Do inventions that exist only on paper have less credibility than functional technologies? How has the meaning and significance of audiovisual media and technology changed over time? This dissertation examines historiography and methodology for media history, arguing for an interdisciplinary approach. It addresses methodological issues in media history—media in transition, media archaeology, and film history—through an examination of television’s speculative era. It tackles moving-image history through an historical investigation of Victorian and Machine age “television”. Because the concept and terminology of “television” changed dramatically during this period, I use the phrases “distant electric vision” and “seeing by electricity,” to define the concept of electric and electronic moving-image technology. By identifying manifestations of “television” before functional models existed, this dissertation examines the ways in which a modern concept of moving-image technology came into existence. Engineers and inventors, as well as audiences and journalists contributed to the construction of “television.” Newspaper announcements, editorial columns, letters to the editor, rumors and satires circulated. Victorian-era readers, writers and inventors pictured “seeing by electricity” to do for the eye what the telephone had done for the ear, bringing people closer together though separated by great distances. In contrast, early twentieth-century Machine-age engineers placed more emphasis on systems, communication, design, and picture quality. Developments in the 1920s with complex systems and electronics made “distant electric vision” a reality. This dissertation identifies several shifts that took place during television’s speculative era from the Victorian “annihilation of space” to Machine-Age systems engineering. Journalists, readers, and engineers all play a part in the rhetoric of innovation. From the Victorian era to the Machine age, the educational function of popular science and the role of audiences in constructing meaning and value for new technologies remain relatively consistent. I offer several case studies, including Thomas Edison’s inventions, illuminating engineering, and Bell Labs experiments with television. This dissertation argues that modern television design relies on the ability of the technology to make an unnatural experience seem as effortless as possible. Ultimately, it advocates for an expanded definition of media and technology, along with an historical emphasis on context.

- Thèse réalisée en cotutelle entre les Université de Montréal et Paris Ouest Nanterre la Défense. -Thèse construite à partir de logiciels libres et gratuits : Ubuntu, Lyx, LibreOffice, Zotero, The Gimp. / Notre enquête doctorale étudie l’illustration de la colonisation dans la presse satirique illustrée française entre 1829 et 1990. Cette thèse ambitionne d’éclairer un aspect méconnu de l’iconographie coloniale, à partir du dépouillement et de l’analyse de vingt-deux périodiques satiriques qui touchent diverses sensibilités éditoriales. Afin de confronter iconographie satirique et non satirique, deux journaux illustrés généralistes sérieux com- plètent le corpus. En suivant un parcours chronologique, il s’agira de présenter les axes caractéristiques de l’iconographie satirique coloniale. Pour comprendre la construction, le fonctionnement et le rôle des images expansionnistes issues des titres satiriques, cette recherche entend également définir le genre « presse satirique ». En analysant l’évolution historique, les caractéristiques populaires et les traits distinctifs de cette catégorie médiatique, nous mettrons en évidence les relations déterminantes qui existent entre le genre et les images coloniales. / This doctoral investigation studied satirical colonial iconography in the French satirical illustrated press between 1829 and 1990. From counting and analysis of twenty-two satirical periodicals, representing di erent editorial lines, this thesis aims to inform an unknown part of this colonial iconography. Two serious illustrated papers complement the general corpus to reintegrate results in the general fields of media images. For a diachronic, the aim should be to identify the major axes of the colonial satirical illustration. To understand the construction, operation and role of colonial imagery from satirical titles, this research also intends to define the genre "satirical press". By analyzing the historical evolution, popular features and the hallmark of this media class, we will highlight the crucial relationship between gender and colonial images.

Captain America and Iron Man are both iconic American heroes, representing different American values. Captain America was created during the Golden Age of comics and represents a longing for the past, while Iron Man was created at the height of the Cold War and looks forward to a new America. This paper will first establish the historical and cultural relationship between comic books and propaganda, beginning with the first appearance of Superman. It will pay special attention to the similarities and differences of Captain America and Iron Man, focusing on their representation of American values over time, and discuss how that aspect of the characters affects their ongoing titles today.

How we develop cities in the twenty-first century remains a subject of contentious debate worldwide. As neoliberal strategies are implemented in redevelopment projects, public safety nets are reduced and low-income communities of color in declining urban neighborhoods become particularly vulnerable. This multiple case study seeks to understand the experiences of post crisis urban redevelopment for low-income communities of color in 5 major U.S. cities. The data I analyzed include 101 short videos from the interactive documentary platform Land of Opportunity, documenting the process of post-crisis urban redevelopment in New Orleans, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco. In doing so, I discovered that residents' experiences vary greatly based on redevelopment strategy that was employed and the level of resident involvement in the redevelopment process.

Entre les années 1600 et 1750 au Japon, de nombreux manuscrits enluminés (Nara ehon et Nara emaki) ont été produits. Ils ont néanmoins fait l’objet d’assez peu de recherches. Cette thèse aborde ce genre en trois temps, à travers l’étude d’un récit, le « Récit de Bunshô » (Bunshô sôshi). Nous considérons d’abord le processus d’élaboration de ces œuvres. Peints par des artisans anonymes, les rouleaux et les codex enluminés sont parfois signés de leur calligraphe ou portent un sceau de boutique. Travaillant pour des boutiques concurrentes, calligraphes et peintres ne forment pas véritablement avec ces dernières un atelier. Les boutiques peuvent également agir comme les maîtres d’œuvre en coordonnant les peintres et les calligraphes. Il a été souvent dit que les rouleaux et les codex enluminés ont été élaborés pour faire partie de trousseaux de mariage (yomeiri-bon). En confrontant les sources historiques aux œuvres conservées, nous soulignons, dans la seconde partie, que cette affirmation est loin de se vérifier. Enfin, nous consacrons un développement à l’évolution de l’iconographie du Bunshô sôshi. Histoire de l’élévation sociale d’un saunier et romance amoureuse entre la fille de ce dernier et un aristocrate, le Bunshô sôshi comporte des scènes problématiques du point de vue de l’échelle sociale. Ces manuscrits comportent également des images spécifiques représentant le jeune héros aristocrate comme un personnage androgyne (wakashu), en combinaison avec des compositions génériques qui rappellent d’autres récits.Ce travail constitue une première synthèse des recherches sur ces rouleaux et livres enluminés en français. / In the years between 1600 and 1750 AC, many anonymous illuminated handscrolls and manuscripts were produced in Japan, which are now collected under the name of Nara Ehon and Nara Emaki. Although they are very numerous, very few is known about them. This study is focused on those related to the tale of Bunshô (Bunshô sôshi) and proceeds in three steps.First, it examines the making process of these scrolls and manuscripts. Although the painters remained anonymous, a calligrapher's signature or the seal of a painting shop can sometimes be found. Calligrapher and painters could be working for several rival shops. Painting shops did not only sell painted scrolls or illuminated manuscripts, but worked the connections between the calligrapher and the painters as well.Then, our study reconsiders the place of illuminated scrolls and manuscripts in marriages' dowries, called yomeiri-bon. From what we know about marriages through historical sources and the surviving illuminated manuscripts, it can be stressed that very few manuscripts can be considered as yomeiri-bon.Finally, an analysis of Bunshô Sôshi's iconography throughout the years says a lot about how this tale was understood. As it tells about social ascension and how a saltmaker's daughter and an aristocrat lived a romance together, there is in this tale some problematic scenes, where the social scale is turned upside down. Also, specific compositions with an androgenic character (wakashu) as the hero are employed with more generic compositions echoing other stories as well.The present study represents a first extensive summary in French about those illuminated manuscripts.

Not Dead At All is a nontraditional thesis, a creative product, the result of a combination of media production and social research. This paper is an attempt to explain the creative and production process behind the creation of an original media content, using the social research as a tool to increase the likeability of our characters and therefore increase the show’s chances of success.

This is a nontraditional thesis that combines social research in ethnic stereotypes in TV and film with the creative process of film production. This paper contains the formal step of research, in addition to the details on the production and creation of five original short films related to the issue of ethnic representations.

The intention of this thesis is to provide an alternative counter-narrative to the mainstream histories of punk that center white men. By focusing on the contributions of fem queer and POC punks, I aim to legitimize punk music as a form of resistance against systems of oppression that are oppositional to the commodified forms of mainstream punk. Using Alice Bag, as my central case study as a fem queer punk that is often left out of punk historical narratives, I contextualize her work through feminist, queer, and media studies lenses to bridge the gap between academia and forgotten personal experience.

The release of the Monument Avenue Commission Report in July, 2018 was the culmination of over one year of research and collaboration with community members of Richmond, Virginia on how the city should approach the contentious history of Monument Avenue’s five Confederate centerpieces. What the monuments have symbolized within the predominately rich, white neighborhood and outside of its confines has been a matter of debate ever since they were unveiled, but the recent publicity accorded to Confederate monuments has led to considerations by historians, city leaders, and the public regarding recontextualization of Confederate monuments. Recontextualization of the monuments should not only consider the city’s current constituency, but also the lives, testimonies, and representations of Richmond’s African- American residents as the monuments were built. A comparative case study of photographs from various institutional archives in Richmond, Virginia, depicting late- nineteenth and early twentieth-century scenes from the city’s history reveals that while Monument Avenue and its Confederate celebrations benefitted the city’s upper-class white constituency, its messages extended far beyond Richmond and its Confederate veterans. By bringing to light images and testimonies from the archive that highlight African-American presence, a counter-narrative emerges detailing the construction of power in post-Reconstruction Richmond through Monument Avenue.

This study analyzes the representations of five bi-ethnic women characters in U.S. mass media both before and after U.S. “post-racial” era, to find and expose evidence of the continuity and perpetuation of racist stereotypes against biracial/bi-ethnic women. I utilize a thematic textual analysis, supported by the theories, ideas, and critical views of postcolonial theorists Frantz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak, and Edward Said, and composed of three prominent themes which expose the nature of the representations of lead bi-ethnic characters in current mass media entertainment (TV programs and films). The themes further explored through this project are: bi-ethnicity (one Black parent and one White parent) as a) over exoticized or hypersexualized; b) inherently problematic; and c) destined for non-existence through invisibility, elimination, and even death. In a second step, I critically examine the theme of the tragic mulatta present in Imitation of Life (Hunder & Sirk, 1959), a film released during the epoch of the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954-68), and the TV mini-series Alex Haley’s Queen (1993) to then highlight how it becomes immortalized transmedia (across diverse media platforms and historical moments) and ever-present in current “post-racial era” entertainment media film. To examine this, I compared one modern film and that portrayed a leading bi-ethnic woman–Dear White People (2014)– to then compare to the film mentioned above. I then compared TV programs that portray supporting bi-ethnic women characters in Suits (2011), Black-ish (2014), and Empire (2015) to then compare to the TV miniseries mentioned above. Finally, I contend that the presence of transmedia storytelling of the fixation, and manipulation of the supposed political correctness of the tragic mulatta archetype stands to reinforce its dominance in media portrayals. Moreover, the fragmentary existence is based on a lack of research and the indolent borrowing from previous archetypes.