American Popular Culture Commons^™

A Look Into The Industry Of Video Games Past, Present, And Yet To Come, Chad Hadzinsky

CMC Senior Theses

Since its inception, the video game industry has been both a new medium for art and innovation as well as a major driving force in the advancements of many technologies. The often overlooked video game industry has turned from a hobby to a multi-billion dollar industry in its short, forty year life. People of all ages and genders across the world are playing video games at a higher clip than ever before. With so many new gamers and emerging technologies, it is an exciting time for the industry. The landscape is constantly changing and successful business models of the past …

Rhetorical Ripples: The Church Of The Subgenius, Kenneth Burke & Comic, Symbolic Tinkering, Lee A. Carleton

Theses and Dissertations

Humor has long been an effective way to engage difficult sociopolitical topics in a way that avoids polemical confrontation and provides opportunity for pleasure, catharsis and self-knowledge. In the context of today’s polarized politics and protest, creative satirical performance that deploys “symbolic tinkering” can provide a “comic frame of reference” that, according to Kenneth Burke, more effectively conveys its message while providing reflexive insight. The satirical Church of the SubGenius naturally practices this rhetorical frame in their multimedia creations. Using the lens of Burke’s Attitudes Toward History, this essay is an analysis of SubGenius rhetoric with a focus on …

Second Lines, Story Circles, And Freedom Songs: A Call And Response, Ann-Meredith Wootton

Capstone Collection

Community Is Survival

In New Orleans, all the grandmothers tell the story about the live oaks. Our roots don't grow deep into the swamp, but they grow wide – weaving, growing, and binding together with all of the surrounding trees, so that when the hurricane winds come, we will not fall. Together we can stand up against the strongest Gulf force winds (and the many faces of the Cradle to Prison Pipeline) – pushing, pulling, and leaning on one another when we need – and survive to see another day.

Live oaks also carry the story tradition of being a …

Brittain, Lanny Ray (Fa 88), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 88. [The Folk Art of Quilting.] Collection contains typescripts, photographs and an interview with Ida Lee Crase concerning her quilting. In addition to the photographs, cassette tape and typescripts, the collection also contains an example of Mrs. Crase’s hand stitched quilt piece. Project was completed for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

"We Should Have Brought The Tank": Hypermediated Interactivity In Red Vs. Blue, Marc A. Ouellette

English Faculty Publications

Machinima, the practice of adapting recorded video game play into short films, highlights an often unacknowledged but significant shift in the consumption of video games and represents a key and underexplored intersection between the two leading theoretical camps. Considering the landmark series Red vs. Blue through the lens of Bolter and Grusin's propositions about "new" media's relationships with other forms offers an entry point for theorizing not only machinima but also the intersections between the ludology and narratology positions in games studies.

Staebell, Sandra L., B. 1958 (Fa 572), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 572. Compact disc of Sandra L. Staebell’s December 2011 interview with June McGuyer, discussing Elizabeth Richardson (McGuyer’s mother), her interest in quilting, and her collecting related to quilts and quilting.

Hear My Voice: An Examination Of The Views Of Parents Who Are Raising Children Of African American Descent, Chavez Maurice Phelps

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have demonstrated that children who attend early childhood education programs benefit academically and socially (National Institute for Early Education Research, 2003). However, other researchers have shown that African American students may still lag behind their counterparts when they enter school (National Center for Education Statistics ([NCES], 2004). To explain this phenomenon, scholars and practitioners have relied on deficit theories, such as Ruby Payne’s (2005) culture of poverty theory or John Ogbu’s (1992) oppositional culture identity theory, which shift the blame solely on the child or their parents. However, there are other researchers who have stressed the importance of examining …

Ragland, Mark S. (Fa 559), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 559.  Paper:  "Influence of Popular Culture on the Subject of Art," done by Mark S. Ragland as part of a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.  Includes an interview done by Ragland with artist and art educator Michael Taylor about the influence of popular culture on art, with particular emphasis on the pop art genre.

Salt, A Web-Based Ipad Magazine, Caitlin Dewey

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not included.

Misogyny And The Money, Leah Stevenson

2011 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

View Ms. Stevenson's Painting.

In the late 90's hip-hop started as a form of encouragement and empowerment for black people who struggled when growing up. Hip Hop gave black people a voice, where their opinions and challenges could be heard throughout the world. Today the genre of Hip-hop music has developed into a negative image that degrades women and negatively influences the younger black community. Think about some of the hip-hop music at the top of the charts; the songs that disrespect woman, and contains far too much explicit content that it has society desensitized. The pervasiveness of today' …

Wronski, Genevieve Elissa, B. 1980 (Fa 556), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 556.  Ethnography project focused on three tattoo artists and their art in Glasgow, Kentucky.  Focuses on skills, training, procedures, machinery, aesthetics, and artist inspiration.  Also provides a brief history of tattooing.  Project was completed for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University.

Jones, Latasha, B. 1985 (Fa 540), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text (Click on "Additional File" below) for Folklife Archives Project 540. Project in which Latasha Jones records information about a "Reaper" tattoo that her cousin, Christopher Lee Bragg, had tattooed on his left side. She discusses the views of her family about tattoos and/or marking the body and her personal desire to get a tattoo. This project was a requirement for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Includes an illustration of the "Reaper" tattoo.

Remember Me When I Am Gone - Exhibition (Fa 530), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 530. Materials related to the quilt exhibition, "Remember Me When I Gone," held at the Kentucky Museum, Western Kentucky University in 1995. Includes interviews with quiltmakers about their friendship and memory quilts.

Lani Montreal Interview, Thi Navi Thach

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with Filipina teacher, writer, performer Lani T. Montreal by Thi Navi Thach

Tatsu Aoki Interview, Brian Callahan

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with musician Tatsu Aoki

Ann Poochareon Interview, Christina Yang

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with new media artist Ann Poochareon by Christina Yang

Tina Ramirez Interview, Karina Lopez

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with poet Tina Ramirez

Dahuang Zhou Interview, Julia Lin

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with multimedia artist and entrepreneur DaHuang Zhou

Chi Jang Yin Interview, Anna Huang

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with experimental documentary filmmaker Chi Jang Yin by Anna Huang

Von Kommanivanh Interview, John Pluciennik

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with Loatian born/Chicago based painter Von Kommanivahn by John Pluciennik

Rominna Villasenor Interview, Jamelle Apolinar

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with writer, performer, visual artist Rominna Villasenor by Jamelle Apolinar

Sam Del Rosario Interview, Nancy Shaba

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with writer and the former ED of the Asian American Artists Collective- Chicago Sam del Rosario by Nancy Shaba.

Michiko Itatani Interview, Liza Rush

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with painter and School of the Art Institute of Chicago professor Michiko itatani by Liza Rush

Mike Park Interview, Ben Rogers

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 interview with Mike Park from Asian Man Records by Ben Rogers

Ann Marie Chua Lee Interview, Jasmin M. Ortiz

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2010 Interview with cosplay costume designer Anne Marie Chua Lee by Jasmin M. Ortiz

Rationale For Pride Of Baghdad, Crag Hill Ph.D.

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

A rationale for teaching the graphic novel Pride of Baghdad at the secondary level.

Rationale For Magneto: Testament, Brian Kelley

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

A rationale for teaching the graphic novel Magneto:Testament in secondary schools.

Comic Vision, Gale Acuff

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

A narrative, rhetorical poem

Review Of Teaching Graphic Novels, By Katie Monnin, Susan Spangler

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

No abstract provided.

Sequential Art, Graphic Novels, And Comics, Brian Kelley

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

The first global distribution of a paper prepared for the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Graphic Novels Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association,the Executive Board of the New Jersey Reading Association, and the Legislative and Professional Standards Committee of the NJRA.