Matching Items (333)
Description
The video-on-demand marketplace in film has usually been reserved for independent distributors like Magnolia Pictures and IFC Films, who cannot secure widespread theatrical exhibition like the major studios do (which include Sony, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and Disney, amongst other), therefore opting for the in-home launch of films through on-demand services. These include cable providers, iTunes, Google Play, and even Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. A drastic change to this model came with the launch of The Interview exclusively on VOD platforms and in independent cinemas, challenging the established norm in the industry of major studios releasing their films with major exhibitors like AMC and Regal. Sony's controversial film provided a breakthrough in the VOD marketplace as it became the highest-grossing film ever released on the platform. There remains mystery and secrecy in the VOD realm, though, as independent distributors fail to provide accountable data on their releases and rarely measure financial successes in public. Whereas theatrical box office are available every weekend, VOD numbers do not have to be disclosed at any time, further driving ambiguity behind just how successful the technology must be when the films are often low-key, character-driven efforts rather than the blockbusters that pervade the theatrical landscape around the world. This paper explores the ramifications of video-on-demand on the theatrical marketplace, and attempts to counter the recent claim of The Interview being the game-changing success for VOD.
ContributorsForthun, Eric Matthew (Author) / Sandler, Kevin (Thesis director) / Green, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
As the poverty level increases in Arizona, so does the opportunity gap between high- income and low-income students. We believe that all youth regardless of their zip code, the color of their skin, or their family background should see themselves as leaders and scholars in the community. Access to higher education, quite simply should be attainable for all students. The New American University charter that ASU has adopted is inspiring and groundbreaking. We believe this charter underscores the significance of equal access to education. The REACH program embraces the urgency of educational inequity, by enhancing the potential success of high school teenagers, who attend the Boys & Girls Club \u2014 Ladmo Branch in Tempe, Arizona. REACH empowers youth to develop stronger leadership skills, while becoming more involved in their community. We provide an opportunity for these teens to engage in leadership discussions, receive college mentoring/tutoring, and connect with the community and resources that Arizona State University (ASU) has to offer. It is our hope that every REACH teen is inspired to apply for college. REACH strives to provide any support the teens require to be successful throughout the college testing and admission process. REACH works with multiple communities at Arizona State University including the Pat Tillman Scholars, Devils' Advocates, Honors Devils, Changemaker Central, Barrett, The Honors College and W. P. Carey School of Business to organize and lead a group of teens through a remarkable curriculum that will shape the way they view cultural diversity, educational achievement, and leadership. The weekly meetings consist of discussions, creative team-building, critical thinking exercises, and cultural awareness experiences. Demonstrating to the teens, administrators, volunteers, mentors, and tutors the rich culture that Tempe has to offer and the skills and experience that they have to offer their community as well. In this thesis will we present our work developing and implementing the REACH program at the Ladmo Branch of the Tempe Boys and Girls Club from the Spring of 2013 through the Spring of 2015. We will describe the structure of REACH, our weekly leadership curriculum, our assessment and evaluation method, and the supplemental programs that we instituted (i.e., tutoring and mentoring). We will reflect on our successes and the challenges that we faced over the span of three years. We will conclude our thesis with a critical analysis of the program as a whole in order to provide advice for others who want to create and engage in a sustainable, student lead, community action organization.
ContributorsBurba, Monica (Co-author) / Smith, Jenna (Co-author) / Mokwa, Michael (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Corruption is a growing issue in China that has only worsened in recent years due to the competition for power between the two foremost factions within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Tuanpai and Princelings. Based on a series of case studies of high-ranking Chinese officials, I analyze patterns of corruption employed by members of the two factions that enable them to gain power and authority within the CCP. This analysis argues that due to the high levels of intense corruption within China and the CCP, change in the form of small and gradual reform is the only way to battle this corruption without further threatening the legitimacy of the government. Small changes such as allowing the competition between factions to remain as a form of checks and balances for the government or allowing more freedom with social media will gain some trust back for the Chinese government. If drastic changes are made and all corrupt officials in the government are indicted, that may in turn destabilize the country by ruining all faith in the government and removing so many individuals who contribute to day-to-day governance. This analysis suggests that possible solutions must start small and gradually increase to maintain the stability and legitimacy of China and the CCP while also beginning to fight the corruption culture.
ContributorsLloyd, Jennifer Alexandra (Author) / Shair-Rosenfield, Sarah (Thesis director) / Bustikova-Siroky, Lenka (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Through oral history and interviewing Veterans, I explored what military service looks like, and how diverse different service member's experiences are. I conducted comprehensive interviews with four Veterans: three Marines and an Army Medic. Each interview covered basic questions centered on enlistment, service/deployment, and the transition back into civilian life. After the interviews, I wrote interview summaries to provide a written account of the Veteran's experience. I also created a video compilation of the four veterans and their responses to certain questions. The objective of my project was to make the Veterans' experiences accessible to people without a military background.
ContributorsWestlund, Chloe Grace (Author) / Von Hagen, Mark (Thesis director) / Dallett, Nancy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The aim of this thesis is to explore the relationship between architecture and history in Virginia from 1607 to the eve of the American Revolution to create a complete historical narrative. The interdependency of history and architecture creates culturally important pieces and projects the colonist's need to connect to the past as well as their innovations in their own cultural exploration. The thesis examines the living conditions of the colonists that formed Jamestown, and describes the architectural achievements and the historical events that were taking place at the time. After Jamestown, the paper moves on to the innovations of early Virginian architecture from Colonial architecture to Georgian architecture found in Williamsburg. Conclusively, the thesis presents a historical narrative on how architecture displays a collection of ideals from the Virginian colonists at the time. The external display of architecture parallels the events as well as the economic conditions of Virginia, creating a social dialogue between the gentry and the common class in the colony of Virginia.
ContributorsChang, Hosu (Author) / Gray, Susan (Thesis director) / O'Donnell, Catherine (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The prospect of anti-aging or life extension technology is controversial in biogerentology but deemed even by skeptical experts to warrant discussion. I discuss the justifications that the probability of life extension technology being developed in the near future is reasonably high and that this research justifies the time and money it receives. I investigate potential ethical and societal issues anti-aging technology might create. This paper addresses inequality of access, economic cost, changes in quality of life, the role of death in human life, if and how the technology should be regulated and how parties who choose not to undergo treatment can be fairly treated, even when they are a minority.
ContributorsGlesener, Julia Hannah (Author) / McGregor, Joan (Thesis director) / DeSerpa, Allan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This study examined how second-generation Mexican American students talked about negotiating bilingualism in Arizona, where Spanish is associated with a social group considered to be problematic in the local anti-immigrant context. Using tools and approaches from narrative analysis, I analyzed testimonies collected through interviewing, a method within the field of sociolinguistics to elicit qualitative data, to understand how the narratives reveal insight into the social processes and ideological structures that are present in any given context. I modeled my study after Anna de Fina (2003) and her analysis of immigrant discourse. Anna de Fina (2003) along with Koven (2001), and Bamberg (2011) all devise frameworks in which narratives emerge through interactional contexts during interviews where the interviewee engages in constructing not only a narrative along with the interview but also the representation of his/her identity. Contributing to this literature, my analysis demonstrates the role of language ideologies in narrative constructions of identity, the fluid nature of identity performances, and the power of autobiographical storytelling to challenge or contest dominant discourses about a language and its speakers. Findings show that participants began to value their own bilingualism more after entering into dominant culture, where their negotiation of identity stood on intermediary ground and was conceived as a process, belonging was found with other bilinguals, and bilingualism was viewed as a resource capable of providing innovative ways of conceiving of belonging and identity.
ContributorsGarcia, Jorge Jesus (Author) / Warriner, Doris (Thesis director) / Adams, Karen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In this thesis I argue that American missionaries in the Ottoman Empire shaped American perceptions of the Armenian Genocide. I trace how this influence took shape as a result of missionaries' responses to the Armenian massacres of 1894-1896, which set a precedent for how missionaries would influence the American public during and after the genocide of 1915. The missionaries spread knowledge of the events of 1915 through their eyewitness testimonies and relationships with foreign diplomats in the Ottoman Empire. These accounts, in turn, influenced American politics by inspiring the creation of large-scale national relief programs and delaying the US entry in World War One. The missionaries' accounts were compelling enough that many Americans recognized the violence as a systematic eradication of the Armenians by Ottoman authorities. While today the United States does not formally recognize the tragic events of 1915 as genocide, discussing how the United States perceived the genocide while it was underway clearly shows that missionaries played a central role in shaping Americans' understandings of the violence perpetrated against Armenians.
ContributorsHull, Christina Renee (Author) / Bruner, Jason (Thesis director) / Kefeli-Clay, Agnes (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Understanding the relationships between chemistry students' motivation, performance, and gender can help identify and inform ways in which chemistry education might be improved. Students from four CHM 101 classes with two different instructors were surveyed using an adapted Science Motivation Questionnaire II, and motivation data was analyzed with respect to final course performance. Gender data was available for two of these classes, and motivation results analyzed by gender for these classes. Exam scores and gender data was obtained from one of the instructors for CHM 101 courses taught over the past five years and were also analyzed. The motivational study involved small sample sizes, especially in the motivation by gender study. Career motivation, grade motivation, self-efficacy, and total motivation declined over the course of the semester in the four classes combined. Self-efficacy and career motivation were found to predict final course performance only at the end of the semester. Self-efficacy strongly predicted performance, and career motivation was negatively correlated with performance. Female students had higher grade motivation at the end of the semester and lost more self-efficacy over the course of the semester than male students. Gender-performance analysis showed that male students scored slightly higher on exams on average, but that female students received a higher percentage of "A"s and a lower percentage of "D"s, "E"s, and "W"s in the majority of the semesters.
ContributorsJohnson, Walter Gregory (Author) / Gould, Ian (Thesis director) / Wolf, George (Committee member) / Austin, Ara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Experiential evidence leads specific individuals and groups within India to believe that individuals with disabilities are marginalized due to a Hindu value system that stigmatizes disability and relegates individuals with disabilities to below average social positions. I experienced this perspective firsthand by spending two months volunteering at an orphanage in India that cares for individuals (primarily children) with disabilities and significant health issues. The orphanage identifies with a Christian tradition, framing their perspective in a worldview that declares that all human beings have equal value regardless of their physical health situations. The orphanage perspective declares that there is a Hindu religious paradigm that stigmatizes individuals with disability in a manner so extreme that it leads parents to abandon their children with disabilities. From the orphanage perspective, this Hindu religious belief is what inevitably leads to the need for orphanages for children with special needs because the stigma that the orphanage perceives leads to abandonment. This premise led me to an investigation of perceived cultural and societal norms and Hindu beliefs within India that may lead to the marginalization of individuals with disabilities. In order to do this, I first had to contextualize the perspective of the orphanage. From there I looked to Indian disability policy and sought to connect stigma and disability in the secular and social realm, evaluating whether or not secular policies can be said to contribute to or detract from a stigma of disability. I then looked to Hindu beliefs, to determine whether or not Hinduism can truly be said to, in a generalized manner, marginalize individuals with disability, and furthermore the caste system, to evaluate what India's social hierarchy might have to say about disability. The goals of this thesis are to evaluate the popular Hindu beliefs that are often blamed for the stigmatization of disability, and to analyze policies regarding disability and examine how these policies are affected by the religious context in which they are situated. To what extent does Hinduism encourage or contribute to a society or culture in which individuals with disabilities are treated badly, and how do Indian policies regarding disability respond to that? I come to the conclusion that the stigma related to disability in India is far more complex than simply a Hindu belief that mandates it as so. There are social and economic factors that play into it, as well as deep-rooted cultural ideologies in both the tradition of the orphanage that perceives Hinduism as stigmatizing of disability, and Indian religion and social hierarchy. I furthermore find that, though there are numerous disability policies in place to provide human rights to individuals with disabilities, these policies ultimately do not work to tear down the stigma and the roots it does have in ancient religious tradition and social hierarchy.
ContributorsWristen, Julia Kalila (Author) / Henn, Alexander (Thesis director) / Bennett, Gaymon (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05