The films of Quentin Tarantino have held a significant influence on modern cinema, and therefore on cinema studies. As such, studies on the social and philosophical implications of his work have appeared over the years, mostly in regards to content. However, with the exception of references to his use of cinematic violence, studies of his technique—i.e., his cinematic style—have been rare, and rarer still have been studies of the social implications that arise from the patterns of his style as well as those his subject matter. The following thesis seeks to use the concept of Auteur Theory—specifically, that Tarantino is the primary artist of the films directed by him—to propose that a specific artistic style conveys a specific worldview: namely, that the artistic choices made by the director, in content and technique, can and do convey a viewpoint regarding “real life” and the world. Specifically, this work will culminate in analyzing and determining tenants to be gleaned from the Tarantino canon regarding issues of justice, both on an individual and societal basis. With his focus on crime—again, both societal and individual—Tarantino makes commentary on societal breakdown; the audience’s emotional support (or lack thereof) for characters and their actions corresponds with identification, and therefore draws real-life parallels. Such refers to the concept of “Realism”, which will be discussed in detail. Further, Tarantino’s trend of recycling elements from prior films refers to artistic “Postmodernism”—use of “pastiche” and sampling to create a “new” work. The thesis will analyze the value and meaning of the major samplings in Tarantino’s films—particularly in regards to genre--and concludes that, far from a simple conglomeration, a Tarantino “Genre-Blender” forms a cohesive whole, oriented towards specific impact of the audience. From the above two issues of Realism and Postmodernism in art, and establishing the existence of a cohesive artistic vision in Tarantino’s work, this thesis identifies patterns in such that identify specific viewpoints on questions of “Good”, “Evil”, and “Justice”. Key to this is the dichotomy between objective principles and subjectivity in human interaction amid the applications of principles. Tarantino’s work conveys a belief in certain objective tenants; however, the applications that arise through interaction cause complications, arising through human limitations in perspective. The ultimate purpose of this study is to link studies of social implications of film to not merely content, but in choices in cinematic style. It is a contribution at once to studies of film and to studies of artistic theory (in particular Realism and Postmodernism), using both to analyze how a specific, popular, mainstream artist reflects a worldview through the sensibilities that are channeled in creating his works.

Cette thèse a pour objet d’étude le cinéma d’Amérique centrale depuis l’émergence des cinémas « nationaux » dans les années 1970 jusqu’à une nouvelle émersion du cinéma régional dans les années 2000. Elle part du constat que les cinématographies centraméricaines se sont forgées dans une démarche de lutte régionale qui a permis l’union de forces humaines, de moyens économiques et de savoir faire qui, ensemble, ont donné lieu aux cinématographies nationales. À partir des théories des rapports entre l’Histoire et le cinéma de Siegfried Kracauer et Marc Ferro, nos présupposés théoriques reposent sur l’idée que le cinéma et les films entretiennent un rapport direct et privilégié avec l’Histoire et la société qui les ont produits, autant pour ce qui est de la forme que du contenu des films. Cette thèse propose ainsi une étude comparative qui met en relation l’ensemble des cinémas nationaux et leur rapport à l’Histoire, la culture et la société de la région centraméricaine. Nos recherches visent à proposer une lecture critique pouvant interpréter les caractéristiques de la cinématographie d’Amérique centrale, depuis un angle régional. Par ce procédé, nous analysons la façon dont les cinéastes ont abordé ces problématiques selon des moyens techniques et esthétiques particuliers qui seraient strictement liés aux contextes sociohistoriques et économiques de leur temps. Cette thèse expose ainsi l’étude de l’évolution de ces thématiques et présente les résultats d’un travail inédit de recherche à travers la systématisation et la classification des films centraméricains. L’objectif était de décrypter les empreintes de processus sociopolitiques et historiques vécus par l’Amérique centrale contemporaine pour brosser le portrait du cinéma encore méconnu et de ses caractéristiques les plus représentatives. Nous espérons que ce travail contribue à combler un vide en matière d’études sur les cinémas centraméricains et qu’il puisse démontrer la valeur du cinéma comme mémoire collective et comme patrimoine de la région centraméricaine. / This dissertation focuses on the study of Central American filmmaking from the inception of a form of “national” cinema in the 1970s up until a new emergence of a regional cinema in the 2000s. The analysis is based on the observation that Central American cinematography was forged out of a regional struggle that led to the coming together of human forces, economic means and know-how which, once united, gave birth to the different national film industries. Starting from the theories of Siegfried Kracauer and Marc Ferro on the links between history and film, our theoretical framework rests on the idea that filmmaking and the movies produced hold a direct and privileged link with history and the societies that produce the films, as regards to both their form as well as their content. This dissertation thus proposes a comparative study that examines the group of national film industries in connection with the history, culture and society of the Central American region. Our research aims to propose a critical reading of Central American cinematography, interpreting its characteristics from a regional perspective. Through this approach, we will analyze the way that the filmmakers have taken on these issues according to the particular technical and esthetic means that are strictly linked to the economic and socio-historical contexts of the time period. The dissertation thus delves into the evolution of these themes and presents the results of an unparalleled study achieved through the systematization and classification of the Central American films involved in the study. The objective has been to decipher the traces of the historical and socio-political processes experienced by contemporary Central America in order to paint a portrait of Central American filmmaking along with its most representative characteristics. We hope that this work will contribute to filling in certain academic gaps regarding Central American cinematography and that it will be able to demonstrate the value of film as a source of collective memory and patrimony of the Central American region.

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This dissertation examines the relationship between experimental psychology and everyday life through the prism of Hugo Münsterberg and the Harvard Psychological Laboratory during the Progressive Era. Catalyzed by calls from the burgeoning educational community in the 1890s, academic psychologists were increasingly drawn into diverse cultural and political debates bearing on diverse facets of social reform and modernization. Educators, for example, courted psychologists to improve pedagogical techniques. Advertisers sought insight into the consumer mind. Electric utility companies even hired psychological consultants in studying street lighting conditions. At the same time, there was also pushback to such psychological interventions. Many lawyers, for example, opposed psychologists' incursions into the courtroom. Labor advocates protested psychotechnics as the handmaiden of industry. And vocational counselors favored common sense guidance to impersonal psychological tests. By tracing these debates over the place of psychological expertise in an array of contested sites, this dissertation argues that Münsterberg's psychotechnical movement represented a radical new view of the psychologist as an expert in modernization responsible for identifying, measuring and controlling the "human factor" mediating all human activity. / History of Science

The representation of homosexuality in the Brazilian cinema of the 1960s and 1970s is generally dismissed as homophobic on the grounds that it confirms stereotypical and oppressive views of homosexual men. While it is true that many films produced during the era repeat conventional notions of sexual identity, this dismissal arguably overlooks a variety of subtle and subversive representations of homosexuality. To contest the prevailing view, eleven films have been selected from important movements of Brazilian cinema of the period; these include examples of avant-garde and popular filmmaking. An analytical approach informed by queer theory – a critical account of homosexuality and sexual identity – is used to make a series of close readings of narrative form and content. It is suggested that the apparent heterosexism of many of the films is shown to be tacitly or accidentally subverted via the implication that sexual identity is unstable and contested. A number of films are shown to illustrate ways in which oppressive hierarchies might be disabled through a reconfiguring of homosexual identity. It is argued that film form – the films’ self-referential or reflexive aspects, as well as the way in which the films construct spectating positions – is the central factor in subverting conventional views of homosexuality. Such form facilitates multiple readings of the content, therefore enabling a queer interpretation to be posited. Ultimately, it is argued that the value of these films lies in the sometimes contradictory fashion in which they present oppressive notions of homosexuality on-screen while at the same time gesturing towards ways in which such oppression could be challenged.

Black representation in American animated short films circularly evolved between 1928 and 1954. Blackface minstrelsy at first figured heavily in black representation. The increasing prominence of African-American movie stars and technological improvements in animation led to extremely diverse animated black images in the late 1930s and early 1940s. With the decline of African-American film roles in the 1950s, however, animators fell back to minstrelsy-derived black images. Animated black characterization emerged as blackface changed in the first sound cartoons from a generic cartoon design to an image restricted to black characters. In the early 1930s, cartoon studios began to significantly differentiate black characters from animal characters. Studios focused upon developing characters with strong personalities in the mid-1930s, but black characterizations were mostly derivative of blackface minstrels and black actors. African-American artistic expressions influenced animation during World War II but did not affect the studios' black images. From 1946 to 1954, studios ignored African-American artistry and reverted to past styles of black imaging.

abstract: I center my analysis on Amazon’s recent foray into alternative history The Man in the High Castle premised on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel of the same name. Amazon Studio’s production The Man in the High Castle builds upon the premise of an alternative history where World War II ends differently. Here, the diegetic narrative depicts a United States split into three distinct regions: the east coast, now part of the German Reich; the Neutral Zone, or most of the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains; and the west coast, controlled by Japanese Empire. The film version debuted in 2015 as a series extending to four seasons of 10 episodes a piece by 2019. I argue that the show takes cues from modern political tensions, the rise of the alt-right and “post-truth” media manipulations, to intentionally destabilize viewers’ memories of the historical past. By blurring the boundaries between the diegetic reality of the show and our accepted version of history, The Man in the High Castle disrupts the facility in which the viewer assumes alignment with memory and past, opting instead for a complicated refiguring of the political present. Here I articulate how film as a medium tampers with the viewer’s ontological understanding of image by collapsing history and fiction together. Additionally, the capacity of film to provoke empathy from viewers complicates the universal condemnation of Nazism we are familiar with and permits viewers to see the banality of evil in this reimagined history. Finally, I discuss how film as a medium capitalizes on the incompleteness of memory and the loopholes of history to fabricate viewer memory. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication Studies 2020

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