Film and Media Studies Commons^™

So Much Apparent Nothing, Emily Mcbride

Theses and Dissertations

This document contains reflections on motivations behind selected works leading up to and including my thesis exhibition so much apparent nothing. Through journal excerpts and analysis of my own psychology, I attempt to put into words my thoughts concurrent to my making, indirect as they may be. The following text shares my personal conflicts and ideologies surrounding art-making, the permanence of objects, and the acceptance of an identity in flux.

Review Of Latin American Cinema, By Stephen M. Hart, Traci Roberts-Camps

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Film, Spring 2016, Richard Harrison

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Magic At The Crossroads: The Rise Of The Video Essay, Morganne Tinsley August

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the birth, rise in popularity, and evolution of the video essay, a subgenre of the essay found recently in online literary journals. Chapter one provides a brief history of the alphabetic essay as it expands to include photo essays, audio essays, and essay-films. The second chapter outlines the history of the online literary journal and John Bresland’s role in the introduction of the video essay as it appears in online journals. Chapter three contains an examination of the way image, text, and sound function in video essays and the tools and strategies essayists are using to create …

“Uh Oh. Cue The [New] Mommy Wars”: The Ideology Of Combative Mothering In Popular U.S. Newspaper Articles About Attachment Parenting, Julia Moore, Jenna Abetz

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Through critique of concordance, we argue that popular U.S. newspaper articles about attachment parenting perpetuate the ideology of combative mothering, where mothers are in continuous competition with one another over parenting choices. Specifically, article writers construct a new, singular metaphorical mommy war between pro-attachment parenting and anti-attachment parenting proponents by prepackaging attachment parenting and its debate, advocating for attachment parenting through instinct and science, and rejecting attachment parenting because of harm to children, relationships, and mothers. A minority of articles, however, avoided reifying this pro-/anti-attachment parenting mommy war by exploring the complexities of parenting beyond prepackaged philosophies. We explore the …

No More Mind Games: Content Analysis Of In-Game Commentary Of The National Football League’S Concussion Problem, Jeffrey Parker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

American (gridiron) football played at the professional level in the National Football League (NFL) is an inherently physical spectator sport, in which players frequently engage in significant contact to the head and upper body. Until recently, the long-term health consequences associated with on the field head trauma were not fully disclosed to players or the public, potentially misrepresenting the dangers involved in gameplay. Crucial to the dissemination of this information to the public are in-game televised commentators of NFL games, regarded as the primary conduits for mediating in-game narratives to the viewing audience. Using a social constructionist theoretical lens, this …

The Struggle To Be Heard: Toronto's Postproduction Sound Industry, 1968 To 2005, Katherine E. Quanz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines how economic and technological changes shaped the sounds of Canadian cinema, from the modern industry’s founding in the late 1960s to the widespread adoption of digital editing software in the early 2000s. By focusing on the labour and craft practices that coalesced in Toronto’s postproduction companies, I argue that such practices engendered a critical shift in the sonic style of Canadian film sound. Whereas fiction films initially featured a sonic style developed by the National Film Board of Canada for documentary production, filmmakers eventually adopted a style strongly identified with Hollywood cinema. Although it is tempting to …

Choreographing Intimacy: The Making Of ‘[They] Slipped Briskly Into An Intimacy From Which They Never Recovered’ – A Dance Film, Antonio Rinaldi

Theses : Honours

In this investigation, I have utilised a practice-led research methodology to capture ‘intimacy’ in film, specifically, the medium of dance film. The exegetical work is divided into the written research with an accompanied dance film component; however they should be viewed as an integrated thesis. The aim of my research was to develop my choreographic practice through a film that is a sensory and evocative exploration of intimacy. I argue that the film components of dance film (directing, cinematography, editing and the like) uniquely capture an intangability of dance and the complexities of human intimacy in a manner that is …

You Need The Words?: Portrayals Of Romantic Anxiety In Film, Claudia Chiang-Lopez, Jennifer A. Guthrie

McNair Poster Presentations

Viewers’ interpretations of characters with anxious attitudes in romantic relationships can affect their opinions on what constitutes appropriate relationship behavior. This paper analyzes the impact of media on people through a literature review and offers an explanation of different portrayals of romantic anxiety in film: the language used to describe characters and characters’ ends. The films studied - Sunset Boulevard, Sid and Nancy, Hard Core Logo, Burnt Money, and The Hustler - all showed a pattern where a character with romantic anxiety was mistreated by the storyline or other characters, and most of these characters meet their end through suicide …

The Weight Of Words: Collecting And Visualizing Data From Twitter, Daniel Mcswain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Weight of Words is a web-based artwork designed to capture snapshots of Twitter discussions concerning the most popular topics of the day. The growth of social media in recent years has led to a sharp increase in thought and opinion sharing among the vocal population on the Internet. Twitter's use of trending topics allows users to be aware, and be a part of fun or silly stories as well as important news headlines and social movements. The Weight of Words is an exploration into using Twitter's always changing landscape of conversation to generate graphic visualizations based on the most …

Nightgaze: A Microbudget Visual Mixtape, Maillim Santiago

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nightgaze is a feature length visual mixtape created by May Santiago to fulfill the Masters of Fine Arts program at UCF. The mixtape is a study of autobigraphical depression in metaphorical visual tracks. Originally conceived as an experimental narrative, it has evolved into a form of essayistic distance within a narrative framework with experimental deviations. This thesis tracks the project from its original conception, through the pre-production, production, and post-production processes. It also formulates a plan for marketing and distributing the project.

Defining Community Art : Theoretical And Practical Reconstruction, Kei Shun, Samson Wong

Lingnan Theses

This research investigates the area of practice commonly known as community art, defined to be where a gathering of people participates in facilitated collaborative art making aimed to be increasing their autonomy in generating artistic and social satisfaction and enrichment. This definition is a result of integrating existing research, literature, interviews with practitioners and analyses of their work. It is an interdisciplinary research conducted through a grounded methodology where data from practitioners and literature mutually inform to yield insights into a seemingly unstructured practice.

Seven interviewees were chosen to represent a coherent and recognized body of practice. They are practicing …

Saving Innocents: Tracing The Human Monster Hunter’S Hetero-Normative Agenda From The 1970s To Today, Adam Kem Yerima

Wayne State University Dissertations

In supernatural-themed American television programs that focus on hunting or exposing monsters and the monstrous, the human monster hunter’s representation and actions promote a conservative subtext. While horror scholarship prefers to examine the genre’s monsters and women, and regulate the hunter as simply being an expert, an exploration into the historical development of the figure reveals that there is a lot more to this character. The human monster hunter’s televisual depictions from the 1970s to today reveal a complex illustration that reifies the “American dream.” Time and time again, through the loss of an ideal middle-class experience, the human monster …

Nature Records Itself: Concepts Of Truth And Representation In Nature Film And Nature Television Shows, Rashaad Rosalle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the advent of nature photography and film came new ways to understand and interpret the natural world. Prior to the 1910s these formats involved a more scientific and objective approach to recording nature. This aesthetic was abandoned in favor for narrative recreations and Hollywood structure after the 1930s. It is my belief that the dominant use of anthropomorphization, manipulations of setting and animal life, and rugged explorer motifs, all have lead to a loss of a more contemplative and meditative appreciation of nature within the Nature television and film format. It is my goal to explore through a series …

How And Why Has American Media Shifted The On-Screen Image Of Asian Americans From Stereotypical Roles To Lead Roles?, Sohail A. Syed

UROP Posters

Growing up as an Asian American, I never really had a role model of sort that I could relate to entirely. There were the general characters in movies that I looked up to but there was never that one character that I could possibly see myself as because there was never any lead characters that looked like me. Every time an Asian character was showed on-screen they were never a normal relatable person; they were always rather a living stereotype or unrealistic. Asians are always portrayed as intellectuals that are very awkward and geeky or one who has a very …

The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities And (Un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor

Senior Independent Study Theses

How do political practices influence mass culture? Conversely, how does mass culture influence political practice? This project addresses these questions by turning to the concepts of utopia and dystopia. Imagined utopic and dystopic visions express both the hopes and anxieties of the societies producing them. Dystopias also highlight the mechanisms of power that function within particular social orders. Through readings of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I demonstrate how utopia and dystopia function and how we can respond to dystopic realities by theorizing solutions that are more conducive to the …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Experience Of Humanist, Spiritual, And Transpersonal Films On Positive Organizational Behaviors In The Workplace, Frederick Henry Keeve

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A solution is needed to counteract violent news, Internet, and other negative media images and management behaviors in the workplace, in order to boost engagement and prosocial behaviors at work. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the attitudes of working professionals toward prosocial behaviors and employee engagement in the workplace as affected by transpersonal Hollywood films. An organization's ability to survive is directly related to empowerment and innovation. Classic films provide a gateway for transpersonal experiences that could change behavior and thoughts. Peterson and Seligman's transformational typology involving 6 character virtues and 24 strengths was the basis …

Egyptianization: Culture Hacking As A Method, Hadeer Omar

Theses and Dissertations

In a broad sense, cultures undergo a metamorphoses due to the external influences and systems impacting the evolution of internal identities. Conversely, Individuals within cultures react to those external influences and systems.The act of hacking a culture is an opportunity to challenge an existing or imported system in order to bring about change and improvement. An aspect of culture hacking is to create messages of satire or irony in order to criticize, or completely reject established systems within cultures.

Post Arab spring, Egyptians practiced culture hacking by applying their cultural tools to external systems and influences, producing a process of …

Black Feminist Discourse Analysis Of Portrayals Of Gender Violence Against Black Women: A Social Work Dissertation, Avina Ross

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored media discourse of gender violence against Black women in Black contemporary films. Four Tyler Perry films were examined using a novel, qualitative and analytical framework: Black Feminist Discourse Analysis. Discourses that were studied include, but were not limited to: portrayals of gender violence and victims, character dispositions and interactions, stereotypes, relationship dynamics as well as portrayals of race, gender, sexuality and religion. The use of new and existing controlling images based on systems of race, gender, sexuality and religion were revealed in a transitional and systemic model. Common themes across the films are provided. This research closes …

The New Gatekeepers: How Blogs Subverted Mainstream Book Reviews, Rebecca E. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Book reviewing has a fraught history in the United States. Reviewers have long been accused of not being analytical enough. It should be no wonder then with the emergence of social media that online book reviewing has become increasingly popular. Online reviewers, especially book bloggers, are no literary gatekeepers in their own right, shaping the tastes of readers across the world. Book blogs in particular pay special attention to titles which have long been derided by institutions such as libraries, academia, publishers, and bookstores. These literary gatekeepers typically ignore romance, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, young adult fiction, comic books, and …