Current Search: Motion pictures and history (x)
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- Title
- Vampire films and the social construction of whiteness.
- Creator
- McQueen, Michael Anthony., Florida Atlantic University, Budd, Michael N.
- Abstract/Description
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This thesis explores the manner in which whiteness is represented and constructed in Western media through analysis of six narrative films about vampires. The study hypothesizes that vampire films have been underexamined as a site of contestation over the meanings of racial differences because they have been considered a "white" genre. Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model is used as the principal methodology, but other theories (e.g. semiotics) are used to explore the subtexts of the films....
Show moreThis thesis explores the manner in which whiteness is represented and constructed in Western media through analysis of six narrative films about vampires. The study hypothesizes that vampire films have been underexamined as a site of contestation over the meanings of racial differences because they have been considered a "white" genre. Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model is used as the principal methodology, but other theories (e.g. semiotics) are used to explore the subtexts of the films. The study pays attention to the historical moment of the films' production and explores instances where race works in tandem with gender to construct Others.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1999
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15735
- Subject Headings
- Vampire films--History and criticism, Race relations in motion pictures, Whites in literature, Minorities in motion pictures
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir, an alternative perspective on the Middle East, a mirror for the West.
- Creator
- Dzmuranova, Kristyna., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
- Abstract/Description
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This project presents a three-level analysis of Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir to elucidate the way these films deconstruct the image of the Middle East that the dominant Western media perpetuate. The thesis demonstrates that the combination of highly expressive and easily understandable animated form with an autobiographical storyline that endows the films with attractive authenticity, personification and intimacy, creates a palatable setting for the intellectual texts. Further, this...
Show moreThis project presents a three-level analysis of Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir to elucidate the way these films deconstruct the image of the Middle East that the dominant Western media perpetuate. The thesis demonstrates that the combination of highly expressive and easily understandable animated form with an autobiographical storyline that endows the films with attractive authenticity, personification and intimacy, creates a palatable setting for the intellectual texts. Further, this project discloses the ways representation gives rise to stereotypes and illustrates how the films articulate an alternative to the dichotomous perception of West versus Middle East. The movies impersonate a unique, subjective insight into the past, emphasizing that history is an ongoing, non-linear process that depends on where and who is narrating it, and to whom. Understanding that public memory is shaped by media content, the thesis asserts the necessity for more cultural texts that deconstruct the norm and eliminate bias.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3175014
- Subject Headings
- Documentary films, Criticism and interpretation, Arab-Israeli conflict, Motion pictures and the conflict, Moving pictures in propaganda, Motion pictures and history, Historical films, Criticism and interpretation, History and criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- “Carole Lombard as silent spectacle”.
- Creator
- Kiriakou, Olympia, Sim, Gerald
- Date Issued
- 2012-04-06
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3350909
- Subject Headings
- Silent films, Motion picture actors and actresses, Film criticism, Epic films --History and criticism, Motion pictures --United States --Plots, themes, etc., Lombard, Carole, 1908-1942, Silent films --History and criticism, Comedy films --History and criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Race and representation in Friday Night Lights.
- Creator
- Johnson, Keisha., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
- Abstract/Description
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This thesis will highlight the significance and representation of race in the film and television show Friday Night Lights. The core claim of my thesis will show that representation of race was different in the film as compared to the television show due to their various settings, one historical (1980s) and the other contemporary (2000s). While both the film and the television show were produced in the 2000s, their use of two different historical periods allows for contrasting representations...
Show moreThis thesis will highlight the significance and representation of race in the film and television show Friday Night Lights. The core claim of my thesis will show that representation of race was different in the film as compared to the television show due to their various settings, one historical (1980s) and the other contemporary (2000s). While both the film and the television show were produced in the 2000s, their use of two different historical periods allows for contrasting representations of race even they both draw from the book Friday Night Lights. The film's representation of race is reflective of its late 1980s setting, therefore, viewers of the film will see a more explicit handling of racial issues. During that time period it was socially acceptable to talk about issues of race straightforwardly and directly. On the other hand, the television show's contemporary setting, by contrast, allows for the representation of race to be handled more suggestively, indirectly, and implicitly, reflecting new ways of thinking about race more prevalent to the early 21st century.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355560
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, African American athletes, Social conditions, Racism in sports, Football, Social aspects, History
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Let's get into character: gender depictions in the films of Quentin Tarantino.
- Creator
- Fedderman, Marc R., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
- Abstract/Description
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This study will focus on Quentin Tarantino's three most recent films: Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), and Death Proof (2007). These works are significant, in that they present a marked departure from the director's earlier films. Specifically, they offer portrayals of resourceful and powerful female protagonists, in stark contrast to the frequently neglected and marginalized women of Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Buttressed by a mixture of...
Show moreThis study will focus on Quentin Tarantino's three most recent films: Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004), and Death Proof (2007). These works are significant, in that they present a marked departure from the director's earlier films. Specifically, they offer portrayals of resourceful and powerful female protagonists, in stark contrast to the frequently neglected and marginalized women of Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Buttressed by a mixture of psychoanalytic feminist and postmodern theories, I will perform a careful textual analysis of these latest films. In particular, I intend to uncover the ways in which Tarantino's films support and/or subvert traditionally oppressive conceptions of gender.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/216414
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Sex role in motion pictures, Motion pictures, History
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Preaching to the choir: the culture war and the box office success of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
- Creator
- Kuhn, Rebecca., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
- Abstract/Description
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In 2004, Mel Gibson released The Passion of the Christ, a film that focuses specifically on the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Over a year before its release and well ahead of any studio publicity, the film and its director were at the center of a discussion that sparked criticism from biblical scholars, Jesus historians, and members of the media. In spite, or perhaps because, of this controversy, The Passion was well-received by its audiences if not by its critics....
Show moreIn 2004, Mel Gibson released The Passion of the Christ, a film that focuses specifically on the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Over a year before its release and well ahead of any studio publicity, the film and its director were at the center of a discussion that sparked criticism from biblical scholars, Jesus historians, and members of the media. In spite, or perhaps because, of this controversy, The Passion was well-received by its audiences if not by its critics. This dissertation explores the cultural, political, and economic factors that led to the box office success of Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ and also examines why viewers identified with Jesus, the protagonist of the film. First, this project places the success of The Passion of the Christ in socio-historical and political-economic context of 2004, emphasizing the popularity of neoliberal economic policies, conservative political thought, and Evangelical Christianity. Second, this project explores the specific political and economic arrangements that facilitated the making of the film at Cinecitta studios in Rome. The ease with which Gibson was able to make The Passion outside of the United States is a direct result of neoliberal economic policies that emphasize free trade and, in the process, undermine trade unions and film industry laborers. Third, in addition to a macro- and micro-level political economic analysis of The Passion of the Christ, this project also examines the film as it fits into the horror genre. Horror not only seeks to elicit an immediate visceral reaction from audience members but also manifests the political and economic insecurities of society. Finally, this project connects the film text to these anxieties, including the war on terror, the war in Iraq, and an extended crisis of masculinity.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/359922
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Passion, History of doctrines, Christianity and culture, Motion pictures, Political and social aspects, Horror films, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- American national identity and discourses of the frontier in early 20th century visual culture.
- Creator
- Maldonado, Chandra Ann, Trapani, William, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
- Abstract/Description
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This thesis examines the rise of image culture in the 1920’s and its impact on American national identity. I demonstrate that, perhaps surprisingly, the central figure in these debates was not a past or present prominent American but instead an indeterminate Other which is read in ambivalent ways and for varied purposes. It is the central claim of this project that in order to trace the modern American subject that emerges from the 1920s national rift, one must attend to the ways in which a...
Show moreThis thesis examines the rise of image culture in the 1920’s and its impact on American national identity. I demonstrate that, perhaps surprisingly, the central figure in these debates was not a past or present prominent American but instead an indeterminate Other which is read in ambivalent ways and for varied purposes. It is the central claim of this project that in order to trace the modern American subject that emerges from the 1920s national rift, one must attend to the ways in which a felt need to view and position oneself in relation to “the Other” was essential to defining the nature and future of the nation. More specifically, I argue that the film Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925) offers a solution to this national divide by providing viewers a popular culture form of “evidence” of the Westerner’s capacity to exhibit both premodern and modern qualities.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004214, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004214
- Subject Headings
- Frontier and pioneer life -- United States -- Historiography, Frontier thesis, Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925) (Motion picture), Group identity -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century, Nationalism -- United States -- History -- 20th century, Political culture -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Format
- Document (PDF)