Film and Media Studies Commons^™

The Construction Of Truth In Fiction: An Analysis Of The Faux Footage Genre In Television, Samantha Richards

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper explores the way that “truth” is constructed in a fictional sphere through visual and narrative references. I draw upon Caetlin Benson-Allott’s Paranormal Spectatorship, and Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin’s Remediation to inform my analysis of these constructions. I look specifically at Roanoke, the sixth season of American Horror Story, to provide examples of the way faux footage horror’s unique use of the subjective shot constructs the spectator as both a witness and an interrogator, and creates an aesthetic language of truth. While being immersed in the story, viewers are simultaneously invited to consider how …

A To Z Of Superhero Movies, Jiyeon Kim

CMC Senior Theses

This project explores the question of originality and appropriation in the creative world by using mashup video as a medium. How can old repetitive stories be deconstructed and transformed into something new? I have created alphabetically ordered montages of shots/scenes containing words/letters from superhero films. By doing so, I do not provide a concrete answer to what is really original in today’s world, but rather encourage the audience to actively participate in the viewing experience of the carefully structured ontology and see the infinite possibility of the modern-day mashup culture.

Like Me: Generation Z, Instagram, And Self-Branding Practices, Emily Longley

Scripps Senior Theses

The newest generation, raised and immersed in today's hyper-consumer culture, has learned to define the self within a neoliberal and capitalist framework in which self-branding and ascribing to hegemonic principles appears imperative to one’s personal success.

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 …

Why Weight? Zines As Effective Health Communication Tools Against Fat Phobia, Evelyn Gonzalez

Scripps Senior Theses

The current models for health care hold at their core a pathologization of fat bodies informed by discriminatory methods and ideologies leading to an explicit lack of quality medical care for those who fail to meet normative standards of health and size. This project is interested in examining alternative public health models that provide interventions into those systems. Specifically, this work will seek to understand how the grassroots movement, Health at Every Size (HAES), serves to interrupt current limited understandings of health and weight. HAES individualized, weight-neutral approach to health and wellness exists in seeming opposition to contemporary ideas around …

Pacing Your Fears: Narrative Adaptation In The Age Of Binge Culture, Samantha Richards

Scripps Senior Theses

Entertainment is an ever-changing medium, and television specifically has gone through many technological innovations since its bright beginnings. These innovations have consistently changed the way stories are told. Stylistic shifts in key elements ranging from shot format to the way shows are constructed can be seen especially clearly in horror which does not have the same narrative constraints as many other genres, and therefore more room to experiment. By tracking changes in the narrative formats of serialized and anthology horror shows, I define a new era of television brought about by the prevalence of streaming, and the rise of binge …

Skinny Girls Bleed Flowers, And Other Sick Lies, Isadora Steiger

Scripps Senior Theses

This short film visualizes the experiences of seven Scripps students who have or have had eating disorders, using interview audio and projected imagery to critique existing media portrayals of eating disorders, as well as humanizing those who actually suffer from them.

On Capturing The Ineffable: A Moment From Experimental Film "59.10", Henry Leslie Foster Ii

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This artwork is a still from “59,” an experimental film installation I created with the following restrictions: I had to direct eleven 59-second films in eleven months with eleven collaborating artists, none of whom could be cis men.In the resulting project, we used film and those eleven short moments to capture our unique, fragile experiences. We explored everything from the way in which facets of personality drift in and out of the subconscious to the beautiful, mercurial nature of gender.

In Defense Of Sundance: Examining The Film Festival’S Place In American Independent Cinema In The Age Of Netflix And Amazon, Adam Soll

CMC Senior Theses

For more than 30 years, the Sundance Film Festival has served as the preeminent venue for exhibiting and selling American independent films. Since the festival’s inception, however, the distinction between Hollywood and indie films has become increasingly unclear, and Sundance has been accused of selling out to the mainstream. On one hand, the Sundance Institute continues to support and incubate truly independent artists who otherwise may never get their films made; on the other hand, the festival that the institute puts on every year is full of A-list stars, corporate sponsors, and countless other examples of Hollywood elitism. The American …

Pyramide: The Changing Power Structure Of Fashion, Ariana Callan

Scripps Senior Theses

This project examines the changing world of fashion in an interactive digital magazine format. In the past few years, fashion has increasingly been democratizing, as new designers and forms of media increasingly gain influence. Ready-to-wear designers are working with lower-end brands through collaborations, redefining what each brand is supposed to do, while blogging is allowing those whose voices are usually unheard to openly critique and influence fashion. Overall, they are creating a more democratized space, challenging what was once normal in the fashion industry.

American Mom, Maria Weiss

Scripps Senior Theses

A reflection of my short film American Mom

The Final Girl Grown Up: Representations Of Women In Horror Films From 1978-2016, Lauren Cupp

Scripps Senior Theses

Carol Clover defined a Final Girl as a stereotype of the pure, virginal sole survivor in 1980’s slasher films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween. But does this representation hold up in 2016 films? Because the horror genre is so broad today, it’s almost impossible to nail down a certain stereotype of the genre, if there even is one. Films like the 1996 slasher parody Scream historically subverted the slasher genre, and since then there has been little to no iconic Final Girls. I argue that this trope is one very much set inside the confines of the 1980’s …

The Places That Became Home: A Collection Of Short Stories And Memories, Stephanie Ewing Mace

CMC Senior Theses

This is a collection of short stories and memories from the eight places that I have lived. Through these stories and memories, I reflect on themes of identity and community. I also consider the idea of home: what defines a home, how we make a place feel like a home, and what transforms a city or a town into a home. Each chapter also includes my own original designs and photographs.

The stories about Sharon and Westwood, small towns in Massachusetts, focus on childhood and familial relationships. The narratives about St. Louis, Missouri and Toluca Lake, California, consider the transition …

Polarizing Narratives: Harmful Representations Of Mental Illness And Bipolar In Popular Media, Mary Jane Coppock

Scripps Senior Theses

Representations of mental illness in mainstream media have historically been infantilizing and dangerous. In the last century, dominant media has perpetuated inaccurate and damaging tropes about bipolar disorder in particular, perpetuating misunderstanding and stigma. Despite this fact, art can provide an outlet through which healthy images that promote understanding and sympathy can be dispersed. My project, Polarized, presents a more accurate representation of the disorder and its effects on individuals who struggle with it, as well as their loved ones. Bipolar disorders are a group of mental illnesses that cause dramatic shifts in an individual’s mood, energy, thinking ability, and …

A Choreographic Exploration Of Race And Gender Representation In Film And Dance, Sharon M. Keenan

Scripps Senior Theses

Through extensive research which culminates in a choreographic component, this thesis explores the lack of diverse representation within artistic and entertainment industries in regards to race and gender. In pursuit of a concise argument, most of the focus is on race and the conditioned view of gender as binary. Looking specifically at dance and film, it considers and analyzes why this absence persists, along with ways to ensure progress. The analysis and exploration unfolds in five central chapters: Research, Conception of the Dance, One and the Same, and Try It On Make It Fit. By detailing all that …

Technological Disruption In Entertainment: Navigating The Film Industry's Dynamic Relationship To The Consumer, Samantha Mea Simon

Scripps Senior Theses

The following thesis acts as a critical cultural progression report surrounding the current technological disruption in the entertainment industry and its impact on consumers. This begins with a study of the history starting in 1910 and covers the urbanization of America during the Industrial Revolution, the developing fan experience, a history of consumer demands in relation to oligopolistic principles and the blockbuster method, the invention and influence of the television, and the current effect of technological advancement in the entertainment industry. Following this historical overview, four chapters will study different methods of analysis covering the intricacies of the current technological …

Ji Sor (1997): Self-Realization Of Women In Cinema And In History, Tong (Hilary) Lin

CMC Senior Theses

100 years ago, there was a group of women called Zishunu who stood up against the whole society and swore off marriage for life. Zishu offered an escape for many women in the Pearl River Delta area. As forerunners in female independence and liberation, Zishunu never had the chance to be the spokesman of themselves or the recognition they deserved. Ji Sor (1997), a groundbreaking work in lesbian-themed movies, beautifully depicts this special and unparalleled historical phenomenon in detail. Released a few months after the Handover of Hong Kong in 1997, this critically acclaimed movie by Hong Kong New Wave …

"She's Not A Real Monster": Orphan Black's Helena And The Monstrous-Feminine, Natalie Eisen

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the idea of the “monstrous-feminine,” or the idea that female monsters of television and film are linked to their femininity in a way that male monsters are not linked to their masculinity. Using the work of scholars such as Barbara Creed, Shelley Stamp Lindsey, and Jane M. Ussher, the thesis covers various facets of women’s lives as seen through the distorted lens of the monstrous. The character of Helena from the television show Orphan Black is used as a concrete example of the stages of the monstrous-feminine: the girl-child, menstruation and puberty, sexuality, and motherhood.

Culture As A Tool Of Exclusion: An Analysis Of Mathieu Kassovitz's La Haine, Abigail Maccumber

Scripps Senior Theses

Using the film La Haine (1995), directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, as an object of analysis, this paper explores culture as a tool of exclusion in France through sociological, architectural, and political contexts. It investigates La Haine as one of the first representations of the banlieue to mainstream French audiences, as well as the ways in which the film reveals how immigrants and children of immigrants struggle to find personal, cultural, and national identity in France.

Understanding The Effects Of Disgust And Political Ideology On Moral Judgment Through Photography, Xijia Yuan

Scripps Senior Theses

Feelings of disgust may have effects on one’s moral judgment; specifically that experience of disgust has linked to increased severity of moral judgments. Additionally, one’s political beliefs may also affect one’s moral judgment, such as conservatives tend to make harsher judgment toward moral situations and behaviors. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial quasi-experiment has been proposed to study 420 participants, legal adults from both conservative and liberal neighborhoods, randomly assigned to one of two conditions, disgust-eliciting versus neutral. Participants will view either four disgust-eliciting photographs or four neutral photographs, and then complete survey questions on disgust rating, moral judgment, …

Iain Muirhead, Iain Muirhead

CGU MFA Theses

Artist IAIN MUIRHEAD seeks possibility in a world of massive change. His work cultivates instability and chases an ungrounded experience. Systemic complexity and creative destruction are characteristic. Muirhead uses paint, objects, photography, installation, and video to break apart and reconfigure form and space. Terror often looms. Entropy gives way to emergence.

Off The Road: Imperialism And Exploration In The American Road Movie, Andy Wright

Pitzer Senior Theses

This essay explores the imperialist nature of the American road movie as it is defined by the film’s era of release, specifically through the lens of how road movies abuse the lands that are travelled through. To accomplish this, my essay analyzes a classic road movie, Easy Rider, a more contemporary parody, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and the futuristic film, The Martian. All of these films treat everything that which is not the metropolitan traveller in a distinctly oppressive sense, and each time a new generation of filmmakers makes a road movie, it becomes …

The Value Of Attending University: An Analysis On The Novels Of Evelyn Waugh And Their Adaptations, Evan J. Molineux

CMC Senior Theses

An analysis on Evelyn Waugh's novels: Brideshead Revisited, Decline and Fall, and Vile Bodies as well as their film and television adaptations. The paper relates all of these works to Waugh's idea that the true value and reason why students should attend university is not because their degree will earn them a massive salary, but because it allows for another four years of sequestered development away from adult society. Waugh stated that the true value of his time as an undergraduate at Oxford was because it provided him with the opportunity to drink, throw parties, discover art, etc...which therefore …

“Nobody Speaking His Native Language:” The Problem Of The Post-Western In Contemporary American Cinema, Tamas Hever

CMC Senior Theses

This senior thesis has two major purposes: One, to investigate and critique how experts characterize contemporary American post-westerns, second, to demonstrate, and suggest a more inclusive perspective through an analysis of Jim Jarmusch`s Dead Man (1996).Experts from the fields of film and American studies claim that there is a new phase in the genre’s development where post-western films move away from the conventions of the old, racist westerns. Accomplished authors have suggested that these films do not rely on the mythical west or on the regionalist culture but examine the west closely to determine the ways in which it differs …

Unbound: Dismantling The Genre Of Female Coming-Of-Age Films, Megan Edwards

Scripps Senior Theses

This is a reflection paper on the process of creating a multi-media art installation that dismantles traditional, patriarchal notions of female coming-of-age stories in film and presents alternative, feminist narratives to these stories through the voices of the women present within the author's own life.

Beefing Up The Beefcake: Male Objectification, Boy Bands, And The Socialized Female Gaze, Dorie Bailey

Scripps Senior Theses

In the traditionally patriarchal Hollywood industry, the heterosexual man’s “male gaze,” as coined by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, is the dominant viewing model for cinematic audiences, leaving little room for a negotiated reading of how visual images are created, presented, and internalized by male and female audiences alike. However, as Hollywood’s shifting feminist landscape becomes increasingly prevalent in the mainstream media, content incorporating the oppositional “female gaze” have become the new norm in both the film and television mediums. Through an extended analysis of the gaze as socialized through gendered learning in children, the “safe space” afforded through the …

“Why Can’T Run ‘Like A Girl’ Also Mean Win The Race?”: Commodity Feminism And Participatory Branding As Forms Of Self-Therapy In The Neoliberal Advertising Space, Katherine B. Marcus Reker

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis proposes a critical study of the techniques and motives behind modern commodity feminist advertising, focusing on the appropriation of the “young girl” as a symbol of the feminist cause. This evolving trend in advertising, building upon new movements of empowerment and the recent proliferation of the online feminist space, is shifting the logics of consumption by marketing feminist ideology and activism through consumer purchasing power. By prompting consumers to believe that their purchases can make a significant change, companies are developing brand loyalty in their key marketing demographics by using the image and rhetoric of the “young girl” …

Dark Humor And Suicide: Exploring Viewer Suicidality In "The Long Way", Sarah M. Rosen

Scripps Senior Theses

Death, dying, and the actual loss of life are some of the broadest sweeping concepts that typically evoke a wide array of emotions from sadness and anger to fear and despondence. It is unlikely that the first words associated with death are comedy, humor, or laughter. However, that is precisely what creators and comedians of dark, death, and gallows humor seek to achieve. For my senior capstone project, I have created a short fictional narrative film encompassing the traits of a dark comedy. However, noticing that few dark comedies delve into topics surrounding suicide, I wondered if it was possible …

Our Sound Our Silence: Self Care In Student Of Color Activism, Alexa S. Muniz

Scripps Senior Theses

Our Sound Our Silence is a performative documentary about student of color activists at Scripps College. This video project attempts to highlight the fatigue, emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion these students experience from having to work within the institution to advocate for their survival. This video project also attempts to speak to the importance of self-care for students of color and especially for those involved in activism and organizing on campus. I wanted to use the creation of this video as a means of self-care and process of healing for myself, my collaborators, and my community.

Unreliable Narrators, Rebekah Manikowski

Scripps Senior Theses

Unreliable Narrators is a record of the process to create a mixed media installation about how and why we tell stories, and how we as an audience discern the truth of those stories. The installation tells three different perspectives of the same story. Part documentary and part detective search, this project has viewers following the subject as she pieces together her story and ultimately has them deciding for themselves what to believe.