Under en lång tid har Harlequin-romaner och romantiska fantasier varit populära bland kvinnor. Den klassiska berättelsen om hjältinnan som finner kärleken med den perfekta mannen är specifikt riktad mot kvinnor. Det har forskats kring dessa romantiska fantasier, men det saknas forskning om hur dessa romantiska fantasier representerar maskuliniteten bland de manliga karaktärerna. Målet med det här arbetet är att försöka fylla en del av det tomrummet. Med hjälp av William Labovs narrativa modell och en kvalitativ textanalys har jag analyserat två filmer inom genren chick flick, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) och Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (2004). Min analys visar att maskuliniteterna som framställs i romantiska berättelser följer väldigt stereotypiska maskulina drag. Exempelvis använder sig de manliga karaktärerna ofta av fysiskt våld för att visa sin manliga dominans och genom att vinna i ett slagsmål vill de visa vem som är den bästa mannen för Bridget Jones. / Harlequin novels and romantic fantasies have been popular with women for a number of years. The classic story of the heroine finding her true love with the perfect man is directed specifically to women, for their enjoyment. While there have been studies about the romantic fantasies themselves, there’s a distinct lack of research on how these romantic fantasies portray the male characters and their masculinity. This study is a step towards filling that gap. Using a combination of William Labov’s narrative model, as well as a qualitative textanalysis, to examine two chick flicks, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (2004), I have found that the masculinities portrayed in romantic fantasies follow very stereotypical male behavior. For example, the male characters will often resort to physical violence to prove their male dominance and by winning a fight they want to prove that they are the right man for Bridget Jones.

I investigated the relationship between harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) behavior and lack of recovery from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. First, I evaluated the hypothesis that harlequin ducks in winter have little flexibility to increase foraging time in response to disturbance because they are constrained to forage during daylight. Eight radio-tagged harlequin ducks wintering in Resurrection Bay, Alaska were monitored for evidence of dive-feeding at night. Each radio-tagged individual was detected during an average of 19.5 of 22 nocturnal monitoring sessions and signal loss indicative of diving behavior was not detected during a total of 780 minutes of signal monitoring. In contrast, the same 8 radio-tagged birds were detected during an average of 9.1 of 12 daytime signal monitoring sessions and signal loss indicated diving behavior during an average of 62 �� 7% of 5-minute daytime monitoring periods (total of 364 minutes of signal monitoring). Thus the harlequin ducks monitored in this study rarely, if ever, fed by diving at night, possibly due to reduced foraging efficiency and (or) increased predation risk at night. This result suggests that harlequin ducks in mid-winter may be severely time-limited in their foraging, especially in northern parts of their winter range. Therefore, subtle changes in energy requirements and (or) time-activity budgets as a result of continued exposure to residual oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill may affect the ability of harlequin ducks to meet their daily energy requirements. Second, I tested the hypothesis that exposure to crude oil affects time-activity budgets of harlequin ducks. Controlled oil-dosing and plumage-oiling experiments were conducted using adult female harlequin ducks in captivity. I found no evidence that ingestion of weathered Prudhoe Bay crude oil affected the occurrence of feeding activity during 30-minute observation periods, nor was there evidence of effects on time spent feeding. Effects of crude oil ingestion on maintenance activity were detected, but were neither consistent between the 2 years of the study, nor dose-dependent for the 2 doses administered (2 and 20 mL kg����� wk�����), and therefore did not strongly support an oil-dosing effect on maintenance activity. Consequently, these results provided little support for the hypothesis that oil ingestion affects time-activity budgets of captive harlequin ducks, at least for the doses and conditions of captivity used in this study. Plumage-oiling reduced feeding activity in captive harlequin ducks. The estimated probability of feeding during 30-minute observation periods for birds in the high-exposure oiling group (5 mL of crude oil) was 53% less than that of non-oiled controls. Oiled birds exhibited a trend of reduced time feeding with increasing level of external-oiling; this effect was greatest among birds in the high-exposure oiling group, which spent 43% less time feeding than non-oiled birds. Reduced feeding was associated with less time in the water dive-feeding and presumably lower heat loss. Trends in the occurrence of maintenance activity and time spent in maintenance activity for birds in the high-exposure treatment suggested plumage-oiling increased maintenance activity, but results were not conclusive. The behavioral changes associated with plumage-oiling in captivity would likely reduce fitness in the wild, where a high proportion of time must be spent in the water feeding. If residual Exxon Valdez oil sequestered in beach sediments enters the water column where it may be encountered by harlequin ducks, external exposure may lead to reduced feeding activity. This, in turn, may compromise survival, particularly during mid-winter when the time available for diurnal foraging is low and maintenance energy requirements are high. / Graduation date: 2004

<p>Uppsatsen består av en textanalys av 10 Mills&Boon Harlequinromaner som med ett kultursociologiskt perspektiv lyfter fram den process hjältinnan i Harlequinromanen genomför då hon i böckerna förändras från att vara en vanlig kvinna (Everywoman) till att bli en idealkvinna (Idealwoman. Studien inleds med en presentation av förlaget Harlequin Mills&Boon samt en enkel introduktion av romanens uppbyggnad och handling. Vidare följer en tillbakablick på tidigare forskning kring populärkulturen i allmänhet och kärleksromaner i synnerhet. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten finns i Pierre Bourdieus teorier kring habitus, fält och kapital. Analysen delar upp hjältinnans process i fyra delar: Everywoman, Avkodning, Kapitalhöjning och Idealwoman. Genom att applicera Bourdieus teorier på Harlequinromanhjältinnorna kan så uppsatsen diskuteras på mikro- och makronivå. På mikronivå redogör textanalysen för hjältinnans olika strategier. På makronivå handlar uppsatsen om att se just dessa strategier som en del i ett kultursociologiskt mönster och därmed diskuteras böckernas sociala konstruktion och funktion. Uppsatsen vill visa på att hjältinnan kan fungera som en metafor för ett reflexivt tänkande kring vår vardag och att hon därmed kan säga oss något om oss själva.</p>

Uppsatsen består av en textanalys av 10 Mills&amp;Boon Harlequinromaner som med ett kultursociologiskt perspektiv lyfter fram den process hjältinnan i Harlequinromanen genomför då hon i böckerna förändras från att vara en vanlig kvinna (Everywoman) till att bli en idealkvinna (Idealwoman. Studien inleds med en presentation av förlaget Harlequin Mills&amp;Boon samt en enkel introduktion av romanens uppbyggnad och handling. Vidare följer en tillbakablick på tidigare forskning kring populärkulturen i allmänhet och kärleksromaner i synnerhet. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten finns i Pierre Bourdieus teorier kring habitus, fält och kapital. Analysen delar upp hjältinnans process i fyra delar: Everywoman, Avkodning, Kapitalhöjning och Idealwoman. Genom att applicera Bourdieus teorier på Harlequinromanhjältinnorna kan så uppsatsen diskuteras på mikro- och makronivå. På mikronivå redogör textanalysen för hjältinnans olika strategier. På makronivå handlar uppsatsen om att se just dessa strategier som en del i ett kultursociologiskt mönster och därmed diskuteras böckernas sociala konstruktion och funktion. Uppsatsen vill visa på att hjältinnan kan fungera som en metafor för ett reflexivt tänkande kring vår vardag och att hon därmed kan säga oss något om oss själva.

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Writing the speculative fiction novel, Birthright, and this accompanying exegesis, led me to challenge the validity of the disclaimer usually found in the front matter of most novels that the story is purely imaginary, bears no relationship to reality, with the characters not being inspired by anyone known or unknown to the author. For the first time in my career, I began to consider how writers including myself might frequently revisit themes and ideas which resonate with our lived experiences. I call this restorying, an unconscious process whereby aspects of one's life history are rewritten through one's creative work to achieve a more satisfactory result. Through personal contact, studying authors' accounts of their creative practices, and surveying current literature on narrative therapy, a case is made that, far from being generated purely from imagination, writers' creative choices are driven by an unconscious need to restory ourselves.