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The seven interconnected short stories of Miserablists spring from a reality created by its protagonist and ostensible author: Paul Marston, a persistently melancholy undergraduate who tries to exorcise the ghost of a past love by adapting the story into a screenplay for a film entitled Miserablists. What happens to our identity, Paul asks, in post-narrative selfhood—that is, when the meaningful narratives we’ve told ourselves about others and ourselves collapse?
In other stories (wherein Paul tries—and often fails—to figure himself a secondary character), the tangled lives of his immediate social circle unravel, overlap, and disintegrate amidst the decaying milieu of the Scene and the maddening sprawl of Phoenix. A brief sampling of happenings: Sophie confronts ideological qualms with capitalism by way of a summer gig selling knives to depressed housewives; Brett nearly burns a house down on the Fourth of July; hallucinogenic kombucha is foisted upon a hapless Alex; black mold overtakes Paul’s residence; etc.
The core text is followed by an afterword supposedly written by (the perhaps psychotic) Saul P. Thomas Marton, Ph.D. and acts as an academic analysis of the nonexistent film adaption of Miserablists. There, Marton places Marston’s work in conversation with many influential critical text and works of fiction that shaped the formation of Miserablists (including Roland Barthes’ Lover’s Discourse, Slavoj Žižek’s The Plague of Fantasies, and Alain Robbe-Grillet’s Last Year at Marienbad).
In other stories (wherein Paul tries—and often fails—to figure himself a secondary character), the tangled lives of his immediate social circle unravel, overlap, and disintegrate amidst the decaying milieu of the Scene and the maddening sprawl of Phoenix. A brief sampling of happenings: Sophie confronts ideological qualms with capitalism by way of a summer gig selling knives to depressed housewives; Brett nearly burns a house down on the Fourth of July; hallucinogenic kombucha is foisted upon a hapless Alex; black mold overtakes Paul’s residence; etc.
The core text is followed by an afterword supposedly written by (the perhaps psychotic) Saul P. Thomas Marton, Ph.D. and acts as an academic analysis of the nonexistent film adaption of Miserablists. There, Marton places Marston’s work in conversation with many influential critical text and works of fiction that shaped the formation of Miserablists (including Roland Barthes’ Lover’s Discourse, Slavoj Žižek’s The Plague of Fantasies, and Alain Robbe-Grillet’s Last Year at Marienbad).
ContributorsWebb, Zachariah Kaylar (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Garrison, Gary (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Dale and Edna is a hybrid animated film and videogame experienced in virtual reality with dual storylines that increases in potential meanings through player interaction. Developed and played within Unreal Engine 4 using the HTC Vive, Oculus, or PlayStation VR, Dale and Edna allows for players to passively enjoy the film element of the project or partake in the active videogame portion. Exploration of the virtual story world yields more information about that world, which may or may not alter the audience’s perception of the world. The film portion of the project is a static narrative with a plot that cannot be altered by players within the virtual world. In the static plot, the characters Dale and Edna discover and subsequently combat an alien invasion that appears to have the objective of demolishing Dale’s prize pumpkin. However, the aliens in the film plot are merely projections created by AR headsets that are reflecting Jimmy’s gameplay on his tablet. The audience is thus invited to question their perception of reality through combined use of VR and AR. The game element is a dynamic narrative scaffold that does not unfold as a traditional narrative might. Instead, what a player observes and interacts with within the sandbox level will determine the meaning those players come away from this project with. Both elements of the project feature modular code construction so developers can return to both the film and game portions of the project and make additions. This paper will analyze the chronological development of the project along with the guiding philosophy that was revealed in the result.
Keywords: virtual reality, film, videogame, sandbox
Keywords: virtual reality, film, videogame, sandbox
ContributorsKemp, Adam Lee (Co-author) / Kemp, Bradley (Co-author) / Kemp, Claire (Co-author) / LiKamWa, Robert (Thesis director) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Committee member) / Arts, Media and Engineering Sch T (Contributor) / Thunderbird School of Global Management (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The events leading up to and following the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics can be better understood in the transhistorical context of the contentious relationships between the United States, Russia, and Germany since the 1960's. The intense nationalism that fuels Olympic competition was especially enhanced by the deep ideological differences of the Cold War, as seen in the 1980 "Miracle on Ice." The ideological fight between capitalism and communism became the frame by which social issues were politicized, such as doping, gender, and disability; then sociocultural divisions, like disagreements on the perception of gender and homosexuality, emerged in place of ideological ones. Through these cultural and political disagreements, we see continuing conflict between the United States and Russia on an international sport stage carried out in much the same manner (and to the same effect) as in the past.
ContributorsFehnel, Dana Ellen (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Moldabekova, Saule (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This thesis covers second language acquisition in regards to age, examining the difference between elementary and high school students. The primary language of all the students tested was English. The second language being tested in this study is German. The general age range in the elementary students observed was 7-12 years old. The high school students' ages were between 14-18 years old. The environment consisted of a physical education atmosphere, which includes: gyms, outside recreational areas, fitness equipment, fields, etc. Methods used to conduct this study were visual and auditory/verbal approaches. No direct instruction was provided to the students, they were assessed based on their ability to absorb the information when provided to them indirectly in a traditional classroom atmosphere. In addition, direct instruction is also not conducive to a physical education setting as it has the potential to detract from the necessary lesson content.
ContributorsMarch, Ashley Taylor (Author) / Pangrazi, Connie (Thesis director) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Postmodernism has been one of the dominant modes of thought in literature and philosophy since the 1960s, but its roots go back much further. This thesis is an examination of Brechtian frameworks in an assortment of popular postmodern works. Both literary texts, such as novels, films, and music, and philosophical texts are used to form a general understanding of the postmodern project, and these concepts are then placed in conversation with ideas from the works of the 20th century German playwright Bertolt Brecht. I found that despite certain differences, the central ideas of postmodernism can be seen as the extension of Brecht’s philosophy, especially his concept of the Verfremdungseffekt. First, multiplicity—in perspectives and understandings—can be seen as an attempt to achieve this Verfremdungseffekt in the reader, and second, transgression in these texts can be used to evoke the same feeling. Many of the identifying techniques of postmodernism, e.g. juxtaposition, unreliable narrator, self-reference, and so on, can be interpreted as the extension of ideas pioneered by Brecht in the 1920s and 1930s. My thesis illustrates these connections.
Keywords: Postmodernism, Bertolt Brecht, Verfremdungseffekt
Keywords: Postmodernism, Bertolt Brecht, Verfremdungseffekt
ContributorsTeipen, Jakob Corry (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The thesis explores the trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, which occurred in Jerusalem in 1961. In order to do this, the thesis analyzes four sources—two films and two books—that exist as representations of and responses to the historic trial. My analyses investigate the role of the witnesses who offered testimony during the trial and the sentencing that occurred at the trial’s conclusion, which are two major aspects of the trial. By comparing the way that various witnesses, who appear in multiple representations of the trial, are portrayed, the thesis will make conclusions regarding the way that each source utilizes the witness testimony. In order to evaluate the way each source presents the sentencing of the trial, the thesis uses Yasco Horsman’s concepts of the constative and performative aspects of judgement. The thesis concludes by discussing the value that each of these works has as a representation of the Holocaust. Ultimately, as time distances the modern generation from the events of the Holocaust and post-Holocaust trials, the need for such representations as the four examined in this thesis continues to grow in importance.
ContributorsKierum, Caitlin Anne (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Goodman, Brian (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Experimentation is as vital to literature as it is to the sciences. Experimentation through narrative is an evolutionary process that develops the art of storytelling through changing mediums, formats and forms of linearity. Challenging conceptual norms of narrative has resulted in a new genre characterized by interactive nonconventional structures, and the necessity of reading with nontrivial effort. The term ergodic was applied to literature first in Espen J. Aarseths 1997 study Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. In its simplest terms, ergodic literature requires nontrivial effort to transverse the text, as opposed to nonergodic literature, which would be the majority of traditionally formatted and conventionally read literature that requires no extraneous responsibilities of the reader (Aarseth, 1997). The qualities that necessitate a heightened requirement of nontrivial effort vary widely. Literary works like Doug Dorst’s Ship of Theseus (2013) integrates supplemental materials, and notes transcribed in the margins connected to the multiple narratives within the actual pages of the book. Some books such as Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves (2000) utilize coded messages and hidden information that contribute to the atmosphere of the narrative. These intricacies enclose information that constructs a veritable labyrinth, containing details and material not easily found but ultimately pivotal to the comprehension of the text. And while completion may be a goal of the standard text, it may never even be intended for works such as these. Throughout this discussion I intend to contest that House of Leaves is an apex of literature and experimental narrative. Furthermore, I will highlight the importance of experimentation in narratives and its role in the development of various modes and mediums while analyzing prominent works and themes that fall under the category of experimental narrative or ergodic literature.
ContributorsGalvan, Joshua Paul (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Rigoni, Adam (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The decade of the 1930s was a tumultuous time for the world at large, but even more so in Germany. With the ascension to power of the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP) much of German academia was purged, and the remainder was under significant strain to present ideas consistent with nationalist ideology. It was during this period, in 1938, that linguist professor Adolf Bach published his chapter "Sprache und Nation" as the conclusion to the book Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache. It is this chapter which the following thesis seeks to translate and analyze briefly, for the purpose of gaining further insight into the landscape of scholarly work in linguistics during the period. The chapter summarizes the content of the book, providing a brief history of the unification of the German language before launching into a discussion of the merits of the German language and race. Bach contends that the unique strength of the German language and people is deserving of protection from outside influence and at the close of his chapter calls for a struggle for the existence and purity of the people.
ContributorsNicely, Alec Daniel (Author) / Lee, Sara (Thesis director) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Conceptual poetry begins with the spark of the writing process, the moment when a poet finds inspiration and begins to write a poem. It is in that moment when the poem begins to be conceptualized, evolving throughout every part of the writing process. Conceptual poetry is the evolving idea of what the poem is working toward becoming, the concept of the end performance, and how the poem will be received. This conceptualization changes drastically with the revisions made throughout the process, the idea of the poem is revised as the author interacts with the work and audience. The revisions to the conceptualization may be minute or drastic. Small changes can be changing the feeling you want to elicit from the reader from slight anxiety to tones of fear. Larger changes can be changing the entire message you want to portray to your audience. Poems go through critical revisions that can leave a poem, and its conceptualized performed product, completely transformed and sometimes unrecognizable from the beginning product. The conceptual poetry and performance ends at the point where it leaves the author and becomes perceived and digested by the audience. The performance itself will always be conceptual and will never truly fulfill the concept the way that the poet has envisioned it.
ContributorsPolmanteer, Katherine (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Murphy, Patricia Colleen (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
History and art have always had an intersecting relationship, and each helps us to acquire a better understanding of the other, since artistic works help us to visualize the zeitgeist of a particular point in history. The connection between art and history is most apparent when the radical changes that befall society through historically important events, especially conflict, are followed by sweeping changes in society, which trickle their way down into the minds of artists and creators, whose works subsequently reflect these changes. We cannot understand these works and their relationship to their respective period of time simply by isolating them into individual components like art style, artist, and location. They are socially and historically charged, part of a larger network of intersecting relationships that factor in concepts like ideology, material, and culture. We can examine the analytical power of this framework, better known as actor network theory, in a post-WWII European landscape, a period heightened by rapid social changes as the citizens of the formerly war-torn continent worked to rebuild and recover. When examining the artistic output of vanquished nations, mainly Italian neorealist films and German Trümmerfilmen, in a framework built around the principles established in actor network theory, we can see how the historical, political, social, and cultural developments established in the wake of European fascism’s unceremonious collapse is reflected on film when compared to the victorious United States, whose infrastructure and film industry remained mostly unscathed.
ContributorsBrown, Tristan Michael (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Vitullo, Juliann (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05