This thesis explores the various elements of Takarazukaʼs performance style, and analyses how they influence the adaptation of pieces which fall outside this style. As a case study this thesis will examine the world-wide acclaimed Viennese German-language musical Elisabeth (1992), which was materially altered in order to suit Takarazukaʼs established style, and became Erizabēto – ai to shi no rondo (Erizabēto – the rondo of love and death, 1996). Employing the existing framework for the analysis of the theatre, by theatre scholars Yamanashi Makiko and Marumoto Takashi, this thesis will provide a detailed account of Takarazukaʼs style elements, and show how pieces which fall outside this style are treated. The conversation on Takarazukaʼs performance style is recently started in English, and this thesis is intended to add to this. The Takarazuka version, Erizabēto – ai to shi no rondo is contrasted with the original Viennese in terms of 1) plot, dialogue and characterisation; and 2) lighting and scenery, and wardrobe to illustrate Takarazukaʼs adaptation process. Upon doing this analysis, it became apparent that Takarazuka has an established style which centres on romanticism, fantasy and visual richness, and that pieces that do not originally fit within this style are thoroughly altered in order to become appropriate for the Takarazuka stage.

Abstract My research questions are: why are there differences in how the four characters (Mr Collins, Charlotte, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mary) react to and adapt themselves to the social definitions of male and female roles? What were the social ideas about gender roles in the 18th century and how are these connected to the expressions and actions of my characters? How are the differences significant to the plot and the story of the four characters mentioned above; in other words, what are the consequences of the differences in their social life? As method in writing this essay I have used the primary source Pride and Prejudice, Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and secondary sources such as different kinds of books and articles. These sources helped me to understand what it was like to live in the 18th century. Writing this essay has provided me with the insight that the gender performances of the characters reveal a complexity which might not be expected.

This teacher graduate thesis investigates self-portrait practices of youth on Instagram; inorder to, shed light on how Swedish youth of today construct and perform identity throughself-portrait practices on Instagram, and how these constructs reproduce genderedstereotypes and norms. The study employed visual critical discourse analysis utilizingFairclough’s three dimensional model with Cultural Studies a theoretical framework. 20self-portraits were analyzed, collected from 4 youth participants Instagram accounts (5images from each participants). The participants used wide range of visual tactics in theconstruction and staging of their images. The study identifies one dominating consumerdiscourse and a pertaining interdiscursive and intertextual practice amongst theparticipants. The intertextual and interdiscursive practice included the use of posing,staging camera angles, cropping of images and the use of props in a similar if not identicalto the use of visual language in commercial media discourse. In turn, the appropriation ofcommercial consumer discourse led to the reproduction of media trends in theparticipators gender displays and expressions. The inclusion of Instagram in the visualart classroom could be utilized as an entry point for media literacy education fordiscussing media trends critically. However, the study gives a word of warning aboutusing Instagram as a pedagogical tool; because of, the platform's innate properties fordata mining and targeted advertisement makes the use of Instagram in a schoolenvironment both morally and legally troubling.

No description available.

To confront the inadequate representation of women as heroic figures in American public art, this project investigates the precedent of representing heroines in art. Through researching artwork featuring heroines, and heroic figures in general, this project aims to understand the historical context that new works featuring heroines will fit into. A template for constructing art featuring heroines was developed, showing what features or qualities are generally emphasized for the artwork to read as heroic. As art history has supplied principally man heroic figures, it was interesting trying to discern whether a template for art about heroines is different or essentially the same as a template for heroes. This project also includes three groups of artworks: new portraits for United States paper currency featuring American heroines, propaganda posters featuring Lady Liberty, and proposals for public installations that celebrate American heroines. These works investigate the process of placing women in spaces historically used to celebrate predominantly man heroic figures. In this investigation, I found that many heroic signifiers used for heroes were suitable for heroines. Emphasize physical strength, a performance of masculinity, or an emphasized performance of femininity were not necessary for the portrayal of heroines to read as heroic. By creating these artworks and a template for constructing heroines, this project will hopefully encourage and enable other artists to create works featuring heroines and generate support for better representation of women in public art.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis examines seventeenth century English wedding and funeral sermons to explore thepreached traits of the ideal Christian woman and the lived traits given to women deemed virtuousfollowing their deaths. The main research question asks how the ideal traits compare to the realtraits associated with virtuous women, and what these traits tell us about expectations, reality, andtheir role in female piety in early modern England. The three approaches used in this thesis comefrom Christine Peters, Jessica Murphy, and Penny Pritchard— all of whom look at the interactionsbetween gender, religion, the Reformation, and sermons as popular literature. These approachesaid in the understanding of why religion was being pushed as a female-specific activity that mustbe constantly performed, the examination of the various characteristics and how they fit into thegendered religious sphere, and what this meant for women seeking approval from their husbands,families, and communities. Contrary to the previous research, this thesis finds that while weddingsermons sought to instruct women to obey their husbands before anyone else, the funeral sermonswere noting that the real accomplishment was in obeying God before all else. This thesis also findsthat while the wedding sermons spoke exclusively to the husbands about finding the ideal wife, thefuneral sermons ignore the women’s roles in their families and solely praise their piety and goodworks. Overall, it is concluded that the idealized wedding sermons attempted to teach women toserve their husbands, when in reality, women were being praised for their devotion and service to God.

This thesis explores the idea of how people 'do gender' in their online use of avatars, specifically avatar choice. A secondary question of whether or not a chatterbot can be used as a potential interviewer will also be examined as a tool acquiring large amounts of interview data. Gender is one of the ways in which we structure our society, and is completely omnipresent. We cannot opt out of participating in our gender, as we are constantly performing and reaffirming it. Because of this, gender performance and choice spills over into all domains. This includes entertainment such as massively multiplayer online games, both in how the designers make the game, and what the players bring to the game. Deconstructing how and why people engage in these gendered practices and choices becomes an interesting avenue of research, because it allows researchers to partially separate the mental aspects of gender from physical attributes, as the players' physical bodies are not actually in the game. Through the lens of the popular massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft, this thesis will utilize a qualitative user research study to understand how gender affects avatar choices. Prior research identified areas where players brought real world gender norms into the games they played. This research study will extend previous research by having players identify why they made the choices they made for their avatars, and how they feel about those choices. The methodology for this study will also involve using a chatterbot as a way of gathering interviews. In normal person-to-person interview studies, recruiting and organizing meetings for these interviews can often be a difficult task. This thesis brings in the idea of using a chatterbot as a mechanism to gather more interviews in a shorter time span to alleviate the problem of getting these one-on-one interviews in some types of studies.