This paper describes the making of It’s Me, Sarah, a University of New Orleans thesis film. It explores the process of creating the film in three parts. Part one will examine the pre-production, including the writing and preparation for the shoot. Part two will detail the production, including the shooting affairs. Part three will cover the post-production process, which will include the editing. The document will then reference these three segments regarding the film’s theme and will conclude by evaluating whether the final film achieves its intended conception.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine ten movie posters while hypothesizing whether or not their tagline texts could interest a reader. A linguistic framework Relevance Theory, is used in the analysis of this project.

A medical evaluation of physical impairment imposes the additional burden of “labeling” the patient with the condition. The binary nature of the normal versus abnormal label emphasizes difference and can lead to trauma. Understanding differences, however, can lead to the generation of new forms and thus, more sensitive differentiation and representation. Tension is created by exploring different bodily forms—a dialectic between form and essence. I am designing a space that visualizes and illuminates difference as a source of trauma and amplifying the tension by comparing figures that represent varying degrees of normalcy. This forms a critique of idealized form and creates a context for people unaffected by this type of trauma to reflect on possible realities outside of their assumptions of normality.

Literature uses dance to reveal underlying messages of fantasy through the themes of the central narrative of female characters. Examining the original texts with respect to their varying adaptations for film and stage, performance literature reveals how directors relate a three-dimensional story to an audience from a two-dimensional world. Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Red Shoes” shows an underlying semiotic code where transitioning from the black and white of reality to the red of fantasy is only accomplished through dancing. Oscar Wilde’s Salome displays an eroticization of the exotic solo-improvised dance that provides a semblance of control for the main character. The story of Giselle reveals a meta narrative describing the desire and plight of the professional dancer. Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, in contrast, provides a world in which dance as a fantasy element cannot exist. Examining the physical elements of these works of literature elucidates the use of dance as a lens that lets the performance become speech.

<p>While great strides have been made in the study of Trinidad Carnival, there has yet to be a robust inquiry into how women have contributed to its evolution. One major reason for this shortcoming is that the dominant cultural discourse relies on a reductive</p><p>dichotomy that recognizes the costumes created prior to the 1970s as creative and those made after the 1970s as uncreative. This arbitrary division of the costume aesthetic reflects a distinct anti-feminist bias that sees women's spirited emergence in Carnival</p><p>territory in the 1970s as apolitical. </p><p>My dissertation exposes this dilemma, and seeks to undermine this</p><p>interpretation, by its focus on how women's bodies, their presentation, and their acknowledgment of the body's potential for non-verbal articulation impacted the evolution of performance practices and the costume aesthetic in Trinidad Carnival. I</p><p>explore how the predominance of women in Carnival since the 1970s and the bikinibased costume aesthetic that complements this change is suggestive of women's urgent need to manipulate the body as an aesthetic medium and site of subversion. Critical to</p><p>this argument is a close examination of certain female figures who have had a sustainable presence in Trinidad Carnival's history. My project acknowledges the <italic>jamette</italic>, a working class woman who defied Victorian tenets of decorum in preindependence</p><p>Trinidad. This figure has been overlooked in the predominant scholarship of Trinidad Carnival history. Another section of my dissertation explores the influence of the Jaycees Carnival Queen competition. Women of mostly European descent participated in this Carnival-themed beauty pageant that remained popular until the</p><p>1970s. I also examine the legend of <italic>soucouyant</italic> (an old woman who turns into a ball of fire at night and sucks the life blood from unsuspecting victims) and how this figure can be deployed to reinterpret <italic>Jouvay</italic> (the ritual that marks the beginning of Trinidad Carnival).</p> / Dissertation

This thesis is a project-based work accompanied by this short, written component. Entitled, Radical Roleplayers, the project takes the form of a digital roleplaying blog in which the the translation of roleplaying and identity performance is translated from a digital space to the organic, or “real world” environment. The blog serves to critically dissect my own roleplaying, and to challenge what it means to be a roleplayer both in gamespace and online by stepping outside of the rules that allow the community to remain insular and uncontested. Radical Roleplayers explores how I, as a gamer, identify with my digital self, and how I have explored identity through my avatars, role playing games, and game creation. In the form of roleplaying journals, videos, and other digital content, the blog challenges what we know about gaming, identity, and roleplaying, and explore ways in which the notion of radical play allows gamers to develop methods of resistance, expression, control, and safety. Please navigate to http://radicalroleplayers.tumblr.com/ to experience the project.

My family is a collection of characters and big personalities, often with very strange, but brilliant characteristics and interests. When looking for a model that would be consistent with the look and concept I envisioned – witty, comedic, populated with eccentric characters, with carefully and specifically detailed visuals – the films of Wes Anderson, particularly The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), came to mind immediately. Each of his stories is very deliberately structured with a playful sense of chaotic charm, which is the tone I hope to capture in my storytelling. And, not coincidentally, I noticed that when people talk about my extended family, they refer to us as ‘the real-life Tenenbaums,’ meaning that each person is unapologetically who they are with larger-than-life personalities. Growing up hearing wild tales of life with my grandparents in their New York apartment from my mother and extended family, I was inspired to create my own film version of these stories. In choosing to emulate this director’s style within my film, I intend to capture the light-hearted spirit of my family in a manner that is easily recognizable and which is in keeping with its character.

This thesis adds to the discussion surrounding how Apple Inc. has been able to to garner and maintain such a loyal brand following. With the help of background from theory on branding, it examines the uses of Michel Foucault’s heterotopia and religious allegory within Apple’s branding strategies. With the help of past discussions surrounding these topics, the presence of these uses in present day Apple branding is exemplified in the description and analysis of Apple’s 2014 “Your Verse Anthem” and the Apple Store as a branded space. Through this analysis, this thesis also makes an original argument for a consistent Apple heterotopia that is inherently religious. This heterotopia mirrors the story of Adam and Eve as, within its story, Apple promises that if their consumers will become loyal to the Apple brand by taking a bit out of Apple’s “forbidden fruit,” signified in their logo, Apple will help them see the truth of the Tree of Knowledge, which will help them understand that they need not conform but can instead use Apple products to realize their aspirations and create a life that represents their own version of utopia. This characteristically Apple religious heterotopia and the tactics used by Apple as a whole come together to draw the connection between Apple and the strategies used by cult leaders. This connection ultimately helps explain the loyalty and fever behind Apple’s consumer following.

This thesis focuses specifically on student media consumption around the Syrian Refugee Crisis at the Claremont Colleges through interviews and participant observation in order to understand the role of media photos in knowledge production around the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Looking at the role of photos in a cross-cultural understanding of the Refugee Crisis, this thesis analyzes the way individuals read and interpret these photos. I argue that photos have a vital role in knowledge production of the Syrian Refugee Crisis however their presentation and consumption occurs in a complex world without guidelines of what photos impact are and how they should be used. Finally, I aim to understand the potential for more ideal representation of the Syrian Refugee Crisis.

This is a piece that engages with Laura Mulvey's idea of the 'male gaze.' It is meant to exaggerate, magnify, and therefore critique the mechanisms that the camera uses to objectify and dominate women's bodies.