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Title: Towards a feminist funny: exploring myth, power and postfeminism in the work of Chelsea Handler.
Creator: Walleser, Lauren., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Abstract/Description: Chelsea Handler is a comedian and host of the TV show Chelsea Lately. She has been successful in the late night comedy talk show genre to a degree that no woman has before. While she represents the most significant advancement for women in the genre, she also plays to patriarchal themes in order to maintain her foothold. In my thesis, I locate Handler within the history of women's stand-up comedy, analyzing her appeal via the figure of "The Unruly Woman" and other image types. I apply a...
Show moreChelsea Handler is a comedian and host of the TV show Chelsea Lately. She has been successful in the late night comedy talk show genre to a degree that no woman has before. While she represents the most significant advancement for women in the genre, she also plays to patriarchal themes in order to maintain her foothold. In my thesis, I locate Handler within the history of women's stand-up comedy, analyzing her appeal via the figure of "The Unruly Woman" and other image types. I apply a mythic analysis as I look for Handler's manifestation of mythic types, including archetypal Goddess representations. I analyze her treatment of violence against women, exploring how Handler approaches these themes in ways that allow her into the "old boys club." I use textual and audience analysis to assess Handler's ability to be a transformative and empowering figure for women in comedy and beyond.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3322513
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Women in popular culture, Feminist theory, Performance art, Social aspects, Mass media and women
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: " Is it my fault my fangs come out when I'm turned on?": a feminist analysis of Pam and Jessica's vampire sexuality in the HBO television series True Blood.
Creator: Anderson, Ashley., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis analyzes Pamela Swynford De Beaufort and Jessica Hamby from the provocative HBO series, True Blood, in order to determine what hegemonic ideologies are reinforced through their sexual representation in the series. Through analysis based on concepts of the "vagina dentata" and "monstrous feminine," and in determining whether they fall victim to the Madonna/wore dichotomy, the question of Pam and Jessica's autonomous existence falls under scrutiny - particularly in regards to their...
Show moreThis thesis analyzes Pamela Swynford De Beaufort and Jessica Hamby from the provocative HBO series, True Blood, in order to determine what hegemonic ideologies are reinforced through their sexual representation in the series. Through analysis based on concepts of the "vagina dentata" and "monstrous feminine," and in determining whether they fall victim to the Madonna/wore dichotomy, the question of Pam and Jessica's autonomous existence falls under scrutiny - particularly in regards to their sexuality. Feminist scholarship is vital to this research in order to examine the often fetishized and marginalized sexuality of women who dare to exhibit transgressive behaviors. This thesis concentrates on Seasons One through Four of the series, and also utilizes meta-text from the official website related to each character in order to help answer the posed research questions.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356897
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Women in popular culture, Vampires on television, Lesbianism on television, Feminist theory, Philosophy in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Homonorm.
Creator: Rachesky, Scott Pierce, Bucak, Ayse Papatya, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: “Homonorm” is a collection of short stories that explores the gay male experience and challenges gender expectations. Through an exploration of form and content, each story serves to illuminate different issues in the gay community and in society. Where one story explores the issue of youth obsession with magical realism, the other tells the story of a gay artist’s sexual awakening and struggle with HIV and AIDS through a series of still-life photographs. This eclectic collection serves to...
Show more“Homonorm” is a collection of short stories that explores the gay male experience and challenges gender expectations. Through an exploration of form and content, each story serves to illuminate different issues in the gay community and in society. Where one story explores the issue of youth obsession with magical realism, the other tells the story of a gay artist’s sexual awakening and struggle with HIV and AIDS through a series of still-life photographs. This eclectic collection serves to break the stereotype of gay fiction and undo the gender norms for men through fantastical situations and a-typical forms of fiction to underscore the idea that life and community are varied and so too should be the representations of these two groups.
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Date Issued: 2017
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004841
Subject Headings: Gays' writings, American., Short stories, American., Gender identity--Fiction., Gay men--Fiction., Gays in popular culture., Homosexuality--Social aspects., Stereotypes (Social psychology)--United States.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: More than "just a hunch": meaning, feminine intuition and television sleuths.
Creator: Dominguez, Sheela Celeste., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: The rise in popularity of the female sleuth television programs makes it important to explore representations of gender and knowledge. This investigation analyzes interpretations of intuition in the television sleuth genre and relevant paratexts, examines gendered public and private spheres and raises broader questions about gendered knowledge in the series Medium, Crossing Jordan, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Veronica Mars, Monk, The Profiler and True Calling. Rooted in feminist cultural...
Show moreThe rise in popularity of the female sleuth television programs makes it important to explore representations of gender and knowledge. This investigation analyzes interpretations of intuition in the television sleuth genre and relevant paratexts, examines gendered public and private spheres and raises broader questions about gendered knowledge in the series Medium, Crossing Jordan, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Veronica Mars, Monk, The Profiler and True Calling. Rooted in feminist cultural studies, historical and sociological analysis, television and film theory and work on the detective genre, this investigation establishes common frames, or filters, through which the television sleuth genre represents intuition and the gendered experience of knowledge. Women with intuition are depicted as unstable, dangerous and mentally ill. Though framed similarly, intuitive men have more freedom. This study expands on academic research on television representations of gender and knowledge. Societal implications include further understanding of meaning-making in regard to gendered knowing.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/165938
Subject Headings: Women detectives in mass media, Popular culture, History, Self-actualization (Psychology), Sex differences (Psychology), Thought and thinking, Sex differences, Women in television
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Pop Goes the Worship: The Influence of Popular Music on Contemporary Christian Music in the Evangelical Church.
Creator: Risi, Patrice, Cunningham, James E., Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: Worship music has always existed in church liturgy. The early Roman Catholic Church reserved music for an exclusive group of composers and performers. In rebellion, the common people worshipped privately with prayers in their own vernacular, to secular tunes. Martin Luther's Reformation during the Renaissance solidified worship as a congregational experience and marked the beginning of the Protestant Church. As Europeans and Africans migrated to colonial America, two different streams of...
Show moreWorship music has always existed in church liturgy. The early Roman Catholic Church reserved music for an exclusive group of composers and performers. In rebellion, the common people worshipped privately with prayers in their own vernacular, to secular tunes. Martin Luther's Reformation during the Renaissance solidified worship as a congregational experience and marked the beginning of the Protestant Church. As Europeans and Africans migrated to colonial America, two different streams of music culture developed with interplay between sacred and secular influences. These two streams converged in the 1970s at the point of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), which imitated the music of pop culture in an effort to be culturally relevant and to evangelize unbelievers. The fundamental evangelical church uses CCM to worship and evangelize by adopting popular music styles and adapting them lyrically to reflect an acceptable spiritual viewpoint to the church and as a magnet to attract unbelievers.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000957
Subject Headings: Popular music--History and criticism, Evangelicalism--United States, Christianity and culture--United States, Christian rock music--Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Meryl Streep mystique: a study of gender, aging, Hollywood and a female star.
Creator: Allerton, Tracy., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis employs a star study of Meryl Streep, incorporating pertinent feminist, reception and culture-studies theories, to investigate biases within the Hollywood film industry. The actress has enjoyed a resurgence as a leading lady at age 61. Streep's star persona, acting prowess and career arc are examined across three theoretical platforms - production of culture, textual analysis, and audience analysis - or clues as to why she has been singled out among her peers. This thesis posits...
Show moreThis thesis employs a star study of Meryl Streep, incorporating pertinent feminist, reception and culture-studies theories, to investigate biases within the Hollywood film industry. The actress has enjoyed a resurgence as a leading lady at age 61. Streep's star persona, acting prowess and career arc are examined across three theoretical platforms - production of culture, textual analysis, and audience analysis - or clues as to why she has been singled out among her peers. This thesis posits that Streep's unique star image and surge in popularity have helped her break out of hegemonic articulations of gender and aging that privilege youthful beauty, putting female stars at a disadvantage within the capitalistic film industry. Also considered is the cultural significance of Streep's late-life success: Does she represent new openings for older actresses (and concomitantly, an increase in film representations of aging women), or is she merely an anomaly within the entrenched patriarchal system?
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2867329
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Sex role in motion pictures, Women in motion pictures, Middle age in motion pictures, Women in popular culture
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: What is old is new again: the role of discontinuity in nostalgia-related consumption.
Creator: Rutherford, Jana., College of Business, Department of Marketing
Abstract/Description: A 'wave of nostalgia' has gripped the US leading to nostalgic fashions, furniture, television programming and even food. The marketing literature suggests that nostalgic-related consumption is the result of an aging population. It has been proposed that the purchase of nostalgic-products and services is an attempt by mature consumers to return psychologically to the ease, certainties and conflict free periods that existed or seemed to exist during their childhood or adolescence. This paper...
Show moreA 'wave of nostalgia' has gripped the US leading to nostalgic fashions, furniture, television programming and even food. The marketing literature suggests that nostalgic-related consumption is the result of an aging population. It has been proposed that the purchase of nostalgic-products and services is an attempt by mature consumers to return psychologically to the ease, certainties and conflict free periods that existed or seemed to exist during their childhood or adolescence. This paper proposes that discontinuity, as argued by Davis (1979), is a better explanation for why people develop a preference for and consume nostalgic goods. Although some insights have been developed, research focused only on mature consumers and is rather limited in offering alternative explanations for the evocation of nostalgic feelings. MANCOVA was the primary method used to test hypotheses. Findings of this study indicate that discontinuity does not necessarily lead to nostalgia and preference for nostalgic products varies.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683126
Subject Headings: Consumption (Economics), Social aspects, Consumer behavior, Commercial products, Psychological aspects, Nostalgia, Economic aspects, Material culture, Popular culture
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: No Surrender: Bruce Springsteen, Neoliberalism and Rock and Roll’s Melancholic Fantasy of Sovereign Rebellion.
Creator: Graves, Kaitlin N., Trapani, William, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: This thesis builds from press accounts of Bruce Springsteen’s South by Southwest keynote address, taken by many to be a renewed call to arms of the classic mantras of the rock ethos in the age of a declining recording industry. In tracing the ways the speech circulated I argue that its discourse was rearticulated toward quite different (and concerning) ends. Throughout, I aim to show the apparatuses of power that sustains the rock liberation fantasy. I read the coverage of Springsteen’s...
Show moreThis thesis builds from press accounts of Bruce Springsteen’s South by Southwest keynote address, taken by many to be a renewed call to arms of the classic mantras of the rock ethos in the age of a declining recording industry. In tracing the ways the speech circulated I argue that its discourse was rearticulated toward quite different (and concerning) ends. Throughout, I aim to show the apparatuses of power that sustains the rock liberation fantasy. I read the coverage of Springsteen’s address as a therapeutic discourse meant to soothe the anxiety over the closure of agency in the age of neoliberalism. The general problematic for the thesis, then, addresses an anxiety over the collapse of freedom and as such works to offer broad reflections on the nature of radical agency in our increasingly neoliberal present.
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Date Issued: 2017
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004945, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004945
Subject Headings: Springsteen, Bruce--Influence., Neoliberalism., Politics, Practical--United States., Popular culture--United States--History--20th century., Popular music--Social aspects--United States--History--20th century., Rock music--Social aspects--United States--History--20th century.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Black adolescents’ critical encounters with media and the counteracting possibilities of critical media literacy.
Creator: Waldon, Kalisha, Schoorman, Dilys, Florida Atlantic University, College of Education, Department of Curriculum, Culture, and Educational Inquiry
Abstract/Description: This transformative mixed-methods research study, uniquely designed as a 12-week curriculum to facilitate critical media literacy, drew upon the principles of critical pedagogy to investigate Black adolescents ‘perceptions of the impact of media on their racial identities. Responding to the high rate of media consumption among Black youth, the Critical Encounters Unit engaged 79 Black high school students in the southeast United States in examining how they made sense of their media...
Show moreThis transformative mixed-methods research study, uniquely designed as a 12-week curriculum to facilitate critical media literacy, drew upon the principles of critical pedagogy to investigate Black adolescents ‘perceptions of the impact of media on their racial identities. Responding to the high rate of media consumption among Black youth, the Critical Encounters Unit engaged 79 Black high school students in the southeast United States in examining how they made sense of their media encounters. Data on participants ‘perceptions of the role media plays in constructing Black identities and societal perceptions of Blacks were gathered through pre-post study surveys of all participants‘ self-identities and media literacy, interviews with 15 participants, 467 student journals, and 15 video observation field notes.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004474, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004474
Subject Headings: African Americans in popular culture, Blacks -- Race identity -- United States, Critical theory, Critical thinking, High school students, Black -- Attitudes -- United States, Mass media and youth, Racism -- Prevention
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The discourse of the divine: radical traditions of black feminism, musicking, and myth within the black public sphere (civil rights to the present).
Creator: Carter, Issac Martel, White, Derrick, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: The Discourse of the Divine: Radical Traditions of Black Feminism, Musicking,and Myth within the Black Public Sphere (Civil Rights to the Present) is an exploration of the historical precursors and the contemporary developments of Black feminism in America, via Black female musical production and West and Central African cosmology. Historical continuity and consciousness of African spirituality within the development of Black feminism are analyzed alongside the musical practices of two Black...
Show moreThe Discourse of the Divine: Radical Traditions of Black Feminism, Musicking,and Myth within the Black Public Sphere (Civil Rights to the Present) is an exploration of the historical precursors and the contemporary developments of Black feminism in America, via Black female musical production and West and Central African cosmology. Historical continuity and consciousness of African spirituality within the development of Black feminism are analyzed alongside the musical practices of two Black female musicians, Nina Simone and Me’shell Ndegéocello. Simone and Ndegéocello, The High Priestess of Soul and the Mother of Neo-Soul, respectively, distend the commodified confines of Black music and identity by challenging the established norms of music and knowledge production. These artists’ lyrics, politics, and representations substantiate the “Signifyin(g)” elements of West and Central African feminist mythologies and music- making traditions.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004434, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004434
Subject Headings: African American women -- Social conditions, African American women -- Spirituality, African American women in popular culture, Feminist theory, NdegéOcello, Me'Shell -- 1969- -- Music -- Influence, Simone, Nina -- 1933-2003 -- Music -- Influence, Womanist theology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The dangers behind technological progress: posthuman control in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.
Creator: Sedore, Monica., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash depicts a world in which the more freedom the characters believe they have, the more control is actually being exerted upon them. I argue that Snow Crash parallels the world in which we are beginning to find ourselves today. In the modern world, we have the convenience of the Internet, which gives us the belief that we have a great deal of control over our environment. However, my argument stems from the idea that the freedom the characters believe that...
Show moreNeal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash depicts a world in which the more freedom the characters believe they have, the more control is actually being exerted upon them. I argue that Snow Crash parallels the world in which we are beginning to find ourselves today. In the modern world, we have the convenience of the Internet, which gives us the belief that we have a great deal of control over our environment. However, my argument stems from the idea that the freedom the characters believe that they are afforded in such a universe is actually another level of control being exercised upon them. I argue that our world is mimicked by the world of Snow Crash in a way that shows how truly little freedom we are given in our posthuman society.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355880
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Human body in popular culture, Biotechology, Social aspects, Virtual reality, Psychological aspects, Virtual reality in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Language choice in children’s animated TV shows.
Creator: Golitschek, Katharina, Augustyn, Prisca, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Lingustics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: This study aims to analyze three popular U.S. children’s TV shows – Dora the Explorer (Nickelodeon), Maya & Miguel (PBS) and Handy Manny (Disney Channel) – in terms of their incorporation of Spanish. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used to assess the frequency and types of code switching both in the context of bilingualism and language pedagogy. The study revealed different strategies of language choice and socio-cultural objectives for each show. A close analysis of language...
Show moreThis study aims to analyze three popular U.S. children’s TV shows – Dora the Explorer (Nickelodeon), Maya & Miguel (PBS) and Handy Manny (Disney Channel) – in terms of their incorporation of Spanish. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used to assess the frequency and types of code switching both in the context of bilingualism and language pedagogy. The study revealed different strategies of language choice and socio-cultural objectives for each show. A close analysis of language choice in the three children’s TV programs revealed distinct approaches to TV writing in the name of raising awareness of ethnic diversity, developing cultural literacy, and brand marketing.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004197, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004197
Subject Headings: Animated television programs -- Social aspects, Bilingualism, Children in popular culture, Children's television programs -- Social aspects, Critical pedagogy, Dora the Explorer (Television program), Educational sociology, Television programs for children -- Social aspects
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: One nation under gods: interfaith symbolism and the "American" race in the works of Jean Toomer.
Creator: Fallon, Laura Gayle., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This study argues that the interfaith symbolism present in the works of American author Jean Toomer undermines dominant Christian justifications for racism in the United States. It also discusses the ways in which Toomer's interfaith symbolism promotes the establishment of a race Toomer called the "American" race, a group of interracial, interreligious people whom Toomer hoped would change the way race was viewed in the United States. The multireligious references in Toomer's works challenge...
Show moreThis study argues that the interfaith symbolism present in the works of American author Jean Toomer undermines dominant Christian justifications for racism in the United States. It also discusses the ways in which Toomer's interfaith symbolism promotes the establishment of a race Toomer called the "American" race, a group of interracial, interreligious people whom Toomer hoped would change the way race was viewed in the United States. The multireligious references in Toomer's works challenge constricted definitions of both religion and race by highlighting interchangeable religious ideals from several world religions.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/359926
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Race in popular culture, Race relations
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: New Age or new opiate? A cultural analysis of "The Celestine Prophecy".
Creator: Greenspan, Deborah Sue., Florida Atlantic University, Scodari, Christine
Abstract/Description: The Celestine Prophecy is a popular new age novel which has attracted an audience numbering in the millions. Looking at this book from both the political and cultural economic perspectives allows us to analyze economic factors behind the book's production, the text itself, and the ways the audience uses the text. From these perspectives we can see what produced this cultural phenomenon, and examine alternative meanings that readers of the text may find in it. Issues of hegemony, diversity and...
Show moreThe Celestine Prophecy is a popular new age novel which has attracted an audience numbering in the millions. Looking at this book from both the political and cultural economic perspectives allows us to analyze economic factors behind the book's production, the text itself, and the ways the audience uses the text. From these perspectives we can see what produced this cultural phenomenon, and examine alternative meanings that readers of the text may find in it. Issues of hegemony, diversity and domination are explored, as is the "structure of feeling" of the text. How the audience uses or resists the ideas incorporated in the novel is also studied.
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Date Issued: 1997
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15462
Subject Headings: Redfield, James--Criticism and interpretation., Redfield, James.--Celestine prophecy., Communication--Political aspects--United States., Communication--Economic aspects--United States., Popular culture--United States--History--20th century.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Tramping: alternatives to traditional American rites of passage.
Creator: Saturno, Anthony Vincent, Brown, Susan Love, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
Abstract/Description: In America today, adolescent boys do not have a structured, ritualized or guided passage From boyhood into manhood. Many young men feel unsure of their manhood even at an age that signifies the transition. This causes young males to need a self--‐created rite of passage. Tramping, the act of travelling by train, hitchhiking or foot, is one way in which young males can independently achieve manhood. This is a literary account of the lives of Jack Kerouac, Chris McCandless, and Zebu Recchia....
Show moreIn America today, adolescent boys do not have a structured, ritualized or guided passage From boyhood into manhood. Many young men feel unsure of their manhood even at an age that signifies the transition. This causes young males to need a self--‐created rite of passage. Tramping, the act of travelling by train, hitchhiking or foot, is one way in which young males can independently achieve manhood. This is a literary account of the lives of Jack Kerouac, Chris McCandless, and Zebu Recchia. Their personal stories allow a detailed view of the advantages and disadvantages found in a self--‐created rite of passage. While two of the accounts are successful, in Chris McCandless’s case the rite ends in a transition to death.Tramping as a rite of passage to adulthood seems effective but the danger in self--‐ creation appears to be the lack of guidance that comes in unstructured rites of passage.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004057
Subject Headings: Adolescence -- United States, Cotton, Eddy Joe -- Biography, Identity (Psychology) in adolescence, Kerouac, Jack -- 1922-1969 -- Biography, McCandless, Christopher Johnson -- 1968-1992 -- Biography, Roads -- Social aspects, Teenage boys -- Conduct of life, Teenage boys in popular culture, Tramps -- United States
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Heeding the Antiheroine's Call: the Rise of the Antiheroine in Literature and Popular Culture.
Creator: Lyles-Scott, Cynthia C., Childrey, John, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract/Description: In my thesis, I argue three assertions: 1) that the 21 st Century antiheroine who has figured so prominently in literature and film is an evolution of the heroine archetype that combines both the action-oriented traditional male hero archetype and the tragically flawed, antagonistic anti-heroine archetype, 2) that the foundation for this newly modified pop culture antiheroine can be traced back to Margaret Mitchell's iconic character, Scarlett O'Hara, and finally 3) that this new modem...
Show moreIn my thesis, I argue three assertions: 1) that the 21 st Century antiheroine who has figured so prominently in literature and film is an evolution of the heroine archetype that combines both the action-oriented traditional male hero archetype and the tragically flawed, antagonistic anti-heroine archetype, 2) that the foundation for this newly modified pop culture antiheroine can be traced back to Margaret Mitchell's iconic character, Scarlett O'Hara, and finally 3) that this new modem heroine archetype, the antiheroine, has become an integral part of popular culture, both in literature and film as well as other popular media. As my primary texts I used Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind, the David O. Selznick film ofthe same title, Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, as well as several other primary and secondary sources, including the published volume of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind related letters.
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Date Issued: 2007
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000935
Subject Headings: Mitchell, Margaret,--1900-1949--Gone with the wind--Criticism and interpretation, Campbell, Joseph,--1904-1987--Hero with a thousand faces--Criticism and interpretation, Women in literature, Heroines in literature, Popular culture--United States--20th century
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Studied girlhoods: consciousness, context, and negotiation of identity in the memoirs of Dorothy Allison, Mary Karr, and Barbara Robinette Moss.
Creator: Dilgen, Regina., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
Abstract/Description: Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her....
Show moreDorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, and Barbara Robinette Moss's Change Me into Zeus's Daughter are memoirs published in the 1990s of girlhoods in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This dissertation uses and expands upon the approaches of the multi-disciplinary Girls' Studies in analyzing how these memoirists theorize their own girlhoods. Each memoirist represents her experience in a culture that attempts to marginalize, silence, and define her. An application of the foundational work on girlhood in developmental psychology provides for an analysis of each memoirist's depiction of girlhood as a time of authentic insight and developing agency. Referencing feminist literary criticism allows for an interpretation of how the girls at the center of these works develop agency through growing awareness of the circumstances of their marginalization. And a semiotic literary interpretation adds to the analysis of these works as creative autobiogra phical writing in affording a close reading of how the memoirists portray younger selves learning to read the signs and texts of a culture and becoming aware of their status as girls in working-class families. Each memoirist uses a dual vocal presentation as both the adult memoirist and a younger self give shape to the narrative. Each memoirist represents a distinct southern space intersecting with specifics of the era to form a cultural moment. Social Construction Theory makes available a basis for considering how the memoirists narrate their increasing understanding of race and gender within these specific contexts as well as their resistive voicing of these insights., Through a Cultural Studies focus this dissertation examines how each memoirist represents a younger self's negotiations with cultural products of the era that work to construct girlhood. Adding to this unpacking of how the memoirists study their own girlhoods, the tools of Postco for an analysis of how the memoirists theorize their own girlhoods in ways that parallel these approaches. This dissertation adds to the evolving field of Girls' Studies in using contemporary theoretical frameworks to interpret how girlhood is constructed, represented, and negotiated with in these memoirs.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332175
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Self in literature, Popular culture, Working class women
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Liberating machismo: deconstructing the stereotypes of Latinidad in Alberto Korda's Guerrillero Heroico.
Creator: Ayala-Walsh, Johanna., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis examines the Alberto Korda Guerrillero Heroico image within the realm of U.S. Latino/a fiction. Drawing from several trends that constitute Latino/a identity as either resistant to white mainstream hegemonies, or as a performative construct, I argue that a collective Hispanic identity is found somewhere between these two extremes. Corporate discourses have perpetuated stereotypes of Latino masculinity to limit any alternate and nuanced portrayal of Latinidad. Specifically, I posit...
Show moreThis thesis examines the Alberto Korda Guerrillero Heroico image within the realm of U.S. Latino/a fiction. Drawing from several trends that constitute Latino/a identity as either resistant to white mainstream hegemonies, or as a performative construct, I argue that a collective Hispanic identity is found somewhere between these two extremes. Corporate discourses have perpetuated stereotypes of Latino masculinity to limit any alternate and nuanced portrayal of Latinidad. Specifically, I posit that the corporate use of the Che photograph illustrates Latin men as hypermasculine, limiting Latin-ness to a performance of its mainstream depiction. To combat the commercialization of the print, the novel Loving Che imagines new possibilities for the Hispanic community and its relationship to the U.S. market, challenging the idea of a pan-Latino/a identity with archival photographis of the comandante. Together, both texts bridge performative and resistant trends, providing a potential Latinidad that resists and eludes corporate hegemonies.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358279
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Masculinity in popular culture, Machismo, ?
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Micropolitics of transition in Yugoslavia: a local and global demise.
Creator: Marinos, Martin Y., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
Abstract/Description: The thesis provides a cultural analysis on the micropolitics of Yugoslavia wars in 1992-1995, examining local and global media coverage along with grassroots and historical dimensions. The study offers an extensive overview of scholarly literature on the Balkans, arguing that often omitted local, cultural and historical narratives of the war events reveal complex perspectives on the rationales provided on civil war. Investigating the nationalist social movements in Yugoslavia (1992-1995), the...
Show moreThe thesis provides a cultural analysis on the micropolitics of Yugoslavia wars in 1992-1995, examining local and global media coverage along with grassroots and historical dimensions. The study offers an extensive overview of scholarly literature on the Balkans, arguing that often omitted local, cultural and historical narratives of the war events reveal complex perspectives on the rationales provided on civil war. Investigating the nationalist social movements in Yugoslavia (1992-1995), the thesis articulates the need to revisit Deleuze and Guattari's framework of micropolitics to understand the cultural and historical dimensions operational in such movements. The study presents local media coverage in Nasa Borba, Borba, and Hrvatsko Slovo, focusing mainly on two major atrocities committed during the Balkan conflict, in order to shed light on the complex role of discourse emerging in war environments.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186298
Subject Headings: Political and social views, Political and social views, Yugoslav War, 1991-1995, Popular culture, Political aspects, Ethnic groups, Political aspects, History
Format: Document (PDF)

Popular culture (13)	+ -
Criticism and interpretation (7)	+ -
Social aspects (6)	+ -
Women in popular culture (5)	+ -
Feminist theory (4)	+ -

Psychological aspects (4)	+ -
African Americans in popular culture (3)	+ -
Gays in popular culture (2)	+ -
Gender identity (2)	+ -
History (2)	+ -
Mass media and culture (2)	+ -
Political aspects (2)	+ -
Popular culture--United States--History--20th century. (2)	+ -
Symbolism in literature (2)	+ -
Women in motion pictures (2)	+ -
? (1)	+ -
Adolescence -- United States (1)	+ -
African American women -- Social conditions (1)	+ -
African American women -- Spirituality (1)	+ -
African American women in popular culture (1)	+ -
African Americans (1)	+ -
Animated films--Criticism and interpretation (1)	+ -
Animated television programs -- Social aspects (1)	+ -
Antiheroes (1)	+ -
Art and society. (1)	+ -
Art and technology (1)	+ -
Art patronage--United States--Florida. (1)	+ -
Arts and society. (1)	+ -
Arts--Psychological aspects. (1)	+ -
Autonomy (Psychology) (1)	+ -

United States (9)	+ -
Balkan Peninsula (1)	+ -
Bosnia and Hercegovina (1)	+ -
Brazil (1)	+ -
Latin America (1)	+ -

20th century (2)	+ -
21st century (2)	+ -

Change me into Zeus's daughter. (1)	+ -
Guerrillero Heroico. (1)	+ -
Liars' club. (1)	+ -
Loving Che. (1)	+ -
Snow crash. (1)	+ -

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