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Description
This dissertation examines the ways ABC/Disney's Ugly Betty (ABC 2006-2010) manufactures diversity to create an illusion of the U.S. as a site of multiple pluralisms and equality by re-scripting the ugly duckling parable as a Latino de-racialization project and assimilation narrative. The success of the show's original version, Colombian telenovela, Yo Soy Betty, La Fea (RCN 1999-2001), escalated into an international franchise, licensed by and culturally adapted for television markets around the globe. The image the United States promotes of itself, as seen through its media products (especially Disney products) valorize and export discourses of The American Dream around the globe. In order to maintain this carefully crafted self-image, one that masks the ongoing racial oppression and colonial holdings, depictions of diversity are manufactured.
This study examines the Disney affiliated series Ugly Betty to assess how the culture and identity of Betty Suarez, its titular character, as a Mexican-American woman is manufactured. Of particular interest is how she is coded as a diverse member of U.S. workforce, and how her transformative makeover from ugly duckling can be read as an assimilation narrative from racialized ethnic invader to white American professional. Using criteria extracted from scholarship and cultural production regarding Latina identity formation, I locate Betty within what I call the spectrum of assimilation among U.S. Latinas. Because there are various ways in which one negotiates, expresses and balances the multiple cultural, racial and classed components of their self-identity, I tease out markers from existing theories to locate Betty's self-projected cultural identity within the series narrative.
Building on the evidence gathered regarding Betty's rejection of a politicized Latina identity, this project analyzes the implications of the choice of New York City as site of Betty's transformation and how the use of queer visibility and American Dream discourse inform a reading of Betty as assimilation narrative. This dissertation concludes with a brief analysis of two shows featuring Latina titular characters. Both Cristela (ABC 2014-) and Jane the Virgin (CW 2014-) are successors of Ugly Betty yet diverge in the way their portrayals of Latinidades include more nuanced and pluralistic representations.
This study examines the Disney affiliated series Ugly Betty to assess how the culture and identity of Betty Suarez, its titular character, as a Mexican-American woman is manufactured. Of particular interest is how she is coded as a diverse member of U.S. workforce, and how her transformative makeover from ugly duckling can be read as an assimilation narrative from racialized ethnic invader to white American professional. Using criteria extracted from scholarship and cultural production regarding Latina identity formation, I locate Betty within what I call the spectrum of assimilation among U.S. Latinas. Because there are various ways in which one negotiates, expresses and balances the multiple cultural, racial and classed components of their self-identity, I tease out markers from existing theories to locate Betty's self-projected cultural identity within the series narrative.
Building on the evidence gathered regarding Betty's rejection of a politicized Latina identity, this project analyzes the implications of the choice of New York City as site of Betty's transformation and how the use of queer visibility and American Dream discourse inform a reading of Betty as assimilation narrative. This dissertation concludes with a brief analysis of two shows featuring Latina titular characters. Both Cristela (ABC 2014-) and Jane the Virgin (CW 2014-) are successors of Ugly Betty yet diverge in the way their portrayals of Latinidades include more nuanced and pluralistic representations.
ContributorsMartinez, Michelle (Author) / Haggins, Bambi (Thesis advisor) / Danielson, Marivel (Committee member) / Himberg, Julia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This dissertation considers why several characters on the Early Modern Stage choose to remain silent when speech seems warranted. By examining the circumstances and effects of self-silencing on both the character and his/her community, I argue that silencing is an exercise of power that simultaneously subjectifies the silent one and compels the community (textual or theatrical) to ethical self-examination. This argument engages primarily with social philosophers Pierre Bourdieu, Alain Badiou, and Emmanual Levinas, considering their sometimes contradictory ideas about the ontology and representation of the subject and the construction of community. Set alongside the Early Modern plays of William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Thomas Kyd, these theories reveal a rich functionality of self-silencing in the contexts of gender relations, aberrant sociality, and ethical crisis. This multi-faceted functionality creates a singular subject, establishes a space for the simultaneous existence of the subject and his/her community, offers an opportunity for empathetic mirroring and/or insight, and thereby leads to social unification. Silence is, in its effects, creative: it engenders empathy and ethical self- and social-reflection.
ContributorsKrouse, Penelope (Author) / Perry, Curtis (Thesis advisor) / Thompson, Ayanna T (Thesis advisor) / Fox, Cora V (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This study explored the perspectives and experiences of eight women active within a particular location of the collective social media landscape. One aspect of the research centered around critiquing mainstream media diets for encouraging fat stigma and deepening the negative effects of stereotyping larger bodies. The research questions centered around transgressive media diets, specifically those that were body positive, and focused on if they could help to eradicate fat stigma and educate the masses on false stereotypes. To examine this, eight plus-size fashion bloggers and/or plus-size models were interviewed following a semi-structured format. These women, as bloggers and Instagrammers with a strong presence in the plus-size fashion industry, were both content producers as well as consumers, and their personal narratives enabled the study to better understand the complex interconnections between production and consumption, self-expression and the politics of self-representation, the cooptation of these self-representations by profit-oriented media interest, and how commodification shapes the transgressive potential of these representations. The research also found that many content creators came to transgressive media diets because they saw a lack of representation and decided that they must make that representation for themselves. The study also examined what community building meant within the porous landscape of social media platforms and the relationship between identity building and community building as social processes. Many of the participants brought up examples of fat discrimination yet many defined themselves as "confident" or "badass", thus finding ways to empower themselves despite the pressure of societal norms. Some of this empowerment came from finding a community online. Finally, these plus-size models and fashion bloggers moved through a thin ideal industry by demanding and being examples of diversity.
ContributorsValentine, Erin (Author) / Katsulis, Yasmina (Thesis advisor) / Himberg, Julia (Committee member) / McGibbney, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The purpose of this essay is to explain how celebrities manage their brand, as an image and commodity, using social media. Merriam-Webster defines "celebrity" as the "state of being celebrated." This essay will continue to explain how this state of celebration is a manufactured idea by the individual and the media's portrayal. Celebrities are "well-known for their well-knowness" (Boorstin, 1961, p. 58). Boorstin (1961) explains celebrities achieve fame not for their achievements, but by creating a unique personality (as cited in Turner, 2004). Crowd culture, networks, and audience knowledge are tools celebrities must use to navigate digital nuances. They must manage performance of self, adhere to internet social norms, and the obsessive fame culture. Celebrities are often referred to have "star power" and have a certain "charisma." This cultural identity is "negotiated and formed" contrived by a team through promotion, publicity, and advertising (Turner, 2004). Celebrities market themselves through branded content, media used to promote a product, on their social media pages while targeting crowd cultures. Networks truly define how celebrities must brand themselves on social media. This person-to-person contact establishes fan and consumer connections that build the celebrity's base and following. Despite campaigning in a digital world, it goes back to people connecting with people, not accounts linking to accounts. Celebrities manufacture all of these strategies and tactics as they market themselves as a commodity to target crowd culture audiences. This is why targeting crowd cultures is vitally important for celebrities. This essay explores the techniques of select celebrities as they succeed and fail navigating digital nuances.
ContributorsPierce, Ellen (Author) / Jacoby, Jim (Thesis director) / Himberg, Julia (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
A 27k word reinterpretation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, focusing on the originally-secondary character Rosaline Capulet and viewing the relationships portrayed between the other characters in a different light through her presence. With hefty consideration of the historical circumstances that existed during Shakespeare's time, including factors ranging from to the death of Shakespeare's son at the age of eleven to the common immigration/trade routes existing in the late 1500s to the ways in which historical figures navigated ideas of gender and sexuality, 'And Rosaline' aims to take a compassionate approach to the story of the Capulet and Montague families and the lives of those around them. Finalized for the purposes of the Barrett Honors Creative Project as a story created in an open source format known as Twine 2.0, produced by Twinery Inc, 'And Rosaline' will be a commercial project available for purchase in Q4 2017 later distributed in Ren'Py.
ContributorsPrice, Finn John (Author) / Himberg, Julia (Thesis director) / LaCroix, Kristin (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This analysis explores the mirrored formats of scientific research and reality television from an interdisciplinary perspective. By dissecting the four “layers” of reality television and their contributions to authenticity or inauthenticity, it becomes clear that reality television is more pseudoscientific than anything. Textual analysis, in the form of the reality shows, is paired with scholarship on the material to present this argument.
ContributorsStanley, Garrett Michael (Author) / Himberg, Julia (Thesis director) / McGibbney, Michelle (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Influencer culture has, within the last few decades, evolved into a distinguishable subset of social media, as well as the entertainment and business worlds. This project seeks to highlight core aspects of what makes an influencer and what distinguishes the role from traditional celebrities through the experience and thoughts of Hannah Palmer, an influencer most popular on Instagram in the fashion and lifestyle market. Using her as a case study, this project seeks to analyze how Hannah exists in the culture and the unique approach to the culture that she takes. The core concepts Hannah interacts with, as most influencers do, include self-branding, parasocial relationships and communication, the concept of authenticity, the role of labor (both aspirational and invisible), and gender dynamics of the entertainment industry.
ContributorsPalmer, Jonathan (Author) / Himberg, Julia (Thesis director) / Florini, Sarah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2022-05