published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

This study explored rape depictions and rape myths in the mainstream American filmindustry. Four rape myths pervade American culture. The myths argue that women "ask" for rape, "deserve" rape, lie about rape, and are not really hurt by rape. These myths place blame on the victim and absolve the rapists on any wrongdoing. Furthermore, these myths attempt to justify male sexual aggression against women.This study explored film's portrayal of the rape event, the victim, the rapist, and the depiction of specific rape myths. A content analysis of 16 American films released between 1982 and 1994 revealed 27 victims of rape. The content analysis also provided a descriptive analysis of the rape event while a feminist analysis revealed the films' underlying ideological underpinnings.The content analysis revealed that the films distort rape by consistently portraying the rapist and victim as young white, middle class men and women. Additionally, the relationship between victim and rapist was distorted as well as the legal aftermath of the rape.The feminist analysis revealed that films perpetuate rape myths more frequently than they challenge these myths. In some instances, films presented the reality of rape, particularly the environment the victim would enter. Most films, however, advanced patriarchal beliefs about rape. / Department of Journalism

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-129). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Germanic Studies, March 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-149). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1995. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-220).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 319-326).

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Jack Boozer, committee chair; Shirlene Holmes, Marian Meyers, committee members. Electronic text (138 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 19, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-30).

This project examines the modern perception of ancient women, specifically through the creative (and often anachronistic) lens of film. All three women examined, Cleopatra VII, Livia Augusta, and Servilia Caepionis, all exemplify the modern influence on interpreting historical sources, resulting in all three becoming agents of feminism in their own times. Each woman did not culminate the probable influence they had in Roman society, but they are instead reflective of the patriarchal paradigms understood by 20th and 21st century audiences. The burgeoning feminist ideologies of the 20th century would influence the depictions of each character in an anachronistic fashion, distorting the actual control such figures had in history. While Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra capitalized on youth and sexuality as tools of powers, Siân Phillips’ Livia emphasized age and experience to advance in patriarchal Rome. Servilia, however, was an older matron who had both the experience and the sexuality to control those around her. Whileeach figure approached it in very distinct methods, their common goal of changing Roman politics was reflective of the continued (and relatively unchanged) perception of ancient Roman women: as intelligent, yet dangerous, figures that served to derail patriarchal Roman politics. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Chapter One of this thesis looks at psychoanalytical object relations theory dealing with early childhood, with an aim to outline the shift that has taken place within critical thinking on personal development--from an emphasis on oedipal relations to the auspicious re-exploration of pre-oedipal states. Here the main theme derives from the paradoxical nature of the human skin, whose fluid sensory and communicative qualities profoundly shape our psychological functioning, and thus ultimately our creation of (gendered) knowledge in all its forms. / Chapter Two seeks to establish some of the possible socio-political implications of a recovered pre-oedipal sensibility, by way of situating the place of the personal within critical discourse--the cross-fertilization of critical theory and self-critical artistic discourses. Using the specific example of film, my central conceit consists in drawing a parallel between the skin and the filmic screen as both being simultaneously introjective and projective liminal membranes. / Chapter Three is a case study of sorts, one which traces the manifestations of a liminal subjectivity during a critical phase in the history of my native Nordic culture--the period of transition between pagan and Christian society. Its spirit is then shown to be alive and well within the ensemble films of Ingmar Bergman, whose work has come to stand as something of an archetype of the Nordic film form. / The second section, PRAXIS, appropriately provides this project's own creative component, a sketch of a film scenario that I hope to one day be able to liberate from the stasis of the written page and project into the uncertain spaces of a theater screen.