Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Beyond The Mic: A Documentary Of Kaor’S Voices & History, Sydney M. Kolln

Honors Thesis

The University of South Dakota’s Media & Journalism Department celebrated the 40th anniversary of KAOR, the university’s student-run radio station, on Oct. 2, 2025. The celebration recognized generations of students whose creativity, leadership, and dedication contributed to the station’s growth and continued legacy on campus. This thesis explores the history and growth of KAOR through research, historical documents, and personal accounts from former and current KAOR students. By examining the station across multiple decades, the project highlights how student radio has adapted to changing technology and campus culture. This written thesis accompanies a 30-minute documentary focused on key eras in …

2nd Place Contest Entry: "Destablizing U.S.-Japan Relations: Nikkatsu Film Noir As Postwar Social Critique", Thomas Graham Buchanan

Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Library Research Prize

This is Thomas Buchanan's submission for the 2026 Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Research Prize, which won second place. It contains their essay on using library resources, a summary of their research project on how a generation of Japanese filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s borrowed the formal strategies of Hollywood film noir to mount a critique of U.S. Cold War policy, and their bibliography.

Thomas is a student in the Master of Arts in Film & Media Studies program at Chapman University. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Emily Carman.

Thomas' thesis is the scholarship that emerged from the research discussed …

Embodied Horror: Women And Medical Authority In Video Games, Jocilynn Denise Colombo

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

Through a critical analysis of interactive horror, this paper argues that video games can function as ethical diagnostic narratives that uniquely expose systemic failures surrounding women’s bodies and medical authority. Focusing on Silent Hill 3 (2003) and Alice: Madness Returns (2011), I examine how these games render harm legible through player participation. By requiring players to move characters through hostile environments and make decisions within systems that simultaneously grant and restrict control, these games foster identification and complicity by positioning players directly within the structures they critique.

While feminist horror scholarship—notably from Julia Kristeva and Barbara Creed—has explored societal anxieties …

A Guide To Environmentally Sustainable Filmmaking In South Carolina, Christina Vera Dobrowolski

Senior Theses

The entertainment industry has a massive environmental impact. This information is not new in the filmmaking world, as multiple mainstream efforts exist to curb the material-intensive production of live action films and TV. One of these efforts is the use of voluntary sustainable guidelines, which serve as tools that outline sustainable best practices and resources that can help achieve them. However, current guidelines often lack practicality— focusing more on altruism rather than core economic factors that ultimately drive filmmaking. This project aims to address that gap for filmmakers in South Carolina by offering a website featuring attainable, state-specific resources for …

Stakhanov Lives Forever: How Art And Culture Outlasted Politics In The Communist World, Samuel Shewmake

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

The Stakhanovite movement and its long term consequences has been heavily debated in the field of Soviet history for several decades. The dominant scholarly narrative is that the Stakhanovite movement and Stakhanovism were largely extinguished during the period following the buildup to the Second World War. Previous works have relied heavily on solely political analysis of the movement, presuming that its character was primarily state-driven with little social component. This paper analyzes the social and artistic legacy of the Stakhanovite movement through novel analysis of film, music, and art of the Stakhanovite period and following decades. Contrary to what has …

Dark Wave - Comics And Transgender Studies In Practice, Mieke Vanderveen

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This is a thesis in two parts. Its goal is to provoke the intersection of superhero comics and transgender studies in order to interrogate the parallels between those two identities and explore ways in which pairing them together can strengthen each other narratively and academically. Rather than seeking an answer to a question, the project as a whole serves as a way of communicating trans internalities from a transfeminine perspective in a format that brings the issues to the forefront of the narrative in an in-depth and entertaining way. The result is hopefully a coherent artistic work that achieves those …

America’S First Comic Role, “The Negro”: An Analysis Of Historical Caricatures And Their Influence On African American Characters And Archetypes, Skyla A. Praylow

Senior Theses

A stereotype is defined as “a set of ideas that people have about what someone or something is like, especially an idea that is wrong.”1 Even though stereotypes are understood to be harmful, “contributing to prejudice and discrimination,” they are still believed to have some “kernel of truth,” and are viewed as “overgeneralized beliefs about social groups in society.” These stereotypes are then used as propaganda to reinforce oppressive systems in the US.2 Stereotypes create the basis of opinions that are used to create caricatures. A caricature is “a picture, description, or imitation of a person in which certain striking …

Shadowrunning The Human: Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun Series And Transhumanism, Alexander P. Orelup

English Theses & Dissertations

I argue that Harebrained Schemes’ video game series Shadowrun critiques transhumanism in three distinct yet related ways: in terms of religion, political control, and identity capitalism. In doing so, Shadowrun attempts to counter claims that video games are an inherently transhumanist medium and provides an opportunity for players to resist a potential transhuman future. This further elucidates the trends and perceptions of transhumanism within American culture around the time period. I utilize a variety of methodologies in my argument, ranging from cultural studies, narratology, ludology, and close reading in order to grasp all of the audio-visual and gameplay elements that …

The Eye: A Science-Fiction Screenplay Examining Space-Time, Meteorology, And Human Connection, Ella K. Lukowiak

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the nature of time, meteorology, and human interconnection to the universe through the lens of a science-fiction screenplay. The creative project spans a three-act, detailed outline, and a screenplay draft of Act I. It is based upon extensive scientific research regarding hurricane development, the inner workings of organizations such as the National Weather Service, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and the space-time continuum. I will delve into the various factors that shaped my science-fiction premise, including pivotal films such as Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR (2014) and Denis Villeneuve’s ARRIVAL (2016). Both of these filmmakers integrated complex science-fiction concepts into …

The Ghosts Of Times Square: A Zine Exploring Representations Of Times Square Through Film, Kel R. Karpinski

Publications and Research

My zines are often an extension of my research—either a jumping off point or a way to create a more visual project (or both). They are in their own way a form of excess - they are often too scandalous, too smutty, too much — everything that is spilling out of the margins.

My zines and research focus on lesser known queer histories, trying to highlight them and bring them to a new audience and new generations.

Using zines as a creative form of research, I am able to reach a broader audience both inside and outside of academia. I …

Voice And Pain: Representations Of Disability In Adaptations Of “The Little Mermaid”, Ace Molloy

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 story, “The Little Mermaid,” is a popular fairy tale that has been adapted several times by writers, filmmakers, and game developers. It is one of the few fairy tales with explicit portrayals of disability; the mermaid in the tale is nonspeaking and experiences chronic pain, as well as being a mermaid—a nonnormative figure who is aligned with disability. This paper looks at the ways that the mermaid is portrayed in literary, film, and new media adaptations from a disability-justice perspective. Examining multiple representations of the character, I argue that while feminist adaptations erase her disability and …

The Paradox Of Appropriation: A History Of Media Technology And Propaganda In Rwanda, 1900–1964, Claudia Brown

Journal of Global Catholicism

Scholars of the 1994 Rwandan genocide agree that media technology and propaganda played a role in mobilizing ordinary Rwandans in 1994 to commit genocide. Underappreciated in these inquiries is the history of the introduction of media technology and propaganda in Rwandan society by missionaries, technologies Rwandans later appropriated and applied to a pursuit of self-determination, but also in support of perpetrating genocide. A close examination of the social and political context of Rwanda’s colonial era and Catholic evangelism reveals a variety of motives for adopting propaganda as a strategy for evangelizing and rallying support for decolonization. This article casts light …

The Migrant As A Pilgrim: Decolonising Identity And Belonging, Susan Nemec

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper responds to pilgrimage scholar George Greenia’s assertion that meaningful intersections exist between pilgrimage and various forms of displacement, such as migration or involuntary exile due to famine, war, or political unrest. Greenia proposes that vulnerable, displaced individuals might find shelter, both conceptually and emotionally, within the framing of pilgrimage. By extending concepts of pilgrimage, it can be understood as a deliberate and intentional journey, simultaneously emphasising the transformative potential inherent in migratory movement. By adopting a working definition of pilgrimage as ‘any form of travel that is intentional, purposeful, or transformative,’ the paper considers how migrancy, particularly within …

Generative Ai/Machine Learning In The Screen Production Classroom And The Implications For Tertiary Educators., James Thompson, Kereen Ely-Harper, Tom Young, Rachel Wilson, Nico Meissner

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This report explores how screen production educators in the ASPERA community are responding to the rapid integration of generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) in teaching and learning. Framed by Sean Cubitt’s (2020) notion of Common Intelligence, we investigate two guiding questions: How are students engaging with genAI tools in their productions, and what are the implications for educators? Methodologically, we engaged in qualitative professional dialogue with screen practice educators through three mechanisms during the 2024 ASPERA Conference: lightning provocations, an anonymous Mentimeter survey, and a facilitated roundtable discussion. These activities provided a collaborative forum for educators to share practice-based insights, reflect …

Adapting Identities: Multimodal Expressions Of African Women’S Agency In Francophone Film​, Alicia M. Hilaire

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

No abstract provided.

Why The Film Was Banned And Its Significance During The Colonial Era And Aftermath, Sawel Awuni

Department of French Studies Graduate Student Association Conference

This paper examines the usefulness of film according to the figure widely known as the father of African cinema, Ousmane Sembène. In 2008, Annett Busch and Max Annas published an edited volume of Sembène’s interviews titled Ousmane Sembène: Interviews, which compiles a wide range of conversations conducted with him during his lifetime. This compilation offers insights into his films and the stories surrounding each production. Drawing on this collection, this presentation aims to highlight the significance of film during the twentieth century, the reasons why certain films were banned, and what Sembène believed should be the purpose of filmmaking.

This …

Des Arbres Comme Des Lignes De Vie – Pascale Cassagnau Et Suhaib Gasmelbari En Conversation, Pascale Cassagnau, Suhaib Gasmelbari

Regards

As part of a study day organized in September 2025 at the University of Grenoble Alpes in partnership with the Centre National des Arts Plastiques entitled “The Loss of Images: Research and Creative Narratives,” Pascale Cassagnau and Suhaib Gasmelbari discussed his film Talking about Trees (2019), focusing on the film’s sources and structure, the history of Sudanese cinema that it reveals within the film itself, and the metaphors of trees and plants as lifelines and living archives at a time when images have disappeared.

Résumé
Dans le cadre d’une journée d’études organisée en septembre 2025 à l’Université Grenoble Alpes en …

Introduction – Carnets Filmiques, Carnets Sonores : Des Essais Intimes Et Collectifs, Robert Bonamy, Aude Fourel, Eve Le Fessant Coussonneau

Regards

Le sens à attribuer à la notion de carnet filmique ou de carnet sonore suscite quelque indécision, en raison du caractère composite et mouvant des cas envisagés. L’enjeu principal ne paraît ainsi pas ici celui d’une définition serrée d’un objet, mais plutôt une attention accordée à des tentatives de réalisation. De surcroît, si la forme-carnet permet à peu près tout, elle n’interdit donc véritablement rien : l’esquisse, le brouillon, l’approximation, voire l’échec et l’interruption.
[...]

Du Journal De Deuil À L’Œuvre De Sépulture : « Lo » (Thanassis Vassiliou, 2021-2025), Marie Martin

Regards

After his mother’s death in 2017, Thanassis Vassiliou returned to Greece and began filming. The instinctive act of recording aimed both to come to terms with the now definitive absence in places still filled with memories, and to document his own reactions, attempting to preserve them even if he could not fully understand them. These filmic notes could perhaps, later on, allow another perspective, according to the dynamic that Antoine Compagnon aptly analyzed as paradoxical in relation to Barthes’s Mourning Diary: “mourning and narrative are antinomic, but [...] only narrative [...] is capable of expressing the experience of mourning, …

« From Ground Zero » Et « Letters » : Carnets Polyphoniques En Quête D’Intersubjectivité, Eve Le Fessant Coussonneau

Regards

The two polyphonic films From Ground Zero (2025, produced by Rashid Masharawi) and Letters (2025, produced by Josef Khallouf) bring together, in response to the war in Gaza, unique short films, letters and chronicles that address collective questions. How do these films take charge of the urgent need to problematize, aesthetically and politically, the relationship between subjectivity and the collective? From the Palestinian enclave or neighboring Lebanon, they seek irreducible singularities and intersubjective connections in the face of the horror of genocide. Caught in a complex combination of places and times, their address to our spectatorial gaze thus reveals the …