Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Murder Music: Horror Film Soundtracks Throughout History, Vincent G. Aragon

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Horror films often rely heavily on their music to create a tense and frightening experience for their audience, and it is the composer's job to write a score that satisfies that requirement. Throughout film history, the methods composers utilize to achieve that goal differ across time due to various factors including available technology, allotted budget, and the norms and expectations of films at the time. This capstone paper explores the different approaches composers employed in writing horror soundtracks from the early 20th century to the modern-day, noting any significant shifts and common themes found in the music of popular horror …

Viewing History Through A Lens: The Influence Of Film On Historical Consciousness, Brittany Bales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an interdisciplinary study of the significance of contemporary film in our understandings of gender, race, and sexuality in Georgian England. I argue that while films set in this period may lack the subtleties and depth of the realities that make up the Georgian era, they are still valuable in informing current discussions concerning race, gender, and sexuality. By examining such films, we learn not only more about the Georgian period and how it is presented and understood by contemporary audiences, but these films tell us much about our own biases, attitudes, and society.

Apocalypse And Eschatology In John Ford's The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), Nancy Wright

Journal of Religion & Film

John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940) visualizes conventions of the apocalypse genre to represent not simply a particular historical setting, the Great Depression, but also a vision of history to be interpreted in terms of eschatology. Expressionistic photography transforms the characters’ experiences into enigmatic visions that invite and guide interpretation. A comparison of montage sequences in Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath and Pare Lorentz’s The Plow That Broke The Plains (1936), a Farm Security Administration documentary, clarifies how Ford’s narrative film aligns spectators within and outside the mise-en-scène.

Brothers, Sing On: The Story Of Nuance, Kyle Reynolds

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For this project, I have elected to create a documentary detailing the chronological history of the University of Akron’s all-male contemporary pop a Cappella group, Nuance. The Documentary is titled: “Brothers, Sing On: the Story of Nuance” as a reference to the song “Brothers, Sing On!” by Edvard Grieg, and was named such because of the theme of brotherhood I have showcased in the documentary. I have been a member of Nuance since the Spring Semester of 2018 and have served as the president of the group since Spring Semester 2019. Nuance was founded in 2004, making it one of …

Jewish Time Jump: New York, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

Jewish Time Jump: New York (Gottlieb & Ash, 2013) is a place-based mobile augmented reality game and simulation that takes the form of a situated documentary. Players take on the role of time traveling reporters tracking down a story “lost to time” to bring back to their editor at the Jewish Time Jump Gazette. The game is played in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, New York City. Players’ iPhones become their time traveling device and companion. Based on the player’s GPS location, players receive digital images from their location from over a hundred years in the past as well …

Art And War: Republican Propaganda Of The Spanish Civil War, Jason Manrique

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis focuses on propaganda used by the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to gain support for their cause and win the war. It focuses on three forms of media: cinema, posters and photography, and it is divided into an introduction, three separate chapters, and a conclusion. In them I provide a historical context on the II Republic and the Civil War and analyze the effectiveness of concrete artworks to propagate the Republican message.

Reworking The White-Masculine Ideal, Steven H. Gonzalez

Art Theses and Dissertations

This text functions as an exploration of self through artistic practice, a designated space for reflection on contemporary Queer experience. In looking specifically at the permeation of the idealized-white-masculine figure as found within Western visual culture, social media and gay pornography become isolated as sites where these figures are commonly found. This line of inquiry defines how the ideal is reified through these differing digital platforms and the social implications the homogenized male form has on raced individuals. In addition to determining the image of the perfect masculine physique through research, this text expands on how its' imaged representation becomes …

Direct Action Housing: Exploring The History Of Tenant-Led Housing Struggles—On Film—In Nyc, Arielle Lawson

Publications and Research

This independent research project dives into the history of tenant-led housing struggles in New York City with a particular focus on using film archives and documentaries to highlight key moments and case studies when housing activism opened up new political imaginations, intersections and possibilities in the city.

As outlined in the Direct Action Housing zine, I curated and hosted four public events in the spring of 2019 on different aspects of housing struggles documented through archival film records. This series of housing history films was a starting point and catalyst to think about the role of and for the home …

Female Filmmakers In The 1920s, Paige Brunsen

Honors Library Research Award

2018/2019 2nd place award winner. This paper explores the idea that the 1920s filmmaking "was recognized as an opportunity for big business, and women were pushed into the shadows with unfortunate long-lasting consequences." 13 pages.

[Introduction To] Chinese Revolutionary Cinema: Propaganda, Aesthetics And Internationalism 1949-1966, Volume 48, Jessica Ka Yee Chan

Bookshelf

Engaging with fiction films devoted to heroic tales from the decade and a half between 1949 and 1966, this book reconceives state propaganda as aesthetic experiments that not only radically transformed acting, cinematography and screenwriting in socialist China, but also articulated a new socialist film theory and criticism. Rooted in the interwar avant-garde and commercial cinema, Chinese revolutionary cinema, as a state cinema for the newly established People's Republic, adapted Chinese literature for the screen, incorporated Hollywood narration, appropriated Soviet montage theory and orchestrated a new, glamorous, socialist star culture. In the wake of decolonisation, Chinese film journals were quick …

Visual Grandeur, Imagined Glory: Identity Politics And Hindu Nationalism In Bajirao Mastani And Padmaavat, Baijayanti Roy

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper examines the tropes through which the Hindi (Bollywood) historical films Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018) create idealised pasts on screen that speak to Hindu nationalist politics of present-day India. Bajirao Mastani is based on a popular tale of love, between Bajirao I (1700-1740), a powerful Brahmin general, and Mastani, daughter of a Hindu king and his Iranian mistress. The relationship was socially disapproved because of Mastani`s mixed parentage. The film distorts India`s pluralistic heritage by idealising Bajirao as an embodiment of Hindu nationalism and portraying Islam as inimical to Hinduism. Padmaavat is a film about a legendary …

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 …

Savannah River Archaeological Research Program Debuts New Film, George Wingard

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Your Iphone Cannot Escape History, And Neither Can You: Self-Reflexive Design For A Mobile History Learning Game, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This chapter focuses on the design approach used in the self-reflexive finale of the mobile augmented reality history game Jewish Time Jump: New York. In the finale, the iOS device itself and the player using it are implicated in the historical moment and theme of the game. The author-designer-researcher drew from self-reflexive traditions in theater, cinema, and nonmobile games to craft the reveal of the connection between the mobile device and the history that the learners were studying. Through centering on this particular design element, the author demonstrates how self-reflexivity can be deployed in a mobile learning experience to …

Book Reviews: Recent Books On Pornography: From Discussions Of Harm To Normalization, Robert Brannon

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Nine books addressing the specific harms linked to adults’ viewing of heterosexual pornography are examined. All were published since 2010, and range from some that are opposed to all pornography, to others that approve of pornography. The books differ considerably in scope, quality, and scientific rigor. Several include discussions of the feminist anti-pornography movement, in the U.S. and worldwide, from 1975 to the present. These accounts range from criticism of the anti-pornography movement to praise and appreciation. This collection of books provides a useful view of the remarkable diversity of thought about all issues connected with pornography’s effects on adult …

New Design Principles For Mobile History Games, Owen Gottlieb

Presentations and other scholarship

This study draws on design-based research on an ARIS–based mobile augmented reality game for teaching early 20th century history. New design principles derived from the study include the use of supra-reveals, and bias mirroring. Supra-reveals are a kind of foreshadowing event in order to ground historical happenings in the wider enduring historical understanding. Bias mirroring refers to a nonplayer character echoing back a player’s biased behavior, in order to open the player to listening to alternative perspectives. Supra-reveals engendered discussion of historical themes early in the game experience. The results showed that use of a cluster of NPC bias mirroring …

Photo Synthesis: The Expatriate Family Album As Historiography, Kamayani Sharma Ms

Proceedings from the Document Academy

I want to look at the expatriate family album as a site of history-writing.

Through an examination of three photographs from my childhood in West Asia, I try to think about the idea of historical space and time through the visual narratives available to me of my own family.

This essay will be an exploration of the way in which nostalgia for a personal past gets imbricated within the shared experience of a bygone cultural moment.

I am interested in how an encounter with visual material from private archives initiates memory work and how these traces from the past can …

Time Travel, Labour History, And The Null Curriculum: New Design Knowledge For Mobile Augmented Reality History Games, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This paper presents a case study drawn from design-based research (DBR) on a mobile, place-based augmented reality history game. Using DBR methods, the game was developed by the author as a history learning intervention for fifth to seventh graders. The game is built upon historical narratives of disenfranchised populations that are seldom taught, those typically relegated to the 'null curriculum'. These narratives include the stories of women immigrant labour leaders in the early twentieth century, more than a decade before suffrage. The project understands the purpose of history education as the preparation of informed citizens. In paying particular attention to …

She Would Not Be Silenced: Mae West's Struggle Against Censorship, Charlotte N. Toledo

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Mae West, an actress during Hollywood's Golden Age, used her fame on stage, in films, and on the radio to offer social commentary on relationships between men and women in society. Her irreverent style of addressing issues of female sexuality and power certainly caught peoples attention and made them think about these issues in new ways. At the same time, her racy delivery made her a target of stage, film, and radio censorship. She refused to be silenced and continually pushed against restrictions to deliver he message of empowerment in her trademark provocative manner.

New Hollywood: Classical Hollywood In A New Light, Wesley D. Buskirk

Cinesthesia

This essay analyzes the manifestations of America’s post-1960 film industry, more specifically the rise of “New Hollywood.” In response to governmental intervention of the studio system, the popularization of commercial television, and the influences of the French New Wave, Hollywood’s emerging “film generation” embraced the commercialization of the star auteur and the blockbuster picture. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, sons of the “Hollywood Renaissance,” capitalized on the potential of “high concept,” “ultra-high-budget” feature films and their associated synergetic marketing systems, a phenomenon referred to as the “blockbuster syndrome.” Jaws, a pioneering New Hollywood megapicture directed by Spielberg, exhibits the “Lucas-Spielberg” …

Buster Keaton's Comedic Innovations, Tyler P. Templeton

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

A brief examination of Buster Keaton's contributions to cinematic comedy starting circa 1920, and specifically his progressive fusion of comedy with dramatic narrative. Keaton's innovations in the genre have allowed for his work to influence many contemporary filmmakers today, one of the most prominent examples being Wes Anderson.

An Interview With Barbara Roos, Joe Hogan

Cinesthesia

Barbara Roos started teaching when Grand Valley was just a few buildings erected on a slab of midwestern prairie. Nixon was in office then, and young draftees were still being sent to Vietnam. In those days, Grand Valley – not yet a university but a cluster of colleges – was alive with the spirit of the counter-culture. William James College, among the most pedagogically experimental of the colleges, was interdisciplinary and non-departmental – it emphasized harmony between theory and practice, thought and action. At James, Roos co-founded the film and video program. In the following interview, she talks with guest …

Discours Sur L’Environnement Et Stratégies Empathiques De L’Hégémonie Dans Les Écritures Francophones D’Afrique Noire, Jean-Blaise Samou

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

It is a known that discourse developed on Africa in the European imagination between the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century had largely contributed to the implementation of colonial ideology. Today, African writings recover and rework those discourses, highlighting the language strategies by which the construction of a tropical otherness, territorial dispossession and colonial domination in Africa were part of a pragmatic discourse. The analysis of those discourses in some novels and movies from French-speaking Black Africa not only reveals the environmental issues that underlay the European colonial adventure in Africa, but also the interest for …

Egyptian Film And Feminism: Egypt’S View Of Women Through Cinema, Wesley D. Buskirk

Cinesthesia

This essay analyzes the history of Egyptian film in relationship to the common perception of women in Egypt. From the early stages of Egyptian cinema, women assumed leadership positions, helping build the undeveloped industry to its height in the mid-1900's. An increasingly state-led and male-dominated film industry, however, adopted women as a symbol of nationalism, while neglecting them as equals through traditionalist film content. Furthermore, in the last quarter of the 20th century, governmental influences resulted in a shortage of production resources. Although commercial motion pictures suffered, social-issue, realist movies have reignited feminist initiatives and provided hope for a recovering …

Victor And Vanquished: American And German Cinematic Depictions Of Wwii, Rashad Butler

Whittier Scholars Program

This project examines historical films as outlets to teach and inform as well as depict the horrors of war to a mass audience. This study compared American films which tend to focus on individuals to German films which focus on a more collective narrative, both in regards to WWII. This project includes contextual information of World War II as well as strategies used by filmmakers and directors with content portrayal. This project concludes analysis of films such as Monuments Men and Saving Private Ryan to demonstrate use of context, perspective and screenplay.

"Era(C)Ing The South: Modern Popular Culture Depictions Of Southern History", Bryan Jack

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

There has been significant research on various interpretations of the American South, and the relationship between Southern and American identity. However, there has been little investigation into how modern popular culture depicts and constructs the Southern past and how this shapes Southern identity. This article interrogates the relationship between modern films, race, and Southern history to ask, has the challenge to codified Jim Crow segregation changed filmic portrayals of Southern history? How do these portrayals affect both Southern and American identity? Using race as a lens, the article argues that the end of the Civil Rights Movement has created a …

Script Of The History Of The Caravan, Youssef Helmy

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The Script of the Audio Documentary

Jean-Luc Godard And Francois Truffaut: The Influence Of Hollywood, Modernization And Radical Politics On Their Films And Friendship, Caroline Glenn

All Theses

During the late 1950's the French film industry's hard-won financial stability during the Occupation and liberation years had all but disappeared. Combined with the dwindling, unpredictable nature of French audiences, the multi-star, literary adaptation dramas French studios produced were no longer reliable. In response to these dilemmas a transformation took place in French cinema. Known as the nouvelle vague (or French New Wave), the movement was largely, but not completely, a reaction to France's declining film industry. The nation as a whole was undergoing significant change and growth during the 1950s. From the Algerian conflict, the Fourth Republic's collapse and …

Case Study Two: Jewish Time Jump: New York, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

Gottlieb presents an early case study of his mobile augmented reality game Jewish Time Jump: New York design on the ARIS platform for the iPhone and iPad (iOS). The game is set on-location in Washington Square Park in New York city. Players in 5th-7th grade take on the role of time-traveling reporters, landing on site on the eve of the Uprising of 20,000, the largest women-led strike in U.S. History. Based on their GPS location they receive media from over 100 years in the past, interactive with digital characters as they work to gather a story for the fictional Jewish …

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

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This study examines the birth and evolution of the social documentary genre in visual media. It suggests that a mixture of ideology, technology, and social awareness are necessary for a successful social reform. It finds 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 film, this study demonstrates a connection between documentary film and Riis’s social documentary photography and public slide exhibitions. The study concludes that in order …