War And Communism In 50s-70s Sci-Fi Movies, Nathaniel Smith

Gateway Reader- Individual Papers

• The Problem: The researcher addresses how 1950s–1970s science fiction cinema reflects prevailing post-war societal anxieties, specifically the fear of nuclear Armageddon and the geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

• The Method: The framework analyzes thematic elements and narrative structures across a selection of mid-to-late 20th-century speculative fiction films, specifically The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), and Godzilla (1954).

• Quantitative Finding: The Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear weapon in 1949; the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock in 1947; the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in …

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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 …

0897: William A. “Red” Dawson Collection, 1915-2023, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

William Alfred “Red” Dawson, a native of Valdosta, Georgia, led his high school football team to a state championship and played for four years at Florida State University. Dawson briefly played professional football for the Boston Patriots in the AFL and the Orlando Panthers. He was serving as an assistant football coach at Marshall University when a fatal plane crash killed seventy-five players, coaches, staff, and prominent citizens of Huntington. Dawson was essential in restarting the Marshall University football program, serving as acting head coach and coached through the 1971 season. He then began working in the construction industry and …

From Street Life To Spiritual Leadership: Analyzing Transformation, Faith, And Identity In “New Muslim Cool”, Hatoumata Tunkara

Occasional Essays

Introduction:

New Muslim Cool begins with Hamza Pérez, a Puerto Rican Muslim revert, as he rebuilds his life through Islam while balancing faith, family, and community. The documentary follows his journey from being involved in street life to becoming a faith-driven community leader and rapper. Hamza uses hip-hop and religion to connect with young people and challenge stereotypes about Muslims in America. The film primarily takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and explores themes of identity, redemption, and the pursuit of peace in the post-9/11 world. It is directed by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor and was released in 2009.

Acculturation And Puerto Rican Muslim Reverts, Toni Akinbamowo

Occasional Essays

Introduction:

The documentary AmeRícan (n.d.) simultaneously covers the perspectives of two oft ignored groups of U.S. society–both Puerto Rican and Latino/e (both the gendered and gender neutral terms for individuals of Latin American heritage) Muslims. Bergenline Avenue, New Jersey has a heavy presence of Latino Muslims, especially those who are “Puerto Rican, Mexican, Dominican, Peruvian” ([00:00:49–00:00:50]). Latino Muslims in nearby neighborhoods have the privilege of having access to religious resources such as the North Hudson Islamic Education Center, “home to a large number of Latinx Muslims” ([01:23–01:25]).

“You’Re Getting A Little Big For This”: Fat Characters In Disney Animated Films, Rachel Casey, Grace Brenner

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

To further develop the literature regarding representations of larger bodies in popular culture, this quantitative content analysis describes demographic and stereotypic depictions of fat characters in all 54 Disney animated films theatrically released from 1937 to 2023. The 124 identified fat characters were most commonly depicted as sidekicks of the protagonist (n = 38, 30.65%), with only four (3.23%) depicted as protagonists. Demographically, fat characters were most frequently male (n = 95, 76.61%), white (n = 92, 74.19%), middle aged (n = 57, 46.00%), and of lower social class (n = 50, 40.32%). Compared to …

Queer Ga(Y)Ze And Desire In Flesh And Pink Narcissus, Kel R. Karpinski

Publications and Research

Through their portrayals of gay-for-pay hustlers, the films Flesh and Pink Narcissus, offer an expansive view of queerness and illuminate the queer history of Times Square.

As Above, So Below: The Cognitive Impact Of Found Footage Horror, Josephine Railston

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

What makes a horror movie good? Why do we like horror movies? Using the 2014 movie As Above, So Below my poster presentation explores the cognitive impact of found footage horror on its viewers. Employing the use of a handheld camera and first person perspective, the film is able to immerse its audience in a supernatural version of the Paris Catacombs. I discuss found footage as a narrative tool, particularly focusing on how it amplifies psychological and physical responses like fear and anxiety.

Resurrected Criminals, Time-Loops, And Faustian Bargains: The Speculative Edge Of 1940s Film Noir, Tyler P. Bolden

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In the 1940s, as film noir reached the height of its generic consolidation, a more uncanny and supernatural variant emerged in its shadow: speculative noir. While the genre's hard-boiled lineage, Expressionist aesthetics, and the lyrical fatalism of French Poetic Realism define its conventional form, certain films of the period reconfigured noir through Lovecraftian horror, gothic motifs, weird science, and ontological rupture. This neglected strain of noir stretched the genre's murky boundaries beyond fatalistic crime narratives into what science fiction writer Fritz Leiber calls the "dark dangerous forest"—a space of eerie, indeterminate forces. Although critics such as James Naremore and Christopher …

"Next Time Is Next Time. Now Is Now": A Review Of Perfect Days, Bob De Smith

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"The best films, the best art, not only examine life, helping us to notice what we haven’t seen before, but they ask us to change our lives. And this is one of those films."

Posting about the movie Perfect Days from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Perfect Days

Content Worth Consuming, Mark Volkers

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Could it be that a workplace (or film set) that actively pursues shalom in the way people and creation are treated, is honoring to God who seeks the restoration of all things?"

Posting about ­­­­­­­­defining Christian film from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Content Worth Consuming

David Lynch Exposed The Rot At The Heart Of American Culture, Billy J. Stratton

English and Literary Arts: Faculty Scholarship

Stratton discusses cultural commentary and impact in the films of David Lynch, following the director's passing.

Mirrors Of The Reel: Black Women's Identity In American Cinema (2009-2024), Melanie-Penny Harrison

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study investigates whether white supremacy structures, embodied in Hollywood’s predominantly white leadership, drive negative portrayals of Black women in 31 mainstream American films from 2009 to 2024. Employing a mixed-methods approach—quantitative content analysis, qualitative content analysis (QCA), and narrative methodology—I code portrayals for racism, patriarchy, heterosexism, colorism, and internalized racism, classifying them as progressive (e.g., empowered roles), regressive (e.g., subservient stereotypes), or hybrid. Guided by Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, the analysis examines narrative structures, character agency, symbolism, and dialogue to uncover intersectional patterns (e.g., race, gender, class) across three periods: 2009–2013, 2014–2018, and 2019–2024. Across these periods, cultural …

Make America(N Cinema) Great Again: The Rhetoric Of Nostalgia In Trump Era Cinematic Multiplicities, Courtney J. Dreyer

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation investigates the rhetoric of nostalgia in politics and popular Hollywood cinema during the Trump era. I argue that MAGA Cinema, the contemporary trend of reboots, remakes, and sequels related to properties from the late 1970s to early 1990s, both respond to and strengthen attachments to an imagined version of the 1980s. However, this illusory golden age more closely reflects the world as depicted in the cinema of the 1980s rather than the reality of American in the years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Through a close analysis of David Gordon Green’s Halloween Reboot series, Top Gun: Maverick, and …

The Successful Façade: The Powers Of Postmodernism Within The Comedy, Abigail Muller

Schultz-Werth Award Papers

The comedy has always been an incredibly versatile genre: although it certainly contains rote story formulas meant to provide lighthearted entertainment, the comedy can also reveal interesting perspectives pertaining to darker underlying issues, allowing audiences to process these hypocrisies as from behind a screen of safety. Such is the case of the movies The King of Comedy (1982), Wag the Dog (1997), Bowfinger (1999), and Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), all of which can be classified as comedic escapades yet fail to conceal their corrupted underbellies from a prying viewer. The four films, despite occurring in wildly different worlds and containing …

That Girl Vs. New Girl: The Perils Of Choice Feminism, Katherine Noble

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

In recent years, Elizabeth Meriwether’s television show New Girl has begun to reach the status of a cult classic. The show’s sharp humor and quirky protagonist have captured the hearts and minds of many. But is this all for the good? New Girl features a controversial protagonist, Jessica Day, whose personality grates on some and resonates with others. Jessica represents stereotypically feminine interests and ideals yet takes on a leading role and independence not always afforded to female characters. This opens her, and the larger show, up to feminist readings and critiques. Surprisingly, little scholarly research has been conducted on …

Montana As Place Of (Un)Belonging: Landscape, Identity, And The American West In Bella Vista (2014), Najmeh Moradiyan-Rizi

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

The American West is not just a geographical terrain but a mythical construct that occupies a powerful place in the popular imagination thanks to myriad literary and artistic works that have presented the region through specific archetypes emphasizing its vast ruggedness, white masculinity, and unique Americanness. In recent decades, revisionist scholarly and artistic works, however, have attempted to offer more nuanced perspectives on the region challenging its assumed homogenous history and fixed and stable identity. In particular, women filmmakers have recast the region through multifaceted representations underlining its complexity, diversity, and transnational dimensions. This article analyzes Vera Brunner-Sung’s film Bella …

Apocalyptic Films: Don't Look Up, A Case Study, Elyse Kuperus

Student Work

"This idea that in the end, while science can offer reasoning and understanding, only faith can offer comfort, is not lost on the characters, and should not be lost on the viewer either."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the movie Don't Look Up from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/apocalyptic-films-dont-look-up-a-case-study/

Apocalyptic Films: Questions To Ask, Elyse Kuperus

Student Work

"When faced with our own world falling down around us, how will we act? Where will we turn?"

Posting about evaluating cinema from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/apocalyptic-films-questions-to-ask/

Bibliography, Kristi Branham

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Bibliography of publications by Kristi Branham.

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 …

The Dropout: Created By Elizabeth Merriwether And Based On The Podcast The Dropout Hosted By Rebecca Jarvis And Produced By Abc News, Judith E. Smith

American Studies Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Movie Review: Everything Everywhere All At Once, Thomas J. Clark

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"[This movie] takes on tough questions and may yield some valuable answers."

Posting about the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/movie-review-everything-everywhere-all-at-once/

Race Films & American Society, Angie Pierre

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Angie Pierre ’25
Major: Global Studies
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alyssa Lopez, History and Classics

This project will explore Black cinema, specifically the race film industry and its relationship to Black identity and American society. Through an analysis of a number of early race films and archival documents from the 1920s, the project seeks to reveal how these films contributed to positive political, social and economic changes in Jim Crow America. Ultimately, the successes of race film pioneers are reflected throughout Black film history and the Black films we still watch today.

2022 Iggad Conference Program, Charles Joyner Institute For Gullah And African Diaspora Studies

IGGAD Conference Programs

Program of the 2022 IGGAD Conference: Who Owns This? Communities, Heritage, and Preservation.

Hail, Caesar!, Kel R. Karpinski

Publications and Research

This piece looks at queer characters in the Coen Brothers’ film Hail, Caesar! (2016). The film takes place during the heyday of the Hollywood film studio set in 1951 and draws on many films during that time period of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

Afroam: A Virtual Film Production Group, Bill Taylor Jr.

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Because of the gatekeeping practices of the Hollywood film industry, and the high cost of both filmmaking and distribution in general, Afro-American filmmakers have struggled to produce films with “global reach.” This study visits the possibility of Afro-American filmmakers using alternative technologies and infrastructures to produce high-quality films, thereby bypassing the high cost and exclusionary practices of Hollywood studios. Using new 21st-century digital technology, this study involved the creation of a small geographically dispersed virtual film production team. The study’s foundational framework was a constructivist qualitative research paradigm, using Action Research, and supported by 24 months of triangulated data from …

Distribution Struggle: Assembling A Media History Of J. Brian’S Enterprises With Court Proceedings And Public Records, Finley Freibert

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This article introduces the concept of “distribution struggle”—the panoply of cultural and industrial conflicts that must be traced and accounted for in distribution histories—to sequence a primary-sourced media history of J. Brian’s gay media enterprises. In tracing this history, primary sources are surprisingly accessible, and provide new insights into J. Brian’s industrial operations. By triangulating archival records with secondary accounts, this article provides a more nuanced cultural and industrial portrait of J. Brian. It argues that media industry historiography must frame historical narratives by accounting for the cultural and industrial struggles that culminated in the available archival sources, in this …

An Analysis Of Forty Years Of Gender Archetypes On The American Silver Screen, Xaviera I. Valencia

Senior Honors Projects

Hollywood has come under fire recently from producer Harvey Weinstein’s role in sparking the #MeToo movement to the predominantly white, male composition of the Academy Awards’ voting members. Yet the film industry also provides a platform to actors, directors, and other crew members -- through acceptance speeches and movies themselves -- to spread awareness about pressing societal issues, including climate change, sexual assault, racism, and homophobia.

Art, especially film, has a tremendous effect on society and can either perpetuate stereotypes or dispel myths. For instance, Philadelphia (1993) brought into the mainstream the story of a man who was HIV+ and …

Hollywood Imagines Revolutionary Haiti: The Forgotten Film Lydia Bailey (1952), Judith E. Smith

American Studies Faculty Publication Series

This essay explores the history of Lydia Bailey, the only US studio-made film to depict the Haitian Revolutionary period. It asks why, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, such an unlikely project might have seemed commercially promising enough to justify a significant production budget. The essay draws on private studio memos as well as public press discussions to shed light on the high stakes in debates over racial representation and colonialism/decolonization in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and to illuminate everyday assumptions of white supremacy as these shaped the making of the film and its promotion. Production files …