Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Gender-Informed Features Of Film Reviews: A Statistical Linguistic Analysis, Matthew Kadish

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The project analyzes how language is used differently in movie reviews based on both the gender of the author of the review as well as the gender of the director of the reviewed film. In doing so, it aims to gain a better understanding of what contexts evoke a typically “masculine” use of language vs. a typically “feminine” use of language within the genre of film criticism, and what implications this has for the state of the film criticism with respect to gender. The results of this study seem to indicate that a critic’s language use takes on the characteristics …

Armored Feelings: Romantic Love, Sexual Consent, And Gender-Based Violence In French First World War Narratives (1914–1956), Angélique Ibáñez Aristondo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Armored Feelings examines how the First World War reconfigured how the French thought and wrote about romantic love, sexual consent, and gender-based violence. It posits this devastating event as a critical juncture during which the misogynistic and racist notion of amour à la Française took its modern shape as a rhetoric buttressing the nation’s brittle sense of cultural superiority while obscuring diverse forms of gendered aggression – especially those perpetrated by its citizens against women. This dissertation also establishes that the notion of women’s sexual consent coalesced during the period under examination as a troubled and troubling response to the …

Neither Invisible, Nor Silenced: The India-Maghreb Connections In Female-Authored Cinema, Chandra Balkaran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Third-World” women have long been excluded from center screen space, and positioned as stereotypical characters in liminal, coded spaces—such as harems, brothels, convents, ashrams, zawiyas or in domestic space. Yet, spatial organization is integral to the production of the social, not merely its result, and is fully implicated in both history and politics. Space is thus a crucial category of analysis in any cinema. My thesis examines how spaces, from the domestic to the virtual, socio-religio-cultural are reclaimed, redefined, and reformulated by women in politically engaged films made by Third-World women directors focused on women. Their struggles for space are …

Bi-Phasic Dissonance In Some Pinoy Boys’ Love Series, Gary C. Devilles

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

The growing fascination with Pinoy Boy’s Love (BL) series, such as Gameboys, Hello Stranger, and Quaranthings can be construed as part of the long struggle of LGBTQI community for more inclusivity as most of its fans were also fans of Thai Boy’s Love series called “lakhon,” according to scholar Thomas Baudinette who studied that Pinoy fan sites actively appropriate or “creatively misread” these series. My paper now would like to follow up on the efficacy of these reparative readings in Pinoy BL series, if the creative misreading in Thai BL series can be carried over to their Pinoy …

Precarity And Motherhood In Philippine Trans Cinema, Mikee Inton-Campbell

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

In this short essay, I reflect on representations and themes in trans cinema in the Philippines. I examine the emerging and intersecting themes of precarity and motherhood in two recent films –Rod Singh’s Mamu and a Mother too (2018), and Isabel Sandoval’s Lingua Franca (2020). I look at how economic and social precarity tends to pervade the lives of trans women, and how transness itself becomes a form of precarity under the legal system’s lack of accommodation to trans rights. I also examine trans motherhood and make the argument that while it destabilizes biology as the root of motherhood, it …

Ang Boys’ Love Bílang Papausbong Na Telebiswalidad (Boys’ Love As Emerging Televisuality), Louie Jon A. Sánchez

Akda: The Asian Journal of Literature, Culture, Performance

Sa sanaysay na ito, pinahahalagahan ang sandali ng pag-usbong ng mga boys’ love webserye sa panahon ng pandemya. Sinusulit nito ang telebiswal na penomeno sa pamamagitan ng pahapyaw na pag-uugat sa mga minumulang tradisyon o impluwensiya; sa pagsasakonteksto ng paglaganap nito; sa pangkabuuang pagbása sa nagkakaisang salaysay ng mga serye; at sa pagtukoy sa mga transgresyong tinutupad nito sa anyo at kagawian ng panonood ng teleserye, at sa pangkalahatan, sa telebisyong patuloy na umaagapay sa mga hámon at pagbabago ng kalakaran. Sa kasaysayan ng teleserye at ng telebisyong Filipino, pinangangatwiranang mahalaga ang sandali ng BL sa gitna ng pandemya dahil …

Ordinary And Extraordinary Images: Making Visible The Operations Of Stock Photography In Posters Against The Repeal Of The 8th Amendment, Ann Curran

Articles

The operations of stock photographs, as utilised by the Irish anti-abortion lobby, have not been examined before. Many of the ‘Vote No’ posters in the 2018 Irish referendum campaign on the 8th amendment maintained a visual and textual focus on foetal personhood: asking the Irish electorate to ‘love both,’ while deploying a range of stock photographs. In this article, I trace specific stock images used on anti-abortion posters against Repeal back to their online image bank sources. I make visible the role of generic or stereotypical photographs in anti-abortion messaging, in the knowledge that stock photographs often function best when …

The Epic Journey Of Pepe The Frog: A Study In Post-Truth, Jaq Webb

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Abstract

The internet meme Pepe the Frog is an excellent avenue for exploring the relationship between post-truth politics, new media, and viral ideas. While memes as conceptualized by Richard Dawkins are essentially timeless components of human society, internet memes as exemplified by the hijacking of Pepe the Frog by the Alt-Right and the Trump campaign are a novel force with uniquely dark implications for liberal democracy. In this study, I attempt a leftist analysis of the best thinking about Post-Truth Trump-era politics and the communication tactics of the Alt-Right, which suggests that some of the same cultural and material forces …

Kids, Culture, And Queerness: The Progression Of Lgbtq+ Representation In Children's Media, Sarah Stevens

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Historically, popular media has functioned as a window into society’s ever evolving idea of normalcy. Children’s popular media, which contains elements of both entertainment and didacticism, is further burdened with the responsibility of influencing the perspectives of upcoming generations. This truth is particularly salient for the LGBTQ+ community, who have faced consistent misrepresentation or utter erasure from children’s media in the recent past. While there have been marked improvements in both the quality and quantity of queer representation in children’s media since 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges case, there is still a significant need to acknowledge intersectional queerness and queer gender …

Title Pages, Vol. 24, 2022

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Vol. 24, 2022

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

The Regendering Of Van Helsing: Sister Agatha's Unique Approach To Investigating Dracula's Methods And Mental Processes, Taylor Holden

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

The Securitate Versus Dracula, Tourism And Ideology In Communist Romania, Valentin Gheonea

Journal of Dracula Studies

The present study focuses on the methods by which the Romanian Securitate intervened in the management of a tourist activity – the Dracula itineraries – considered to threaten the country image of communist Romania.

Dracula's Harem: Feminine Otherness And Reverse Colonization Of The Male Body, Amanda Shipman

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

Vampire Crusades: The Separation Of The Crucifix And Wafer From Their Intended Purpose In Dracula, Olivia Vanvoorhis

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

Infectious Queers: Hiv/Aids And The Vampiric Body In Interview With The Vampire (1994), Ian Clark

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

"Whole Binders Full Of Women:" From Meme To Political Satire By Way Of Amazon's Product Review Page, Joanne E. Gates

Presentations, Proceedings & Performances

This paper is inspired by the remarkable story of Lilly Ledbetter, whose name is honored in the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Barak Obama's first piece of legislation, a legal remedy to the flawed Supreme Court Decision which caused Ruth Bader Ginsberg to read her dissent from the bench.

It may seem quaint to revisit the inelegance of Mitt Romney's political statements as the country has moved past the rhetoric of the 2012 election campaign, but the blogosphere's response to Romney's boast that he somehow found qualified women to serve in his administration deserves some attention. It is easy to …

Fashioning The Flapper: Clothing As A Catalyst For Social Change In 1920s America, Julia Wolffe

Honors Program Theses

Fashion has been a catalyst for social change throughout human history. Fashion in 1920s America in particular reflects society's rapidly evolving attitudes towards gender and race. Beginning with how corsetry heavily restricted women for nearly four hundred years up until the twentieth century, this thesis explores how clothing has acted as a tool for societal progression following World War I and Women's Suffrage and during the Jazz Age and The Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, this thesis examines how the influence of jazz music and dance that originated from Black American communities led to the creation of the flapper evening dress. The …

The Insidious Culture Of Fear In Indian Courts, Nidhi Shrivastava

English Faculty Publications

On 20 March 2020, the four adult convicts of the 2012 Delhi rape case were executed after a long debate regarding the punishment for their crime. The Delhi rape case, unlike others, was also given to the fast track court because of the worldwide outrage India received in its aftermath. Otherwise, most rape survivors rarely speak out and if they do, their lives are often endangered and threatened, depending on the severity of the case itself and the perpetrator's rank in the society. Through the analysis of Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's, 2016 film Pink, and Ajay Bahl's film Section 375 …

We Are Having This Conversation Now: The Times Of Aids Cultural Production (Introduction And Timeline 1), Alexandra Juhasz, Theodore Kerr

Publications and Research

This is a book about the history, present, and future of the cultural production of AIDS. It takes the form of thirteen short conversations between two AIDS activists, Alex and Ted, whom you will get to know more as you go along. The book focuses on what we call the Times of AIDS. All this talk is inspired by our longtime AIDS activism and is initiated by looking at related cultural production: objects like AIDS activist videos; events like protests; spaces like AIDS memorials; ideas we have learned from within and outside our community; and through our own memories and …

Practical Femininity: The Student Development Of Legally Blonde’S Elle Woods, Elizabeth S. Rodericks

The Graduate Review

College experiences often involve challenges that can provide the impetus for personal and professional growth. Likewise, Elle Woods of the film Legally Blonde undergoes multiple significant changes in her sense of identity, morality, and ability to take charge of her own life after she is forced to radically change her perspective and priorities. This paper covers her development as a law student and individual according to the student development theories of Chickering’s Seven Vectors of Identity Development, Gilligan’s Theory of Women’s Moral Development, and Baxter Magolda’s Self-Authorship Theory. As a result of her growth, Elle Woods flourishes into a confident, …

We Are Having This Conversation Now: The Times Of Aids Cultural Production (Introduction And Toc & 3 Timelines), Alexandra Juhasz, Theodore Kerr

Publications and Research

We Are Having This Conversation Now offers a history, present, and future of AIDS through thirteen short conversations between Alexandra Juhasz and Theodore Kerr, scholars deeply embedded in HIV responses. They establish multiple timelines of the epidemic, offering six foundational periodizations of AIDS culture, tracing how attention to the crisis has waxed and waned from the 1980s to the present. They begin the book with a 1990 educational video produced by a Black health collective, using it to consider organizing intersectionally, theories of videotape, empowerment movements, and memorialization. This video is one of many powerful yet overlooked objects that the …

Transcinematheque: Defining Cinematic Language In The Trans New Wave, Mel Turnage

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis aims to analyze the films of the Trans New Wave in order to define tropes and motifs of cinematic language and structure. The language of the filmmaking itself presents a different approach from mainstream transgender films, and this changes how certain imagery of transness is contextualized in a larger narrative. In particular, the films of the Trans New Wave operate in contrast to both historical trans films and modern prestige/studio films to deliver more realistic portrayals of trans peoples’ experiences and beliefs. This new language of the Trans New Wave serves to create a more accurate and profound …

Hauntology And Epistemology In Guillermo Del Toro’S Pan’S Labyrinth And Juan Antonio Bayona’S The Orphanage, Timothy P. Reed

The Coastal Review

This article analyzes the narrative function of the fantastic in two commercial Spanish language movies, Guillermo Del Toro’s 2006 Pan’s Labyrinth and Juan Antonio Bayona’s 2007 The Orphanage, to compare how they encompass and reflect aspects of hauntological theory. The movies show how Ofelia and Laura embrace the fantastic to acquire knowledge and agency by deliberately communicating with specters. Through acknowledging the epistemological implications of the fantastic, deliberate disobedience and self-sacrifice, Ofelia and Laura are able to liberate themselves from a repressive present and envisage a more optimistic future for others too. Hauntological discourse in both films ultimately functions …

Les Représentations Féminins Dans Le Cinéma Maghrébin: L'Expérience Des Femmes Et Le Rêve Féministe Dans Les Silences Du Palais Et Viva Laldjérie, Danielle Mills

Theses and Dissertations--Modern and Classical Languages, Literature and Cultures

It is evident that in the realm of gender studies concerning the Maghreb, many scholars have studied literary texts from prominent female Maghrebi writers such as Assia Djebar and Fatima Mernissi. However, certain forms of expression have been neglected, such as film. The purpose of this work is to analyze and evaluate how cinema has portrayed the situation of women in the postcolonial Maghreb. I will be examining two examples of Maghrebi cinema which include the Tunisian film Les silences du palais by Moufida Tlatli and the Algerian film Viva Laldjérie by Nadir Moknèche. Through the examination of these two …

Inner Martyrdom: Deconstructing The Sacrificial Female Subject In Post-Soviet Georgia, Gvantsa Gasviani

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This article analyzes the 2017 film, My Happy Family, and how it depicts the archetypical Georgian woman and the sacrifices she is required to make for the family and, by extension, the nation. In doing so, I explore the socio-historical construction of the ideal woman and the ways women resist gendered demands, often through unseen means. Scholars have explored the cultural politics of “postsocialism,” analyzing the “New Woman” archetype in relation to class, sexuality, and labor. Finding that many neglect issues of women’s own socio-psychic negotiation of the postsocialist terrain, I argue that we must investigate more closely the production …

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.

The Ableist Gaze And Disability Trauma: How Onscreen Representation Erases The Truth, Emily Brown

Departmental Honors Projects

This project critically engages with disability representation in the media through an uncensored autoethnography of everyday ableism. In particular, it focuses on how the Netflix series Special reveals the duality of representation: being seen is validating yet (re)traumatizing. As a queer woman with Cerebral Palsy, I’ve spent my whole life trying to find myself in TV shows and movies, latching onto the few disabled and disabled-coded characters available. I never felt fully seen until I watched Special: a show about a gay man with Cerebral Palsy gaining independence through a writing internship and romantic prospects. Special allowed me to acknowledge …

Pensar El Límite: El Símbolo Indígena En Los Proyectos Políticos Cubanos De Principios Del Siglo Xix, Jorge L. Camacho

The Coastal Review

This article investigates the way in which Cuban literature reflected on indigenous people during the early half of the nineteenth century and uses the symbol of the Amerindians to demonstrate a moral disjuncture between them and the colonizer. In this article, I call attention to the way Cuban independentists and Spanish nationalists used this figure to support their views and thus created a split in the Cuban creole imagination. I start by pointing out that these appropriations started at the end of the 18th century when historian José Martín Félix de Arrate, and poets such as Miguel González and Manuel …

Femme Ex Machina: Sex Robots, Embodiment, And Posthuman Subjectivity, Julia A. Empey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Andrea Dworkin warned in her 1974 book Woman Hating that men would soon develop the technology to “create the sex objects that will gratify them” (199). This dissertation investigates one of those technologies: sex robots, as mediated through science fiction film and literature. While the sex robot is still an emerging technology, its embodiment, particularly when female-rendered, has been imagined and negotiated for centuries. Men creating women in a specific, desired image is not new, but the sex robot is currently being transformed from imagined representation to embodied subject. This dissertation traces a pattern of representation that has allowed us …