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- Creators: Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953
Description
Batman is one of the most iconic characters in the history of popular culture. Ever since his creation in 1939, the character and his stories have gone through several changes. In my thesis, I explore and analyze the character within the nearly 20-year period in which he went through the most significant changes (1968-1986). Overall, these changes can be summarized as a shift from a lighthearted superhero consistently placed in campy situations to a dark and brooding vigilante who brutally dispatches his enemies. While analyzing the different versions of this character in this period of time, I reference the conclusions of two scholars: Travis Langley and Chuck Tate. Langley wrote a general psychological analysis of Batman by considering the essential characteristics of the character found in all forms of media. Tate concluded that Batman only uses hostile aggression for the sake of deriving pleasure form the pain he causes to criminals. After analyzing the comics as my primary sources, I have concluded that the general findings of Tate and Langley actually ignore the subtle details of changes in the humanity and self-awareness of the character through time. The lighthearted version of Batman in the late 60's is actually a self-obsessed narcissist, but as time passes, the darker mood of the character can be attributed to an increased acknowledgment of the destructive nature of his unique lifestyle. As the character grows more accepting of himself and his own reasons for continuing this lifestyle, his motivations become less self-centered. Overall, the central change of the character throughout time can be traced back to the status of his inner conflict between normal, human desires and the pure desire for constant vengeance.
ContributorsRivera-Passapera, Hiram Alfonso (Author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This paper aims to investigate how the portrayal of the crusaders in twentieth and twenty-first century film has evolved and how they have become tools in serving contemporary goals, including those of individual filmmakers and broad societal ideologies. Through the analysis of five films, in both narrative and cinematography, spanning from the 1950s until 2011, themes of redemption, maturity, and the dichotomy of "good" and "bad" are discussed, as well as their chronological evolution in regards to the crusading hero. These films, widely ranging in historical subject matter and country of origin, show a greater range of evolution for the holy war hero and the important themes widely associated with them.
ContributorsBowman, Taylor Nicole (Author) / Benkert, Volker (Thesis director) / Bruhn, Karen (Committee member) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The following study is an attempt to analyze the idea of the abject through the grotesque representation of the female body in contemporary visual art. The focus of the paper will remain within the scheme of the modern Western ideology of physical female beauty, social affirmations, and restraints. My hypothesis is that the grotesque imagery of the female body in modern art redefines beauty and liberates the female subject by turning the gaze upon itself. The proposition of this study emerges from Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject as it applies to the viewer and the viewed. There is a distinct relationship between grotesque ideas and the female body as it is viewed in the late 20th and 21st centuries. Visual imagery has become increasingly bold in its presentation for good or for bad. I chose the selected artists because they present dark, often socially ‘ugly’ depictions of the female body in honest, straightforward ways. I question why the grotesque is not popularly recognized on the ‘beauty scale’, yet our society craves this kind of imagery. The purpose of this study is to identify and explain abjection within depictions of the grotesque. This exploration of the female figure and its portrayal through the eyes of modern sculptors, painters, and designers aims to highlight that 20th and 21st century aesthetics have moved towards themes of grotesqueness in beauty, amidst cultural objectification and materialization. These themes perhaps present Western culture’s underlying physical insecurities and self-loathing.
ContributorsWillson, Ariane Lolita (Author) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Thesis director) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Body Integrity Identity Disorder Screenplay Abstract
The Body Integrity Identity Disorder Screenplay, tentatively entitled Detach, is a full-‐length feature film script. Based on a fascinating mental disorder (generally referred to as the acronym BIID) where an individual does not associate a limb with the rest of their body, the script follows a sufferer and a reporter attempting to write a story on his struggle.
As my creative sensibilities and skills have developed over the span of my undergraduate career, the most ambitious undertaking imaginable for myself at this moment is the completion of a feature script. This project was a significant test of my storytelling skills and ability to format an unusual tale into a conceivable film.
I am proud of the end result and believe that the final version of my screenplay is an accurate representation of my taste as a filmmaker. I hope to actualize this project one day and help facilitate a transformation of the script into a feature film.
The Body Integrity Identity Disorder Screenplay, tentatively entitled Detach, is a full-‐length feature film script. Based on a fascinating mental disorder (generally referred to as the acronym BIID) where an individual does not associate a limb with the rest of their body, the script follows a sufferer and a reporter attempting to write a story on his struggle.
As my creative sensibilities and skills have developed over the span of my undergraduate career, the most ambitious undertaking imaginable for myself at this moment is the completion of a feature script. This project was a significant test of my storytelling skills and ability to format an unusual tale into a conceivable film.
I am proud of the end result and believe that the final version of my screenplay is an accurate representation of my taste as a filmmaker. I hope to actualize this project one day and help facilitate a transformation of the script into a feature film.
ContributorsKitnick, Benjamin Allan (Author) / Bernstein, Gregory (Thesis director) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The depiction of mental illness, schizophrenia in particular, within film is a unique phenomenon that film directors have decided to undertake more so in the last 20 years than ever before in cinematic history (Wedding & Niemic, 2014; Robinson, 2004; Gabbard & Gabbard, 1999; Wahl, 1997). Countless filmmakers have taken on the challenge of depicting this complex, yet degenerative condition that entails auditory and visual hallucinations, disorganized thought and speech, and delusions. Its portrayals are usually exaggerated and romanticized, and convey a sense of separate "Otherness" with those who have a mental disorder. And while filmmakers try to encapsulate the schizophrenic experience, it is not without psychiatric error and regarding the person who has schizophrenia as a spectacle. This unfair and ostracizing view of people who have schizophrenia is fueled by films like A Beautiful Mind and The Shining where the film either creates impossibly high standards for schizophrenics to perform at, or the film paints the character as a violent savage. In either case, the end result is the marking and, usually, denouncement of the schizophrenic for their illness. What filmmakers tend to overlook is how much the public learns from the cinematic portrayals of these disorders, and that their films are contributing to an overarching issue of public presumptions of actual schizophrenia and how it is perceived. While the Hollywood approach offers a depiction that is usually more tangible and enjoyable for masses of audiences, spectators should recognize that these are artistic interpretations that take liberties in their depictions of schizophrenia. Viewing these films with an objective mindset to better understand the inner workings of schizophrenia is absolutely crucial in arriving anything close to the truth behind this mental illness that has been demonized long enough.
ContributorsFraga, Nicholas Andrew (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis outlines the process of creating the concept work behind a television series called Liminality, written by my thesis partner, Elizabeth Hansen. Liminality aims to be an animated series about West Elliot Snow as he navigates his life as a spiritual medium and how this talent impacts his daily life. It is a coming of age story centered around West and his recently departed father, Lukas Snow, whose spirit is still tethered to the land of the living. Together, the two must learn how to control their powers while helping other spirits who have unfinished business on the earthly plane. It explores themes of sexuality and gender identity as well as non-nuclear family structures as a means of giving voice to those who have felt a lack of representation in mainstream media. In this paper, I explore the depth of the creative process from conceptualization to realization of character designs, scripting for the series, 3D modeling of characters and sets, and finally, the storyboarding of the pilot episode. I start by asserting why a series like Liminality would positively influence the already burgeoning creative landscape of television. Liminality's relevance in today's television market is explained through examples of series that aim to broaden the amount of representation given to underrepresented peoples and identities in mainstream media. From there, I outline which series influenced the process of writing Liminality and why. After that, I delve into the specifics of how Elizabeth and I designed the characters and what decisions went into the final product.
ContributorsRandall, Phoebe (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Theory Jam is a series of online, education videos that teach music theory in a fun, engaging way. Our project is a response to the growing need for successful online education content. It incorporates strategies for creating effective educational video content and engages with contemporary debates in the field of music theory surrounding the purpose of a music theory education.
ContributorsCannatelli, Joshua Bryce (Co-author) / Daval, Charles Joseph (Co-author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Scott, Jason (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This work examines three common practices—yellowface in Cloud Atlas (2012), whitewashing in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and absence in Firefly (2002)—employed in popular science fiction that represent Asianness and disregard the Asian body. Though the creators purport to have progressive ideals at the center of their production choices, their works call on Techno-Orientalist and Orientalist tropes and divorce them from the Asian body, implicitly continuing the Orientalist argument of Western supremacy even in representing Asianness.
ContributorsTse, Kassidy Laurane (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Rondilla, Joanne (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This thesis is a two-part theatre and literature project on The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. The research component will consist of gathering information from the origins of this play in writing and in production to further understand my knowledge of the time it was written in and how it has been interpreted over the years. The theatrical elements will come as I direct and produce my own production of the play, and compare my research of Wilde's play and past productions to my own directorial decisions in attempt to make a successful student performed play.
ContributorsMarnick, Courtney Melissa (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Brown, Dori (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
A Monster in the House: Gothic and Victorian Representations of Female Madness explores female madness and mental illness as perceived by Gothic and Victorian society over the span of three literary works: The Fall of the House of Usher (1839); Jane Eyre (1847), and The Yellow Wallpaper (1892). Each text features a ‘mad’ female character--Madeline Usher (The Fall of the House of Usher), Bertha Mason (Jane Eyre), and Jane (The Yellow Wallpaper)--who symbolizes the vast inequality women of the mid-to-late 1900s endured. Each character challenges social and religious mores and subverts the established order of a sacrosanct, male-dominated perspective. In Victorian society, female divergence was equated with madness and “moral insanity.” The penalty was isolation, confinement, and/or the woman’s complete removal from society. Depression, aggression, overt sexuality and excessive mental or physical stimulation are just a few of the characteristics considered to be socially inappropriate. In assessing these texts, this essay examines and problematizes the prevailing medical practices and beliefs of the time, the mischaracterization and demonization of natural biological female functions, and the prescribed medical treatments and cures for madness (insanity) and mental illness. Furthermore, this essay reveals how each text features female characters who weaponize their madness to usurp their male oppressors, and as tools to speak out against the hegemonic discourse. A common theme to many Gothic and Victorian novels is the threat posed by female characters whose behavior directly challenges then-contemporary social, behavioral and religious standards. In defense of these institutionalized mores, the deviant character is portrayed as “morally insane,” or inherently evil. What bridges these texts together are the unifying themes of female mental illness, sexual prowess, societal stereotypes, and how each of these female characters employed their madness in an effort to resist and overcome persecution.
ContributorsArtiano, Aubrie Ellen (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Barnard, James (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05