Matching Items (15)
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- All Subjects: feminism
- Creators: School of International Letters and Cultures
Description
With each new Disney princess being hailed as finally representing a strong, positive female role model, the images presented by older princesses come into question. This investigation delves into the messages put forth by the Disney princess films and the way in which these ideas are developed within each of their movies. By defining the core of feminism to revolve around agency and the freedom of choice available to the women in the films, each princess' adherence to feminist values was analyzed. All current and expected Disney princesses were evaluated (Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida, Anna, and Elsa). The princesses were split into five categories to offer comparison and conclusions between women with similar characteristics: the Traditionals, the Dreamers, the Adventurers, the Rebels, and the Non-Conformists. Major findings include the evolution of the marriage ideal presented by Disney, the issue between race and labor within the princess franchise, and the amount of agency each princess is allowed in her movie. Disney presents many stories where the individual wishes of a princess class with her society or community, but not all princesses are successful in going against their cultural values. A majority of the princesses do exercise their agency in their films, but this is done with varying degrees of freedom and choices available to them. Disney's representation of traditional love stories has slowly evolved, now allowing women to pursue other dreams concurrently with romance, or even dreams entirely devoid of love. Disney has also made an effort to branch out with princesses of color and from other cultures, yet these films often end up presenting a cultural critique as opposed to a feminist critique of gender roles. The franchise also seems to present labor as a form of oppression which white princesses must escape while princesses of color do not receive the same respite or salvation at the end of their films. White princesses end with a life of luxury and relaxation that isn't afforded to Disney's princesses of color. Though there is much room for improvement with future Disney princess films, the past princesses are not necessarily as "anti-feminist" as they have been portrayed. Each princess exhibits more autonomy and agency than the last, providing more paths and options for young girls to consider as they grow up watching these films.
ContributorsFerrero Mendoza, Vanessa Cristina (Author) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Thesis director) / Kitch, Sally (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This thesis looks at how feminist biography is used as a part of mainstream feminism in the United States. In particular, I look at how Sheryl Sandberg and Anne-Marie Slaughter share their experiences in the workplace in an effort to illuminate the struggles they have faced as women and to justify the changes they see necessary for the success of women. They base their argument for these changes on their own social assumptions about women in the private sphere and women at work. Their feminist biography may serve to help a small set of individuals, but overall the solutions they provide are applicable to only a limited demographic of women. The ultimate goal for both Sandberg and Slaughter is to achieve equality, although they base their call for change on a normative understanding of the world. In the end, I look at how a broader view of feminism that takes into account the intersection of race, class, gender, and politics can enrich popular forms of feminism in the U.S.
ContributorsSteffens, Jane Melissa (Author) / Popova, Laura (Thesis director) / Ingram-Waters, Mary (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Most collegiate organizations aim to unite students with common interests and engage them in a like-minded community of peers. A significant sub-group of these organizations are classified under sororities and fraternities and commonly known as Greek Life. Member involvement is a crucial element for Greek Life as participation in philanthropic events, chapter meetings, rituals, recruitment events, etc. often reflects the state of the organization. The purpose of this project is to create a web application that allows members of an Arizona State University sorority to view their involvement activity as outlined by the chapter. Maintaining the balance between academics, sleep, a social life, and extra-curricular activities/organizations can be difficult for college students. With the use of this website, members can view their attendances, absences, and study/volunteer hours to know their progress towards the involvement requirements set by the chapter. This knowledge makes it easier to plan schedules and alleviate some stress associated with the time-management of sorority events, assignments/homework, and studying. It is also designed for the sorority leadership to analyze and track the participation of the membership. Members can submit their participation in events, making the need for manual counting and calculations disappear. The website administrator(s) can view and approve data from any and all members. The website was developed using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in conjunction with Firebase for the back-end database. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) tools and techniques were used throughout the development process to aide in prototyping, visual design, and evaluation. The front-end appearance of the website was designed to mimic the data manipulation used in the current involvement tracking system while presenting it in a more personalized and aesthetically pleasing manner.
ContributorsKolker, Madysen (Author) / McDaniel, Troy (Thesis director) / Tadayon, Arash (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Within the vast array of classical literature, many authors still have not been thoroughly examined. Among these, Palladas of Alexandria, a prominent epigrammatist in the Palatine Anthology, seems to import Epicurean themes. Based on the content and motifs of his poetry, I argue that Palladas leaned on Epicurean philosophy as presented in Lucretius's De Rerum Natura to salvage pagan identity in the midst of Christianity's increased popularity.
ContributorsNikpour, Rodmanned Arya (Author) / Tueller, Michael (Thesis director) / Lynch, John (Committee member) / Bing, Peter (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Japanese animated film director Hayao Miyazaki is famous for his numerous film featuring female protagonists. These protagonists have been examined for their conformance and deviance with regard to widespread stereotypes of masculine and feminine traits. Miyazaki's female characters tend to exhibit nuanced and varied traits, with a balance of traditionally masculine and feminine characteristics. They also tend to demonstrate and moralize on larger social issues such as environmentalism and gender equality, advancing ideals for both Japanese and Western feminism. The status of these female protagonists as cultural icons is contrary to wider film trends that exclude women from the spotlight except when they conform to rigid gender roles.
ContributorsNevitt, Stephanie Nicole (Author) / Facinelli, Diane (Thesis director) / Creamer, John (Committee member) / Whitesman, Linda (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
In the late 2000s and 2010s, digital art and the use of the internet as a new platform for art to be displayed became increasingly common. A new art scene began developing among South Asian diasporic artists, driven primarily by adolescents and young adult women who have never attended art school. Their primary medium is digital tools, their primary display platform is the internet, and they adhere to a DIY ("do-it-yourself") ethic rather than traditional art techniques and norms. As these internet artists have forgone the traditional gallery art scene in favor of more accessible internet platforms, these artists have not received attention from the mainstream art world. However, the popularity of these internet artists is undeniable as many of them have tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of followers on their social media accounts. This new art scene has gained notice with the advent of social media platforms such as Tumblr and Instagram and websites focused on youth culture and counterculture, such as Vice, Buzzfeed, Dazed, and independent digital zine publications. The content of the work of these artists is often political, promoting feminist ideals, challenging South Asian and European beauty standards and limiting stereotypes of South Asian women, and creating groundbreaking new representations of South Asian women. Influences from both South Asian and Western pop culture and counterculture are prominent in their as well. This thesis explores the origins of this art scene and its roots in South Asian modernism and conventional South Asian diasporic artists.
ContributorsKhan, Nevine (Author) / Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana (Thesis director) / Mack, Robert (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Fairy tale retellings have permeated literature, film, and media ever since the original stories emerged. New adaptations are constantly being released, and therefore new research must constantly be published. In this study, I analyze "Aschenputtel" by the Brothers Grimm, as well as various retellings of "Cinderella," including Andy Tennant's Ever After (1998), Mark Rosman's A Cinderella Story (2004), and Marissa Meyer's Cinder (2012). This selection includes a live-action historical film, a live-action contemporary film, and a science fiction novel, all with an intended audience of young adults. While the Brothers Grimm story and Ever After have already been analyzed in the context of gender representation (Zipes, Bottigheimer, Williams), prior academic research fails to adequately address the gender issues in A Cinderella Story and Cinder. Because Ever After, A Cinderella Story, and Cinder are more contemporary than the Grimms' "Aschenputtel," they are often thought to be more progressive (Gruner, Vera, Travers). However, I propose that they still have problematic implications, despite their publication in contemporary society. Jack Zipes, an acclaimed fairy tale scholar, argues that, "For the most part, the transformations [of contemporary Cinderella retellings] tend to be modern remakes with a faux feminist touch" ("The Triumph" 361). Similar to Zipes, I argue that, although the texts initially appear progressive and "feminist," they ultimately support problematic ideals related to gender. All three contemporary texts seem to ally themselves with an ethos of female empowerment through their protagonists' rejection of traditional femininity, but the inclusion of gender policing and the characters' eventual acceptance of hyperfemininity undermine this characterization, as does the ultimate heteronormative "happily ever after." Additionally, the use of competition (between Cinderella and her stepfamily, as well as new female characters) pits women against each other, often because of a man, which generally prevents the development of female camaraderie, other than with the fairy godmother. Further, rather than allying herself with female power (i.e. the mother), the protagonists in both Ever After and A Cinderella Story are defined by their relationship with the father, which minimizes their agency as it suggests a transfer of ownership from the father to the husband/prince. This framing of the protagonist by the father and prince (specifically as she works to "perfect" the prince) seems to relegate the female characters to a supplementary role, simply acting as a tool for the male characters' development.
ContributorsBrown, Nichol R. (Author) / Barca, Lisa (Thesis director) / Alcantara, Christiane Fontinha de (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This paper looks at the impact sorority life has on the collegiate women at Arizona State University. Much of the content widely available regarding members of the Greek community is relatively negative and describes these organizations through a critical lens. Finding this content to be contrary to that of my own experience, I sought to analyze the effects the community had, specifically the effects of the sororities and sorority women at Arizona State University. The analysis began with a thorough review of the history of fraternities and sororities, as well as a short overview of the history of feminism. Through the examination of this data, it becomes clear that the foundations of sororities are directly correlated with feminist aims and the feminist movement. After completing a review of their foundation, a trifold analysis of today's sororities was conducted. First, eight studies on the impact of the fraternal and sororal organizations on their members were reviewed, compared, contrasted. Next, a comprehensive survey was sent out to the Arizona State sorority members receiving 273 responses that were analyzed both holistically and from specific angles. Lastly, a brief follow-up interview of 25 of those 273 women was done in order to get more in depth responses and opinions from the women in this community. Combining the knowledge and results garnered from the literature review, survey, and interviews, it can be concluded that contrary to popular media, sorority life, for the most part, does in fact empower the women within it and provide a beneficial impact to both the member and the community at large.
ContributorsGolisch, Allison (Author) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Thesis director) / Burke, Alison (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Insect Girls is a chapbook-length collection of poems exploring the human inclination toward, and desire for, violence. Using insects and other bugs as motifs to show how people can often be treated like insects, these 25 poems complicate the relationships between violent people and their victims. The collection specifically focuses on women's issues such as domestic violence and female sexuality. The speakers range from a prostitute waiting in the rain, to a submissive girl at a fetish party, to a housewife with a werewolf for a husband. Violence and sex are depicted as inherently intertwined. Because of this, many characters in the book show a connection between desire and violence, how cruelty can have a kind of sex appeal. This is explored in the collection with depictions of sadomasochism and BDSM, where power dynamics can be at certain times problematic, and at others, beautiful. In writing these poems, I was inspired by the fact that upon seeing a harmless bug, so many people's first instinct is to crush it, for no reason at all except because they can. Bug imagery appears throughout the collection, illustrating the dehumanizing aspect of cruelty. The capture of a butterfly serves as a metaphor for sexual assault, and elsewhere bee wings show a desire for escape. Imagery as a whole is important to the collection because it illustrates not only the physical scars that result from violent actions, but also the strength and loveliness within the survivors. In Insect Girls, I didn't want to hide away ugliness, but I didn't want to hide away beauty either.
ContributorsPrice, Emily Kay (Author) / Ball, Sally (Thesis director) / Giner, Oscar (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This paper examines the relationship between feminism and social media and evaluates the ability of social media to function as an effective platform for the advancement of feminism's objectives. In the decades before social media became an integral part of culture, the popularity of feminism deteriorated and feminist voices were unsure that it could be revived or popularized again. However, in recent years, women have used social media as a mechanism to communicate and disseminate feminist ideas. The birth of what is called "hashtag feminism" has been a fundamental shift in the way feminism is done and advocated for in modern culture. In light of this dramatic shift in venue for feminist conversations, academic feminists are asking a series of pertinent questions: Is social media good for feminism and the achievement of feminist objectives? What, if anything, has feminism compromised in order to fit into 140 characters or fewer? This paper argues that social media has provided a platform for feminists to share their stories, which has aided in the building of feminist constituencies. This is the most important work of feminism, because it is making society more receptive to feminist principles and ideas, transforming our culture into one that can accept and fight for feminism's objectives. This paper will examine a series of case studies in which social media has hosted feminist conversations. It will analyze the impact of this social media as a venue for feminist narratives and evaluate the use of social media as a feminist platform in the movement to achieve feminism's objectives.
ContributorsGiel, Katelyn Anne (Author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Lake, Milli (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12