Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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This paper will analyze the two films Mississippi Burning and BlacKkKlansman, as well as some of the historical contexts surrounding them, in order to unpack the various aspects of police brutality, protest culture, and ideals of reform shown within. Furthermore, it will investigate the impact of diverging from history on the perception of policing units, and the importance of more accurate narratives like BlacKkKlansman in popular culture. <br/> To find evidence that BlacKkKlansman is a much more accurate narrative regarding law enforcement and the effects that sentiments seen in Mississippi Burning have on modern day events, a comprehensive research analysis was conducted. Both films were watched multiple times and analyzed thoroughly, and further research was done to understand not only the narrative elements of the plot, but how the visual aspects strengthen the arguments both films try to make. Scholarly articles on contexts surrounding the subjects of the film were also analyzed, including topics on the FBI, Martin Luther King Jr, and police brutality. Through this, it became evident that Mississippi Burning overlooked most of the reality of the events the film is loosely based upon in order to present a white savior story, whereas BlacKkKlansman addresses the existing prejudices head on while also showing the relation the events have to a more modern context, specifically surrounding the Trump administration.