Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, English

This project functions as an examination of the folkloristic question of the generic category of the “fake”, “fictitious”, or “invented” legend. Using The Blair Witch Project (1999) motion picture as an example text, case study, and vehicle for this exploration, this project engages with historical folkloristic discourses of authenticity, extant taxonomies of legendry and legend performance contexts, and the novel category of the “folkloresque” system of folkloric popular culture allusion. These domains are examined in order to reimagine an allegedly “fake” legend complex (the marketing campaign surrounding The Blair Witch Project's initial premiere) as nevertheless engaged in certain critical contexts of folkloresque legend performance – namely, process and participation. These contexts, this project ultimately argues, serve in part as public platforms through which the generic boundaries of “fake” legend texts (like The Blair Witch Project) are generically reinforced or renegotiated by emic interlocutors through a pronounced reliance on commensurately folkloric rhetoric, performances, and other processes.

Committee: Merrill Kaplan (Advisor); Amy Shuman (Committee Member); Elizabeth Hewitt (Committee Member); Dorothy Noyes (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Film Studies; Folklore; Literature