Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-302).

Psychobiographers study the lives of extraordinary, prominent, and enigmatic individuals. Psychobiographical research advances our insight into the uniqueness and complexity of the human personality and therefore makes a substantial contribution towards one of the major objectives of the field of psychology. Purposive sampling was employed to select Charlize Theron as the subject of this psychobiographical study. As the only South African who has won an Oscar, Theron is an exceptional individual who demonstrates tenacity and a will to succeed despite significant traumatic events in her childhood. The case study data was organised and analysed according to the general analytic approach developed by Huberman and Miles (2002) and one of Alexander’s (1990) strategies, namely questioning the data. Erikson’s psychosocial theory (1950, 1963, 1995) was selected to guide this study because it recognises the impact of socio-cultural influences on developmental processes and provides a comprehensive, staged framework for studying Theron’s personality development. This study contributes to the development of psychobiographical research in South Africa.

The Restoration and early eighteenth-century theaters of London formed an important mixed-gender rhetorical venue, which was acutely focused on the age-old “querrelle des femmes” (or woman question). The immediate popularity of the newly opened Restoration theaters, the new practice of casting actresses rather than actors in female roles, and the libertine social climate of London from 1660 to the early 1700s created a unique rhetorical situation in which women openly participated as speakers and audience members. Through a methodology combining feminist historiography, performance theory, Bitzer’s rhetorical situation, and Habermas’ notion of the public sphere, this dissertation reclaims the Restoration theatre as one of the earliest public, secular, mixed-gender rhetorical venues in the English-speaking world. London theater of the Restoration and the early eighteenth century presents a feminist kairos for rereading and revisioning the actress from object to subject, from passive receiver to deliverer of performative rhetoric. Overall, the attention given to issues of femaleness in the plays of this period exceeds that of preceding and subsequent periods. The novelty of the actresses, as well as disillusionment with the male-dominated government and system of patriarchy, were major contributing factors that led to the female focus on stage. This phenomenon of female rhetoric also reflects the charisma, elocutionary skill, and visual rhetoric of the best female performers of the period, including: Nell Gwyn, Mary Saunderson Betterton, Elizabeth Barry, Anne Bracegirdle, Susannah Mountfort Verbruggen, Anne Oldfield, and Lavinia Fenton, all of whom are discussed from a rhetorical perspective in this dissertation.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Iu, Yiu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-173). / Abstracts in English and Chinese ; questionnaires also in Chinese. / Abstracts --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.iii / Table of Contents --- p.iv / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter A. --- Objectives and Significance --- p.1 / Chapter B. --- Academic Issues and Literature Review --- p.4 / Chapter C. --- Theories and Methodologies --- p.18 / Chapter D. --- Structure of the Thesis --- p.20 / Chapter Part I: --- The Making of a Seiyu Culture in Japan / Chapter Chapter 1: --- What is Seiyu? --- p.24 / Chapter 1.1 --- Definition of Seiyu --- p.24 / Chapter 1.2 --- Scope of Works --- p.27 / Chapter 1.3 --- Training Institutions and Agencies --- p.32 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- The Historical Development of the Seiyu Profession in Japan --- p.38 / Chapter Part II: --- Cultural and Social Significance of Seiyu Culture / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Seiyu as Art and Industry --- p.56 / Chapter 3.1 --- Internal Factors --- p.58 / Chapter 3.2 --- External Factors --- p.64 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Cultural and Social Impact of the Seiyu Culture --- p.78 / Chapter 4.1 --- Cultural Impact --- p.78 / Chapter 4.2 --- Social Impact --- p.92 / Chapter Part III: --- Comparative Study on Japanese Seiyu and Hong Kong Voice Artists / Chapter Chapter 5: --- The Popularization of the Japanese Seiyu and Local Voice Artists in Hong Kong --- p.101 / Chapter 5.1 --- Japanese Seiyu Steal the Limelight in Hong Kong --- p.102 / Chapter 5.2 --- Hong Kong Voice Artists Move out from the Backstage --- p.112 / Chapter 5.3 --- The Comparison of the Reception of Japanese Seiyu with That of Local Voice Artists in Hong Kong --- p.117 / Chapter Chapter 6: --- Comparison of the Dubbing Profession between Japan and Hong Kong --- p.123 / Chapter 6.1 --- Structural Differences in Dubbing Profession --- p.126 / Chapter 6.2 --- The Role of Voice Dubbing in Popular Culture --- p.135 / Concluding Analysis --- p.147 / References --- p.163 / Appendix --- p.174 / Chapter I) --- Questionnaire of Seiyu Culture in Hong Kong --- p.174 / Chapter II) --- Sample Interview Questions for Seiyu Fans --- p.177 / Chapter III) --- Sample Interview Questions for Voice Artists --- p.178

A partir de um primeiro questionamento sobre onde estavam as atrizes negras de teatro na cidade de São Paulo, desenvolveu-se esta pesquisa que buscou observar e salientar a trajetória, a partir de entrevistas e falas em diferentes momentos de suas carreiras, das atrizes Dirce Thomaz, Cleide Queiroz, Lizette Negreiros e Roberta Nunes que trabalham, vivem nesta cidade e que têm idade acima dos 40 anos. Antes porém, de focar em suas trajetórias, foi necessário uma contextualização de como o teatro brasileiro se fundou e a partir de quais narrativas a presença negra nos palcos aconteceu durante os anos. Muitas vezes, permitidos nos palcos desde que seus rostos e mãos estivessem pintados de branco ou quando atuavam como objeto falante e ou como paisagem que compunha o cenário. Durante muito tempo também, as personagens desempenhadas por negras e negros eram as estereotipadas, como o moleque de recados, a mulata faceira, o Pai João, entre outras. Além dessas formas, havia o blackface que consistia em uma técnica utilizada por atores brancos para interpretar personagens negros. Ao se deparar com essa técnica, Abdias Nascimento teve a ideia de pensar um teatro negro feito por negras e negros. Dessa forma, surge o TEN Teatro Experimental do Negro que rompe com a tradição de se colocar artistas negros sempre em papéis subalternos ou figurativos. No TEN, passam a atuar como protagonistas das histórias. Desde a criação do TEN até os dias de hoje podemos observar que muito foi alcançado no sentido de mudar as perspectivas da atuação negra no teatro, mas há, por outro lado, a insistência ainda em promover a presença negra em papéis estereotipados em que atrizes interpretam empregadas domésticas e babás, e atores negros interpretam seguranças, malandros, motoristas, ladrões. Em contraponto e como exemplo de resistência a essas estereotipias, há também a potência de vida e a beleza da trajetória de artistas negras representadas neste trabalho, por estas quatro mulheres / From a first questioning about where the black theater actresses were in the city of São Paulo, this research was developed that sought to observe and highlight the trajectory, from interviews and speeches at different moments of their careers, actresses Dirce Thomaz, Cleide Queiroz, Lizette Negreiros and Roberta Nunes who work, live in this city and are over 40 years old. Before, however, to focus on its trajectories, it was necessary to contextualize how the Brazilian theater was founded and from which narratives the black presence on the stage happened during the years. Often allowed on stage since their faces and hands were painted white or when they acted as a \'talking object\' or as \'landscape\' that made up the scenery. For a long time too, the characters played by blacks and blacks were stereotyped, such as the messenger boy, the cheeky mulatto, Father John, among others. In addition to these forms, there was the blackface that consisted of a technique used by white actors to interpret black characters. When faced with this technique, Abdias Nascimento had the idea of thinking a black theater made by blacks and blacks. In this way, the TEN Black Experimental Theater emerges that breaks with the tradition of placing black artists always in subaltern or figurative roles. In TEN, they began to act as protagonists of the stories. From the creation of the TEN to the present day we can observe that much has been achieved to change the perspectives of black acting in the theater, but there is, on the other hand, the insistence still to promote the black presence in stereotyped roles in which actresses interpret housemaids and nannies, and black actors play security guards, rogues, drivers, thieves. In counterpoint and as an example of resistance to these stereotypies, there is also the potency of life and beauty of the trajectory of black artists represented in this work by these four women

This thesis examines an intermittent uncanniness that emerges in cultural responses to new image technologies, most recently in some impressions of the digital actor. The history of image technologies is punctuated by moments of fleeting strangeness: from Maxim Gorky's reading of the cinematographic image in terms of 'cursed grey shadows', to recent renderings of the computer-generated cast of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within as silicon-skinned mannequins. It is not merely the image's unfamiliar and new aesthetics that render it uncanny. Rather, the image is received within a cultural framework where its perceived strangeness speaks allegorically of what it means to be human at that historical moment. In various ways Walter Benjamin, Anson Rabinbach and N. Katherine Hayles have claimed that the notion and the experience of 'being human' is continuously transformed through processes related to different stages of modernity including rational thought, industrialisation, urbanisation, media and technology. In elaborating this argument, each of the four chapters is organized around the elucidation of a particular motif: 'dummy', 'siren', 'doppelg??nger' and 'resurrection'. These motifs circulate through discourses on different categories of digital actor, from those conceived without physical referents to those that are created as digital likenesses of living or dead celebrities. These cultural responses suggest that even while writers on the digital actor are speculating about the future, they are engaging with ideas about life, death and identity that are very old and very ambivalent.

abstract / Literary and Cultural Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This thesis examines an intermittent uncanniness that emerges in cultural responses to new image technologies, most recently in some impressions of the digital actor. The history of image technologies is punctuated by moments of fleeting strangeness: from Maxim Gorky's reading of the cinematographic image in terms of 'cursed grey shadows', to recent renderings of the computer-generated cast of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within as silicon-skinned mannequins. It is not merely the image's unfamiliar and new aesthetics that render it uncanny. Rather, the image is received within a cultural framework where its perceived strangeness speaks allegorically of what it means to be human at that historical moment. In various ways Walter Benjamin, Anson Rabinbach and N. Katherine Hayles have claimed that the notion and the experience of 'being human' is continuously transformed through processes related to different stages of modernity including rational thought, industrialisation, urbanisation, media and technology. In elaborating this argument, each of the four chapters is organized around the elucidation of a particular motif: 'dummy', 'siren', 'doppelg??nger' and 'resurrection'. These motifs circulate through discourses on different categories of digital actor, from those conceived without physical referents to those that are created as digital likenesses of living or dead celebrities. These cultural responses suggest that even while writers on the digital actor are speculating about the future, they are engaging with ideas about life, death and identity that are very old and very ambivalent.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-260).