Film and Media Studies Commons^™

“My Government Did This”: Exploring The Erasure Of The Beirut Port Wall, Lara Sabra

Regards

This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork to examine the affective and agentive power of graffiti in Beirut after the August 4 Beirut explosion, specifically the graffiti on the port wall: “My government did this.” The paper investigates the whitewashing of the port wall, the erasure of this phrase, and the subsequent policing that took place.
It studies how graffiti holds an emotional or affective grip on civilians and is intrinsically tied to the practice of agency. In short, the paper discusses how graffiti opens a space for the transgression of dominant or hegemonic systems of power.

Résumé

Cet article s’appuie …

"Hady Zaccak: 'In This Place: Reels Of Beirut'" La Scénographie Comme Chassé-Croisé Entre Plusieurs Espaces/Temps, Joanna Raad

Regards

Ce compte-rendu tente d’inscrire l’installation de Hady Zaccak, In This Place: Reels of Beirut, dans un concept théâtral de « scénographie d’exposition ». L’article conjecture un dialogue entre l’espace-temps des films et celui de l’observateur/spectateur. Pourquoi la fiction peut-elle jouer le rôle d’archive ? Comment le passé dialogue-t-il avec le présent ? L’ancien Beyrouth, la « Suisse de l’Orient », est-il un mythe ou une réalité ? Autant de questions abordées dans un langage interdisciplinaire.

Theorizing The Spiritual-Secular Binary In Modern And Contemporary Art Of – And By Artists From – The Swana Region, Valerie Gonzalez

Regards

The present article critically examines the spiritual–secular binary in modern and contemporary art from the SWANA region and by artists with heritage from that region who live or have lived elsewhere. Given this binary’s origin in the European Enlightenment’s view of religion, and its epistemic canonization through post-Enlightenment ideas on art and culture in the colonial era, this examination is carried out within the framework of current decolonizing art historical discourses and their postcolonial background.
The reflection begins with a key moment of global modernism, underpinned by the colonial diffusion of secularism. It then proceeds to explore the cultural shifts …

Ambient Athleticism: Politicizing Akira’S Accelerationist Olympiad, Thomas G. Chaplin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis politicizes Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 animated cyberpunk film, Akira, specifically through how it stages its myriad neoliberal crises as opportunities for accelerationist solutions mediated by the Tokyo Olympics. Akira’s display of fully animated and intense action physics produces an aesthetic relation to its own athletes that contracts around their bodies in an attempt to transgress classical and oppressive compositions. Akira’s vague utopic promise receives broad acceptance and affirmation by extant scholarship, often relying on the accelerative impulses found in the works of Gilles Deleuze to substantiate Akira’s hopeful ending. Invoking Gilles Deleuze’s notion of athleticism, this thesis critically rereads …

P-13 El Laberinto Del Fauno: A Child’S Imagination And Coping With The Trauma Of War, Psychology And Spanish, Hannah Cruse

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

Abstract of “El laberinto del fauno: A Child’s Imagination and Coping with the Trauma of War”

Guillermo del Toro’s film El laberinto del fauno, known as Pan’s Labyrinth to English speaking audiences, opens up a fantastical world that is just a touch away from reality, but everyone believes this to be the imagination of one child, Ofelia. She tries to complete tasks and learns the truth of the land of post Civil War Spain that she currently resides in while she yearns for another. A child's imagination can be transported by a simple story; there seems to be a special …

On The Avenue Of The Mystery: The Postwar Counterculture In Novels And Film, Gary Hentzi

Publications and Research

This volume is a study of eight major novels from the postwar period (1945–65) in conjunction with the films made from them during a later period of a little less than three decades straddling the millennium (1985–2012). The comparison of these novels (by Ken Kesey, Paul Bowles, Carson McCullers, Jack Kerouac, James Baldwin, Alexander Trocchi, William Burroughs, and Peter Matthiessen) with their film adaptations offers the opportunity for a historical reassessment not only of the novelsthemselves but also of the global counterculture of the years 1965–75, which they prefigure in a variety of ways. Appearing more than a decade after …

Tellers Of Dark Fairy Tales: Common Themes In The Works Of C.S. Lewis And Terence Fisher, Gabriel C. Salter

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This article explores connections between C.S. Lewis and filmmaker Terence Fisher, notably how their works explore themes like the charm of evil, white magic’s dubious nature, and myth hinting at divine truths. By viewing these themes, Fisher and Lewis’s common views on fairy tales, and how feedback informed their work, scholars discover nuance in the perceived “Inklings versus secular British culture” dichotomy.

L’Italia, L’Altrove Luoghi, Spazi E Attraversamenti Nel Cinema E Nella Letteratura Sulla Migrazione, Simone Brioni Dr.

Department of English Faculty Publications

This monograph is a meditation on how transnational migrations have influenced how the sense of place and the politics of space are represented in literature and film about migration to, from and within Italy. It examines work produced in Italian and English, and it emphasizes how culture and national identity can be reconsidered in a more inclusive way within a world marked by increased mobility. The text is divided into three main sections – “Places”, “Spaces” and “Crossings” – each of which contains two chapters. Chapter 1 argues that bridges, as they are represented in literature, movies and paintings about …

Potentiality, Resistance And Bare Life: Giorgio Agamben On Melville’S Bartleby, Yanjun Wang, Yaping Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The idea of potentiality runs through Giorgio Agamben’s political philosophy. In his analysis of Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener, Agamben thoroughly interprets potentiality and bare life through Bartleby’s “I prefer not to”. Agamben believes that Bartleby’s inoperativeness is the highest form of resistance, which exists as pure potentiality against the power apparatuses in modern society. Agamben considers Bartleby’s inoperativeness as the exact way to redeem bare life in modern society, where the state of exception already becomes normality. This article starts with Agamben’s reading of Bartley, focuses on potentiality, resistance and bare life to analyze the pure and thorough way …

Digital Dissemination Of Islam Among Dubai Expatriates, Uae: A Mixed Methods Study, Urwa Mohammed Tariq

CoHSS Faculty Work

Dubai is a metropolitan city that attracts many foreigners due to its growing economy and tourism. When many non-Muslims observe the Islamic culture and lifestyle, they become interested in learning more about the faith. This research focuses on non-Muslims and new Muslims in Dubai and how information about Islam is disseminated to them. It also examines the challenges they encounter when searching for information. Though the researcher employed a mixed-methods approach, this study highlights the quantitative analysis. A total of 541 survey responses were collected from expatriates residing in Dubai, UAE; their demographic profile was analysed, especially in relation to …

Collaborative Constructions: Designing High School History Curriculum With The Lost & Found Game Series, Owen Gottlieb, Shawn Clybor

Articles

This chapter addresses design research and iterative curriculum design for the Lost & Found games series. The Lost & Found card-to-mobile series is set in Fustat (Old Cairo) in the twelfth century and focuses on religious laws of the period. The first two games focus on Moses Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, a key Jewish law code. A new expansion module which was in development at the time of the fieldwork described in this article that introduces Islamic laws of the period, and a mobile prototype of the initial strategy game has been developed with support National Endowment for the Humanities. The …

Critique Beyond Judgment: Exploring Testimony And Truth In The Classroom, Sean Sidky

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This essay offers a set of strategies for utilizing the words of survivors and of witnesses to genocide in the classroom. Including the voices of survivors and victims in our classroom conversations about genocide, its impact, representation, and the possibilities for its prevention is crucial to an ethical and wholistic pedagogy of genocide. Discussion of these events in the classroom often finds us confronting questions from students about truth, historical accuracy, authenticity, and authority. Addressing such questions requires careful framing that takes into account student assumptions and cultural discourses about memory and witnessing, as we work with students to develop …

Deconstructing The University: Contemporary Dei, Neoliberal Rationalities, And The Abolition Of The Administrative Apparatus, Jonah Henkle

Media and Cultural Studies Honors Projects

The following chapters attempt to develop some working theories to combat capitalist exploitation and racist and gendered oppression in the university, culminating in a call for the abolition of the university’s administrative apparatus. The project is divided broadly into two parts, which are referential to each other, but maintain slightly different areas of focus. Part 1 details a preliminary critique of the political-economy of the contemporary neoliberal university, drawing influence from Marxian economics and structuralist theories of ideology, critiquing contemporary discourses of diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI). Part 2 focuses more directly on issues pertaining to oppression and difference, maintaining …

Girls From The Heights: From Mexican Spitfire To Maddy Perez, Gabi Martinez

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The stereotype of the “Spicy Latina” is as prevalent today as it was in the early days of film, and tracing its origins leads to the discovery of a complicated root system of prejudice and stereotype. From the days of Lupe Velez and the film Mexican Spitfire, to the TV shows Modern Family and Jane the Virgin, Hollywood has never seemed to know how to portray Latinas in all of their complexity. This paper investigates how the white male gaze has shaped the perception of Latinas in the media, and how even the modern, more diverse media landscape contributes …

Missions And Media And The Pentecostal Tradition, Elena Espinoza

Masters of Theological Studies

This thesis sought to discover how the use of media for missions developed within the Pentecostal tradition. In order to accomplish this, the historical development of the print medium and the introduction of radio will be analyzed. Additionally, methods of visual media will be introduced by discussing televangelism, media and theology, and the ethics of missions photojournalism. From there, the thesis transitions to the current use of digital media. Digital media today includes, but is not limited to, electronic newsletters, photos, videos, and social media. For the sake of this paper, only those for digital media mediums/platforms will be discussed. …

Masculinity In American Movie-Musical Films, Christopher Sparks

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

My presentation explores the relation between American masculinity and film musicals. I demonstrate how the dominance of the musical at the box office in the middle of the 20^th century reflects historical events and technological change. Drawing on both scholarly and popular criticism, I show how the images of masculinity that Americans once encountered on the silver screen have transformed as musicals became marginal to popular culture in the United States. My research considers both classic 20^th century musicals, such as Wizard of Oz (1939) and 42^nd Street (1933), and more recent experiments with the genre, including …

Jugaad Auteurism: Alankrita Shrivastava And Feminist Bollywood, Gohar Siddiqui

Visual and Performing Arts

Alankrita Shrivastava is a filmmaker in Bollywood whose sensibilities as a feminist auteur have been prominent in her work since her very first film. Her oeuvre consists of three feature films (Turning 30, 2011; Lipstick Under My Burkha, 2017; Dolly, Kitty Aur Who Chamakte Sitaare, 2020), a short anthology film (My Beautiful Wrinkles, 2020), the Amazon Prime series Made in Heaven (2019), and the Netflix Series, Bombay Begums (2021). She wrote and directed all her films and collaborated with other female writers and directors for the Amazon Prime and Netflix series.

Texts, Drugs, And Rock 'N' Roll: Easy Rider And The Compilation Soundtrack, Jonathan R. Lee

Creative Collaborations

Of all the New Hollywood films, Easy Rider (1969) perhaps most effectively demonstrates the potential complexity of the rock compilation soundtrack. Drawing on concepts from film studies, film musicology, and literary theory, this article discusses how Easy Rider demonstrates the compilation soundtrack’s potential to generate meanings both inter- and intratextually. The intertextual method of interpreting pop compilation soundtracks looks deeply into the intersection of image, sound, and narrative on a vertical axis, considering the relationship between dialogue/image/plot point and song lyrics/musical style, the ways that the songs on these soundtracks communicate to audiences the thematic or diegetic significance of a …

The High Hat: Iconography In Miller’S Crossing, Anna Jager '26

Best First-Year Seminar Writing

No abstract provided.

Big House, More Power: The Role Of Housing In Goodfellas, Krissy Kowalski '26

Best First-Year Seminar Writing

No abstract provided.