Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Resisting Pacification: Locating Tension In G'Ebinyo Ogbowei's Poetry, Niyi Akingbe, Paul Ayodele Onanuga

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Where Are The Women?: An Ecofeminist Reading Of William Golding’S Lord Of The Flies, Hawk Chang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

The absence of female characters and their voices in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) has been previously examined. On the surface, this fiction focuses on the struggle and survival of a group of boys who are left alone on a Pacific island against the background of nuclear warfare. The only presence of women in the story seems to be the aunt via a boy’s narration. However, when approaching the fiction through the lens of ecofeminism, we can find a range of feminized entities which are metaphorically embodied in the natural surroundings of the secluded island. The boys’ interactions …

‘Convicted Of Patricide?’: Robert Frost’S Nationalism In The Eyes Of Contemporary Arab-American Women Writers, Eman K. Mukattash

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Given the culturally expansive nature of the American literary tradition of today, the question of the relevance of Robert Frost’s poetry to the poetry of contemporary Arab-American women writers is an issue worth digging into. Writing almost one hundred years ago does not make Frost’s poetry out of date. Frost’s poetry is as relevant to today’s America as it has been to the America of his days. And this can be ascribed to the multiplicity of perspectives he presents in his poetry as he examines crucial questions lying at the core of America’s “grand narrative of national development.” (Westover 2004: …

The Language Of Filmmaking And The Troubles Of Modern Illiteracy, Gabriel A. Blank

Honors Projects

An examination of cinematic language and its development over the last century of filmmaking. This paper discusses the effect of cinematic "illiteracy" and the divide between critics and mass audiences.

Cultivating The Cyborg Voice: Technology In The Creative Writing Classroom, Rebecca Valley

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

This article takes a critical look at pieces generated from a capstone project in a recent mixed-genre Intro to Creative Writing workshop. It was inspired by an open-ended creative project asking students to use technology to generate unconventional works of fiction, poetry, memoir, and theatre. Writer and educator Rebecca Valley's hope when assigning this project was to encourage students to innovate and step outside their standard forms. But beyond mere innovation of form, students surprised her in their capacity to use technology to hybridize their authorial voices – rather than merely changing the form of their own words, they became …

"Writing Unspeakable Things: Speechlessness, Abjection, And The Ethics/Aesthetics Of (Not) Representing Sexual Violence In Three Korean American "Comfort Women' Novels", M Laura Barberan Reinares

Publications and Research

This article analyzes “comfort women” novels by the Korean American authors Therese Park, Nora Okja Keller, and Chang-rae Lee in terms of the ethics and aesthetics of representing sexual violence through language. I specifically look at these authors’ stylistic strategies to describe rape in writing and how they (more or less successfully) avoid voyeuristic portrayals of the “comfort women” by controlling the narrative point of view and relying on traumatic “speechlessness” and abjection. Building on relevant notions from the fields of photography, cinematography, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, this analysis suggests that in-progress representations of rape in language become a futile project …

Distribution Struggle: Assembling A Media History Of J. Brian’S Enterprises With Court Proceedings And Public Records, Finley Freibert

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This article introduces the concept of “distribution struggle”—the panoply of cultural and industrial conflicts that must be traced and accounted for in distribution histories—to sequence a primary-sourced media history of J. Brian’s gay media enterprises. In tracing this history, primary sources are surprisingly accessible, and provide new insights into J. Brian’s industrial operations. By triangulating archival records with secondary accounts, this article provides a more nuanced cultural and industrial portrait of J. Brian. It argues that media industry historiography must frame historical narratives by accounting for the cultural and industrial struggles that culminated in the available archival sources, in this …

Pathos, Fall 2021, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Bret Steggell

Blindspotting And Covid: The Gentrification Of Racism, Ashley Starr-Morris

Journal of Religion & Film

The novel Coronavirus is not only exposing old patterns of racism and systemic inequalities, but deepening them as well. The notion of blindspotting, as described in the film by the same name, is used to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the “spiritual emergency” or crisis of racism in America. "Blindspotting" is an image or situation that can be interpreted in two ways but is understood by some in only one way, thereby producing a blind spot. In 2020 and 2021, we see segments of American society, from politics to white Christian nationalism, upholding a sacred canopy of exceptionalism by …

The King With The Vīṇā Flag – Perspectives Of Rāvaṇa In Film, Achintya Prahlad

Journal of Religion & Film

Rāvaṇa, the ten-headed Rākṣasa (‘demon’) king of the epic the Rāmāyaṇa, is the most fascinating of all the antagonists in films based on Hindu mythology, so powerful that even the Sun cannot rise without his orders, and celebrated as an unparalleled musician-scholar and great devotee of the god Śiva. His passion for the vīṇā, a string instrument with divine associations, is so great that this instrument adorns his royal flag as its emblem. His consciousness of his supreme powers and great knowledge soon gives way to ahaṅkāra (hubris) and lust, which leads to his eventual downfall and death at the …

Magic, Monsters, And Make-Believe Heroes: How Myth And Religion Shape Fantasy Culture, Saira Chhibber

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Douglas Cowan, Magic, Monsters, and Make-Believe Heroes: How Myth and Religion Shape Fantasy Culture (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2019).

Arab Americans In Film: From Hollywood And Egyptian Stereotypes To Self-Representation, Danielle Haque

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Waleed Mahdi, Arab Americans in Film: From Hollywood and Egyptian Stereotypes to Self-Representation (Syracuse University Press, 2020).

Three Minutes: A Lengthening, Sherry Coman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Three Minutes: A Lengthening (2021), directed by Bianca Stigter.

The Mad Women’S Ball, Kyle Derkson

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Mad Women’s Ball (2021), directed by Mélanie Laurent.

Edge Of A Dream, Lauren Schild

Honors Thesis

“Edge of a Dream” is a photographic series using both film and digital mediums to explore the moments right as a dream is ending and before you wake up. I chose this theme for my series after waking up one morning in the middle of a dream. I was awake and aware, but I could not remove myself from the dream. I decided to use this project as an opportunity to explore that state and attempt to understand how our minds create dreams in the first place. Each image uses a different set of surreal methods to recreate photographic representations …

Medieval Saints And Modern Screens: Divine Visions As Cinematic Experience, Stephen Okey

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Alicia Spencer-Hall, Medieval Saints and Modern Screens: Divine Visions as Cinematic Experience (Amsterdam University Press, 2018).

Maria Chapdelaine, Sherry Coman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Maria Chapdelaine (2021), directed by Sébastien Pilote.

Sensuous Cinema: The Body In Contemporary Maghrebi Film, Shreya Parikh

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Kaya Davies Hayon, Sensuous Cinema: The Body in Contemporary Maghrebi Film (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018).

Where Is Anne Frank, Ken Derry

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Where Is Anne Frank (2021) directed by Ari Folman.

Revolution In Paradise: Veiled Representations Of Jewish Characters In The Cinema Of Occupied France, Thierry J. Alcoloumbre

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Yehuda Moraly, Revolution in Paradise: Veiled Representations of Jewish Characters in the Cinema of Occupied France (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2019).

Nobody Has To Know, Sherry Coman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Nobody Has to Know (2021), directed by Bouli Lanners.

Art Imitates Life: The Representation (Or Lack Thereof) Of Black Women In Video Games, Bug Gadson

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

The key focus of this essay is to compare the representation of black women in media, primarily in television and film, to the representation of black female characters in video games. Using black feminist theory, this essay illustrates the treatment of black female characters in gaming. The particular and deliberate methods of writing black female characters in video games are used to highlight white video game characters and their narratives, instead of giving life and dimension to the black female characters themselves. The hostile and unsafe environments in gaming spaces are cultivated through upholding these harmful stereotypes of black women, …

An Analysis Of The Role Of Gender In Political News Media Coverage, Clare Atkinson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although there has been a decrease in specific exclusionary rules in governments around the world, most nations are very far from a governing body which represents the diversity that exists within their borders. There are many issues which may dissuade previously marginalized populations from political participation. One of these problems when it comes to female participation, is differential political news coverage. This study looked at how media sources set the political agenda and frame news stories in terms of the gender of a politician, and how this can create an additional challenge for women in government. The investigation found that …

In Tandem, Lucy Clark

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

A young legal assistant, Deidre Burroughs, finds the dead body of Kit Briggs on a morning jog. As she looks further into the woman’s life, and subsequent death, she discovers the circumstances surrounding finding her body are suspicious. As she investigates the true story behind Kit’s death, Deidre falls further and further down a psychological rabbit-hole, discovering things about both Kit and herself she could never have imagined. Following the question, “what happens after the femme fatale dies?” this neo-noir inspired screenplay is a psychological thriller with a twist. Questions of identification, patriarchal violence, truth, and consequence are all at …

Frederick Wiseman's Essene (1972): The Duality Of Mary And Martha, Nilita Vachani

Journal of Religion & Film

America’s legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman shot Essene 50 years ago at the height of the commune movement in the United States. Unlike his previous institutional films which showcase an insane asylum, a public high school, an inner city police force, a hospital, and a military training school, Essene's canvas is the far less turbulent terrain of a serene and austere Benedictine monastery devoted to the love and service of God and the divine spirit. This paper undertakes a close textual and hermeneutic analysis of Essene alongside an appraisal of Wiseman’s working methodology, his cinematic portrayals of character and dramaturgy, …

Analog Video In The Age Of Digital Data: A Case Study Of Shigeko Kubota's "Social Practice", Helena Shaskevich, Lia Robinson

Publications and Research

If Nam June Paik truly is the “father of video art,” as so many scholars claim, then Shigeko Kubota is in many ways its mother, performing the unacknowledged and undervalued labor of managing the “house” of video and taking care of its inhabitants. My digital art history project for Panorama, which performs a data-driven deep dive into Kubota’s networks, argues that Kubota’s legacy must be understood as a lived, “social practice” of care for video art and its communities.

Pathos, Fall 2021, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Bret Steggell

برهان علوية – اللقاء المتواصل, Haddy Zaccak

Regards

With the passing of Borhane Alaouié, Lebanese cinema loses one of its most prominent directors and spiritual fathers.

ملخص

.مع رحيل برهان علوية، تخسر السينما اللبنانية أحد أبرز مخرجيها وآبائها الروحيين

The Power Of Voice: Using Audio Podcasts To Teach Vocal Performance And Digital Communication, Amanda Hill

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Today’s students often speak through mediated technologies. Thus, understanding how nonverbal cues impact meaning-making is key to understanding effective communication across mediums. This case study explores a group project where students created audio podcasts to teach others about a specific aspect of communication studies while considering the way sound and vocal performance affect the transference of the message. This article examines the use of audio podcasts as a vehicle for teaching university students about the power of paralinguistic and chronemic nonverbal behaviors.

‘Roads?! Where We’Re Going, We Don’T’ Need, Roads’: Framing Online Sim Racing During Covid-19 By Motorsport Forum Participants, Timothy Robeers

Journal of Motorsport Culture & History

No abstract provided.