Department: American Culture Studies/Popular Culture ![[clear]](close-x.png "Remove this limiter")
34 matches in the database.
These are records: 1 - 30.
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1.
Adams, Megan E.
Flicking the Bean on the Silver Screen: Women’s Masturbation as Self-Discovery and Subversion in American Cinema.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2011, Bowling Green State University
► Women’s masturbation has the potential to disrupt the patriarchal constructions of sexuality…
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▼ Women’s masturbation has the potential to disrupt the patriarchal constructions of sexuality by presenting an alternative wherein women can control their own pleasure independently of relationships with men. Considering the power of film as an influential and widely-consumed medium, and given the persistent cultural climate against women’s self-stimulation and sexual satisfaction in general, diverse onscreen portrayals of autoeroticism have the ability to foster feminist resistance to hegemonic discourses and potentially change attitudes regarding what is culturally considered to be normal sexual behavior. The selected depictions of female masturbation discussed in this analysis often implicitly or even explicitly address themes of power and sexuality, repression, transformation, and many other issues wrapped up in autoeroticism, suggesting that both real life masturbation and its onscreen representations are volatile and potentially revolutionary. These portrayals are examined based on their distinct intentions, audiences, and contexts in order to understand the films’ reflection of and influence on women’s sexuality within a patriarchal society. A comprehensive analysis of this manner calls for the reconsideration of traditionally oppressive constructions of sexuality and the re-examination of established film theory, including reevaluating spectatorship and gaze theory. Not every representation is equally feminist or sex-positive on its face, but all depictions of women’s autoeroticism offer an opportunity to construct subversive readings and identify redeemable aspects, even if it is only a reminder that women can and do masturbate at all.
Advisors/Committee Members: Coates, Kim.
Subjects: American Studies; Film Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Womens Studies
Keywords: Feminist film theory; gaze theory; feminism; women's sexuality; masturbation
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2.
Bartholomy, Jonathan.
Disability Studies is Absolutely Essential in a World Engulfed by Technology and Medicalization.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► In this thesis, I argue that Disability Studies is a valid field,…
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▼ In this thesis, I argue that Disability Studies is a valid field, enabling people to have ongoing nuanced and complex discussions regarding disability, the body, technology, and medicalization. The continuing emphasis on using technology and medicalization to perfect and normalize the human body may have people thinking that Disability Studies is passé or fading into irrelevancy, especially since eliminating impairment and disability are ways of achieving such normal conceptions of the body. However, Disability Studies remains important because it resists these culturally hegemonic standards and advocates for a much more inclusive world. The field itself is constantly progressing in new directions, offering more ways of understanding the human experience as dominant society continues to find new ways to perpetuate normative ideas about the body. With this project, I examine how technology and medicalization affect the way we perceive our own bodies, pressuring us to conform our bodies to a particular type of uniformity and causing more difficult conversations to be pushed to the background. The factors of disability and Disability Studies add more layers of complexity to views formulated by hegemonic influences, and invites people to have thoughtful discussions about the norms and values that shape the way people think about bodies, human rights, and participation in the public sphere. The adaptive nature of Disability Studies allows it to intersect with a variety of different topics and disciplines and continue to develop in the future.
Advisors/Committee Members: Baron, Cynthia.
Subjects: American studies
Keywords: Disability Studies; medicine; technology; Academy
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3.
Bean, Kent Richard.
Policing the Borders of Identity at The Mormon Miracle Pageant.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2005, Bowling Green State University
► While Mormons were once the “black sheep” of Christianity, engaging in communal…
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▼ While Mormons were once the “black sheep” of Christianity, engaging in communal economic arrangements, polygamy, and other practices, they have, since the turn of the twentieth century, modernized, Americanized, and “Christianized.” While many of their doctrines still cause mainstream Christians to deny them entrance into the Christian fold, Mormons’ performance of Christianity mark them as not only Christian, but as perhaps the best Christians. At the annual Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, Utah, held to celebrate the origins of the Mormon founding, Evangelical counter-Mormons gather to distribute literature and attempt to dissuade pageant-goers from their Mormonism. The hugeness of the pageant and the smallness of the town displace Christianity as de facto center and make Mormonism the center religion. Cast to the periphery, counter-Mormons must attempt to reassert the centrality of Christianity. Counter-Mormons and Mormons also wrangle over control of terms. These “turf wars” over issues of doctrine are much more about power: who gets to authoritatively speak for Mormonism. Meanwhile, as Mormonism moves Christianward, this creates room for Mormon fundamentalism, as small groups of dissidents lay claim to Joseph Smith’s “original” Mormonism. Manti is also the home of the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days, a group that broke away from the Mormon Church in 1994 and considers the mainstream church apostate, offering a challenge to its dominance in this time and place.
Advisors/Committee Members: Santino, Jack.
Keywords: Mormon; Mormonism; Manti; Joseph Smith; Evangelical; Christian; Counter-Mormon; Anti-Mormon; Fundamentalist Mormon; Pageant; Pageantry; Spectacle; Public display
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4.
Bernard, Mark.
Selling the Splat Pack: The DVD Revolution and the American Horror Film.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► In 2006, journalists began writing about the emergence of a group of…
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▼ In 2006, journalists began writing about the emergence of a group of young filmmakers who specialized in horror films featuring torture and graphic violence. Because of their gory and bloody movies, these directors came to be known as “the Splat Pack,” and they were depicted by the press as subversive outsiders rebelling against the Hollywood machine. However, what many discussions of the Splat Pack ignore is how the success of this group of directors was brought about and enabled by the industrial structure of Hollywood at the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Drawing from political economy methodology, this study seeks to understand and illuminate the industrial changes and realignments that gave rise to the Splat Pack, first by looking at how industrial changes have affected the content of horror films of the past, and secondly by examining how the advent of DVD technology made way for the gory, “Unrated” films of the Splat Pack. DVD played a major role in the rise of the Splat Pack by changing the way horror films were presented to their potential audiences and by leading to an industry acceptance of “Unrated” films. With this in mind, this study then turns to an analysis of several key films directed by the Splat Pack and uses the commodity form of the DVD as a lens through which to interpret these films. By foregrounding the commodity status of these films, this study resists reading these films as subversive manifestos. Instead, it seeks to use these films as a means of better understanding how commodity form affects content. The ultimate argument is that the films of the Splat Pack are commercial products made particularly salable by the DVD era and must be confronted and understood as such.
Advisors/Committee Members: Baron, Dr. Cynthia.
Keywords: film; film industry studies; horror film genre; film and technology
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5.
Burchfield, Rebekah Lynn.
Pressed between the Pages of My Mind: Tangibility, Performance, and Technology in Archival Popular Music Research.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► Acknowledging the unique ontological nature of sound recording, this project seeks to…
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▼ Acknowledging the unique ontological nature of sound recording, this project seeks to outline a framework for working with archival sources in popular music scholarship. The proposed theoretical lens combines influences from cultural studies, historical audience studies, and performance studies in order to encourage a broader appreciation of the popular music archive and the identity-making cultural practices surrounding the popular music archive. Such an endeavor requires the acknowledgement of three theoretical considerations: technology, performance, and tangibility. To illustrate the breadth of readings that this approach to the popular music archive can yield, each chapter uses source material from the Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives at Bowling Green State University. Chapter Two analyzes the contents of rock promotional materials and argues that these technologies of representation code rock music according to semiotic markers of masculinity, whiteness, and mythic America. Chapter Three argues that themes of inclusion and exclusion in punk fanzines work to unite individual, localized scenes into a translocal scene that transcends time and geographical boundaries through shared narratives and common values. Chapter Four examines the construction of audience identity through teen-oriented artist biographies and argues that such technologies of representation police (female) fan behavior through narratives of “proper” fandom. Chapter Five explores themes of physical separation and reunion through the American Top 40 Long Distance Dedication segment and argues that the format’s affective qualities are inextricably bound to physical embodiment and common physical vulnerability. The project concludes with a revisiting of the concepts of tangibility, performance, and technology in the age of the digital archive through brief case studies of the iPod, the play count, and the ubiquity of Auto-Tune in contemporary popular music. Ultimately, the project makes a case for an active music archive: taking technology, tangibility, and performance into consideration allows for archival scholarship in popular music to be as lively as the music itself.
Advisors/Committee Members: Schurk, William.
Subjects: American studies; Gender; History; Mass media; Music
Keywords: sound recording history; popular music; archives; digital archives; performance studies; music fanzines; rock music; teenage fandom; radio history
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6.
Chesnut, Lauren J.
Raising a Monster Army: Energy Drinks, Masculinity, and Militarized Consumption.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► In this project, I seek to explore the ways in which contemporary…
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▼ In this project, I seek to explore the ways in which contemporary aspects of militarism and capitalism are expressed and exploited by energy drink manufacturers as part of their efforts to attract young men to buy their products and identify with their brand. Numerous larger and ongoing social, economic, and political shifts are at work here, and I find that examining the visual and textual rhetoric of energy drinks can help us identify how consumer culture reflects as well as perpetuates these forces. I draw from a variety of disciplines, sources, and sites in my efforts, which will ultimately serve to help explicate the content of energy drink advertisements, packaging, web projects, and the self-styled online identities of their consumers. The widespread adoption of masculine-centric rhetoric by nearly all the purveyors of energy beverages, as well as their ever-growing popularity, prompt me to wonder why these messages seem to be so appealing and effective and what that might tell us about masculine gender identity in a post-9/11 era.
Advisors/Committee Members: Gajjala, Radhika.
Subjects: American history; American studies; Armed forces; Gender; Labor economics; Packaging; Rhetoric; Social research; Womens studies
Keywords: energy drinks, masculinity; gender; militarism; consumer culture; digital labor; social networking
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7.
Colangelo, Joanna.
A Continuation of Myth: The Cinematic Representation of Mythic American Innocence in Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” and “The Dreamers”.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► The following thesis aims to track the evolution and application of certain…
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▼ The following thesis aims to track the evolution and application of certain fundamental American cultural mythologies across international borders. While the bulk of my discussion will focus on the cycle of mythic American innocence, I will pay fair attention to the sub-myths which likewise play vital roles in composing the broad myth of American innocence in relation to understanding American identities – specifically, the myth of the Virgin West (or America-as-Eden), the yeoman farmer and individualism. When discussing the foundation of cultural American mythologies, I draw specifically from the traditional myth-symbol writers in American Studies. Those works which I reference are: Henry Nash Smith’s, Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth, Leo Marx’s, The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America and R.W.B. Lewis’s, The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century. I focus much of my discussion on the applicability of the myth of innocence, rather than the validity of the actual myth throughout history. In this sense, I follow the myth as a cycle of innocence lost and regained in American culture – as an ideal which can never truly reach its conclusion for as long as America is invested in two broad definitions of innocence: the American Adam and the Noble Savage. By considering “innocence” as both naïve and pure (in the sense of Adam) and violent and primitive (in the sense of the Noble Savage), I propose that the myth of American innocence finds its timelessness in its cultural malleability. That is, as long as the myth continues to evolve with cultural and societal advances, its relevance will be omnipresent. However, in order to widen the field of myth-symbol scholarship in American Studies, I have opted to filter the myth of innocence through an international lens of Italian cinema. After establishing an understanding of mythology in American culture, I dedicate the bulk of my thesis to tracing the myth of innocence through Bernardo Bertolucci’s films from 1972 – 2003, paying specific attention to Last Tango in Paris and The Dreamers. While discussing the initial impression of American identity in post-World War II Italy, I conclude that it was through traditional American literature and cinema that Italians formed a sense of Americanism not wholly different from national American identities. However, by exploring Bertolucci’s depiction of Americanism through his films, I ultimately conclude that the application of American innocence, while certainly colored by an international perspective, nonetheless does reflect a cycle of the American Adam and the Noble Savage in much the same way that American culture reinforces the same mythic cycle. I conclude that this international mythological approach to America as either Adam or Noble Savage is contingent upon America’s political, social and economic positioning in the world community.
Advisors/Committee Members: Celli, Carlo.
Subjects: Cinema; American Studies
Keywords: American mythology; myth of innocence; Bernardo Bertolucci; Last Tango in Paris; The Dreamers
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8.
Conaway, Sandra B.
Girls Who (Don’t) Wear Glasses: The Performativity of Smart Girls on Teen Television.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► This dissertation takes a feminist view of t television programs featuring smart…
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▼ This dissertation takes a feminist view of t television programs featuring smart girls, and considers the “wave” of feminism popular at the time of each program. Judith Butler’s concept from Gender Trouble of “gender as a performance,” which says that normative behavior for a given gender is reinforced by culture, helps to explain how girls learn to behave according to our culture’s rules for appropriate girlhood. Television reinforces for intellectual girls that they must perform their gender appropriately, or suffer the consequences of being invisible and unpopular, and that they will win rewards for performing in more traditionally feminine ways. 1990-2006 featured a large number of hour-long television dramas and dramedies starring teenage characters, and aimed at a young audience, including Beverly Hills, 90210, My So-Called Life, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Freaks and Geeks, and Gilmore Girls. In most teen shows there is a designated smart girl who is not afraid to demonstrate her interest in math or science, or writing or reading. In lieu of ethnic or racial minority characters, she is often the “other” of the group because of her less conventionally attractive appearance, her interest in school, her strong sense of right and wrong, and her lack of experience with boys. She nearly always experiences a makeover to become more normative, and she leaves behind the life of the mind in order to become more popular, and loved by boys. New media may offer competing images of smart girls.
Advisors/Committee Members: Blair, Kristine.
Keywords: Girls' Studies; Television; Feminism; Judith Butler; Beverly Hills, 90210; My So-Called Life; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Freaks and Geeks; Gilmore Girls
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9.
Cunningham, Phillip Lamarr.
“Well, It Is Because He’s Black”: A Critical Analysis of the Black President in Film and Television.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2011, Bowling Green State University
► With the election of the United States’ first black president Barack Obama,…
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▼ With the election of the United States’ first black president Barack Obama, scholars have begun to examine the myriad of ways Obama has been represented in popular culture. However, before Obama’s election, a black American president had already appeared in popular culture, especially in comedic and sci-fi/disaster films and television series. Thus far, scholars have tread lightly on fictional black presidents in popular culture; however, those who have tend to suggest that these presidents—and the apparent unimportance of their race in these films—are evidence of the post-racial nature of these texts. However, this dissertation argues the contrary. This study’s contention is that, though the black president appears in films and televisions series in which his presidency is presented as evidence of a post-racial America, he actually fails to transcend race. Instead, these black cinematic presidents reaffirm race’s primacy in American culture through consistent portrayals and continued involvement in comedies and disasters. In order to support these assertions, this study first constructs a critical history of the fears of a black presidency, tracing those fears from this nation’s formative years to the present. This history is followed by textual analyses of those films and television series featuring a black president, with an emphasis on showing how the narratives and codes within these films reflect those historic fears.
Advisors/Committee Members: Nelson, Angela.
Subjects: African American Studies; American Studies; Film Studies
Keywords: U.S. presidents; African American presidents; film; television
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10.
DeRose, Maria D.
SEARCHING FOR WONDER WOMEN: EXAMINING WOMEN'S NON-VIOLENT POWER IN FEMINIST SCIENCE FICTION.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► Searching for Wonder Women: Examining Women’s Non-violent Power in Feminist Science Fiction,…
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▼ Searching for Wonder Women: Examining Women’s Non-violent Power in Feminist Science Fiction, examines how works of Feminist Science Fiction (from various media, especially literature, film, and television) can be used as engaged, critical pedagogical tools for teaching a wide variety of feminist and critical race theories concerning issues of power / empowerment and subjectivity. In each chapter, I describe how I have used particular FSF works in the classroom and how each one fosters discussion on the particular topic / issue. In Chapter I, “Examining Power, Violence, Masculinity and ‘Tough Girls,’” I deconstruct commonly held definitions of power (especially those with links to violence, patriarchy and hegemony) and demonstrate how works of FSF can encourage students to think about cultural power in relationship to the dispersal of resources. Through an analysis of Charmed, this chapter also displays the complexities of examining the links between violence and power. Chapter II, “Telling Our Stories: Women’s Voices in Feminist Science Fiction,” focuses on the power of language to construct alternate realities in opposition to non-inclusive, “dominant” cultural narratives, and also on storytelling as a means to literally “give voice” to marginalized groups. Chapter III, “‘The Women Men Don’t See:’ Women's Strategic Invisibility as Potential Empowerment,” analyzes stories of literal and metaphorical invisibility in order to discuss issues of women's subjectivity and voice, invisibility / hypervisibility through sexualization and objectification, and also “passing" as a member of the dominant race / gender / sexuality. Finally, my chapter “Ecofeminism as Anti-domination Activism” examines the “culture of domination” present in how cultural ideologies treat both women (and other marginalized groups) and the environment. Throughout my dissertation, I use personal narratives and references to students’ discussion comments in order to demonstrate how, after studying various feminist theories of media, identity, and voice, they all discovered their own non-violent source and definition of power. I use their stories and analyses to discuss society's potential to construct more diverse, inclusive definitions of power.
Advisors/Committee Members: Gajjala, Radhika.
Subjects: Women's Studies
Keywords: Feminist pedagogy; Feminist science-fiction; Engaged pedagogy; Race and gender in science-fiction
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11.
Faulhaber, Edwin F. III.
Communicator Between Worlds: Björk Reaches Beyond the Binaries.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► Icelandic pop star Björk has spent her career breaking down boundaries, blurring…
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▼ Icelandic pop star Björk has spent her career breaking down boundaries, blurring lines, and complicating binaries between perceived opposites. Examining a variety of both primary and secondary sources, this study looks at the ways that Björk challenges the binary constructions of "high" and "low" art, nature and technology, and feminism and traditional femininity, and also proposes that her uniquely postmodern approach to blurring boundaries can be a model for a better society in general. This study contends that Björk serves as a symbol of what might be possible if humans stopped constructing boundaries between everything from musical styles to national borders, and as a model for how people can focus on their commonalities while still respecting the freedom of individual expression. This is particularly important in the United States of America, a place where despite its infinite potential for cultural pluralism and collaboration, there are as many (or more) divisions between people based upon race, class, gender, and religion as anywhere else in the world.
Advisors/Committee Members: Coates, Kimberly.
Subjects: American studies; Mass media; Music; Technology; Womens studies
Keywords: Björk; electronic music; Iceland; women and music; pop music; alternative music; popular culture; music genres; nature and technology; feminist music
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12.
Feshami, Kevan A.
“That Blood is Real Because I Just Can’t Fake It”: Conceptualizing, Contextualizing, Marketing, and Delivering Gore in Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► In 1963 exploitation filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis released Blood Feast, a movie…
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▼ In 1963 exploitation filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis released Blood Feast, a movie that showcases violence. Widely regarded as the progenitor of the gore genre and as the film that opened the door to depictions of graphic violence in American cinema, Blood Feast occupies interesting positions in the history of American genres and the American film industry. This project endeavors to explore and elaborate on these generic, historical, and industrial positions. To do so, it first clarifies the generic terms “exploitation” and “gore” through an examination of the literature produced on the two terms. It then provides a historical overview of the changes in the filmic marketplace during the 1950s and 60s that enabled the profitable production, distribution, and exhibition of the first gore film. The advertising materials used to promote the film are also analyzed in order to provide insights into the ways that Blood Feast and its graphically violent content were sold to the public. Finally, Blood Feast is examined on a textual level via an approach grounded in formal film analysis that discusses the use of color and performance in the film. Ultimately, the common thread that emerges from these analyses is one of the importance of differentiation to Blood Feast on both a textual and extra-textual level. Lewis’s effective efforts at differentiation ultimately were a major factor in both Blood Feast’s immediate financial success and its enduring cultural legacy.
Advisors/Committee Members: Wester, Maisha.
Subjects: American history; American studies; Marketing
Keywords: Herschell Gordon Lewis; Blood Feast; gore; splatter; exploitation; horror
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13.
Franklin, Adam C.
Headshot!: An Exploration of the Phenomenon of Violent Video Games.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► This paper examines the phenomenon of violent video games. The work begins…
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▼ This paper examines the phenomenon of violent video games. The work begins with a review of the violent content of American media entertainment. While violence in American media entertainment is pervasive, it is not as popular as commonly noted. Next, the paper discusses the video game industry and market. It appears that video games are not just played by adolescent boys as many believe. Although violent games do not make up the majority of the industry, they are indeed popular, as millions of violent games are sold each year in the United States alone. Concerns and critiques of violent video games are reviewed as well as research on the effects that violent games may have on those who play them. Utilizing existing theory and research on the consumption of violent media in general, the author considers the extent to which such theories are applicable to violent video games. While the theories used to explain why people consume violent media are indeed applicable to violent video games, certain aspects that violent games have such as control, active role of the user, and user identification, may make such games more appealing than violent television and film. Limitations of existing research are identified and discussed.
Advisors/Committee Members: Holcomb, Jefferson.
Keywords: violence; video games; entertainment media
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14.
Gentry, Erin.
Girls' Night Out: Female Graffiti Artists in a Gendered City.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► Graffiti art is often thought of as a boys' subculture because it…
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▼ Graffiti art is often thought of as a boys' subculture because it is seen as too dangerous and aggressive for girls to be involved. Despite this assumption, girls have been invested in graffiti art since its beginnings in the early 1970's, and continue to contribute to the subculture's development today. This thesis explores the often ignored position of female graffiti artists by looking both at the physical and the social spaces in which female graffiti artists work. The city is explored as a masculine space that is hostile to female graffiti artists. The subculture of graffiti is inhospitable as well, because female graffiti artists are often fetishized and objectified, and their talents are under constant scrutiny within the subculture. This thesis employs personal interviews with several female graffiti artists and then uses a cultural studies approach to develop an understanding of the position of females in graffiti. Finally, it explores the ways in which the hyper-masculine natures of both the city and the subculture have affected the subjectivities of female graffiti artists through a visual analysis of self-portraits of the artists.
Advisors/Committee Members: Bingaman, Amy.
Subjects: American studies; Gender
Keywords: Graffiti; Subcultures; Gender Studies; Urban Studies
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15.
Guthrie, Meredith Rae.
SOMEWHERE IN-BETWEEN: TWEEN QUEENS AND THE MARKETING MACHINE.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2005, Bowling Green State University
► This study begins at the moment in the 1990s when tweens, or…
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▼ This study begins at the moment in the 1990s when tweens, or 8-14 year old girls, coalesced into a recognized marketing demographic within popular discourse, and continues to trace the development of tween definitions through early 2005. Before tweens were important as a cultural group, they were important as an economic demographic. In fact, the group was created by marketers in an effort to sell more products to children. Many theorists believe that, within capitalist societies such as the United States, being recognized as a marketing demographic often translates into that group’s cultural recognition. This study traces the tween’s growing cultural acknowledgment. Rather than examining the actual, lived experience of tweens, this study focuses on the discourse of the tween as presented by both popular culture and marketing texts. Together, these texts attempt to define a tween “ideal.” Throughout this study, I stress that an important part of this ideal is that tweens should be able to participate fully in the consumer economy. Within American culture, the tweens’ first purpose is to buy things. As tweens are indoctrinated into their roles as consumers, they are also brought into the more defined gender roles required of older girls, because embodying proper girlhood requires that tweens buy the correct array of products. To examine the formation of tweens as a marketing and cultural demographic, this study uses a wide variety of popular culture texts, such as girls’ magazines, television shows, films, novels and the body manuals that tell girls about puberty and sex. Different chapters examine the history and development of tween-aimed cable television programming, the ideal tween as it is expressed through tween-aimed popular culture, some of the ways tweens learn to connect menarche with their entry into consumer culture, the Lolita myth’s connection to tween sexuality, and the commodification of Riot Grrrl rhetoric in the creation of Girl Power marketing schemes. Throughout, I note the ideal tween’s classed and raced position. In all, this study is intended to create a foundation for further studies of the tween.
Advisors/Committee Members: Berry, Ellen.
Keywords: Tweens; Girl Studies; Commodification; Marketing; Popular Culture; Children's Literature; Children; Feminism; Women's Studies; Menarche; Lolita; Riot Grrrl; Girl Power
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16.
Helb, Colin.
Use and Influence of Amateur Musician Narratives In Film, 1981-2001.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► This dissertation is an analytical survey of four amateur musician narrativescreated between…
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▼ This dissertation is an analytical survey of four amateur musician narrativescreated between 1981 and 2001. Unlike purportedly true, marketing-driven uses of amateur narratives, the four narratives chosen for this project are unabashed total fictions. Despite this, the films achieve levels of perceived “authenticity” by way of cultural value and influence. None of the narratives deal with amateur musicianship as a stage or step in an inherent progression towards professionalism, as seems a prerequisite for the recollections of the now professional. But all include narratives of amateur musicians struggling to make it against “insurmountable commercial odds” resulting from an artist's gender, talent, ability, or identity. Despite this, none treat hegemonically dictated concepts of commercial success, wealth, fame, and stardom as the ultimate and/or desired goal of amateurism or semiprofessionalism. The films all present concepts of accomplishment in challenge of hegemonic notions of professional dominance and commercial success as markers of success. The four films, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1981), Ishtar (1987), Half-Cocked (1995), and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), are culturally representative of their respective eras, but have experienced lasting cultural influence in both filmmaking and music making. The films exist as prototypical examples of amateur musicians narratives, performance, and media common to the 20th Century “rise of the amateur” as found on the Internet, in realty programming, and marketing tragedies.
Advisors/Committee Members: Wallach, Jeremy.
Subjects: Music
Keywords: Amateur; Amateurism; Professionalism; Popular Music; Popular Culture; Internet; Film; Gender; Rock Music
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17.
Joys, Joanne Carol.
The Wild Things.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2011, Bowling Green State University
► This dissertation examines the creation of several iconic personalities, who because of…
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▼ This dissertation examines the creation of several iconic personalities, who because of their presumed abilities to freely and successfully cross back and forth between the dichotomous worlds of wilderness and civilization, were able to demonstrate their heroics to the public largely through surrogates of the wilderness; captive wild animals, especially those deemed most dangerous. Using various media and venues these people were able to become popular personalities for an increasingly urban population with little or no direct contact with what was deemed “wilderness.” Each of the iconic personalities was very much in tune with the prevailing public perceptions surrounding wilderness and wild animals. Along with their publicists and collaborators they created and often internalized images that reflected the values, unique talents,and backgrounds of contemporary popular heroes, both real and fictional. This coincides with William Cronin’s theory that wilderness “is quite profoundly a human creation—indeed the creation of very particular human cultures at very particular moments in history.” By examining in depth the creation, careers, and legacies of three of these iconic heroes; Isaac Van Amburgh, Frank Buck and Clyde Beatty, it becomes evident how they paved the way for their many successors, most notably Marlin Perkins, Gunther-Gebel Williams, Jack Hanna and Steve Irwin. Shifts in public perception of the increasingly threatened wild and the growing controversy over the practice of keeping wild animals in captivity have recast many of these former heroes into villains. Yet for much of the public the allure of individuals able to defy the real or imagined dangers of the wild remains fascinating. Today, in a culture fixated with celebrities and stars, perhaps this willingness to create an image, becoming the hero of children and the envy of adults, is the only way to successfully purvey a message of habitat preservation, respect for the environment, and the importance of “green” practices.
Advisors/Committee Members: Miller, Montana.
Subjects: American Studies
Keywords: Beatty, Clyde; Buck, Frank; Van Amburgh, Isaac; concepts of wilderness and wildness; celebrity; circuses, menageries, zoos; Perkins, Marlin; Gebel-Williams, Gunther; Hannah, Jack; Irwin, Steve; Discovery and Animal Planet
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18.
Kirby, Jason.
LIKE A WRECKING BALL: GILLIAN WELCH AND THE MODERN SOUTH.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► This thesis explores the work of "alternative country" music performer Gillian Welch…
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▼ This thesis explores the work of "alternative country" music performer Gillian Welch in the context of modern-day Southeastern American regional identity. Gillian Welch, along with her accompanist and songwriting partner David Rawlings, has been known since the mid-1990s for making spare acoustic music which incorporates elements of early country and string-band music, bluegrass, gospel, rock, punk, and folk music. Her songs' lyrics obliquely address themes of change and continuity central to the Southern roots music she draws upon. Welch has been celebrated as an innovator in the "alt.country" scene, but her detractors have labeled her as inauthentic, due to her status as a woman raised in privilege in California performing music most commonly associated with Southern working-class people. The authenticity debate surrounding Welch is particularly relevant considering the shifting boundaries of Southern regional identity following latter 20th century industrialization and re-migration to the area. Having first established the social and historical context to the debate, in this thesis I argue that Gillian Welch's music opens up traditionally limited definitions of what it means to be Southern in modern America. Welch's work proves that it is possible to use the region's past as a tool to understand its present situation, without sinking into a sort of white nostalgia. Her work also demonstrates that it is possible to claim a Southern identity without personally hailing from the South. In fact, I argue that Welch's music is "authentically" Southern, when one considers authenticity as culturally-defined instead of determined by blood. In this thesis, I argue that Welch procures her authenticity in ways which also serve as commentary upon the modern South. Through her intervention in musical genre boundaries, she establishes an empathy with ordinary Southerners put through the emotional wringer of 20th century modernity. She participates in a tradition of Southern collective remembrance while also critiquing its race, class, and gender limitations. Finally, Welch gives a voice to the new "Sunbelt" migrant, searching for a diasporic identity in a changed and industrialized region. In so doing, her work both reflects and helps shape present-day Southern culture.
Advisors/Committee Members: Wallach, Jeremy.
Subjects: Music; American Studies
Keywords: Welch, Gillian; Southern states
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19.
Klypchak, Bradley C.
Performed Identities: Heavy Metal Musicians Between 1984 and 1991.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► Between 1984 and 1991, heavy metal became one of the most publicly…
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▼ Between 1984 and 1991, heavy metal became one of the most publicly popular and commercially successful rock music subgenres. The focus of this dissertation is to explore the following research questions: How did the subculture of heavy metal music between 1984 and 1991 evolve and what meanings can be derived from this ongoing process? How did the contextual circumstances surrounding heavy metal music during this period impact the performative choices exhibited by artists, and from a position of retrospection, what lasting significance does this particular era of heavy metal merit today? A textual analysis of metal related materials fostered the development of themes relating to the selective choices made and performances enacted by metal artists. These themes were then considered in terms of gender, sexuality, race, and age constructions as well as the ongoing negotiations of the metal artist within multiple performative realms. Occurring at the juncture of art and commerce, heavy metal music is a purposeful construction. Metal musicians made performative choices for serving particular aims, be it fame, wealth, or art. These same individuals worked within a greater system of influence. Metal bands were the contracted employees of record labels whose own corporate aims needed to be recognized. To attain publicity and promotion, bands need to acquiesce to the wishes of assorted media entities like radio or television. Functioning within a subcultural genre, the band must also account for maintaining the normative practices deemed mandatory for subcultural membership while being mindful of the preferences for those consuming their performance, their audience. In other words, the musicians must adapt their performance to balance the demands of critics, peers, and a purchasing public in such a way as to appear innovative and authentic while retaining ties to a normative subcultural standard. It is at the nexus of these factors that metal performativity is being explored. Ultimately, the shift from subcultural distinction to mainstream commercialization illustrates metal’s lasting legacy as a popular cultural entity effective in reestablishing larger mass-cultural hegemonies.
Advisors/Committee Members: Brown, Jeffrey A.
Keywords: heavy metal music; performance; hegemonic masculinity; exscription; subculture
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20.
Lewis, Melinda Maureen.
Renegotiating British Identity Through Comedy Television.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► In conversations concerning American television abroad, conflict arises regarding the impact of…
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▼ In conversations concerning American television abroad, conflict arises regarding the impact of American culture on countries without a strong means of autonomous media production. These discussions are usually confined to developing nations; however, Americanization still remains relevant to those nations who have a developed media industry. This thesis further examines the dynamic relationship between two media powerhouses, the United States and Great Britain. The purpose of this project is to explore how British television works with American television and popular culture in ways that do not interrupt the cultural education television provides. Beginning with a short history of the importation of programs between both countries, the thesis elaborates on the significance of television and comedy to culture. This history of media importation helps to set up how particular programs play with Americanness in ways that help to reassert a sense of Britishness. Using Andy Medhurst’s A National Joke, this project examines how television comedy is able to communicate, reassert, and redefine British identities. The shows chosen, Peep Show (2003- ) and Goodness Gracious Me (1998-2001) are two comedies that play such a role in renegotiating and redefining Britishness, by deconstructing the notion of identity as well as emphasizing Britishness through the representation of Americanness. Between Peep Show’s utilization of an American character as a means to differentiate British from American and Goodness Gracious Me’s use of familiar American formats to emphasize the impact of American television on British culture, both pinpoint the issues relevant to discussing contemporary British identity and through the lens of comedy provide a space for these issues to be deconstructed and challenged.
Advisors/Committee Members: Morgan-Russell, Simon.
Subjects: Mass media
Keywords: British Television; American Television; Television Studies; Comedy; British Popular Culture; American Popular Culture; Goodness Gracious Me; Peep Show
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21.
MacDonald Weeks, Kelly C.
Parrotheads, Cheeseburgers, and Paradise: Adult Music Fandom and Fan Practices.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2012, Bowling Green State University
► Jimmy Buffett’s beach bum lifestyle music was essentially solidified with his album…
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▼ Jimmy Buffett’s beach bum lifestyle music was essentially solidified with his album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes in 1977, and it is his fans, collectively known as Parrotheads, who have continued to help him achieve such success. This dissertation examines not only Parrotheads, but also the ways in which this fan group has invested in, and engaged with, the “Margaritaville State of Mind” that Buffett and his fans have cultivated together. Derived from Buffett’s hit song, “Margaritaville,” Buffett’s beach bum escapism ethos has transformed his fandom into an experience and, further, a lifestyle – a state of mind and a state of being – to be enjoyed by his fans whether it is through their celebration of their fandom, or even in the goods and services they purchase. Moreso, this work explores various ways that a tropical escapism lifestyle is evoked and developed by Parrotheads through the many fan activities they engage with as part of belonging to their local Parrothead clubs. Parrotheads have chosen, as an integral part of their fandom, to raise money for local social and environmental charities, all in the name of their fandom. Another aspect examined in this dissertation investigates how Parrotheads are not only developing and becoming active participants, but also performing their fandom in social networking sites developed specifically for them. Ultimately, this project highlights how some music fans are embracing new types of music-centered leisure cultures in contemporary society. Parrotheads are a fascinating example of an organization functioning as a social club, united by love of a musician and his message; in this instance, a literal and figurative investment in Jimmy Buffett and his trop-rock music, from which they have worked together to cultivate a mythical Margaritaville.
Advisors/Committee Members: Gajjala, Radhika.
Subjects: American Studies
Keywords: fandom; adult music fans; American Studies; popular music; Jimmy Buffett; Parrotheads; tropicalization; consumerism; tailgating; fan labor; social networking studies
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22.
Moody, David L. III.
Political Melodies in the Pews?: Is Black Christian Rap the New Voice of Black Liberation Theology?.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► Liberation from oppression, racism, and poverty is a long-awaited dream for many…
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▼ Liberation from oppression, racism, and poverty is a long-awaited dream for many African Americans. The “liberating” dream for most African Americans in times past was achieved through a spiritual commitment to God and communal support from fellow believers within a given church body. How does one achieve liberation today? Is it through Christian theology? Is it through artistic musical expression? Or is through both? On the other hand, is it achieved through religious ideology packaged as political expository preaching? Black Christian rappers are the latest in a far-reaching procession of African Americans to participate in a “redeemer exercise” dedicated to the safeguarding of ethnic-gender hierarchies. Similar to the social and psychological messages for slaves that were revealed in the old Negro Spirituals during the nineteenth- and twentieth-century, Christian rappers and Black liberation theologians, use a personified –social form of politics to convey meaning and substance to challenge racial intimidation in America. Moreover, these spiritual activists focus on liberation from social, political, economic, and religious oppression that has kept African Americans in bondage for many years. This study argues that Christian rappers interpret the effects of postmodern and post-civil rights social, economic, and political transformations in a similar mode to the messages declared from the pulpit by Black liberation theologians. However, these spiritual rappers adopt a different agenda for empowerment and religious freedom from the one proclaimed by their elder counterparts.In particular, the study explores the views that Christian theology is a theology of liberation and by means of this spiritual deliverance, an innovative, yet, revolutionary voice (Gospel hip hop) has emerged from the pews of the Sunday morning worship hour in the Black church. It is my contention that the emergence of Christian hip hop based ministries has taken on the role of a new liberating theological theme among youth within the Black community. Moreover, as controversy surrounds the provocative sermons by the former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, a similar tone of discontent at present, challenges the discipleship and evangelism efforts of Christian rappers such as: Antonious, B.B. Jay, Elle R.O.C., Gospel Gangstaz, Grits, King Cyz, Knowdaverbs, Lil’ Raskull, Mr. Real, Toby Mac, Willie Will, and Kirk Franklin.
Advisors/Committee Members: Nelson, Angela.
Subjects: African Americans; American studies; Black history; Communication; Music; Religion
Keywords: African Americans; Black Liberation Theology; Christian Theology; Civil Rights; Gospel; Hegemony; Hip Hop; Jesus Christ; Liberation; Oppression; Rap Music
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23.
Naugle, Briel Nichole.
Nobody Does It Better: How Cecily Von Ziegesar’s Controversial Novel Series “Gossip Girl” Spawned The Popular Genre of Teen Chick Lit.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2008, Bowling Green State University
► An amalgamation of two overlooked and often dismissed genres (young adult fiction…
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▼ An amalgamation of two overlooked and often dismissed genres (young adult fiction and chick lit), the burgeoning popular fiction genre of teen chick lit has yet to be defined and discussed in critical detail. The popularity of teen chick lit novels amongst their target audience is undeniable as book sales of the archetypal series, Cecily von Ziegesar’s Gossip Girl, exceed 4.5 billion copies as of 2007. Clearly, the novels resonate with teen readers in ways yet unknown to those outside the Millennial generation, to whom these novels are targeted. Using John Cawelti’s theories of conventions, inventions, and formula, a genre analysis of teen chick lit genre was completed to decipher the particular elements that differentiate teen chick lit from other genres such as traditional young adult literature. Since the genre is also culturally important, a brief examination of the sociological implications of the novels and the ways in which the novels reflect the changing social mores of the Millennial readers is included. This initial analysis of the genre answers the question what is this genre and what makes it unique from traditional literature aimed at young adult females? Through a close reading of the texts of the series, I contend that the author Cecily von Ziegesar helped to create a new literary genre by using conventions found in other forms of literature in a unique way; that is, by incorporating borrowed conventions (such as explicit sex) from other genres and placing them into a genre that has been historically censored against such conventions, von Ziegesar transformed the “conventions” into “inventions,” to use Cawelti’s terms. Through repetition of these “inventions” in the following volumes of the series, the “inventions” became “conventions” and a new genre was created to contain these conventions.
Advisors/Committee Members: Clinton, Esther.
Keywords: Teen Chick Lit; Gossip Girl; John Cawelti; Cecily Von Ziegesar; Chick Lit; Inventions; Conventions; Genre
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24.
Pralea, Cristian.
A Hermeneutical Ontology of Cyberspace.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► In this study I build a hermeneutical ontology of cyberspace. In particular…
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▼ In this study I build a hermeneutical ontology of cyberspace. In particular I interpret the conditions underlying existence in this virtual space that has been created by interacting communication machines, or what we have come to know as the World Wide Web. My argument is that there is a specific existence associated with this phenomenon and my aim is to frame and follow an inquiry upon its being. Ultimately, the “digital experience” is the end result of Modern Western cultural thought and therefore one of the privileged spaces for understanding Western culture. My approach is hermeneutical although I associate hermeneutics with ontology in a manner similar to that of Gianni Vattimo. Vattimo argues that any ontology at the end of metaphysics has to be hermeneutical. Therefore we are dealing with an “ontology of decline,” an inquiry into a declension of being, and thus realized along lines of intellectual genealogies. In this dissertation, I explore four major themes. First, we have the idea of cyberspace as a privileged ground for investigating Modernity. Second, is the idea of hermeneutics as a koiné of our times, thus an appropriate approach for this investigation. Third, I argue for the impossibility of separating the digital from the human, meaning that there is a general digital human experience which we can unearth by digging through cyberspace. The fourth theme, which appears towards the end, is the idea of an intimate connection between cyberspace, Modernity, and a democratic mindset understood in an ontological rather than political way. Dialogue and consensus, these essential characteristics of democracy, will reveal themselves essentially subverting the violent metaphysical categories through their cyber interplay. It is a glimpse of a feature of our times occasioned by this inquiry into the being of cyberspace. It may also be an open door that this study would offer, towards a different rewriting of Modernity.
Advisors/Committee Members: Mirchandani, Rekha.
Subjects: American studies; Communication; Mass media; Philosophy
Keywords: cyberspace; hermeneutics; ontology; philosophy of cyberspace; internet; digital culture; internet and democracy; virtual worlds; online experience; postmodernity; critique of modernity
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25.
Ryan, Joelle Ruby.
Reel Gender: Examining the Politics of Trans Images in Film and Media.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2009, Bowling Green State University
► This dissertation examines transgender images in film, television and media from the…
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▼ This dissertation examines transgender images in film, television and media from the 1950s through the present, with an emphasis on images from the 1980s through today. The primary goal of the dissertation is to interrogate the various gender and sexual ideologies contained within the representations to determine the social status of trans people in American society. How do these images function to both encourage and stymie the liberation of transgender people in the United States? The dissertation deploys trans, queer and feminist theories to critically analyze the cultural work performed by these mass-media texts. What are the trends within the trans media canon, and how do they relate to the treatment of real-world gender-nonconforming people? In order to answer these questions, I separate the trans images into four different stereotypes. For each of these stereotypes, I analyze three to four films to compare and contrast the way the films deal with the issues of gender and sexual variation. The first stereotype I examine is the Transgender Deceiver. The Transgender Deceiver utilizes drag and gender transformation to obtain something they want from society. While the films analyzed are comedies (Tootsie, Just One of the Guys, Sorority Boys, and Juwanna Mann), I argue that they are not as innocuous as they appear due to the way they stereotype gender-variant people as duplicitous, selfish and conniving. Next, I examine the trope of the Transgender Mammy. Through turning my analytical lens on To Wong Foo, Holiday Heart and Flawless, I look at the stereotype of the fabulous, servile and palatable trans-feminine subject. In these films, the characters exist to fix the problems of gender-normative people, add color and spice to their broken lives, and become worthy through their devoted service to the hegemonic class. The Transgender Monster describes the use of gender-transgressive killers in horror and slasher films. While films such as Psycho and Silence of the Lambs are more well-known for this disturbing representation, I examine three teen horror “B-Movies” to examine this trend: Terror Train, Sleepaway Camp and Cherry Falls. While trans people are frequently murdered in vicious hate crimes, these films perform a reversal of reality by presenting transgender folks as killers. By doing so, they cement fear of gender variance and perpetuate the continued demonization of transgender women. I end the dissertation by examining the Transgender Revolutionary. I look at four documentaries (Fenced Out, Toilet Training, Cruel and Unusual, and Screaming Queens) to demonstrate how this “new wave” of documentary film diverges from traditional representations of transpeople in documentaries by focusing on trans political agency. The final chapter summarizes the findings of the dissertation, explores theoretical tensions in the work and contemplates new directions for transgender media. I assert new paradigms for gender and sexuality through a discussion of “degendering.” Media can play a powerful role in documenting the emergence of exciting new transformations in the ongoing movement for gender freedom.
Advisors/Committee Members: Peña, Susana.
Subjects: American studies; Mass media; Womens studies
Keywords: transgender; transsexual; film; television; media studies; queer studies; queer theory; cultural studies; gender; activism; trans liberation; cross-dressing in film; queer media studies; feminism; feminist theory, trans-feminism; gender studies
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26.
Shang, Mei.
On “Not Asian Enough” – Textual Analysis of Cultural Representation of All-American Girl.
Degree: MA, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2011, Bowling Green State University
► The first Asian American situation comedy, All-American Girl (1994), has encountered much…
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▼ The first Asian American situation comedy, All-American Girl (1994), has encountered much controversy and many compliments from viewers in both the Asian American community and the mainstream audience. The main controversy is whether the show promotes similar stereotypes as other Asian American representations from the past. Guided by Joanne R. Gilbert's theory of marginality and Joseph Boskin and Joseph Dorinson's ethnic humor theory, this thesis intends to testify that All-American Girl presents a marginal Korean American family in America with combined inspirations from the Asian and Asian American community. The show depicts more cultural conflicts than social and/or class conflicts. Rather than demonstrating aggressive ethnic humor as anticipated, All-American Girl displays images of the “model minority.” Yet, All-American Girl adds diversity to the network by projecting a family image of Asian Americans for the first time on television shows.
Advisors/Committee Members: Cragin, Becca.
Subjects: American Studies
Keywords: All-American Girl; Mariginality; the Model Minority; Asian Americans
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27.
Shope, Dan R.
Shattered Glass and Broken Dreams: Utilizing the Works of Michel De Certeau to Analyze Coping Mechanisms and Overt Forms of Resistance Among Glass Workers in Huntington, West Virginia.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► This dissertation examines the process of deindustrialization in an urban Appalachian community…
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▼ This dissertation examines the process of deindustrialization in an urban Appalachian community from a cultural perspective. Many initial studies concerning the effects of deindustrialization on Appalachian communities concluded that these communities were ultimately devastated. Appalachian culture was too brittle, culturally backwards, and therefore unable to withstand the shock of such an economic disaster. These studies failed to consider what subtle forms of coping mechanisms existed in the workplace before deindustrialization, and what overt forms of resistance were utilized by economically dispossessed workers after the deindustrialization process. In the 1980s, the Owens-Illinois Glass manufacturing plant in Huntington, West Virginia was significantly downsized, and in the early 1990s the glass manufacturing plant was permanently closed due to the deindustrialization process. This dissertation challenges the notion that Owens-Illinois workers in Huntington, West Virginia were “culturally backward,” and therefore ultimately defeated by the deindustrialization process. Utilizing the works of Michel de Certeau, and analyzing a series of oral histories of deindustrialized Owens-Illinois glass workers in Huntington, West Virginia, this paper proposes that former glass workers in Huntington, West Virginia creatively coped with their often tedious work environments during full employment, and later developed overt forms of resistance to the deindustrialization process.
Advisors/Committee Members: McQuarie, Donald.
Keywords: Appalachia; Sociology; West Virginia; Deindustrialization; Oral History; Michel de Certeau; Glass; Gender; Race; Class; Labor
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28.
Sibielski, Rosalind.
What Are Little (Empowered) Girls Made Of?: The Discourse of Girl Power in Contemporary U.S. Popular Culture.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2010, Bowling Green State University
► Beginning in the late 1990s, U.S. popular culture has been inundated with…
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▼ Beginning in the late 1990s, U.S. popular culture has been inundated with messages promoting “girl power.” This dissertation examines representations of girl power in the mass media, as well as popular literature and advertising images, in order to interrogate the ways in which the discourse of girl power has shaped cultural understandings of girlhood in the past twenty years. It also examines the ways in which that discourse has functioned as both an extension of and a response to social concerns about the safety, health and emotional well-being of girls in the United States at the turn of the millennium. Girl power popular culture texts are often discussed by commentators, fans and their creators as attempts to use media narratives and images to empower girls, either by providing them with models for how to enact empowered femininity or by providing them with positive representations that make them feel good about themselves as girls. However, this project is arguably limited by the focus in girl power texts on girls’ individual (as opposed to their structural) empowerment, as well as the failure of these texts to conceive of the exercise of power outside of patriarchal models. Girl Power as it has been articulated in U.S. popular culture is full of contradictory messages about adolescent female empowerment, as well as girls’ places within U.S. society. This dissertation argues, however, that rather than trying to reconcile these contradictions, girl power must be understood in terms of the inconsistencies in and tensions between its varying articulations, all of which shape how we as a culture understand what it is and what it means to be an empowered girl at the present moment.
Advisors/Committee Members: Berry, Ellen.
Subjects: American studies; Mass media; Womens studies
Keywords: girl power; popular culture; mass media; feminism; film; television; feminism
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29.
Stuart, Jamie L.
THE BUSINESS AND PLEASURE OF FILMIC LESBIANS PERFORMING ONSTAGE.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2006, Bowling Green State University
► This dissertation examined five films with queer female characters who perform on…
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▼ This dissertation examined five films with queer female characters who perform on stage: When Night is Falling, Better than Chocolate, Tipping the Velvet, Slaves to the Underground, and Prey for Rock and Roll. These films were divided into “glossy” and “gritty” categories. “Glossy” films, like When Night is Falling, Better than Chocolate, and Tipping the Velvet, follow formats similar to Classical Hollywood Cinema—they include beautiful lighting, falling in love, and happy endings. In contrast, the “gritty” films, like Slaves to the Underground and Prey for Rock and Roll, more closely follow formats found in New Queer Cinema—the lighting is harsh, conflicts are not smoothly resolved, and the endings are not necessarily happy. The objective of this project was to speculate on the extent of performativity in queer identity. Jill Dolan’s theory of the utopian performative provided a framework to talk about how cultural productions can function as venues for change. Richard Dyer’s work on queer film provided a lens through which the form and content of the case study films were scrutinized. Judith Halberstam’s theory of queer time and space and Terry Goldie’s comparison between queerness and national identity provided a way to talk about how queer-themed cultural productions are unique and vital to many queers’ sense of identity. The five case study films were thoroughly analyzed through these and other theories of cinema, performance, and sexuality. In addition to this textual analysis, a survey was administered through several queer- and lesbian-themed websites and magazines, asking women to answer questions about their experiences with these films. The survey yielded seventy-four responses over four months. They revealed that queer women recognize the ways in which they perform queerness in everyday life, and they recognize the same signifiers in others. The surveys also suggested that queer women enjoy “glossy” films more than “gritty” films. I conclude that for some queer women, everyday life is still full of discrimination, and “glossy” films, with their escapist pleasures, may offer a more satisfying experience than the realism of the “gritty” films that resemble New Queer Cinema.
Advisors/Committee Members: Baron, Cynthia A.
Keywords: Lesbian Performativity; New Queer Cinema; Utopian Performative; LGBTQ Cinema; Queer Women
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30.
Swanson, Stephen C.
The Stranger in the Dark: The Ethics of Levinasian-Derridean Hospitality in Noir.
Degree: PhD, American Culture Studies/Popular Culture, 2007, Bowling Green State University
► The meaning of what identifies film noir from other stories has plagued…
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▼ The meaning of what identifies film noir from other stories has plagued scholars of literature and film for decades. Some argue that film noir existed for a set period of time due to particular cultural, historical, and aesthetic reasons and that all similar narratives today represent just pale copies of copies, while others present noir as distinct stages. Few examine a range of these cultural texts to find the threads that bind them together and continue to make these dark tales of urban crime interesting to audiences over fifty years after they began. The tools and contexts alone do not rest at the heart of what defines noir. Noir, this genre-like cycle, is not the end in and of itself but rather the cultural and philosophical questions behind the grouping provides the real impetus to study. On one hand, James Naremore in his book More Than Night refers to the need to explore the ideological center of noir. On the other hand, Jacques Derrida requests in Of Hospitality further analysis of ethics based on narratives that problematize binaries such as citizen/foreigner, master/stranger, and friend/enemy. Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel Levinas’ ethics establish a new critical framework that describes the world of noir and its protagonists in valuable ways. Discourses of ethics as responsibility to the other and questions of hospitality identify the dark core of noir from the early hard-boiled novels, like Chandler’s The Big Sleep, to the losers of the Coen’s The Big Lebowski, the protagonist’s struggles for identity in Soderbergh’s The Limey, and to the growth of the noir in television series such as Rob Thomas’ Veronica Mars. These theorist/philosophers expand the general understanding of our role in a difficult world, and their observations about relations between individuals and between individuals and their world give a new way of examining the actions and motivations of noir protagonists. Derrida and Levinas put forth critical perspectives that allow for these sorts of quests and threats while also allowing for an agent’s actions to fall outside the traditional ethical rules based on a set of practical principles, rules, or codes.
Advisors/Committee Members: Callen, Donald.
Keywords: Film Noir; Film Theory; Ethics; Genre; Jacques Derrida; Emmanuel Levinas; Ethics in Popular Culture; Philosophy in Popular Culture; Hard-boiled Fiction; Television Studies
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