Matching Items (20)
Description

A collection of storyboards for a graphic novel adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Oval Portrait." These are drawn in a horror comic style and explore the gothic themes present in "The Oval Portrait" in a visual manner.

ContributorsRea, Sara Mateo (Author) / Fette, Donald (Thesis director) / Davis, Turner (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
137141-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
The relationship between a fictional character and its reader is one built on sympathy. Likable characters who combat personal adversity or who possess culturally acceptable and praised characteristics at the time of the fictional work's publication garner compassion from its audience. Does the same kind of reader reaction occur when

The relationship between a fictional character and its reader is one built on sympathy. Likable characters who combat personal adversity or who possess culturally acceptable and praised characteristics at the time of the fictional work's publication garner compassion from its audience. Does the same kind of reader reaction occur when characters of an unfavorable social status begin to transgress specified cultural attitudes to better themselves? In this paper, I examine the role of three literary characters of illegitimate birth: Mordred in Sir Malory's Le Morte d' Arthur, Edmund in William Shakespeare's King Lear and Jon Snow in George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. I question how negative cultural attitudes at the time of each work's publication affect the way each character conducts himself whether as an agent of assumed social chaos or an autonomous bastard whose actions strive to transcend his undesirable birth rank. Each of these three characters represents specific types of bastards. Both Mordred and Edmund are bastard villains. Mordred's actions are pure unforgiving evil, and his destruction is self-indulgent and justified, to the audience, due to his illegitimate birth. Edmund is more complex, as he emotionally manipulates both the reader and other characters in the play, vacillating between a victimized bastard and a power hungry political player. Jon Snow is least like Mordred and Edmund. He endures the typical Renaissance era social and familial ostracism, and works to separate himself wholly from his illegitimate reputation while subconsciously seeking to prove himself worthy of legitimate respect.
ContributorsHouck, Laura Elizabeth (Author) / Facinelli, Diane (Thesis director) / Corse, Taylor (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
148271-Thumbnail Image.png
Description

This paper explores the intersection of female madness and Gothic space in four pieces of Gothic media: Jane Eyre written By Charlotte Brontë, "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Carrie (1976) directed by Brian De Palma, and Midsommar (2016) directed by Ari Aster. In these texts, female characters

This paper explores the intersection of female madness and Gothic space in four pieces of Gothic media: Jane Eyre written By Charlotte Brontë, "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Carrie (1976) directed by Brian De Palma, and Midsommar (2016) directed by Ari Aster. In these texts, female characters find themselves driven “mad,” either by their own design or from outside influences. While the madness presents itself differently in each text, they all share common elements, especially in terms of Gothic space. Each text sees its madwoman affected by the environment around them whether it is explicitly stated in-text or not. Gothic space acts as both a metanarrative on the characters’ lives and emotions, and as literal, physical spaces that the characters inhabit and interact with. Oftentimes, what the character cannot express is told through the environment around her. Feelings of suffocation, misery, entrapment, and repression are represented in and through haunted homes, quasi-asylums, closets, schools, attics, and sun-lit fields. In analyzing all four texts individually and in relation to one another, this paper also argues for the presence of a paradox inherent in the cultural formation of female madness. In each text, all written/created across 200+ years, a common theme emerges. Though the expression of madness for the women in each text is a freeing and liberating experience, they also meet tragic and often violent ends. The madness exhibited in each text is both a response to and an expression of trauma - resulting in either victimization or villainization for the women who succumb to it. The end result depicts women who have been physically, mentally, and emotionally destroyed from their own madness. In freeing themselves, they unknowingly and unintentionally subject themselves to further pain and misery.

ContributorsBoyle, Molly Anne (Author) / Justice, George (Thesis director) / Sandler, Kevin (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
131497-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Horror as a genre is often dismissed on the basis of its reliance on jump scares and adrenaline highs, but history would suggest that society is just as well reflected in horror films as in any other genre. We only truly know our own experiences in real life, but film

Horror as a genre is often dismissed on the basis of its reliance on jump scares and adrenaline highs, but history would suggest that society is just as well reflected in horror films as in any other genre. We only truly know our own experiences in real life, but film grants us the opportunity to see the world through another’s eyes, and what a more powerful way than through the experience of fear. In order to contextualize materials for the creation of a short horror film, the first part of this paper explores horror as a genre and the roles women tend to play in horror, both in the past and the present. It also considers how society perceives threats to women and how women perceive threats to themselves. It is important to define the foundation of women in horror and understand their current role in the genre to achieve the overarching goal of making a short horror film depicting a real issue that women face. A script, a storyboard, a timeline, and other materials for such a production are included as well.
ContributorsPeterschmidt, Bailey Willow (Author) / Mack, Robert L. (Thesis director) / Cheyne, Rebekah (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Whether fights to the death, or a masked murderer chasing an unwilling teen, viewers are seemingly drawn to human suffering. This thesis will examine the blurring of lines between traditional horror and crime films to better understand how both films provide a similar experience, as well as apply traditional film

Whether fights to the death, or a masked murderer chasing an unwilling teen, viewers are seemingly drawn to human suffering. This thesis will examine the blurring of lines between traditional horror and crime films to better understand how both films provide a similar experience, as well as apply traditional film theories on pleasurable viewership to both genres, in an attempt to discover viewers’ attraction to the perverse.
ContributorsBenavidez, Markus A (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Mack, Robert (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
132314-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Horror films are typically comprised of three specific features: jump scares, gore, and suspense shots of a shadowy figure creeping up on an unaware victim. These three elements are some of the hallmarks of what defines the horror genre as they are methods that have proven successful in eliciting a

Horror films are typically comprised of three specific features: jump scares, gore, and suspense shots of a shadowy figure creeping up on an unaware victim. These three elements are some of the hallmarks of what defines the horror genre as they are methods that have proven successful in eliciting a bodily response within audience members, which is crucial to a horror movie being considered successful. However, these elements are also very polarizing. Individuals that enjoy horror often like these three things, while those who don’t appreciate the genre often cite over the top gore, distain for jump scares, and the anxiety that accompanies those suspenseful shots as primary reasons for avoiding horror. Due to the fact that those spectators who like horror tend to be in the minority, horror tends to have a very weak crossover appeal, thus limiting the audience interest while also being very unpopular among critics as well.
Interestingly, three recent horror films have achieved both critical acclaim and popularity among all audiences, horror and non-horror fans alike. Get Out, A Quiet Place, and It Follows are all noticeably lacking in the three features that commonly make a horror film “successful”, and yet it would be difficult to argue that they aren't successful horror films given that they have received critical acclaim, impressive box office returns, and have a strong crossover appeal. Therefore, they must use alternative methods to achieve the bodily response of fear that is necessary to be successful in the genre. I argue that these films put the audience member in a position that mirrors what Forced Lacanian Hysteric Neurosis and that this positioning produces the bodily response that is necessary for a horror movie to be successful. This manifestation has the additional benefit of allowing those spectators who do not like the fundamental aspects of horror (jump scares, gore, and suspenseful shots) to find the pleasure of horror without experiencing on-screen events that might cause them notable distress.
ContributorsStevens, Summer Charis (Author) / Mack, Robert (Thesis director) / Miller, April (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
133454-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
In critical conversation about the political theory of Game of Thrones, academics are often quick to compare the series with Machiavellian ideals and therefore assert that The Prince can be used as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the way that Game of Thrones characters cope with political intrigue.

In critical conversation about the political theory of Game of Thrones, academics are often quick to compare the series with Machiavellian ideals and therefore assert that The Prince can be used as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the way that Game of Thrones characters cope with political intrigue. Those who compare Game of Thrones and The Prince argue that because of the political realism and similar notions of human nature in Game of Thrones, the series perpetuates Machiavelli's idea that goodness and morality are not sufficient means by which to gain and sustain political power. When Game of Thrones began, many speculated that it adopted Machiavelli's deeply pragmatic paradigm of a successful ruler, but as the series progressed it seemed to reveal a more idealistic theory of leadership. This paper explores the relationship between these two works to determine if Game of Thrones ultimately perpetuates Machiavelli's philosophies about how to successfully acquire and maintain political power. After comparing the political tactics set forth in The Prince to the actions of the characters considered most idealistic and most Machiavellian in Game of Thrones, it is determined that Game of Thrones conclusively embraces Machiavelli's attitude toward successful political leadership, as the characters who seem to be most idealistic ultimately act in alignment with the theories set forth in The Prince.
ContributorsKlosterman, Meredith R. (Co-author) / Arterburn, Natalie (Co-author) / Fette, Don (Thesis director) / Stanford, Michael (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Queer individuals are frequently perceived as ‘the Other’ and thus, ‘the Other’ that exists in the imagination of writers as creatures and monsters to terrify audiences frequently take on queer characteristics. However, to examine these monsters, their transformations, and the communities that connect to them further, we must step away

Queer individuals are frequently perceived as ‘the Other’ and thus, ‘the Other’ that exists in the imagination of writers as creatures and monsters to terrify audiences frequently take on queer characteristics. However, to examine these monsters, their transformations, and the communities that connect to them further, we must step away from the cis, straight view of ‘normality’ and attempt to discuss the creature from within. This paper aims to examine the experiences of individual queer identities as they transition out of assumed heteronormativity and into ‘the Other’ themselves through the monsters that each identity aligns itself with narratively.
Contributorsvan Doren, Claire (Author) / Irish, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Himberg, Julia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Comm (Contributor)
Created2023-12
171381-Thumbnail Image.png
Description
Horror, more than a genre, manifests in marginalized communities through real-life violence and oppression perpetuated by state powers. This project focuses on both horror as a genre, and horror as an analytic of how oppression, social death, and white supremacy works itself out on the lives of the marginalized. I

Horror, more than a genre, manifests in marginalized communities through real-life violence and oppression perpetuated by state powers. This project focuses on both horror as a genre, and horror as an analytic of how oppression, social death, and white supremacy works itself out on the lives of the marginalized. I analyze numerous multicultural horror texts, including Especially Heinous by Carmen Maria Machado, The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, and “The Finkelstein 5” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, to demonstrate the potential of resistance within the genre. I name this form of horror-as-resistance “oppositional horror.” Oppositional horror operates as subgenre of horror and a theory through which to understand how the tenets of horror—excessive violence, ambient terror, and monstrosity—are used by state powers to perpetuate the oppression of minority populations. Although the horror genre often replicates gendered and racialized stereotypes, it is also capable of resisting systems of oppression. By labeling these systems as horror, the violence is exposed as excessive, terrifying, and dehumanizing. Oppositional horror draws on theories of social death, haunting, and monstrosity as methods to resist state powers and manifestations of violence. Each chapter demonstrates how social death affects different marginalized communities and the multitude of ways in which social death can be resisted. The first chapter argues that gendered violence is dismissed as normal and acceptable, but by constructing victims as monstrous—because monsters are inherently outside of the norm—destabilizes the normality of their deaths. The following chapter centers state powers as intentionally allowing migrants to die or go missing on the U.S./Mexico border. In the texts analyzed in this chapter, body horror and hauntings make the deaths of migrants visceral and present, refusing to be disregarded or ignored. The final chapter contends that Black people are kept socially dead through narratives of criminalization and racism. The texts of this chapter position police brutality and the unjust killing of Black people as a tool of white supremacy enforced through fear. Ultimately oppositional horror, by marking violence against marginalized communities as horrific, offers methods of resistance against social death and white supremacy.
ContributorsGoldsmith, Clarissa Susan (Author) / Bebout, Lee (Thesis advisor) / Free, Melissa (Committee member) / Horan, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description

Through a research essay, I broke down the psychological reactions viewers experience in the horror genre through a Freudian framework. Utilizing this research, I wrote the first act of a screenplay and a summary of the remaining acts.

ContributorsKeegan, Tierney (Author) / Scott, Jason (Thesis director) / Bernstein, Gregory (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / The Sidney Poitier New American Film School (Contributor)
Created2023-05