Other Film and Media Studies Commons^™

The Existential Ambiguity Of Authentic Love In Alice Diop's Saint Omer, Kelli Fuery

CCI Articles and Research

Using Simone de Beauvoir's and Frantz Fanon's existentialist phenomenology, this article examines an existentialist ethics of recognition as an act of authentic love in Alice Diop's Saint Omer (2022). Loosely based on a true story, Saint Omer tells a story of filicide: Laurence Coly leaves her baby on a beach to die and we follow the subsequent courtroom drama as it unfolds. The film also follows Rama, a literature professor intending to write up the case as a contemporary version of the Medea myth. I suggest Saint Omer presents an ethics of recognition in its avoidance of the superficial question …

The Weight Of The Unknown: Xenophobia In Lucía Puenzo’S Xxy, Daylen Motamed

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project examines how Lucía Puenzo’s film titled XXY critiques societal responses to unique identities (specifically intersex as an example), asking how xenophobia and normative gender expectations shape the marginalization of bodies that exist outside the binary. Situating the film within scholarship on queer adolescence and intersex representation, the analysis of this poster will argue that XXY exposes how institutions such as medicine and family reinforce harmful notions of “normalization.”

Drawing on close textual analysis of key scenes and engagement with critical sources, including Guillermo Olivera’s work on space and visibility and testimonies from intersex individuals, this study investigates how …

How Integration Of Hollywood Techniques Benefits Filmmakers And Improves Viewership: Application Of Bong Joon Ho’S Work, Lucy Cronin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Bong Joon Ho utilizes techniques derived from Hollywood cinema to transcend borders globally, informing viewers about the socio-politics in South Korea while engaging them as well. Based on Film Scholar Andrew Higson’s theory that Hollywood is everywhere, I argue that by analyzing three of Bong Joon Ho’s films, Memories of Murder (2003), Mother (2009), and Parasite (2019), it is understood that through the language of imagery, South Korean socio-politics can be understood. Comprehensive literature reviews of the film's commentary on socio-political circumstances that reflect South Korea’s past or current struggles, and comparisons of the cinematography of critical scenes in the …

Between Authenticity And Exploitation: Rethinking The Intended Audience Of Sean Baker's Tangerine, Ava Brandt

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Sean Baker's Tangerine (2015) has generated genuinely divided responses among trans critics, and for good reason. This paper takes that division seriously, using two reviews published on Autostraddle within six weeks of each other to frame a central question: who is Tangerine actually for? Existing scholarship on trans cinema has tended to evaluate films on a spectrum from exploitative to affirming, but this paper argues that framework is insufficient for a film like Tangerine, which operates as both simultaneously. Through close reading of the film alongside its production history, paratexts, and reception, and drawing on Paige Macintosh's scholarship on trans …

2nd Place Contest Entry: "Destablizing U.S.-Japan Relations: Nikkatsu Film Noir As Postwar Social Critique", Thomas Graham Buchanan

Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Library Research Prize

This is Thomas Buchanan's submission for the 2026 Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Research Prize, which won second place. It contains their essay on using library resources, a summary of their research project on how a generation of Japanese filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s borrowed the formal strategies of Hollywood film noir to mount a critique of U.S. Cold War policy, and their bibliography.

Thomas is a student in the Master of Arts in Film & Media Studies program at Chapman University. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Emily Carman.

Thomas' thesis is the scholarship that emerged from the research discussed …

Animals In Entertainment: Ethical Considerations, Industry Regulations, Incidents, And The Future Of Animal Performers, Kendyll Conlisk

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Some of our favorite films, theatre productions, and live performances involve animals. A Dog's Purpose, Annie, Barnum and Bailey circus; the list is endless. But have you ever wondered, "How do they train them?" and "Is this benefiting or harming the animals?" Animals in entertainment have a long history dating back to ancient civilizations. Research done by World Animal Protection found that three out of four tourist animal attractions involve some form of animal abuse, and up to 550,000 animals around the world suffer due to these cruel attractions for human amusement. This does not imply that all animals used …

Opening The Door Of The Celluloid Closet, Melissa Hernandez

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

While watching the documentary, The Celluloid Closet, I was instantly intrigued by how queer people and cinema mixed. Going as far back to the black and white, silent films era, queer people have been used as comedic relief, but not in an appealing way. Constantly being the butt of the joke, disregard for queer people became so normalized that certain tropes started popping up in cinema. One trope that we can still see be used frequently in today’s films is the “bury your gays” trope (also known as the “dead lesbians syndrome”) where queer characters in cinema are not …

Death, Violence, And Condemnation: The News Media Coverage Of The 1981 Prisoners’ Hunger Strike In Northern Ireland In The United Kingdom And Ireland, Tyler Coker

Voces Novae

No abstract provided.

“More Than What [They] Made Us To Be”: From Passing To Perception In Victorian And Modern Vampire Media, Lauren Sieberg

English (MA) Theses

Throughout Victorian Gothic horror fiction, vampires function as deviant figures, maneuvering within social confines of passing until their status quo-threatening identity is exposed. Of the popular vampires from this period, most gradually fail to maintain status as social insiders—as demonstrated with Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula or Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, who possess the temporary capacity to pass until their hidden monstrosity is revealed over time. Even if Gothic monsters are confined to a limited space and time far from society, this is still not enough; in accordance with the Victorian culture of morality policing by dominant groups, the vampiric Other …

Her Hideous Progeny: Frankenstein'S Legacy, Adaptability, And Contemporary Prominence To Critical Story Telling, Ryan Penske

English (MA) Theses

This thesis situates the narrative of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley with two contemporary adaptations Get Out (2017) by Jordan Peele and Poor Things (2023) by Yorgos Lanthimos. The original 1818 Frankenstein text is composed of different discourses about race, gender, monstrosity, and what it means to be an abject other. As a text full of critical discourse, it has reached great popular culture legacy and has become adapted numerous times over the past two centuries. This thesis explores and acknowledges instances where the text has been adapted and applied to harmful discourses, such as British Prime Minister George Canning’s use …

Parasocial Relationships In Children And Teens, Bradley J. Bond, Karen E. Dill-Shackleford, Jayson L. Dibble, Tracy R. Gleason, Nancy Jennings, Sara Rosaen, Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster

Communication Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"Young people have easy access to an array of fictional characters and celebrities, many of whom exist across platforms (e.g., protagonists from the graphic novel Heartstopper now appear in live-action on Netflix) and are manifested in toys and other merchandise. Children and adolescents often create powerful, socioemotional connections with fictional characters and celebrities called parasocial relationships (PSRs). Preschoolers clutching Elmo dolls, tweens fantasizing about interactions with TikTok influencers, and queer teens finding affirmation in a gay couple on Schitt’s Creek all hint at possible PSRs. These one-sided, imagined social ties might raise concerns for parents and other stakeholders; however, PSRs …

Aging, Empathy, And Cinematic Metamorphosis: Through The Lens Of Agnès Varda, Nam Lee

Film and Media Arts Faculty Articles and Research

This video essay examines Agnès Varda’s intricate portrayal of aging, resonating with Simone de Beauvoir’s call to break the silence on this subject. Composed exclusively of Varda’s film clips, it highlights her enduring engagement with aging and invites viewers to see it as a space of freedom and creative expression.

“Elegy For A Flower” - Remote Orchestral Session/Score-Focused Film, Logyn Okuda

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Within the many aspects of a film exists the epicenter that is visual storytelling. Music production within film always becomes a point of discussion after the fact, as composers will use their musical expertise to aid the established vision of the filmmaker. Despite music technology having evolved to recreate the sound of an orchestra, the role of music remains the same. However, what if the roles were reversed? Through this endeavor, I sought out to find the impact of a multimedia work when music becomes the primary focus of storytelling. Explored in the past by Disney's "Fantasia" and Phillip Glass' …

Animating Gender: Conflicting Narrative And Character Design In Gravity Falls, Laine Marshall

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

This thesis analyzes the character designs from the Disney XD animated series Gravity Falls (Alex Hirsch, 2012-2016) through a third-wave feminist lens, arguing that these designs reflect an essentialized perception of gender that is in conflict with the themes of acceptance present in the series’ narrative. The series’ narrative pushes forth the idea that female characters are the moral center of the series and serve as an example to their peers, that they are self-assured and in control, and that men can push past any ignorance to care for the people around them, but this effort is undermined by the …

Lifelong Movie Goers, Hardworking Filmmakers, And Oscars Discourse, Haley Kamola

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This paper focuses on the discourse surrounding the Academy Awards, often referred to as the Oscars. The differences in discourse between people working in the film industry and those who watch movies are analyzed, as they represent the supplier and recipient of films and filmmaking. These two groups offer varied perspectives on the topic. The discourse of another group, a group in-between–student filmmakers–is also analyzed. To many people, what makes a film “good” is quite subjective, so the Academy Awards are often a subject of discourse. One particular focus of discourse will be the 2024 Academy Awards. There were a …

Sensorial Memories: A Cinema Speculum In Aftersun(2022) And Petite Maman(2021), Tingyi Zhu

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

In her 1975 article "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," Laura Mulvey used psychoanalysis as a political weapon to critique the issue of the male gaze in traditional Hollywood narrative cinema. Mulvey's work is pioneering for feminist film studies but was criticized and reexamined among film and feminist scholars. Building on the precedent of Mulvey and the feminist research of Luce Irigaray, contemporary scholar Lucy Bolton has proposed the camera as an "Irigarayan speculum," explaining how certain contemporary films delve into female characters' inner worlds, creating them with subjectivity and diversity. Drawing on contemporary feminist film theories and phenomenology theories, I …

‘Samoye Vazhnoye’: Behind The Scenes Of Russian Cinema, 1908–1924, Katerina Ludwig

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

From the first decade of the 20^th century to the middle of the 1920s, cinema in Russia exposed how politics and the modern medium were inseparably intertwined. As works that were produced during a period of great turmoil and uncertainty, films revealed more than a unilateral relationship. Cinema was used in Russia in the late-Imperial and early Soviet eras as an active tool of entertainment, propaganda, art, education, and intellectual discussion. Studying its intersectional nature illuminates areas obscured by purely political or artistic perspectives, which tell either opposite or mutually emboldening tales. This thesis argues on behalf of both …

3rd Place Contest Entry: From Film Sets To Front Lines And Back Again: Reinventing Star Image In Post-World War Ii Hollywood, Livia Belen Lozoya

Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Library Research Prize

This is Livia Lozoya's submission for the 2024 Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Research Prize, which won third place. It contains their essay on using library resources, their bibliography, and a summary of their research project on established movie stars who voluntarily left their lives of luxury to serve in World War II and returned to a changed postwar film industry, specifically James Stewart, Robert Montgomery, Marlene Dietrich, and Myrna Loy.

Livia is a student in the Masters of Arts in Film and Media Studies program at Chapman University. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Emily Carman. Her thesis, available here, …

Resistencia Artística Bajo Dictaduras En Argentina Y España A Través De La Lente De Las Teorías De Comunicación, Adrian Self, Adrian Self

World Languages and Cultures Student Papers and Posters

Under dictatorships in Spain and Argentina, artists used their mediums to criticize the actions of the Catholic church and oppressive conditions enforced by the government, using allegories, metaphors, and symbolism in their art. While many artists tried to create works that fell within authoritarian guidelines, others intentionally created cinema and literature criticizing the Argentine and Spanish governments, values, and practices, knowing the works would be banned. This investigation uses examples of cinema and literature created and published deliberately to be prohibited or censored under the regimen of Francisco Franco from 1939-1975 in Spain or the last civil-military dictatorship from 1976-1983 …

Choric Sounds: The Intervention Of Women’S Soundscapes In The City And Cinema, Kelli Fuery

Film and Media Arts Faculty Articles and Research

"This paper proposes that sonic mapping of space, sensibility and power structures through cinematic representation of urban places has subsequently taken on imaginations that have become part of socio-cultural and socio-political experience. Sound and image have combined, establishing a spectoral environment that enables the viewer to engage both inner and outer worlds in embodied perception. Mary Beard notes, ‘when written evidence for Western culture starts, women’s voices are not being heard in the public sphere. … an integral part of growing up, as a man, is learning to take control of public utterance and to silence the female of the …

7th Annual Chapman Staff Art Exhibition Program, Chapman University Staff

Library Displays and Bibliographies

The Leatherby Libraries Hall of Art was established to showcase the creativity of the Chapman community. It was dedicated for this purpose in 2014 although the space has been available for staff and student exhibits since 2011. While past staff art exhibits featured work by Leatherby Libraries staff members only, this is our fifth year opening up the exhibit to any interested staff member of Chapman University.

The 21 artists represented here demonstrate the wide variety of talent at our university. From photography to painting, mosaics to film, the works you see here provide a unique opportunity to view and …

A "Misfit" Revision: Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable And Transitional Stardom In Postwar Hollywood, Emily Carman

Film and Media Arts Faculty Articles and Research

Director John Huston’s The Misfits (1961) was one of the most volatile productions of his career, with its ensemble cast headlined by a trio of screen icons: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift. Drawing on new archival research, I argue that The Misfits illuminates the transition from old to New Hollywood in terms of its behind-the-scenes star negotiations of Gable and Monroe, who had varying levels of creative control to appear in the film. My analysis of their respective deals underscores how The Misfits anticipates the shift from the female driven star system of Classical Hollywood to the male …

The Disintegration Of Marriage In Ryusuke Hamaguchi’S Happy Hour (2015), Afra Nariman

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

By using Happy Hour as a case study, this thesis argues Ryusuke Hamaguchi's approach to the Japanese home drama genre presents a changing perspective on the institution of marriage in contemporary Japanese society, reflecting shifts in gender roles and the growing trend of singlehood amongst Japanese youth. This perspective contrasts with the values portrayed in Ozu's films, which emphasize the vitality of marriage and the necessity of forming a family for happiness. The thesis analyzes the thematic and narrative elements of Happy Hour, focusing on the portrayal of marriage as a source of alienation and loneliness. It also discusses the …

Sociocultural Pressures Among Parents Of Queer Children In Films With Non-Western Environments, Samay Bhasin

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The heteronormative and cisnormative nature of society has required queer individuals to undergo the phenomenon of “coming out” as their queer identity. This phenomenon has the potential to take great tolls on queer individuals especially when it comes to parents. Queer individuals with unaccepting parents are eight times more likely to attempt suicide, six times more likely to experience clinical depression, and three times more likely to suffer under substance abuse (Ryan et al., 2009; Ryan et al., 2010). However despite such concerning statistics, there is still a significant gap in scientific research on creating supportive environments …

Biblography For George Takei Display, Ruby Blakesleay

Library Displays and Bibliographies

A bibliography created to accompany a display about George Takei in November 2022 at the Leatherby Libraries to commemorate his visit to Chapman University.

Traumas And Recovery In Takaya Natsuki's Fruits Basket, Vesper North

English (MA) Theses

This thesis examines the various traumas within Takaya Natsuki’s anime series Fruits Basket and how the act of transformation triggers the beginnings of recovery for numerous characters. Fruits Basket bears striking similarities to the French fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (as well as later adaptations) originated by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve. Throughout, I draw parallels between the “Beauty and the Beast”-genre with Fruits Basket and how the anime expands upon shared themes, specifically trauma. Additionally, I analyse the birth of and recovery from traumas (caused by bullying, loss, abuse, and feelings of otherness) for “Beauty and the Beast” archetypes within …

She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power: An Intersectional Analysis Of A Modern Reboot, Laine Marshall

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Children’s animation offers the viewer a unique window into the nuances of current societal norms. Because children’s animation is made for the young, sensitive, and impressionable, it is carefully controlled and often heavily censored. Any statements made regarding the protagonist’s heroism or the villain’s malignity are meant to be accepted as universal truths for the growing minds of our youth. The recent 2018 Netflix and DreamWorks Animation animated reboot of the classic 1980's series "She-Ra: Princess of Power," now titled "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power," shook the animation industry with its groundbreaking representation and astounding visuals. Following its predecessor’s …

(Re)Presenting Eichmann: One Man, Many Murders, Nina Handjeva-Weller

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis argues that the act of recording the trial of Adolf Eichmann was an interpretation by director Leo Hurwitz, and that at the time it was recorded, and since then, the material has been used by different actors for different purposes. I examined the use made of that material by six individuals/countries: Leo Hurwitz, the accused, director Eyal Sivan, screenwriter Simon Block, West German presenters Joachim Besser and Peter Schier-Gribowsky, and the Israeli government under David Ben-Gurion. To understand the intent of Leo Hurwitz, footage of trial sessions was analyzed as were interviews with him by Professor Susan Slyomovics …

Mulan: An Exploration Of Culture And Representation In Hollywood, Annie Okuhara, Bernadine Cortina, Hung Le, Ryan Nakahara, Jerry Zou

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

'Mulan: An Exploration of Culture and Representation in Hollywood' is a presentation and detailed analysis of various representational, cultural, and minority-related issues in the context of Hollywood and western media. The presentation will focalize specifically around the recent live-action remake of the 1998 film "Mulan". The remake, premiered in March 2020, received critical backlash from various audiences (mostly from the BIPOC community), bashing the film for its misrepresentation of Ancient China and Ancient Chinese culture. Through this misrepresentation, the Hollywood film ultimately reflects views of cultural appropriation, misogyny, and overall minority underrepresentation in the United States. The research presents the …

Empty Time As Traumatic Duration: Towards A Cinematic Aevum, Kelli Fuery

Film and Media Arts Faculty Articles and Research

Frank Kermode uses the term aevum to question the links between origin, order, and time, associating experience with spatial form. Without end or beginning, aevum identifies an intersubjective order of time where we participate in the “relation between the fictions by which we order our world and the increasing complexity of what we take to be the ‘real’ history of that world”; being “in-between” time is a primary quality of the aevum. Regarding cinema, aevum identifies this third duration as emotional experience, occuring as traumatic time. It facilitates thinking beyond lived temporal experience of everyday life to a philosophy …