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- Creators: School of International Letters and Cultures
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
Since Dylan Roof, a white supremacist, shot and killed nine members of a black church in Charleston on June 17, 2015, Confederate symbols have stood at the center of much controversy across the United States. Although the Confederate battle flag remains the most obvious example, the debate took a particular form in Tennessee, centering on the image of General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Born in 1822 to a poor family, he left school early to work. Although his work in the slave trade made him a millionaire, his later participation in the massacre of over 300 black soldiers at Fort Pillow in 1864 during the Civil War and association with the Ku Klux Klan cemented his reputation as a violent racist. Yet, many white Tennesseans praised him as a hero and memorialized him. This thesis examines Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park in Benton County and Forrest Park, now Health Sciences Park, in Memphis to examine what characteristics denote a controversial memorial. Specifically, I focus on the physical form, the location, and the demographics of the area, investigating how these components work together to give rise to controversy or acceptance of the memorial's image. Physical representations greatly impact the ideas associated with the memorial while racial demographics affect whether or not Forrest's representation as a hero speaks true to modern interpretations and opinions.
ContributorsFish, Caroline Rose (Author) / Longley, Rodney (Thesis director) / Suk, Mina (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
While Italian and American news may look similar from a surface observation, the history and the development of news practices in each respective country is very different. The intent of this research is to dissect the breaking news cycle and point out differences and offer an explanation as to why these differences exist. The research for this will be collected using a variety of methods including first-hand observation, interviews and photographs. It will require travel to the four Italian media locations that are being compared as well as historic research to be conducted in order to provide context for the study. What is collected at the various Italian media organizations will be compared with the American news outlets The Arizona Republic and Arizona NBC affiliate, 12 News. The study goals are focused around three main research questions that aim to uncover differences in breaking news practices regarding ethics, the reporting process and promotion using social media. Cultural, historic and physical barriers separate the two countries. Because of this, directly comparing breaking news between the locations will be difficult, thus it is crucial to be able to analyze what data are being gathered in order to uncover patterns and draw conclusions.
ContributorsNicosia, Domenico Giuseppe (Author) / Silcock, B. William (Thesis director) / Dell'Anna, Antonella (Committee member) / Johnson, Aric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
While studying in Japan, I became fascinated by the variety shows my roommates would watch. These shows featured a flexible format with comedians and other entertainers participating in a wide variety of activities. For my senior creative project, I decided to determine what features were essential to Japanese variety shows, and to then use these features to create my own program.
In order to determine the essential features of Japanese variety television, I watched a total of 22 episodes of three popular Japanese variety shows: Gaki no tsukai ya arahende (ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで! Usually abbreviated as ガキの使い), London Hearts (ロンドンハーツ), and Utaban (うたばん). I chose these three shows because of their differing styles, popular comedic hosts, and impressive longevity, with a combined 58 years of runtime. Through my research, I was able to assemble the analyses of basic and technical features found in the next section of this document in addition to several pages of my own notes used to design my original program.
My own program, American Joke (アメリカンジョーク), is meant to be filmed in America featuring an entirely Japanese cast. The main idea of the show is to capitalize on the comedic potential of cultural differences by having Japanese comedians interact with American people and traditions.
In order to showcase the show, I filmed a short “sizzle reel” video featuring Japanese exchange students as the cast. Segments filmed included our “comedians” learning the high jump from ASU track athletes, bringing Japanese fermented soybeans to campus for American students to taste, and participating in an American-themed quiz show.
In order to determine the essential features of Japanese variety television, I watched a total of 22 episodes of three popular Japanese variety shows: Gaki no tsukai ya arahende (ダウンタウンのガキの使いやあらへんで! Usually abbreviated as ガキの使い), London Hearts (ロンドンハーツ), and Utaban (うたばん). I chose these three shows because of their differing styles, popular comedic hosts, and impressive longevity, with a combined 58 years of runtime. Through my research, I was able to assemble the analyses of basic and technical features found in the next section of this document in addition to several pages of my own notes used to design my original program.
My own program, American Joke (アメリカンジョーク), is meant to be filmed in America featuring an entirely Japanese cast. The main idea of the show is to capitalize on the comedic potential of cultural differences by having Japanese comedians interact with American people and traditions.
In order to showcase the show, I filmed a short “sizzle reel” video featuring Japanese exchange students as the cast. Segments filmed included our “comedians” learning the high jump from ASU track athletes, bringing Japanese fermented soybeans to campus for American students to taste, and participating in an American-themed quiz show.
ContributorsAmkraut, Elliott R. (Author) / Chambers, Anthony (Thesis director) / Wilson, Bradley (Committee member) / Maday, Gregory (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In Arizona, people flock the streets of Tombstone in droves, chatting in period costume while gunshots ring down the street. Others in Bisbee walk in the Queen Mine, listening to the tour guide discuss how the miners extracted ore. Still others drive up the precarious road to Jerome, passing through the famed Grand Hotel. As former Arizona mining towns, Tombstone, Jerome and Bisbee have a shared identity as former mining boomtowns, all of which experienced subsequent economic and population decline. Left with the need to reinvent themselves in order to survive, the past takes on a different role in each city. In Jerome, visitors seem content to "kill a day" against the backdrop of the historic town. In Bisbee, time seems stuck in the 1970s, the focus having shifted from the mining to the "hippies" who are considered to have resuscitated the town from near-extinction. Tombstone seem to inspire devotion, rooted in the influence of the 1993 film titled after the town. By memorializing portions of their past, these three towns have carved out new lives for themselves in the twenty-first century. As visitors are informed by the narrative of the "Old West," as shaped by the Western movie and television genre, they in turn impact how the towns present themselves in order to attract tourists. In all these sites, the past is present and like a kaleidoscope, continually recreated into new formations. While the designation of Jerome, Bisbee and Tombstone as "ghost towns" is disputed by individuals in each site, these stories of visitors and residents reveal the intricate ways in which these towns have acquired new life.
ContributorsLemme, Nicole Lee (Author) / de la Garza, Amira (Thesis director) / Paulesc, Marie Louise (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Although smaller and more local elections could have implications more dramatic to an individual than larger district-, state-, and nation-wide elections do, very few citizens vote in them. Moreover, citizens are limited in procuring further information on candidates, issues, and the overall election when there are fewer sources of such information across various mediums. While existing literature on political communication and voter participation does not yet extend far enough to sufficiently address the most local aspects of media effects on elections, the political science field’s dominating frameworks would suggest that an increase in news media, social media, and ground mobilization tactics would increase civic engagement and voter participation. My research, which focuses on hyperlocal elections, both supports andrefutes certain elements of that suggestion. Based on surveys of potential voters in a university’s student government election and a school board election, interviews with two student government presidential candidates, and an analysis of social media engagement, my research compares three mass media platforms and two elections to characterize the effects of media on hyperlocal elections—that certain tactics have drastically different results on different populations. My research expands the body of media and politics knowledge to include hyperlocal elections, suggesting that civic engagement on the local levels require increased further study.
ContributorsRomanov, Andrew Samuilovich (Author) / Wells, David (Thesis director) / Brodie, Mark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
A longing to revisit the people, places, and moments of my past has followed me for years, sometimes affecting me to the extent that the past seems to intrude on my present. In this piece, I wish to turn a critical eye on these feelings of nostalgia and examine how strong emotion can emerge from nothing more than fractured, faded memories. Using footage of moments I had recorded over six months of living in Europe, I seek to sculpt these images from my past into a form that rejects the daze of nostalgia for the fragmented truth of memory. My background is in more traditional narrative filmmaking, and so I was excited to work in this experimental three-screen format, in which I could explore the concept of memory in a manner that felt truer to how I actually experience it. I tested various combinations of imagery in my videos to build the progression of the piece, which I hoped would play out in an associational style that mimicked the process of my own memory. I hope that this will cause people to walk away from the piece thinking about how memory can fuel emotion and even to investigate their own relationship to the past.
ContributorsPowell, Matthew Rhys (Author) / Bradley, Christopher (Thesis director) / Brye, Anne (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
My thesis is about media in both Italy and the United States, and how they evolved into the media we consume today. It revolves around my Journalism and Communication major, as well as my Italian minor. I have incorporated both areas of my studies in my thesis; such as the differences in two different worlds and how they cover and relay media to their viewers, the way in which media influences children, and how advancements such as social media affect journalism in today's society. Through my research, I was able to show that media exists all around the world but the way it is relayed to it's public changes, and influences its audience. I conducted my research via peer-reviewed articles, journals and accredited academic works as well as personal and anonymous surveys. I used my interviews and surveys to build off of the articles I found to make a firm and strong conclusion. The resources used in my thesis were different professionals who currently work, or worked with a credible and well-know media
ews outlet. I also gathered information from elementary, middle, high-school, and college students. Having a different variety of ages, helped me gage the influence media has on its consumers so that I could draw an accurate conclusion.
ews outlet. I also gathered information from elementary, middle, high-school, and college students. Having a different variety of ages, helped me gage the influence media has on its consumers so that I could draw an accurate conclusion.
ContributorsScorzo, Francesca Rose (Author) / Minardi, Enrico (Thesis director) / Stephens, Glen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (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
"Baba Aruki: A Walk Down Baba Lane" will introduce the reader to scenes from my study abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. The reader will experience the whirlwind nature of study abroad, the complexity of Japanese culture, and vicarious nostalgia for a place, time, and group of people now far removed from my daily life. I invite you to join me on this journey into my time in a different world. (Please note: turn on "comments" in the pdf file.)
ContributorsEvans, Rebecca Constance (Author) / Wong, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Hunter, Joel (Committee member) / Scott Lynch, Jacquelyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Women. War. What is the relationship between women and war? As evidenced by movies, popular memoirs and journals, there is a definite relationship between men and war. However, this definite relationship has created a problematic and a complex relationship between women and war. The two historical events that are considered as the ‘turning points’ for women are the French Revolution and World War I are compared in this thesis. The popular perception of women’s legacy of the French Revolution is that the Revolution cultivated the ideas of Republican Motherhood and the Cult of Domesticity while World War I catapulted women to the public sphere. These two contrasting legacies are compared to see if French women’s lived experiences, memories, and writings verify these popular perceptions. Or, do the writings of the French women present a different argument? The thesis compares the writings and the lived experiences of the French women through three different themes: the argument for political rights, victimization and agency, and gendered connections (the development of sisterhood for the Revolution) or gendered divides (women’s role on the home and war front). In addition, these three themes come together to show how it is difficult to come up with a collective, public memory.
ContributorsYu, Heajin (Author) / Thompson, Victoria (Thesis director) / Hopkins, Richard (Committee member) / Fuchs, Rachel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05