Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Coast To Coast, Zeyuan Ren

Masters Theses

This essay contains four bodies of work created during my graduate studies, all of which take place on either the West or East coasts, incorporating performance, photography, and video. In the first half of the paper, I examine how the theme of “displacement” is established in my initial works, and highlight the significance of the state of “being displaced” in my process of imaging and (re)understanding the ocean.

At the core of the thesis, I investigate the wave-piloting of Marshall Islanders and a particular cartographic model, the “stick chart,” which is a mnemonic device embedded with the voyager's somatic memories, …

Rooted In Topsoil, Jiaying Wang

Masters Theses

Disillusioned by my transnational identity, I have come to realize that my sense of belonging is no longer attached to any physical location, but instead to a state of mind, to an intimacy with the world. My notion of home is an obscure and unsettled—at times utopian—idea, which can be infinitely decoded, re-positioned and re-established psychologically. This thesis is an investigation of that liminal state, questioning the paradoxical place at the intersection of longing and belonging, interior and exterior, rootedness and uprootedness. Through a collection of short essays that accompany projects, I seek to unpack the precarious emotional complexities that …

Austentatious Aspirations: How Janeite Women Writers Create And Expand Their Own Cultural Communities Through Recounting And Adapting Jane Austen's Original Works In Literature And Film, Kerri L. Bennett

Student Theses and Dissertations

In comparison to Jane Austen’s purportedly quiet, unassuming life, her six novels have had an ostentatious and extensive impact upon Anglophone literature, culture, and history, particularly through the innumerable adaptations that have been created, written, and produced by her most ardent admirers. As such, this research explores the ways that their various literary and filmic adaptations of Austen’s original narratives both create and expand their communities. Additionally, this project situates Janeite cultural production within the framework of Jacques Derrida’s theory of archival expansion, as well as the scholarship of Claudia Johnson, Abigail Derecho, and Sarah Glosson, among others. The texts …

Présence Francophone, Numéro 100

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Sembène Ousmane, Un Cinéaste En Guerre, Léthicia Obono Ngou-Milama

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

If he is mobilized, enlisted in the corps of “Senegalese Riflemen” of the French army during the Second World War, the war inflicts a deep wound to Sembène Ousmane. This shocking and traumatic experience will tirelessly inspire his literary and cinematographic work. With his camera and his acerbic gaze, the Senegalese filmmaker will address the tragic fate of African soldiers and will restore the indelible imprint of war and colonialism on Africa in his films Niaye (1964), Emitaï (1971) and Camp de Thiaroye (1988).

Hybridité Et Ironie Dans Le Mandat D’Ousmane Sembène, Florence Leca Mercier

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Hybridity is the discursive pattern which best expresses the postcolonial experience. Given the interweaving of the aesthetic and the political projects in Sembène’s work, we would like to show that stylistic hybridity in the short story Le mandat emerges in three fields, lexical, enunciative and intertextual, and generates irony, thus connecting aesthetics and politics. In terms of lexicon, hybridity means a combination of idioms or registers; as far as enunciation is concerned, hybridity meets the “discours mixtes” as defined by Laurence Rosier; finally, we can see an intertextual hybridity: Le mandat is built on an underlying folktale structure which relevance …

Éditorial, Jean Ouedraogo

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Les Actes Révolutionnaires De La Gent Féminine Dans Les Bouts De Bois De Dieu D’Ousmane Sembène, Assane Ndiaye

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

As a committed writer, Ousmane Sembène reminds the critical struggles led by women during the railway workers’ strike with the intention of taking part in the establishment of more fair world. The social commitment of the man originated from Ziguinchor is supported by various feminine figures embodying the ideology of the Senegalese novelist about freedom of speech. In order to show that Sembène is a revolutionary, we focused on ten militants in Les bouts de bois de Dieu. Through a sociocritical approach, this article has tried to reveal women’s activism.

Index (N° 100)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Front Matter And Table Of Contents (N° 100)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

De Marseille À Moscou : Retour Sur Le Contexte Politique Des Années De Formation D’Ousmane Sembène (1946-1962), Gabrielle Chomentowsky

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article seeks to reconsider through some archival documents and testimonies the first years of political and artistic formation of the writer-filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, from his years in Marseille to his first trips to the Soviet Union in 1958 and 1962.

Écritures Dans Les Films D’Ousmane Sembène : Enjeux Linguistiques Et Réception Cinématographique, Louis Ndong

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The article deals with the written elements in Ousmane Sembène’s films. I point out all aspects relating to the written canal in Sembène’s cinematographic productions (opening and end titles, signs, mentions on cars, etc.). The interest of the study lies in the functions assigned to the written canal in interplay with the dialogues and sounds, but also in the use of languages in writings and the challenges that are linked to it. Through the analysis, we can observe written elements in Wolof as well as in French, two languages which play an important role in Sembène’s cinematographic aesthetics.

La Diffusion En France Des Longs Métrages D’Ousmane Sembène, Claude Forest

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Ousmane Sembène is one of the French-speaking South Saharan African directors who has been the most prolific, but also, with Idrissa Ouédraogo, the one who has been the most broadcast in French cinemas during his lifetime. Although many of his films were favorably received by critics, they met with very little enthusiasm among French viewers, its recognition by certain cinematic circles and its aesthetic aura being thus incomparable with its commercial success. The analysis points to Ousmane Sembène’s real strategy, which adopted a strategy of international recognition by festivals, not by foreign audiences.

Logique Mathématique Dans Le Docker Noir D’Ousmane Sembène, Pierre Ndemby Mamfoumby

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

The present article examines Le docker noir taking into account the narrative trajectory of Diaw Falla as well as the triangular relationship between Diaw-Catherine-Ginette which inscribes the novel in what we call a "double negative narrative". The narrative, through intertextual contamination with the story of Sirius, the slave trader, not only translates the separation/loss of Senegalese symbols and identity on the other side of the Atlantic, but also allows us to look at the novel as an indication of inequality, a place of sometimes impossible transmission and reconciliation with African historical memory through slavery. Studying the narrative from a mathematical …

Du Dialogue Au Dialogisme : Enjeux Du Style Dans Le Mandat, Fortuné Nkonene-Benha

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article takes an analytical look at the Ousmane Sembène’s novelistic prose: precisely he proposes a poetic and stylizing reading of Le mandat. First grasping the textual structure of this classical work from dialogue, we show its characteristics (psittacism of the characters, polemical exchanges under apparent dialectical interactions, presence of epistolary exchanges). In a second movement, the enunciative heterogeneity laid bare enables us to confirm a cultural hypotext that deeply works on the Sembenian literary language, putting it on a popular invoice. Finally, the analysis succeeds in identifying the “literal novel” as an aesthetic category and scriptural parade that …

Chronologie D’Ousmane Sembène : Trajectoire, Oeuvres Et Contextes, Edoardo Cagnan

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This chronology is based on several research works, as well as on several other chronologies. Conceived as a pedagogical tool, its aim is to show Sembène’s trajectory in the literary and cinematographic fields. The novelist-filmmaker’s life and work are linked to other political and cultural events that have marked Senegal, sub-Saharan Africa, the black world, and the French-speaking world.

Livres Reçus (N° 100)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Abstracts (N° 100)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Parties Annexes (N° 100)

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Exploring Friendships In J.R.R. Tolkien’S Novels And Adaptations: A Study In Social Media, Fandoms, And Variations, Ashley D. Anderson

Student Theses

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy and their adaptations all reveal the importance of friendship and fandom. Utilizing theorists Walter Benjamin and Henry Jenkins the friendship theme is seen in the various stylistic elements in the films and novels; additionally, a look into the fandom presence on social media, their knowledge, and merchandise reveals why the stories have continued to interest audiences over many generations.

Présentation, Mbaye Diouf, Edoardo Cagnan

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

No abstract provided.

Urban Space, Genre And Subjectivity In African And Latin American Cinema, Matthew Marcus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project studies twelve African and Latin American films from a range of eras and countries, with an emphasis on their treatment of urban space, their manipulation of genre elements, and their approaches to character subjectivity. The analysis draws on major works of urban theory by Henri Lefebvre, Manuel Castells, David Harvey, Jane Jacobs, and others in order to investigate the relationship between cinema and the urban experience. As the films in the study are mostly set in cities that are not discussed by the theorists, the analysis entails testing their theories against the realities of these other settings, as …

Mood: A Zine Exploring The Value Of Youth-Oriented Media, Patricia K. Paul

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Media is a constant, persistent force in human lives that informs and influences through published, broadcasted, and digitally mediated formats. Mass media industries produce and distribute content consumed by diverse audiences, though the facilitators represent only a fraction of the demographics they serve.

Youth denote one of the most frequently misrepresented groups, with very few practical opportunities for young people to make decisions about the texts available to them. A jarring absence of youth participation in media creation at all levels suggests cultural contributions through art exclude young people's authentic perspectives and desires. Moreover, media portrayals of youth cannot adequately …

Fantasmas Compartidos: Posmemoria, Herencia Y Reescritura De La Guerra Civil Española En México Y España, Mayte Lopez Sanchez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes contemporary novels and films about the traumatic legacies of the Spanish Civil War through the lens of postmemory, memory studies, and transatlantic studies. I examine how Mexican and Spanish writers and filmmakers from the postwar generations approach the memories of their ancestors—and their own—to reframe history through fiction, memory work, and personal agency. Studies about historical memory are typically constrained to national contexts, but I highlight how trauma transcends the nation not only in space but also in time. Moreover, I focus on how inherited memories acquire new meanings in contemporary representations and how those resignifications have …

Only For The Pleasure Of Telling: Filling The Void In Pasolini's Trilogia Della Vita, Courtney Munson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since Pasolini deliberately cultivated an unrecognizable and illegible public image that embraced incoherence, much of the scholarship surrounding him is plagued by contradictions and mutual exclusivity. For some, Pasolini was a utopian prophet, for others apocalyptic, but most agree that he, through his transmedial and highly self-inscribed life-work, was responding primarily to the crises of neocapitalist consumerism, especially its degenerative effects on sexual conventions and the body. Through an investigation of Pasolini’s controversial essays on film theory, the details of his biography, and the films of the Trilogia della vita, this thesis argues that it is a mistake to …

Becoming George Lucas: From Avant-Garde, Auteur, Independent Artist To Studio Executive, Ryan Thompson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Because of the unprecedented popularity of Star Wars, George Lucas, the creator of the multi-media franchise, is one of the most well-known filmmakers in history. What makes Lucas’s relationship with Star Wars unique is that because the franchise has continually been exploited rather than left as a single unchanging, static text, its artistic value, along with Lucas’s legacy, is in constant flux and is often misunderstood. In other words, depending on Star Wars’s position in the public zeitgeist at a given time, Lucas is either revered, detested, or considered incompetent as a filmmaker. While there is no denying …

Muscling Through: Athletic Women In Victorian Popular Representation, 1864–1915, Julia G. Fuller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Muscling Through” reconstructs an overlooked history of strong female bodies in the nineteenth century. It argues that popular representations of athletic women introduced a new category of identity that was distinct from women’s traditional relational and social roles. The project’s central figure is the hyper-able “Sportswoman,” who bridges the gap between two familiar versions of the Victorian woman’s body: the mid-century ideal of docile, domesticated femininity and the sturdy, capable women who enter universities, professions, and public spaces en masse just before the turn of the century. Representationally, the Sportswoman figures a range of attitudes, from anxious to aspirational, toward …

A Diachronic, Scale-Flexible, Relational, Perspectival Operation: In Defense Of (Always-Reforming) Medium Specificity, Jordan Sjol

Film and Media Arts Faculty Publications

At least since Friedrich Kittler declared fiber-optic cable the “end of media,” there has been an idea in cinema and media studies that as all media become digital, the concept of medium specificity makes less and less sense. Meanwhile, many wonder if our field is coherent, as media scholars turn their attention to such objects as dust, cities, and whales. I argue that digital convergence makes medium specificity more rather than less vital, though in a reformed formulation. While our far-flung objects cannot cohere our discipline, a use of medium specificity as a diachronic, scale-flexible, relational, perspectival operation can.

An Ambiguous Hermeneutic: Doubleness In Ingmar Bergman’S Quest For Self, Ingy Aziz

Theses and Dissertations

One of the functions of art in all its forms is to provide the means for self-exploration and, in this way, to enable us to relate cultural representation to the question of meaning. The beauty of cinematic art is that it gives voice to our deepest and most profound concerns and enables us to bridge the gap between personal psychology and public understanding. As interpreters, we do not always unearth the answers that we seek, but we certainly gain more insight through delving into the minds of major filmmakers in the canon of modern cinema. This thesis is on the …

An Analysis On The Florida Project, Capucine Rosier

University Honors Theses

The Florida Project is a contemporary movie filmed by independent director Sean Baker. This movie tackles different social and institutional issues across America, specifically the outdated welfare system and the rise of homelessness among young children. This paper is determined to analyze the different social and ethical concerns filmed throughout the movie and offer my interpretation of the film. Digging deeper into artistic pieces is essential as hidden messages are portrayed in every way. Censorship and display through art have been a form of individual expression since the beginning. This thesis will discuss how the filmmaker filmed and showcased the …