Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Kat & Lily: An Original Screenplay, Isabella Engelhard

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In Kat & Lily, my screenplay focuses on the strained relationship between two sisters and their approach to love, life, and self-actualization. Kat, the older sister, is a wild child and Lily, the youngest, has a much more practical approach to life. Their parents divorced when they were young, thus causing both sisters to approach love in different ways. On one hand, Kat uses her sexuality to gain power over men, and on the other hand, Lily feels that her brain is more important than her body. My screenplay is very much a romantic comedy trope, however, I wanted to …

Nick Fury, Will Smith, And Other Black Authority Figures Breaking The Racial Contract In Popular Films Of 2000-2015, Solai N. Wyman

Master's Theses

Film is arguably a model of reflection and reinforcement of cultural, social, and political values of audience members. Therefore, the images and messages displayed in films are of importance. In this study, film is analyzed in order to determine if Charles Mills’ racial contract is depicted in popular films of 2000-2015. The Racial Contract (1997) suggests that only some people, specifically white people, agree to form a state in which their absolute privileges in the political, economic, and social arenas are guaranteed by virtue of being white. This theory was used to understand the role of black people in American …

Story Problem Solving, Brian D. Kalina

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project paper will explore and define the relationship between the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) and the timeless concept of storytelling. Since the beginning of time, people have been sharing stories to relate their experiences and their solutions to overcome challenges and obstacles. CPS is a more modern methodology that aids people in their approach and their ability to generate plans and solutions to overcome challenges and obstacles. Therefore, the premise of this project is to seek answers to the questions; (1) How might we look to stories as frameworks for solving our problems? and (2) How might we marry …

Indoctrination Over Objectivity? Examining Breitbart's Framing Of Candidates And Social Issues In The 2016 Election, Marrissa S. Ballard

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

During the 2016 election, Breitbart News became a key conservative source in reporting on the candidates and social issues. Drawing on scholars who have studied news media and politics, this paper uses content analysis to dissect what specific frames appear in Breitbart's coverage. The study finds that Breitbart departs from typical journalistic standards, reinforces problematic gender and racial stereotypes, and utilizes propaganda tactics to spread conservative ideologies. Though it was once considered a fringe source, Breitbart's growing and highly engaged audience demonstrates the platform's potential to shape political discourse and even influence election outcomes.

Gender In Black And White: Examining Interracial Relationships In Shondaland, Caitlin V. Downing

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Shonda Rhimes has been credited for crafting progressive television dramas that attract millions of viewers. Scholars have found that through the use of tactics like colorblind casting, Rhimes unintentionally creates problematic relationships between characters. Focusing on production techniques and dialogue, this paper examines episodes from two of her most popular shows, How To Get Away With Murder and Scandal. This paper argues that while the shows pursue progressive material, the shows present African-American female characters that require partners. Further, both white male characters negatively influence the women s independence. Through media representations, Shonda Rhimes shows reinforce inequality of race and …

Poor Little Rich Girl, What Does She Know About Misery? : The Significance And Symbolism Of Rose In James Cameron's Titanic, Matthew Levine

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This thesis draws attention to and analyzes the various choices made by James Cameron for the characterization of Rose in Titanic, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary. While many scholars have defined the hidden meaning behind other directorial aspects, this thesis will take a more interpretive approach in connecting Rose's character journey to her changing appearance on screen, her character defining actions and words, and her overall relationship with Jack. Rose reveals herself as a strong, modern woman throughout the film, and serves as an example of how costume design and dialogue and action mirrors the personal growth of …

@Ctress To @Ctivist: Sophia Bush's Activism & Self-Branding Through Twitter, Katie Persechino

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

This study analyzes actress Sophia Bush s Twitter account in terms of activism and self-branding, as she tweets out daily to millions of followers. While scholars have studied social media use for other celebrities in terms of self-branding, none have looked at the celebrity use of social media for activism. One hundred tweets from Bush s Twitter page are randomly selected and categorized in order to determine what kind of social media presence Bush creates. It is concluded that Bush s brand goes beyond her profession of an actress and includes her activist Twitter presence to where her title becomes …

Beacon, Samantha Eroche

Senior Honors Theses

Beacon is a short, relatively low production value screenplay about two people coming to know each other better, about them coming to know themselves better and to grow as human beings. When Kate Clarence realizes she’s discovered the journal of her favorite pen-named author from childhood—“C. Rimes”—she embarks on a journey to return it to him, whoever he is. She’s delinquent on her rent, her bookshop’s failing, she’s far from her landlocked Midwest home and family, and she’s single; the obligation to return the journal is a welcomed adventure and reprieve. However, when she comes to the conclusion that C. …

Re::Humanity, Paisley Summer Ford

Senior Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Immigrant Stories: Exploring The Conflicts That A Filmmaker Must Face In A Documentary, Berenice Saez Briceno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study attempts to address the personal conflicts that a filmmaker must face in the making of a documentary. It contrasts definitions and theories with the experience of producing the documentary entitled Immigrant Stories and the ethical implications of making it. To conclude, it summarizes the results of the study as final thoughts.

Duality, The Methodology Of Shooting A Documentary As A One-Man Crew, James Mcmahen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will discuss Duality, a long-form documentary about artistic nude models who also create art involving the nude female form. This thesis will discuss the inspiration for the film, as well as the deciding factors that made me choose this as the topic for my thesis documentary.

This thesis will also cover the process and methodology of shooting a documentary as a one-man crew, beginning with the process of preproduction, then the principal photography of the documentary, followed by the editing and postproduction process, and finally premiering the final film.

Man/Boy., Nick Hartman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Verisimilitude, or the appearance of being true, is a concept I turn upside down; relating it to a guise I wear as a contemporary male in a society dictated by learned social behavior and gender norms. Cultural iconography and expected gender norms are tropes I confront within my artwork. Drawings of seemingly everyday objects act as meditations or a fetishized repetition of supposed unobtainable objects and ideals that deal with masculine societal norms. Manliness, machismo, masculinity… it is all a culturally learned and expected pose placed on all men. Coming to the realization that I do not necessarily fit …

Modern Palestinian Filmmaking In A Global World, Sarah Frances Hudson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs a comprehensive approach to analyze the cinematic accent of feature length, fictional Palestinian cinema and offers concrete criteria to define the genre of Palestinian fictional film that go beyond traditional, nation-centered approaches to defining films. Employing Arjun Appardurai’s concepts of financescapes, technoscapes, mediascapes, ethnoscapes, and ideoscapes, I analyze the filmic accent of six Palestinian filmmakers: Michel Khleifi, Rashid Masharawi, Ali Nassar, Elia Suleiman, Hany Abu Assad, and Annemarie Jacir. After a detailed examination of each filmmaker’s body of work, I examine the trends that occur across the genre that have the greatest impact on the Palestinian filmic …

Van Gogh: Changing Perceptions Of Mental Illness And Art, E. Deidre Pribram Ph.D.

Communications: Faculty Publications

This chapter explores interconnections among conceptualizations of mental illness, artistic genius, and emotional suffering. It does so through the extended example of Vincent Van Gogh from 1890, the year of his death, to the 1990s, a period of record-breaking sales of his work. My intention is to assess, first, how popular culture in contrast to modernist high art circles regard the place of emotionality in aesthetic activity. Second, I examine the role of emotions and emotional disorders in public perceptions of mental illness when applied to twentieth century art. Emotional disorders, as I use the term, encompass mood, anxiety, and …

Of Sharks And Spaceships: The Role Of The Tuba In John Williams's Film Scores For Jaws And Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Stephen Davis Turner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document examines John Williams’s use of the tuba in his film scores. This unique timbral element has significant narrative implications in these movies. Film music scholarship is more often concerned with the questions of psychoanalysis, gendered readings, and other theoretical apparatuses than with how film composers score for individual instruments. My research aims to shift this focus by demonstrating that Williams used the tuba in his scores for more than typical “underscoring” or standard sectional playing, but as an integral part of the film narrative to be noticed and “read” by audiences. In both Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters …

Media Erotics & Adaptation: A Comparative Textual Analysis Of Carmilla, Rebecca Wait

Honors Projects

This project is concerned with understanding the different ways in which Carmilla (1872), a gothic novella, and it’s 2014 web series adaptation differently approach the same basic narrative, especially with regards to their respective representations of individuals who identify as sexual and gender minorities. One of the major functions of importance in this study was to understand the temporality and cultural conditions, which lead to the perceived need for a postmodern adaptation of a pre-modernist text. Through textual analysis, the author compared J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (1872) to Jordan Hall's adaptation (2014). In this analysis, significant differences existed between …

Tuesday In Winter Valley, Nicholas Redding

Honors Projects

Tuesday in Winter Valley is a short student film about a difficult day in the life of a college transgender woman and how she stands up for herself. The film was shot in the Spring 2017 semester and its anticipated premiere is the Fall of 2017. Tuesday is an entirely student-run production with help from the BGSU Department of Theatre and Film.

"This Aggression Will Not Stand": The Coens On Masculinity, Evan Kelly

Honors Projects

This research examines the constructions of masculinity within the films of Joel and Ethan Coen. Through textual analysis of three film, Raising Arizona (1987), Fargo (1996), and The Big Lebowski (1998), three key themes emerge: masculinity as performance, children and family as ego extensions, toxic masculinity personified, and children and redemption through rejection of hegemonic masculinity. Comprehensively, the paper seeks to prove the Coens uniquely construct masculinity as a performance which can override public policy and interpersonal prosperity. This research serves several functions. First, it recasts the Coens as cutting-edge progressive filmmakers, despite their protestations to the contrary. What we …

The Portrayal Of Child Soldiers In Documentaries And Hollywood Film, Jessica Tassava

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

People in the United States are becoming increasingly mindful of child soldiers, with film being a critical means of bringing about awareness. However, awareness can be dependent upon media representation since most individuals in the U.S. do not have direct experiences with child soldiers. The purpose of the present study is to discover how the media has portrayed child soldiers in Hollywood films and documentaries, with an emphasis on the portrayal of violence, the role of women, and the reintegration experiences of child soldiers that are shown. Through a combined qualitative and quantitative content analysis, this study explores the depictions …

Letter From The Department Of Theatre, Dance & Film To The Dominican Fathers And Sisters, Department Of Theatre, Dance & Film

Playbill and Promotion

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film

Letter from the Department of Theatre, Dance & Film to the Dominican Fathers and Sisters inviting them to the Student Film Festival.

April 28, 2017

Mainstream Versus Ethnic Media: How They Shape Ethnic Pride And Self-Esteem Among Ethnic Minority Audiences, Srividya Ramasubramanian, Marissa Joanna Doshi, Muniba Saleem

Media Studies - All Scholarship

This article explores the underlying processes that influence the ways in which mainstream and ethnic media shape ethnic minority audiences’ self-concepts. Ethnic minorities are often underrepresented and presented in stereotypical and negative ways in mainstream popular U.S. culture, while ethnic media tend to represent them in more diverse and auspicious ways. This study uses survey methodology to simultaneously assess the differential effects of mainstream and ethnic media on ethnic minorities. Specifically, it tests the role of mainstream media and ethnic media in influencing ethnic pride, self-esteem, and ethnic performance (behavioral expression of one’s ethnic identity) among Indian Americans. Results from …

Cli-­Fi Cinema: An Epideictic Rhetoric Of Blame, Chloe Louise Powell

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

This thesis identifies and explains the mechanisms within two cli­-fi films, The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008), and Interstellar (2014), to offer an account of: (1) their purpose in helping us to understand and cope with climate change, and (2) their use in the transmission of values and ideologies in order to build and strengthen community. Because cli­-fi films begin from a dystopic vision of a possible future, it fulfills the "blame" function of epideictic in order to provoke the "ecological imagination." Through this provocation we are then provided the possibility of hope and redemption through the adoption of …

Blade Runner And The Divine Menace, Alexander W. Pickens

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

Following the decline of Christianity in mainstream Western culture, a void rose in the moral and societal code. Those writers that emerged presented alternate visions that worked their way into the literature of the 20th century. Karl Marx's interpretation of the structure of labor in capitalism presented a new societal hierarchy whose finer points have been worked out in the complex film Blade Runner. This dystopian nightmare, in which a Marxist interpretation of current society bogged down by the ennui of capitalist accumulation is confronted, describes a new religious order based upon this economic theory. Central to this reimagining …

Female Moments / Male Structures: The Representation Of Women In Romantic Comedies, Jordan A. Scharaga

Media and Communication Studies Honors Papers

Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again. With this formula it seems that romantic comedies are actually meant for men instead of women. If this is the case, then why do women watch these films? The repetition of female stars like Katharine Hepburn, Doris Day and Meg Ryan in romantic comedies allows audiences to find elements of truth in their characters as they grapple with the input of others in their life choices, combat the anxiety of being single, and prove they are less sexually naïve than society would like to admit. In 1999, a character struggles …

Homosociality In Michael Radford’S "The Merchant Of Venice", Eric A. Pitz

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

Faint Glimmers Of Civilization: Mediated Nostalgia And “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Jamie L. Bick

Cinesthesia

This paper explores how Wes Anderson strategically uses nostalgia in his 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel as a form of social commentary on the European interwar period and its relation to the current historical era.

Understanding Loss Of Self In "My Beautiful Broken Brain", Erika P. Collin

Cinesthesia

No abstract provided.

The Value Of Parental Co-Viewing On Children And Families, Alison Work

Cinesthesia

When we think back to movie watching in the sixties, we typically picture a family sitting around the television and experiencing the film together. Nowadays, it is common for parents to put on a movie for their child to watch while they focus on other tasks. In our modern, fast paced environment, with movies available to stream at all times, the act of watching a movie as a family has become increasingly rare, and there has been a lack of parental monitoring of media. Consequently, films are not being utilized to their full potential. Films can have a tremendous impact …

Movies In Medicine: Cinema Therapy For Children Suffering From Chronic Health Conditions, Wesley D. Buskirk

Cinesthesia

Children suffering from chronic health conditions endure many traumatic experiences, which often result in physiological turmoil. Physiological turmoil from posttraumatic stress can negatively impact pediatric patients' treatments and frequently requires therapy to promote psychological well-being, physical health, and lifelong coping methods. Cinema therapy, also known as movie therapy, utilizes narrative-based audiovisual stimuli as a therapeutic catalyst for child medical patients suffering from chronic health conditions.

1st Place Contest Entry: Critical Media Literacy: Liberating The "Criminal" And Empowering African American Males, Talia Cain

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Talia Cain's submission for the 2017 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. She wrote about how media contributes to the criminalization of African American males and the effects of this on African American male students.

Talia is a sophomore at Chapman University, majoring in Integrated Educational Studies. Her faculty mentor is Professor Anne Steketee.