Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Identity Crafting: Reading The Agency And Art Implicit In Selfies, Margaret Nichols

Bridges: A Journal of Student Research

The aim of this article is to unravel the craftsmanship of online identities implicit in taking and sharing selfies and to measure the immediate or resulting violence by imposed definition upon the subject-photographer. This paper especially focuses on the identity building of young women on the social networking platform Instagram. Crucial to the research are Susan Sontag's work on photography philosophy relating to violence inflicted upon subjects, Gregory Ulmer's work on electracy, and Liana De Girolami Cheney's research into artistic conventions of self-portraiture dating back from the Renaissance to the present. The highly constructed nature of selfies, an emerging art …

Developing Media Literacy: Managing Fear And Moving Beyond, Katherine Fry

Publications and Research

One way to view the development of the media literacy movement is through the various different ways in which strains of media literacy education have been called on to allay fears that accompanying new media technologies. This article focuses on how one media literacy organization, The LAMP, deals with two very different arenas —the internet safety arena and the news literacy arena-where fear of digital media has created narrow pockets of concern seeking narrow solutions. As media literacy grows and develops the hope is that these fears subside, a perception of separateness dissolves, and a broader media literacy vision advances.

Where We Have Been And Where We Can Go From Here: Looking To The Future In Research On Media, Race And Ethnicity, Riva Tukachinsky

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This special issue illuminates the ways in which media portrayals and practices, together, create barriers to inclusion for diverse groups and normalize existing patterns of relegation on and off the screen. Media representations of race and ethnicity have critical consequences for intergroup relationships and for marginalized group members’ self-concept. A synthesis of the research included in this volume demonstrates the significance of these questions across media outlets, their relevancy despite the rise of new technologies, and their application to social contexts outside the U.S.. Finally, this concluding article suggests directions for future research and offers implications for policies that can …

The Power Of Creativity: How Web-Based Parody Encourages Chinese Civil Participation, Amber Boczar

International ResearchScape Journal

This article investigates that relationship between e’gao (parody using web-based media) and Chinese civil participation. E’gao (恶搞 EUH-gow) uses videos, images, and text based campaigns that use humor to remove fear of political commentary and action. By detailing the development of China’s internet use, and the creation of the e’gao movement, I argue that e’gao removes the fear of participating in campaigns and movements, which criticize government policy and actions on both local and state levels, by using humor and anonymity of large online numbers. E’gao can provide a way for the common citizens to mold policy, and hold authority …

Scribblescholar Was Here: Confessional Notes Of A Vandal Academic, Clay Shields

Theses and Dissertations--English

As a (former) vandal-punk in the academy, I often fear succumbing to Ivory Tower Stockholm syndrome. The identities I perform, vandal-punk and scholar, ideologically clash to the point that they often feel irreconcilable. By codemeshing the high-low discourses associated with these adopted cultures, I attempt to disrupt any hierarchal privileging of either, instead searching for a way to live with and harness both.

Moving Foward?: Problematic Ideologies In Twenty-First Century Fairy Tale Films, Alyson Kilmer

All Master's Theses

Fairy tales, as a reflection of our values and belief systems, are crucial in shaping and maintaining cultural ideologies. In the twenty-first century, cinematic fairy tales have the unique position of representing such values in an expansive and expeditious manner. Audiences must therefore be critically conscious of the messages promoted by these tales. An analysis of the five most popular contemporary fairy tale films, Disney’s Princess and the Frog (2009), Tangled (2010), Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and Disney’s Frozen (2013) and Maleficent (2014), revealed minimal attempts to propitiate critical audiences in regard to changing cultural values, but …

Social Media & Audience Participation In Regard To Television, Jean Marie Mcbride

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Jean McBride

Major: Communications: Radio/TV Broadcasting & Mass Media Production

Project Sponsor: Dr. Sylvia White

Number of Project Credits: 3

Social Media & Audience Participation in Regard to Television

The purpose of my honors project was seeing if social media had an influence on television show ratings and popularity by incorporating audience participation. Especially in regards to television shows that have been around for years, I was interested to see if television ratings went up when using Twitter compared to when they did not use Twitter to increase viewers and audience participation. I surveyed forty-nine collegiate women between the ages …

Turning The Page: Fandoms, Multimodality, And The Transformation Of The 'Comic Book' Superhero, Matthew Alan Cicci

Wayne State University Dissertations

Superheroes are increasingly becoming more affiliated with film media than comic books. The amount of revenue generated, the formation of new fans, and the interests of comic publishers’ parent companies all suggest that superhero film adaptations are the medium most associated with the superhero character. Such a monumental shift in the distribution of superheroes—comic books were long the dominant medium of superhero characters—is indicative of ongoing media convergence practices; the success of these contemporary adaptations, from 1998 on, have not only caused the filmic superhero to eclipse the comic one, it has inevitably led to a rewriting of superhero comic …

The Crisis Of Images: A Reading Of Feed A Child’S Controversial 2014 Advertisement, Marcel Tchatchou

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This work reads Feed A Child’s 2014 South African fund raising campaign advertisement (http://goo.gl/cRboV7) through Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding model of communication. Utilizing concepts from Stuart Hall’s model this paper draws attention to racial questions raised by the commercial. Even though the commercial’s stated purpose is to raise awareness of unequal social conditions in South Africa, its visual elements are racially offensive. The turmoil generated by the commercial is the consequence of the complex structure of its message, and the fact that its meaning is not determined solely by the organization’s stated intentions. This work explores the way that the processes …

The Meaning And Relevance Of Video Game Literacy, Jeroen Bourgonjon

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "The Meaning and Relevance of Video Game Literacy" Jeroen Bourgonjon argues that video gaming deserves scholarly attention as a social practice and a site for meaning-making and learning. Based on an overview of contemporary trends in literacy and cultural studies, he argues that video games cannot be approached like traditional text forms. He contends that video games serve as an important frame of reference for young people and call for informed decision making in the context of culture, education, and policy. Bourgonjon provides an integrated perspective on video game literacy by employing theoretical insights about their distinctive …

Much Of Society's Unrest Caused By Barrage Of Negative Stereotypes In Films, Anthony Major

UCF Forum

Everybody has a perception about what the image of art should say – or not say – but few have an informed opinion. The power of the communicative arts transcends the mere power to inform. That power is used in film, television, newspapers, radio, art, magazines, music, theatre and the new social media network as a means of influencing and shaping attitudes by providing images and opinions.

Iranian Nuclear Proliferation And Sanctions, Bailey Nicole Burlingame

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project will involve the current problem of nuclear development in the nation of Iran. The question involved in the election studies was, “Should we try to stop Iranian Nuclear Development by increasing sanctions, yes or no?” According to the US Department of State website, they are attempting to increase these sanctions against individuals or cooperations who can be proven to have provided aid, information, or mechanical aspects to assist the goal of Iranian nuclear proliferation. The website provides identifying information for the individuals involved. The answer to this question I believe will be determined the amount of news information …

"The Falling Man" As Viewed In The Lens Of The "Public Sphere", Laura Reinacher

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Gilded Age Visual Media As The Impetus For Social Change: Jacob Riis's Reform Photography And The Antecedents Of Documentary Film, Denitsa Yotova

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the birth and evolution of the social documentary genre in visual media. It proposes that a mixture of ideology, technology, and social awareness are necessary for a successful social reform. Its review and study of related primary and secondary sources determines that despite the limitations of technology during the nineteenth century, social documentaries were produced long before they were part of the genres of photography and film. By focusing on the work of Danish photographer Jacob Riis and tracing the emergence of the film medium through time, this thesis demonstrates a strong connection between documentary film and …

Transmedial Documentation For Non-Visual Image Access, Melody J. Mccotter

Proceedings from the Document Academy

In my doctoral studies on information accessibility for the individual who is blind or visually impaired, I’ve been exploring the ways we can make image documents more accessible. This requires using an alternative sensory modality, and translating the document into a different format. The questions that arise when we consider this process are many, but among them are:

• Is it the same document once we’ve converted it to an audio narrative about the work, or a 3D topographic map of an artwork, or a musical interpretation?
• If it is not the same document, how truthful can the “trans-medial” translation be …

It's Not Unusual: Glee And The Mainstream Acceptance Of Spontaneous Public Performance, Elizabeth M. Downey

UL Publications

When Glee debuted in 2009, the genre of the television musical series had a shaky history. Traditional episodic programs had previously aired musical episodes but these were seen as rare absurdities; the genre was an oddity to exploit on occasion, not something that could sustain an entire series (a belief proven when previous attempts had failed). The flash mob culture that emerged in the mid-2000s alongside the groundswell of social media changed this environment. The absurdity of people “bursting into song” in a public place was no longer a completely unrealistic scenario, and this reopened the door for the musical …

Choices In The Editing Room: How The Intentional Editing Of Dialogue Scenes Through Shot Choice Can Enhance Story And Character Development Within Motion Pictures, Jonathan Pfenninger

Masters Theses

This study examines the content of six feature length films, which showed in theaters in 2010 and 2011, from a communication perspective. Five of the scrutinized films are Academy Award winning and nominated films for Best Editing. The sixth film was the top grossing Christian feature film to be widely released within the two years. Utilizing Foss's rhetorical schema for the evaluation of visual imagery, this study examines and evaluates the composition of dialogue scenes within each film, identifying the functions of shot composition and movement choices within each film, individually. Through identification of a function, assessment and support found …

Doctor Who And The Creation Of A Non-Gendered Hero Archetype, Alessandra J. Pelusi

Theses and Dissertations

This project investigates the ways in which the television program Doctor Who creates a new, non-gendered hero archetype.

Infrastructure, Production, And Archive: American And Japanese Video Art Production Of 1960s And 1970s, Ann Atsuko Adachi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Focusing a study on the infrastructure of artistic production and maintenance opens a space in which to examine the relationship between artistic inspiration and knowledge making, the occurrences and the writing of its history. In the case of the comparative study of the emergence of Japanese and American video art, common artistic technique employed may indicate motivations derived from the technical possibility of the video medium, while the study of infrastructure demonstrates how large-scale funding, formation of archives, the establishment of systems of distribution and channels of education affect the emergence and development of video art as a genre. This …

The Immersive Medium: Art, Flow, And Video Games, Christopher M. Yalen

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

In this article, the question of whether or not video games could be considered art is explored, as well as what this means for video games as cultural products. Using an interdisciplinary approach, I suggest that there are some games we can consider “art”, and that these games are not only different aesthetically speaking, but are also different from a media-effects standpoint. The article consists of three main sections, an aesthetic review, a content analysis, and a pilot study. In the aesthetic review, I employ different perspectives from aesthetic philosophy in order to come up with criteria for what an …

Filipinos Depicted In American Culture, Eileen Regullano

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

From the early 20th century, Filipinos have been depicted as treacherous savages or as innocent children in America, evidenced in political comics and comments from the time. In today's society, even though the depictions are not as blatantly racist as they were in the early 20th century, Filipinos are dehumanized, exoticized, or idealized and represented in a two-dimensional way. However, this construction of the Filipino identity may be starting to change with the advent of more ardent vocalization by Filipinos with regard to the production of their images.

The Paradox Of Commercial Photography: Power And Sexuality In Models, Christina Bell

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Commercial photography has a tendency to force upon us a standard template of what the ideal person is or looks like. Unfortunately, the artificial standard is horribly unachievable and detrimental to physical and mental health, which produces sentiments of insufficiency and abjection with the self, especially among young impressionable girls. In a sick - and very modern - twist of evolutionary progress we find ourselves idealizing the depictions of models appearing to be on the verge of starvation. This article examines the power and sexuality in models produced through commercial photography and its effects on society at-large.

Effect Of Convergence Culture On Spectatorship, Amanda Marcus

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

Media convergence has changed how we receive and process information. No longer are we passive spectators, but we are part of the media we consume. Because of the explosion of technology since the turn of the century and a new definition of spectatorship, producers of media can no longer control how their messages are received; they have to engage their audience and listen to feedback in order to remain functioning. Fellow peers serve as informants or as a new source of media. This also affects our individual identities, which shapes our cultural identity. Social media enables us to present ourselves …

An Examination Of University Speech Codes’ Constitutionality And Their Impact On High-Level Discourse, Benjamin Welch

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

The First Amendment – which guarantees the right to freedom of religion, of the press, to assemble, and petition to the government for redress of grievances – is under attack at institutions of higher learning in the United States of America. Beginning in the late 1980s, universities have crafted “speech codes” or “codes of conduct” that prohibit on campus certain forms of expression that would otherwise be constitutionally guaranteed. Examples of such polices could include prohibiting “telling a joke that conveys sexism,” or “content that may negatively affect an individual’s self-esteem.” Despite the alarming number of institutions that employ such …

Stuart Hall: An Exemplary Socialist Public Intellectual?, Herbert Pimlott

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This article offers an assessment of the Stuart Hall’s role as a socialist public intellectual during the 1980s and the circulation of his Thatcherism thesis via public interventions writing for the periodical, Marxism Today.

Contrary to most assessments of the influence of scholars and public intellectuals, which are based upon an implicit assumption that their widespread circulation are a result of the veracity and strength of the ideas themselves, this article focuses on the processes of production and distribution, including the intellectual’s own contribution to the ideas’ popularity by attending conferences and public rallies, writing for periodicals, and so …

Student-Directed Blended Learning With Facebook Groups And Streaming Media: Media In Asia At Furman University, Tami Blumenfield

Asian Studies Publications

Furman University prizes itself on being an engaged learning, liberal arts institution with extensive faculty-student interaction. 96% of students live on campus, leading some to question whether reducing face-to-face instructional time makes any sense pedagogically. Coming from a different institution that encouraged faculty to create hybrid courses, and seeing the creativity and freedom that offered, I wanted to experiment with the format in this new institutional environment. Would it still be effective? What adaptations would be necessary, and how would students react to this different course format?

In Fall 2013, I taught a carefully designed blended learning course that met …

Volumetric Cloud Rendering: An Animation Of Clouds, Zhaoxin Ye

All Theses

This paper demonstrates a production workflow for a volumetric-rendering-based short animation about clouds. The animation is based on the concept of a giant fish swimming in the sky from Zhuangzi's philosophical story. The algorithm and implementation for the modeling and rendering of clouds are also presented. A renderer was developed that uses the OpenVDB library for data storage, fast retrieving and grid manipulation. A user-friendly pipeline was also developed for cloud modeling and rendering, which used Python and XML for adjusting rendering parameters. The pipeline includes Maya to build the rough cloud model and Houdini to calculate the interior light …

An Automated Build System For Articulated Characters, James Sledge

All Theses

Rigging is the process of designing and implementing the manipulation architecture for an animated three-dimensional character. Rigs that give the animator the most control tend to be the most difficult to set up and maintain. Due to the linear nature of some elements of rigging, the more complicated a rig, the more time-intensive--and therefore more expensive--to achieve a high quality rig. A solution to complex rig iterability is to automate as much of the process as possible. The topic of this thesis is a framework for modular rigging automation, with a focus on quick and efficient rig iteration. A rigger …

Long May She Reign: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Gender Expectations In Disney's Tangled And Disney/Pixar's Brave, Caitlin J. Saladino

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project addresses messages about gender expectations in Disney princess narratives. The two films included are Tangled (2010) and Brave (2012), which feature the most recently inducted princesses to the marketed Disney Princess line (Rapunzel and Merida, respectively). Using genre as an organizing principle, I argue that Rapunzel and Merida are different from the past Disney princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, etc.) because their narratives reflect new ideas about gender expectations in modern society. The central tension appearing in both films is the opposition between the image of woman as traditional, domestic, and dependent and woman as progressive, industrious, …

Not Dead At All, Martin Becerra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Not Dead At All is a nontraditional thesis, a creative product, the result of a combination of media production and social research. This paper is an attempt to explain the creative and production process behind the creation of an original media content, using the social research as a tool to increase the likeability of our characters and therefore increase the show’s chances of success.