Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2021, Film Studies (Fine Arts)

Scholarship regarding mythic narrative structures use predominately male-centered narratives to analyze male-centered heteronormative films in American popular cinema. In such mythic narratives, women are usually a destination for nurture, or a trophy for the male conqueror. This, in turn, condenses scholarship to analyze films within the structures of male-centered, heteronormative, mythic narratives. Consequently, this leaves women-centered mythic structures vastly understudied and underutilized when analyzing films that pertain to women's cinema and queer cinema. The objective of my thesis is to infuse women-centered mythology with cinematic discourse. In particular, my thesis seeks to reclaim and reshape the myth of Lilith to be used as a narrative structure to analyze women-centered films in queer cinema in ways that examine both the sexual oppression and sexual pleasure of lesbian sexuality.

Committee: Erin Schlumpf S. (Advisor); Ofer Eliaz (Committee Member); Brian Collins (Committee Member) Subjects: Film Studies; Folklore; Womens Studies