Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Documentaries Making A Difference: Communication Effects Of Environmental Film And Television, Lindsey A. Register

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper addresses the motives of environmental documentaries and their influences on public opinion and action regarding environmental issues and ethics. It suggests that through the communication platform of the environmental documentary, environmental education can further one's understanding of the environment and the human relationship with nature. Chapter 1 uses quantitative data on contemporary documentary filmmaking, as well as on coverage of environmental issues in all communications media. This chapter also includes the data from a survey conducted at Fordham University, showing the influence of environmental documentaries on students’ mindsets and behaviors at this school/institution. Chapter 2 explores the history …

Super, Brown And Queer, Carolyn Adams

Capstones

In response to policy seeking to turn back time for marginalized communities, characters and creators - standing at their intersections - are springing into action to change lives in their worlds and ours. Carolyn Adams explores the circumstances surrounding contemporary mainstream representation of women of color and queer superheroes on the big screen and bookshelves alike.

link to capstone: https://www.carolyn-adams.com/writing-updates/capstone

A Power Man’S Theology: Marvel’S Luke Cage And Black Liberation Theology, Diarron B. Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Netflix released Marvel’s Luke Cage in 2016 to critical acclaim. Born from a 1970s comic book, the series features Luke Cage, an African-American superhero. Cage is a big, bald, bulletproof black man. Instead of tights and a cape, Cage wears a hoodie calling the audience to remember Trayvon Martin and other victims of white racism. Theologian James Cone created Black Liberation Theology in the 1970s. As a result of Cone’s work, Black Liberation Theology addresses the issue of white racism from a theological standpoint. In this thesis I present a close reading of Marvel’s Luke Cage using Black Liberation Theology …

Cheer Up Luv: An Examination Of The Activistic Efforts Of Eliza Hatch, Jasper (Kirsten) Boyd

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This paper examines the efforts put forth by Eliza Hatch, who is an established photojournalist and activist, which pertain to women’s rights and sexual harassment all over the world. Hatch has a multitude of projects dealing with sexual harassment and the unequal treatment of women all across the globe. She is mainly based in London and New York, but has also completed projects in Sri Lanka. Through her activistic career, which began in 2017, she has garnered ample media attention and has raised awareness regarding the issues she tackles in her projects. Through her photo-sets, documentaries, and talks at universities, …

The Hobbit, Media Audiences, And The Question Of Genre, Lars Schmeink

Journal of Tolkien Research

The Hobbit (1937) by J. R. R. Tolkien is one of Britain’s, if not one of the world’s, most beloved children’s books, whereas his The Lord of the Rings (1954-55) is today considered the keystone text of the modern fantasy genre. Similarly Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings has become the defining fantasy film, setting new standards for fantasy to become a mainstream cinematic genre. Based on data collected by the largest audience study to date, the World Hobbit Project, this article argues that the success of Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy is thus linked to its …

The Promises And Perils Of Radio As A Medium Of Faith In A Q’Eqchi’-Maya Catholic Community, Eric Hoenes Del Pinal

Journal of Global Catholicism

Because their parish is large, dispersed, and overwhelmingly rural, FM radio is one of the few reliable means through which the Q’eqchi’-Maya Catholics of San Felipe in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, can communicate with each other en masse. Yet, because it is a one-way medium, it is also impossible to gauge how its intended audience is responding, or if is even there to receive broadcasted messages. Drawing on ethnographic material collected in 2005 (on the use of radio broadcasting to call together ritual participants) and 2016 (on an ultimately failed attempt to launch a radio station to serve rural parishioners), …

Infinity Wars: Post 9/11 Superhero Films And American Empire, Peter J. Bruno

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last two decades, superhero films have accounted for some of the most popular and financially lucrative films of all time. This thesis analyzes some of the aesthetic and ideological dimensions of various superhero films following their post 9/11 boom. Beginning with America’s response to the events of 9/11 and a subsequent retreat into a Manichean world of good versus evil, I introduce the term “empirical reality” in order to account for the ways daily American life is shielded from the worst effects of U.S. foreign policy. On screen this manifests by perpetuating the myth of the “clean war” …

The Media, Education, And The State: Arts-Based Research And A Marxist Analysis Of The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Meng Zhao

Education (PhD) Dissertations

By 2019, the Syrian civil war has lasted for nearly eight years and it has created the largest humanitarian crisis since WWII (Achlume, 2015). Using the siege of Aleppo in 2016 as a case study, the author applied a Marxist-humanist theoretical framework and incorporated arts-based research methodology to examine how US news media supports capitalist social relations. The research question for this study was: how do the US media depictions of the siege of Aleppo, Syria in 2016 reflect capitalist social relations? There were three sub-questions that followed: (1) Which elements of the siege of Aleppo in 2016 get the …

How Fashion And Beauty Advertising Negatively Effects Women, Olivia Free

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

In today’s society consumers are constantly exposed to advertisements throughout their day to day lives, whether they realize it or not. The influence advertising has had over the last ten years has grown because of the materialistic society. It is important to realize the extent in which advertisings are thrown into the hustle of every day lives. One of the most problematic industries is fashion and beauty. The subject of most fashion and beauty ads are women and they are being objectified and dehumanizing causing a drastic decline in self-esteem and in increase in overall body shaming from the unrealistic …

“Where Are We Now?” The Image Construction Of Arabs And Muslims In Bodyguard, Safa K. Khairy

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade Arab and Muslim representations in the media have been either negative or overly simplified as a way to avoid criticism from watchdog groups. Arab and Muslim culture is viewed by the mainstream Western perspective as different, and inferior. According to Edward Said this divide and hierarchy between Eastern and Western comes through the process of Othering and is at the heart of Orientalism. This thesis investigates how Arabs and Muslims are Othered through a case study of the successful BBC television series Bodyguard.

Bodyguard presents the British government and police force attempting to stop various terrorist …

Sex, Labor, And Digital Spaces: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Gpguiadelas, A Brazilian Sex Worker Twitter Feed, Ailesha L. Ringer

Communication ETDs

This dissertation project is a critical discourse analysis of written and visual texts produced for GPGuiaDelas, a Brazilian sex worker Twitter feed. Drawing on digital labor studies, feminist studies on sex work, and Brazilian studies on race and gender, 176 Twitter conversations between sex workers and clients were analyzed in order to answer the following: (1) What are the dominant themes in the discourse about sex work constructed through microblogging on social media?; (2) What are the discursive practices of sex workers who use social media as a platform?; and (3) What theoretical insights emerge from the analysis of sex …

The Fear And Biopolitical Control Of The ‘Terrorist Other’, Percy Percy Sherwood

Western Research Forum

“I think Islam hates us,” Donald Trump said as a presidential candidate in a CNN interview in March 2016, conflating the religion with ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ Trump’s statement exemplifies the prevailing fabricated enemy and resulting Islamophobia in the context of the ‘global war on terror.’ Since 9/11, powerful actors are using abstractions, ideologies, and narratives—that are usually defined along racial lines—to conjure up a fear so permeable that it serves to legitimize massive levels of violence in the name of self-righteousness. How do the racist abstractions, ideologies, and narratives that are associated with Islam and Muslims produce fear and insecurity …

Virtual Wastelands: Reframing Nuclear Representation In Video Games, Francesca Crocker

Global Honors Theses

This thesis utilizes a comparative textual analysis of two popular video games series that feature heavy nuclear themes and representation of nuclear weapons/war in combination with applied critical theory to build a framework of game design elements that lead towards more thoughtful and considerate representation of this particular real, active, and global threat. The analysis of these two series in particular -- Fallout and Metal Gear Solid -- provides a comparative look at how nuclear politics in popular media is represented and consumed in both the United States and Japan, with consideration of history, regulation, and audience interactivity.

Seeking Mirrors: Representation And Identity At Asian Pacific Islander Film Festivals, Yang Jiang

Dissertations

Media representation plays an important role in shaping how we perceive ourselves. For ethnic and racial minorities, studies have confirmed that exposure to stereotypical and negative representations can harm the development of ethnic and racial identity. Currently, however, there is little understanding of how representation can support the development of ethnic and racial identity. Essentially, what might visibility, rather than invisibility, in media representation look like, and what is the relationship between visibility and ethnic and racial identity?

This dissertation sought to address these questions by looking at the experience of Asian Pacific Islander (API) attendees at API film festivals. …

"The Chinese Animation Industry: From The Mao Era To The Digital Age", Stephanie Jones

Master's Projects and Capstones

Since the 1950’s the Chinese Animation industry has been trying to create a unique national style for China. The national style of the 1950’s and early 1960’s was one of freedom, fantasy, and creativity. With the success of “Heroic Little Sisters of the Grassland”/草原英雄小姐妹(1965), the government administration, namely Jiang Qing of the “Gang of Four”, demanded that all animation should follow specific guidelines based on Social Realism guidelines. This in turn, ushered in a new national style of animation during the Cultural Revolution(1966-1976). During this ten-year period government policies imposed strict restrictions on animators and cause a drain of creative …

To Listen: Semiotics, Deaf Representation, And A Silent Voice, Kristen Stedman

Senior Capstone Theses

A Silent Voice, a Japanese film released in 2016, serves as an example of how deaf communities in media can be more accurately portrayed.

Semiotics, the study of how we assign and derive meaning from language, images, and cultural phenomenon, often overlaps with film analysis and representational studies. These three fields are inherently interrelated in the power of film in conveying messages about an issue, location, or group to a wide audience. Too often, inaccurate portrayals of minority groups in film lead these groups to be simplified culturally, fostering misunderstanding and conflict between groups. Just one group that is …

Its Skin Is My Skin, Bryan Page

Graduate School of Art Theses

This text examines the complexity of attempting to empathize with bodies that are vastly othered from my own. This broad yet nuanced subject crosses epistemological boundaries and complicates the dualities between both the mind and body, and between the corporeal and the virtual. My desire to better understand the conditions of another’s experience originates from a painful traumatic loss which caused me to feel isolated and incomplete. In response to this suffering, I long to emotionally connect with other beings and create artwork that attempts to bridge the qualia of individual experience.

I am interested in the capacity (or lack …

The Power And Importance Of Women In Television And Film, Rachael Mackinnon

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Glazed, the pilot episode of a situation comedy series, is just beginning to explore what the world of television has in store for women in 2018. At a time like now where women across the nation are feeling the important effects of entering the Fourth Wave of feminism, there is no time like the present to celebrate the beautiful mind that is that of a woman.

For far too long, women in television have been just something to merely look at. More often than not, the crew would be comprised of mostly men: the strong-willed directors, the scandalous producers, …

Ix: Story About The Law Of Non-Discrimination - Documentary, Denzel Jenkins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to provide historical awareness for how Title IX, the anti-gender discrimination law in education, evolved to where it is today and the impact it has on universities in the United States. Strong-willed individuals sought change in the late 1960s and 1970s to prevent gender discrimination in education, thus beginning the creation of the law and making it a powerful tool for women’s rights. As Title IX expanded its reach, universities have been shaped by gender discrimination in athletics, sexual assault, harassment and rape. This project outlines the evolution of Title IX through research based …

Superhybridity And The Swallowing Of Subculture: Collisions Of Afro-Asian Cross-Cultural Production And Consumption In Post-Internet American Popular Culture, Valentia Sundell

Media and Cultural Studies Honors Projects

Responding to a recent resurgence in Afro-Asian imagery in the American consciousness, this paper examines the meaning and direction of the contemporary Afro-Asian relationship in post-Internet American popular culture. To investigate these questions, this paper constructs a brief history of the American Afro-Asian relationship through the performance of racial identity and cross-cultural production and consumption from the 1850s through the 2000s. An increase in American Afro-Asian imagery has not come from a place of abstraction, but rather stems from a lengthy and complex history of cross-cultural collisions, collaboration, and convergence along with a post-Internet that allows for the ready flow …

Rape Culture: Tools Of Oppression, William Wehrs

History Honors Papers

My project deals with rape culture and the tools of oppression. It looks at the history of rape culture from biblical times to the present. It then examines how schools indoctrinate people to participate in rape culture. It then moves to a backlash towards feminism from the 1970s to the present. The paper then connects said backlash to Men’s Activist Websites. Finally, my paper examines rape culture in the Media, such as the James Bond films or the video game, Super Seducer.

A Case For The Common Good: How Training In Faith-Based Media Literacy Helped Teachers Address Social Justice Issues In The Classroom, Maria Rosalia Tenorio De Azevedo

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This case study reveals how a faith-based initiative offering structured teacher training in media literacy. The program is centered in Catholic Social Teaching, encouraging the use of critical media literacy in the classroom to aid the learning of social justice issues. The critical literacy of Paulo Freire serves as theoretical framework to help answer the research question: How has a teacher training program in faith-based media literacy influenced teachers’ practice when addressing social justice issues in the classroom? This case study relates the accounts of a middle school teacher, a high school teacher, and a college professor, graduates of the …

Bat Meets Girl: Adapting The Dark Knight’S Love Life To The Big Screen, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

It is no secret that Hollywood loves a good romance. What is perhaps sometimes overlooked however is how important romance and female characters are to male-dominated action films. Esma Kartal argues women and romance are deliberately placed into action films to create “romantic relief” and attract female viewers for greater crossover appeal.¹ In addition to romance, Yvonne Tasker observes how women in action films serve as a witness for “the hero’s suffering” and humanity in action films.² Finally, a classic use of women and romance in action films is that of the damsel-indistress, which continues to this day …

Seeing Every Corner Of Tangier: A Photographic Collection Going Beyond The Media Sphere, Cynthia J. Coleman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Tangier is an iconic city, with an image recognized internationally. Its image is created, not only by the city itself, but by its representation in the media. That said, it is worth considering, how true to Tangier is its image? This study considers this issue by addressing the following question: how does the image of Tangier, as represented in photographs, compare with that portrayed in the media? To accomplish this, a collection of 18 photographs over the area of Tangier, an area of 44 square miles, was taken. The photos were taken to as objectively as possible represent the city …

1st Place Contest Entry: Countering The Current: The Function Of Cinematic Waves In Communist Vs. Capitalist Societies, Maddie Gwinn

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Maddie Gwinn's submission for the 2019 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. It contains her essay on using library resources, a three-page sample of her research project on how the Czech New Wave and New Hollywood cinema are defined by their agency in preserving and prescribing cultural meaning across their societies while being bound to their economic systems, and her works cited list.

Maddie is a senior at Chapman University, majoring in Film Production. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Carmichael Peters.

Web.Isod.Es Cel, Aman Kular

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Presentations

For her CEL, Aman interned at WEB.ISOD.ES in London, Ontario, working on producing a documentary discussing the recent implementation of Basic Income by the Conservative Provincial government. Aman learned valuable research skills and communications skills while working on this project and was excited to work in politics.

Objectification Of Women In Bollywood Item Numbers, Zahabia Z. Slatewala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although sexual objectification is commonplace in media culture, music videos provide the most potent examples of it. The current investigation makes an important contribution to the relevant literature regarding the objectification of women in song lyrics while simultaneously broadening the content used to assess objectification. It reflects the ways of objectification of women in India by analyzing Bollywood rap and item songs. Based on objectification theory, one of the primary goals in the present study was to measure differences between visual and behavioral sexual objectification, drawing on theoretically derived indicators of sexual objectification. It also concentrated on measuring the change …

A Commentary On Narrative Platforms, Cinematic Universes, And Consumers Formerly Known As The Audience, Andreas Treske, Aras Ozgun

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

The Unfree Space Of Play: Emergence And Control In The Videogame And The Platform, Logan Brown

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This article attempts to understand the economic and informatic ramifications of the convergence between increasingly connective games and massive online platforms by considering recent trends in both that center around designing for emergence. Scholarship on emergence as a property of games overwhelmingly treats emergent design as a liberating force that privileges player agency in a virtual space. Yet, as games fuse with surrounding platform ecosystems like Steam, Facebook, and Google, those emergent behaviors are subject to vast systems of inscription that analyze user behavior in order to reshape the free space of emergence and extract greater social and financial capital. …

Modes Of Cartoon Corporeal Performance, Gregory Langner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation project works to introduce and interrogate a phenomenon I am calling cartoon corporeality. The phenomenon refers to the varied ways in which cartoons “escape” their usual two-dimensionality through performance, appearing to manifest in physical environments in ways that should be understood as culturally impactful. Cartoon corporeality encompasses different modes of performance wherein the explicit visual presence of a cartoon subject informs an immediately observable physical impact through the body of the performer. I interrogate the phenomenon by focusing on four select modes of cartoon corporeal performance: videogame play, cosplay, theatrical adaptation, and the active weaving of cartoons …