres sur les productions culturelles et litteraires de l'Afrique, des Caraibes, de l'Amerique du Nord, de l'Asie et de l'Europe. Dans le large eventail des possibilites qui s'offrent aux enseignants, le cinema africain represente probablement l'une des moins aisees.

Where The Past Comes Alive’: Television, History And Popular Memory, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

No abstract provided.

High Concept, Small Screen: Reperceiving The Industrial And Stylistic Origins Of The American Made-For-Tv Movie, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribution to "Hilmes, Michele. Connections: A Broadcast History Reader. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2003".

The Multiplex: The Modern American Motion Picture Theatre As Message, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribution to "Hark, Ina R. Exhibition, the Film Reader. London: Routledge, 2001. "

Chalk, Talk, And Videotape: Utilizing Ken Burns’S Television Histories In The Classroom, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribution to OAH Magazine of History (Summer 2002) 16 (4): 16-22.

Rewriting Rendell: Pedro Almodóvar's "Carne Trémula", Linda M. Willem

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The 1997 film Carne trémula has been lauded within as well as outside of Spain as one of Pedro Almodóvar's best works. Critics on both sides of the Atlantic also have noted that this film marks a departure from Almodóvar's previous style, not only because of its tighter plotline and greater psychological depth, but also because Almodóvar's treatment of his material is more serious, less self-indulgent, and openly political. Russell Smith has suggested that the film's narrative coherence may be attributed in part to Almodóvar's use of Ruth Rendell's novel, Live Flesh (1998), as the basis for his script. This …

Ken Burns’S Rebirth Of A Nation: Television, Narrative, And Popular History, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribtution to "Landy, Marcia. The Historical Film: History and Memory in Media. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2001."

Revisiting The Recordings Of Wars Past: Remembering The Documentary Trilogy Of John Huston, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribtution to "Studlar, Gaylyn, David Desser, and John Huston. Reflections in a Male Eye: John Huston and the American Experience. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993."

Encircling Linearity In Carlos Saura's Peppermint Frappé, Linda M. Willem

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Spanish director Carlos Saura is internationally famous for creating films where the past, the present, and the future are fused together and intermixed with reality, fantasy, and dreams. Although this practice is generally recognized by critics as one of Saura's strategies for circumventing the repressive censorship operating during the Franco era, María Delgado points out that Saura's continued reliance on non-linear narratives in his post-Franco work "indicates that his style was determined as much by a desire to interrogate the possibilities of the medium as by censorship" (375). Indeed, in an interview with Antonio Castro, Saura has been quoted as …

Almodóvar On The Verge Of Cocteau's "La Voix Humaine", Linda M. Willem

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Jean Cocteau's one-act play, La Voix humaine [The Human Voice], consists entirely of a monologue by a woman engaged in a final phone conversation with her lover. Alone in her room, she desperately clings to the telephone as her only link to the man who has left her for someone else. Although this agonizing portrait of abandonment and despair bears little resemblance to Almodóvar's multi-charactered comedic romp through the streets of Madrid in Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios [Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown], Cocteau's play has been named as the …

Text And Intertext: James Whale's Frankenstein In Víctor Erice's El Espíritu De La Colmena, Linda M. Willem

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Víctor Erice's use of clips from James Whale's Frankenstein as the basis for actions by his young protagonist, Ana, in El espíritu de la colmena has led critics to speculate on the symbolic meaning of the monster within that Spanish film. For Virginia Higginbotham the monster represents Franco's Spain, a country that has lost both its memory and its moral sense (116-20). For Marvin D'Lugo the monster stands for the mysterious, the unknown, the different, and the deviant, all of which Ana identifies with as she defines herself as an oppositional spirit (2862). Carmen Arocena sees Ana's rebellion as an …

Highlighting The Hidden: Visual Representation In Gutiérrez Aragón's Demonios En El Jardín, Linda M. Willem

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

According to Spanish film maker Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, there is an intimate relationship between the family and the state, with the traits of the family mirroring those of the state in which it exists: "la primera célula del Estado es la familia, y si el Estado, por definición, es opresivo, la familia es igualmente opresiva" (García Fernández 331). "Yo utilizo la familia en mis películas porque es muy real, muy testimonial. La familia repite fielmente la estructura social 0 estatal" (Payán and López 27). In Demonios en el jardín (1982) Gutiérrez Aragón uses the metaphor of the family not only …

Film Language And The Persistence Of Racial Stereotyping In The Last Of The Mohicans (1992), Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribution to the Journal of Contemporary Thought, Vol. 7.

Metafictional "Mise En Abyme" In Saura's "Carmen", Linda M. Willem

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

In the 1983 film Carmen, Carlos Saura creatively refashions Mérimée's novella and Bizet's opera into an exciting new rendering of the Carmen myth. The foundation of this film rests on Mérimée's narrative, which Saura admires for having the ability to convey a passionate love that still seems as fresh and expressive as it was in its own day (52). Since Saura views the plot modification introduced in Bizet's opera as being a betrayal of Mérimée's novella (55), he ignores the opera's story line and concentrates instead on its music, which he describes as being very beautiful, truly inspired, and …

Integrating Students Into The Operation Of A University-Owned Television Station, Christine Taylor

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Most journalism and mass communication programs provide opportunities for students to acquire some "hands-on" experience as undergraduates.

There remains some considerable argument as to whether this "hands-on" educational experience should be part of the academic curriculum. I will review this debate briefly.

The Murrow Legend As Metaphor: The Creation, Appropriation, And Usefulness Of Edward R. Murrow's Life Story, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribution to the Journal of American Culture, Vol. 15.

A Visit To The Imaginary Landscape Of Harrison, Texas: The Filmed Stories Of Horton Foote, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribution to Film Literature Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 1.