Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Catch, Eric London

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

What does it take to make the MLB? In the feature screenplay, Catch, by Eric London, brothers Austin and Garrett chase their dream of being drafted to the big leagues. Their coach, and father, leads them through the process of being scouted. He would define his coaching style as, “tough love,” or, “what it takes to go pro,” while others may call it abuse. Austin and Garrett must tackle their toxic relationship with each other and their father during their journey to the MLB draft.

African American Youth-Identity, Invisible Powers & Hypnotic Blaxploitation-Themed Film Tropes: From Superfly & Drug Culture To Black Panther & Wakanda, Daniel Mitchell

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

This thesis project explores the most influential effect of the blaxploitation era. It is during a time shortly after the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, where black youth are still enduring identity issues. The point of departure for central discussion of this work revolves around the mesmerizing Hollywood blaxploitation film, Superfly. It arrived on the big screen in 1972. The hit movie and its soundtrack seemingly hypnotized countless young African American youth in urban areas to become drug dealers and users. This coincided with Nixon’s War on Drugs collusion with government agencies, and the secret COINTELPRO operation. They …

You're Gonna Lose That Girl, Wilmont True

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

In the feature screenplay, You're Gonna Lose That Girl, by Bill True, fifty-something Jason Kite blames his failed life on getting dumped twenty-five years ago during a slow-dance cover of the iconic Beatles song. Then Paul McCartney, who is actually a wizard of space and time, shows up and sends Jason back in time to the fateful weekend to play wingman to his younger self in order to stop the breakup from happening and, in the process, fix Jason’s life.

Slaughterville, Kristjan Kay

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

Jim Reaper has it made. He's one of the best employees at Afterlife Incorporated and has gotten his work down pat. But when he's given a new employee to mentor he finds his secret is at risk: Jim pretends to be mortal in the small town of Slaughterville, Oklahoma, and has a mortal wife!

Contemporary Films And Contemporary Issues: An Introductory Film Class Curriculum, August W. Liguori-Chien

Liberal Studies (MA) Final Essays

Teachers spend years teaching students to interpret texts. This interpretive skill is deemed vital in our education system, but little time is devoted to developing students’ ability to interpret film, the most popular media students engage with. Film is an incredible amalgamation of words, motion, and music. The world of film offers students incredible opportunities to interpret, analyze, and be moved. If our students must be able to interpret literature shouldn't they also be able to do the same in the immense world of film.

This class will not focus exclusively on the history of film or the classically taught …

Female Agency In Fantasy Films Of The 1980s., Tara C. Rowland

Liberal Studies (MA) Final Essays

"Female Agency in Fantasy Films of the 1980s"

This study looks at female character roles in six of the major fantasy films produced during the 1980s. This research draws mostly on primary resources, the films, but includes commentary from research in the same vein. The purpose of this study was to show how certain fantasy films gave more agency and power to female characters in a genre often plagued with women who needed saving. Upon examination of these films, it becomes clear that not only is representation is an important part of film, especially for young children, but that it …

The Western, Violence, And Queer Expression In Red River, Brokeback Mountain, And Thelma & Louise, Dean Symmonds

Undergraduate Research Awards

Of all the tools the film industry has used in the past and present to contribute to American myth-making, the Western is the most iconic. If, as critic J. Hoberman argues in a Village Voice article, “the Western has always been the most idyllically homosocial of modes,” and, as film scholar Erika Spohrer writes in her article about genre and Brokeback Mountain (2005, dir. Ang Lee), “by inserting Brokeback Mountain into the Western canon, critics force a re-vision, a re-seeing of all Westerns that have preceded it,” then I argue for the necessity of pursuing that critical work and analyzing …

The Persistence Of Austen In The 21st Century: A Reception History Of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Laura Jane Ramsburg

Liberal Studies (MA) Final Essays

In 2012, the first episode of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries aired online via YouTube.com, offering a modernized serial form of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. With only word-of-mouth marketing, this series gained hundreds of thousands of views, a loyal following, and an Emmy award. In this paper, I will explore the reception history of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries by referencing its source material, analyzing its target demographics, and explaining its success.