Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of English, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], ii, 31 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31).

Although gladiatorial spectacles in ancient Rome have been the subject of a great deal of recent scholarly literature, comparatively little attention has been paid to the contemporary animal spectacles and staged beast-hunts (venationes), the events most closely associated with gladiatorial combat in the imperial period. A number of different works have dealt with such topics as the origins and organization of gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome, but relatively few scholars have attempted to address similar questions concerning the venationes. Only a single monograph in English, written approximately 60 years ago, has been produced on the phenomenon of Roman animal spectacles. The purpose of .this thesis is to give a comprehensive account of Roman venationes and animal displays, incorporating, in certain cases, evidence that has only recently become available or has largely been overlooked by previous scholars. A wide variety of evidence will be used in this study, ranging from literary sources to archaeological data. The paper will trace the historical development of these spectacles, from Republican displays staged in imitation of contemporary Greek events, to the beasthunts of the Byzantine empire. Another major focus of the thesis will be the infrastructure and organization behind Roman animal spectacles, in particular the methods by which the Romans captured and transported the large numbers of animals necessary for events staged throughout the empire.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-212).

Although gladiatorial spectacles in ancient Rome have been the subject of a great deal of recent scholarly literature, comparatively little attention has been paid to the contemporary animal spectacles and staged beast-hunts (venationes), the events most closely associated with gladiatorial combat in the imperial period. A number of different works have dealt with such topics as the origins and organization of gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome, but relatively few scholars have attempted to address similar questions concerning the venationes. Only a single monograph in English, written approximately 60 years ago, has been produced on the phenomenon of Roman animal spectacles. The purpose of .this thesis is to give a comprehensive account of Roman venationes and animal displays, incorporating, in certain cases, evidence that has only recently become available or has largely been overlooked by previous scholars. A wide variety of evidence will be used in this study, ranging from literary sources to archaeological data. The paper will trace the historical development of these spectacles, from Republican displays staged in imitation of contemporary Greek events, to the beasthunts of the Byzantine empire. Another major focus of the thesis will be the infrastructure and organization behind Roman animal spectacles, in particular the methods by which the Romans captured and transported the large numbers of animals necessary for events staged throughout the empire. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [317]-326).

Les attentats commis sur le sol américain le 11 septembre 2001 ont transi quasi simultanément une incommensurable communauté de regards. Cette participation scopique plurielle a très vite suscité des analogies avec le cinéma-catastrophe, immense pourvoyeur de fictions d’apocalypse urbaine, accusé d’avoir inspiré les commanditaires de l’attentat, d’avoir déréalisé toute catastrophe et de ne pas nous avoir préparé à son surgissement dans la réalité, ou désigné encore comme mètre-étalon de nos fantasmes apocalyptiques auxquels les images médiatiques ont dû se mesurer au point de déréaliser l’événement lui-même. Pour essayer de saisir les logiques de continuité ou de rupture auquel le cinéma américain se trouve exposé à la suite de cet événement, il importe de se demander dans quelles mesures le 11 septembre a pu entailler les habitudes du regard que le spectaculaire Hollywoodien nous avait intimement inculquées. Par comparaison avec le modèle figuratif des images médiatiques de l’attentat, Hollywood peut-il encore se permettre de mettre en scène le chaos au nom d’une pure invention figurative sans référent réel ? Après le 11/9, la représentation du désastre au cinéma n’est-elle pas en position d’incriminer le plaisir pris autrefois devant le spectacle fictionnel du chaos ? La culpabilité ne s’invite-t-elle pas dans le cœur même de la figuration du désastre, le souvenir dysphorique ne s'immisce-t-il pas dans la représentation urbaine, la reconstitution de l'événement ne déclare-t-elle pas ses limites face aux images médiatiques concurrentielles ? Après le 11 septembre, Hollywood semble se laisser déborder par une réalité insaisissable. / Throughout the world on September 11 2001, people watching their screens simultaneously suffered a deep shock caused by the attacks on the American soil. Given the variety of the viewers, parallels were at once made with Hollywood disaster-films which had always been huge providers of urban apocalyptic fiction. These films were charged with having inspired the perpetrators of the attacks, by naturalising disaster as such – so to speak – and thus leaving us unprepared for its intrusion into the real. In other words, Hollywood would have created a reference for our apocalyptic fears to the point that the media, by replicating such fictional images, thus deprived the tragic event itself of its reality. Because since then, American cinema cannot avoid dealing with narratives ruled by ruptures vs continuities which call for analysis, one needs to examine how deeply the 9/11 tragedy has altered the Hollywood spectator’ s gaze, i.e. one’s visual expectations and habits regarding spectacular attraction. Given the realistic images of the attacks in the media, can Hollywood still afford to show chaos on the screen as mere pleasurable fiction? After 9/11, has it become impossible for us to enjoy chaos on the screen without experiencing a feeling of guilt? How far do tragic memories interfere with any kind of urban representation? How does the cinematic reconstruction of the very event suffer from the essentially competitive nature of media images? After September 11, Hollywood appears unable to cope with a reality which remains forever elusive.

This diploma thesis polemizes with the relationship of human and smart technologies on a background of problematic of a postmodern society and aims to formulate a conclusion in that the use of smart technologies, given their current form and the current state of affairs in general, with its side effects may affect the form and nature of the whole society. By analyzing fundamental aspects of a postmodern society, particularly by reflecting on the processes of globalization, individualization, rationalization and relativization, complemented by illustrative examples of the effects of the use of smart technologies by ordinary and lay users, it is relating to the basic characteristics of current society. Its aim is to demonstrate imaginary spectacularness, in terms of the use of smart technologies and also in terms of the unfulfilled ideal of modernity, and it also aims to relate this imaginary spectacularness to the question of scientific and technological progress and also to the question of human nature as these are questions of the future development of the current postmodern spectacular society.

The purpose of the study was to examine how Sweden’s two biggest tabloids, Aftonbladet and Expressen, frame spectacular crime and specifically how they covered the Helicopter robbery that occurred in 2009. We identified three main participants in the story, the police, the culprits and the victims. We examined how much and what kind of space the identified participants were given and how the two newspapers constructed the participants in a dramaturgic sense.   Using a quantitative content analysis method we found that the time period included 433 articles in both newspapers. From the original articles, we picked and examined 19 articles with a qualitative content analysis method and also used framing theory in order to be able to examine how the participants were portrayed in Aftonbladet and Expressen.   The culprits were given far most space in both Aftonbladet and Expressen. The study show that the police was given second most space and that the victims were hardly ever written about at all, in contrast to recent studies showing that victims of crime often are depicted as the main character in articles regarding crime. The results also show that the story as a whole carried a lot of resemblance to the classic Hollywood movie plot. The police were portrayed as incompetent, creating a conflict within the justice system community. The culprits were portrayed as the protagonist of the story with highly competent features, whilst the victims were portrayed as scared and helpless.

Ce travail de recherche porte sur les comédies de magie qui succèdent à l’événement théâtral qu’a constitué La pata de cabra, de Juan de Grimaldi (1829) dans l’histoire de la scène espagnole. L’angle choisi est celui de l’histoire culturelle, dans le dessein d’éclairer le “faire spectaculaire” de ce genre aussi bien du point de vue esthétique et artistique que technique et budgétaire. Ce théâtre de l’enchantement est abondant et il fit recette, malgré les critiques acerbes dont il fut l’objet, mais il est aujourd’hui tombé dans l’oubli. Si la comédie de magie est un genre mineur en apparence, elle s’inscrit pourtant dans une longue tradition “néo-ritualiste” espagnole et européenne et elle a sans conteste influencé d’autres genres (dans l’exploitation de tous les moyens qu’offre la scène) qui jouissent d’une plus grande renommée qu’elle. L’enjeu de l’étude est d’analyser l’aspect performantiel de cet objet culturel, fabrique des avant-gardes scéniques en Espagne. La comédie de magie est envisagée en tant que niche de talents et phénomène culturel d’exception en matière de technique représentative (décors, costumes, machinerie et autres dispositifs). / La pata de cabra (1829) by Grimaldi was a turning point in the history of Spanish Magical Theater. My dissertation is enquiry into 19th and 20th-Century Post- Grimaldian enchanting comedies. I use a cultural historical approach to shed light on this genre’s specific search for a “spectacular dimension” and to examine it from an aesthetic and artistic point of view, as well as a technical and budgetary one. This Magical Theatre was very prolific and successful at the time (despite harsh critics), but it has largely been forgotten since. Although Magical Comedy seems to be a minor genre, it is nonetheless part of a long “neo-ritualistic” Spanish and European tradition and, because of its extensive optimization of on-stage possibilities, it has undoubtedly influenced more renowned genres. I discuss the performance aspect of this cultural object and I argue that it is a workshop for Spanish Avant-Garde theatre. I show how Magical Comedy fostered theatrical creativity among artists and I discuss to which extent this singular cultural phenomenon shaped specific representative techniques (scenery, costumes, machinery and other devices) in Spanish theatre.

Thoughts on magic, spectacle, arena, material, materiality, marrow, invincibility, repetition, performance, sculpture, time, decay, temporality, tools, marks, gestures, writing, coaxing, site, stage, architecture, and movement.