Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Gender, Politics, Market Segmentation, And Taste: Adult Contemporary Radio At The End Of The Twentieth Century, Saesha Senger

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation explores issues of gender politics, market segmentation, and taste through an examination of the contributions of several artists who have achieved Adult Contemporary (AC) chart success. The scope of the project is limited to a period when many artists who figured prominently in both the broader mainstream of American popular music and the more specific Adult Contemporary category were most commercially viable: from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. My contention is that, as gender politics and gendered social norms continued to change in the United States at this time, Adult Contemporary – the chart, the format, and the …

The Mileage Of The Weary Father: Harrison Ford As Aging Screen Action Icon, Bahnt G. Freiberger

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores how fatherhood guides cinematic narratives of aging masculinity through a star study of the late-stage career of Harrison Ford. It bridges fundamental cultural studies of masculinity, such as those by Raewyn Connell and Michael Kimmel, with film studies to provide key insights into cultural narratives of maleness related to vulnerability, heroism, and most significantly, fatherhood. By focusing on Ford’s late-career reprisal of his iconic characters, I explore how the development of his image provides a postmillennial recontextualization of twentieth century masculine iconography. This study covers three cinematic texts: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull …

The Colonized Masculinity And Cultural Politics Of Seediq Bale, Chin-Ju Lin

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article, “The Colonized Masculinity and Cultural Politics of Seediq Bale,” Chin-ju Lin discusses a Taiwanese blockbuster movie, a postcolonial historiography and a form of life-writing, which delineates the last Indigenous insurrection against Japanese colonialism. This article explores the cultural representations in Seediq Bale. Fighting back as a colonized man for pride and dignity is portrayed as means to restore their masculine identity. The headhunting tradition is remembered, romanticized, praised highly as heroic and even strengthened in an inaccurate way to promote individualistic masculinity and to forge a new national identity in postcolonial Taiwan. Nevertheless, the stereotypical …

An Exploration Of Artist Housing In Greater Boston, Ma, Clairessa Morrow

Honors Projects

Boston is a city bursting with art and culture. However, many of the artists and craftspeople who create this environment are being driven out by external factors. This project examines the personal experiences of artists in the Boston area to gain their insight on present issues and their perceptions for the future.

Zombie Culture In Past And Modern Mythologies, Lehua Johnson

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In modern media the notion of a zombie brings to mind the images of rotting flesh, a desire for flesh, and surviving in a desolate post-apocalyptic world. While zombies have certainly evolved into a niche genre separate from horror and science fiction, it is imperative that the origins of this modern-day phenomenon are explored and analyzed in an academic context. From the empty threats of the goddess Ishtar in ancient Mesopotamia to urban legends of former Haitian slaves, the foundation of zombie culture provides strong insight to humanity’s fear of losing itself to mere corporeal forms. Zombie culture is the …

Black Panther: Thrills, Postcolonial Discourse, And Blacktopia, Giana M. Eckhardt

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Black Panther challenges traditional depictions of African nations in film by showcasing the fictional African country of Wakanda as a global technological leader, its citizens as being comfortable in global settings, and by having Wakanda deliver social aid to the US, reversing the typical global flow of assistance. Wakanda is depicted as a Blacktopia, where societies thrive beyond the reach of white supremacy as they have not been subject to colonization.

The Root Of Racism: How Slavery Has Led To The Condition Of Discrimination Against Sub-Saharan Africans And Migrants In Morocco, James Artis Iii

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Slavery is the oldest and most central form of discrimination and while most have knowledge on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade that of the Sub-Saharan and Middle Eastern Slave trade in which current day North Africa and Middle East contributed to both sexual and military exploitation of Sub-Saharan Africans is often forgotten. The historical implication that going along with North African and Middle Eastern salve trade contribute to the discrimination dehumanization and otherization of sub-Saharan Africans and their perception in North Africa.

Think Outside: Exploring The Influence Of Nature On The Individual And Of The Individual On Society, Brielle Wells

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This video project has an overarching goal to question the influence the natural environment has on the development of individual people and society as a whole. It begins by looking into the important role played by creativity in societal and economic development. From here a brief background is given on the requirements of maintaining and producing a creative environment. The piece alludes to the possibility that a relationship with nature has a deeper meaning than just being conducive to creativity. It also shows the effects pollution has had on the work of local artists and briefly the challenges faced by …

Bonding Images: Photography And Film As Acts Of Perpetration, Christophe Busch

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Historical and contemporary cases of collective violence show an incremental use of photography and film to capture and disseminate violent acts. Recording cruelty during conflict seems to be a highly ritualised practice that urges the question what communicative and psychological functions these acts have? Why and how does perpetrator photography shape a binding moral world that divides 'us' versus 'them'? These visualising acts are commonly seen as proof of power that desensitises the perpetrators and dehumanises the victims. This contribution focuses on the imagery of the Holocaust, looks into the functions that capturing and sharing cruelty has on the evolution …

Trapped In The Mouse House: How Disney Has Portrayed Racism And Sexism In Its Princess Films, Jessica L. Laemle

Student Publications

This paper analyzes the history of one of the most popular entertainment companies in the world, Disney. Through the discussion of multiple princess films, from the beginning of Disney to the more current films, I analyze the ongoing racism and sexism that is presented in these timeless Disney films. I will discuss the implications that this racism and sexism has on the children who view these films and what responsibility Disney has as a worldwide company in terms of what it displays to its audience.

Making It Pay To Be A Fan: The Political Economy Of Digital Sports Fandom And The Sports Media Industry, Andrew Mckinney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a series of case studies and sociological examinations of the role that the sports media industry and mediated sport fandom plays in the political economy of the Internet. The Internet has structurally changed the way that sport fans access sport and accelerated the processes through which the capitalist actors in the sports media industry have been able to subsume them. The three case studies examined in this dissertation are examples of how digital media technologies have both helped fans become more active producers and consumers of sports and made the sports media industry an integral and vanguard …

Wukongism: Monkey King, Kungfu/Jazz, And Asian/American Performance, Sissi Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Wukongism offers one of the first non-western epistemic frameworks to examine theatre and performance that traverse beyond the shifting taxonomies of national, cultural, racial boundaries, and in particular, Asian/American theatre and performance. Wukongism, or shapeshifter consciousness, is built on the narrative of Sun Wukong the Monkey King, a supernatural shapeshifting character from the 16^th century classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Juxtaposing physical shapeshifting (plastic surgery and performing of the racialized face) with institutional shapeshifting (reinventing and eliminating invisible and hypervisible boundaries), this dissertation project posits Wukongism as a means to examine the varying, fluid, and precarious …

“María Llena Eres De Gracia” Y Una Desconocida: La Fortaleza Del Espíritu Humano, Yaakov Oliveira

Best Integrated Writing

The compassion for, and understanding of, The Other, without bias, is the most revealing attribute of this paper. Given that immigration, and undocumented people constantly coming to the US, has become a national issue, it is inspiring to see that there still are ways of evaluating the problematic--with objectivity--yet with admiration. This writer is capable of seeing with the inner eyes, perceiving the colloquialisms of the Spanish language, the traits of the culture, and the emotion of both narratives that he is comparing. At the end of the day, film and art remain as the bridge between cultures.

Stranded At Sea: Photographic Representations Of The Rohingya In The 2015 Bay Of Bengal Crisis, Jenny Yeung, Caroline Lenette

The Qualitative Report

Visual representations can contribute to shaping how the general public perceives and engages with issues of forced migration. In 2015, thousands of Rohingya became stranded in the Bay of Bengal when smugglers abandoned them on unseaworthy boats and regional governments refused their disembarkation. Their ordeal made headlines across the globe and photographs documenting the crisis were widely disseminated. This paper applies visual-social semiotics to four of these photographs from an Agence France-Presse public exhibition. Our analysis suggests that the features in the photographs transcend the conventional “threat versus victim” dualism that typically characterizes such representations, to capture both the suffering …

“The Childish, The Transformative, And The Queer”: Queer Interventions As Praxis In Children’S Cartoons, Heather Wright

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud considers “the simplified reality of the cartoon,” establishing a definition and theory for the medium (30). McCloud believes that cartoons possess “a special power” that is tied to their unique ability to “focus our attention on an idea” (31). Put simply, there is something about cartoons that allows for an easy exchange of concepts. Cartoons can teach. Using cartoons, a general term, to refer to both comics and animation, this thesis examines the transformative power of queer world building and intervention in recent children’s cartoons and how it functions, and can …

Bad Boys And Final Girls: Fleshing Out Gender In Slasher And Horror Media, Brandon Bosch

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

When it comes to the slasher genre, typically only three types of people matter: the Slasher Villain, the Victims, and the Final Girl. Today I want to talk about how gender is often represented with these characters.

In sum, the slasher genre tends to cast more effeminate villains (as well as a few female villains driven by more stereotypical feminine concerns like family, love, and fame), punish overly sexual and feminine women, and typically spare less feminine, less sexual women. Arguably, these categories are based in part on our society's attitudes on gender and how it relates to (1) What …

How To Be The Perfect Asian Wife!, Sophia Hill

Art and Art History Honors Projects

“How to be the Perfect Asian Wife” critiques exploitative power systems that assault female bodies of color in intersectional ways. This work explores strategies of healing and resistance through inserting one’s own narrative of flourishing rather than surviving, while reflecting violent realities. Three large drawings mimic pervasive advertisement language and presentation reflecting the oppressive strategies used to contain women of color. Created with charcoal, watercolor, and ink, these 'advertisements' contrast with an interactive rice bag filled with comics of my everyday experiences. These documentations compel viewers to reflect on their own participation in systems of power.

Game Of Thrones Versus History: Written In Blood. Brian Pavlac, Joseph Young

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Cross-Dressing In Taiwanese Dramas: A Reinforcement Of Heteronormativity, Jelana E. Szymanski

Student Publications

An examination of temporary cross-dressing in Taiwanese romantic comedy dramas that seeks to analyze how gender, sexuality and romance are portrayed. The following discourses will be used to demonstrate how these dramas often support heteronormative ideals: the absurdity of gender, the utilitarian cross-dresser, the idea of the true (bio)gender, the eroticization of the female body, the bivalent kiss, the Sexuality Crisis Bro trope, 'gender does not matter' as romance, and relationship dynamics.

Affective Ecologies: Empathy, Emotion, And Environmental Narrative By Alexa Weik Von Mossner, David Tagnani

The Goose

Review of Alexa Weik von Mossner's Affective Ecologies: Empathy, Emotion, and Environmental Narrative.

Religion, Media, And Marginality In Modern Africa, Felicitas Becker, Joel Cabrita, Marie Rodet

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

In recent years, anthropologists, historians, and others have been drawn to study the profuse and creative usages of digital media by religious movements. At the same time, scholars of Christian Africa have long been concerned with the history of textual culture, the politics of Bible translation, and the status of the vernacular in Christianity. Students of Islam in Africa have similarly examined politics of knowledge, the transmission of learning in written form, and the influence of new media. Until now, however, these arenas—Christianity and Islam, digital media and “old” media—have been studied separately.

Religion, Media, and Marginality in Modern Africa …

Queer: Good Gay, Bad Gay, Black Gay, White Gay?, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

"As Deadline .com bluntly put it, 'Kevin Spacey Apologizes to Anthony Rapp for Alleged Sexual Advances; Chooses to "Live As A Gay Man."' The outraged response of progressive intellectuals, activists, and cultural critics to Spacey’s twofold tweet has demonstrated, inter alia, the resilience of old school assumptions and expectations about coming out and about gay identity and gay identifications. These outraged responses have come especially from younger generations of intellectuals, activists, and critics, but also across generations, genders, and sexual orientations. Despite decades of attacks on models of gay identity that center on teleological narratives of coming out, and critiques …

Making Implicit Methods Explicit: Trade Press Analysis In The Political Economy Of Communication, Thomas F. Corrigan

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

The political economy of communication (PEC) situates media systems and practices in their structural and historical contexts; however, PEC scholars rarely articulate or justify their research methods. To address this oversight, this article explains how PEC scholars use trade publications to study media industries, practices, policy making, and discourses thereof. Following a critical realist approach, PEC researchers “burrow down” in trade press advertisements and reports and “listen in” to the frank, insider discussions therein. This article evaluates the trade press against Scott’s four “quality control criteria” for documentary sources—authenticity, credibility, representativeness, and meaning. Trade publications employ daunting industry jargon, and …

Why Katniss Everdeen Is Our Favorite Feminist – An Analysis Of The Heroine Of The Hunger Games Film Saga And Her Reception By Young Female Spectators, Paula Talero Álvarez

Theses and Dissertations

THROUGH THE FIGURE OF FICTIONAL CHARACTER KATNISS EVERDEEN, THIS DISSERTATION STUDIES HOW THE FILM INDUSTRY SIMULTANEOUSLY ENTRENCHES AND DISRUPTS GENDER, SEXUAL, AND RACIAL NORMATIVITIES. THE PROJECT USES TEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND PARTICIPANT RESEARCH TO ANALYZE HOW THE FILMS AND NOVELS OF THE HUNGER GAMES SAGA ENCAPSULATE BOTH DOMINANT AND ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS RELATED TO FEMININITY, MASCULINITY, WOMANHOOD, AND MOTHERHOOD. IT ALSO EXPLORES IF AND HOW THE FEMALE HEROINE CAN BE READ AS FEMINIST AND PRODUCES A SENSE OF EMPOWERMENT. I CONCLUDE THAT ALTHOUGH THE INDUSTRY IS PRODUCING NEW MODELS OF WOMANHOOD THAT CHALLENGE TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES, IT STILL PERPETUATES ROMANTIC IDEALS AND …

Now, Tomorrow, Forever The Persistence Of School Segregation In America, Dustin Connors

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision has long been heralded as a landmark ruling and as evidence of America's progress toward a more accepting and equitable society. What is less widely known outside of academic circles is the extent to which that ruling failed to provide the equality its supporters were seeking. Today, America is still wrestling with a crisis most of us thought long solved: the racial segregation within our school districts. In my documentary film entitled Now, Tomorrow, Forever: The Persistence of School Segregation in America, I will set out to explore the state …

In Media Res, Christopher Andrew Sisk

Theses and Dissertations

We are inundated by a constant feed of media that responds and adapts in real time to the impulses of our psyches and the dimensions of our devices. Beneath the surface, this stream of information is directed by hidden, automated controls and steered by political agendas. The transmission of information has evolved into a spiral of entropy, and the boundaries between author, content, platform, and receiver have blurred. This reductive space of responsive media is a catalyst for immense political and cultural change, causing us to question our notions of authority, truth, and reality.

Rape Culture In Disney Animated Princess Movies, Patricia Paulson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Gender stereotypes, rape myths, and rape culture are perpetuated in U.S. media, including media aimed at young people. Previous research in the areas of gender, gender stereotypes, portrayals of gender in movies, Disney movies, rape myths, and rape culture are all examined. Prior to this research, no study had been conducted to determine if the characteristics of rape culture are portrayed in Disney animated princess movies. For this research, an ethnographic content analysis is conducted on all thirteen of the Disney animated princess movies to determine if the characteristics associated with rape culture are portrayed in these movies. The findings …

Why Sociology Needs Science Fiction, Daniel Hirschman, Philip Schwadel, Rick Searle, Erica Deadman, Ijlal Naqvi

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Grokking Modernity by Philip Schwadel

Resistance and the Art of Words by Rick Searle

A Planet Without Gender by Erica Deadman

Beware of Geeks with Good Intentions by Ijlal Naqvi

In this issue, our contributors take up these concerns in four short essays. Philip Schwadel applies theories of communicative functions to look at sci-fi ’s potential to shape our social understandings. Ijlal Naqvi returns to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation to argue that dreams of perfect social prediction will remain elusive and perhaps undesirable. Erica Deadman showcases how well LeGuin’s Left Hand of Darkness illustrates ideas from the sociology of gender. And …

Photography And Mourning: Excavating Memories Of My Great-Grandmother, Eva Weiner

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper explores how photographs have affected mourning processes in the past and how photo-technology may be able to change the way in which we mourn in the future. It includes an overview of the history of post-mortem photography and discusses the perspectives of well-known media theorists such as Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag. It engages with psychologists by including their perspectives on the effect that photographs have on the mourning process. A project was created to investigate how photo-technology can affect the bereaved. The project places photographs of a mother into pictures of her children taken after she had …

Sofia Coppola, Lost In Translation (2003), Masaaki Takemura

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.