BA (Hons) Theatre and Film Studies
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/7252
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Item MARVELLOUS WOMEN – FEMALE REPRESENTATION IN THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE(2019)This dissertation examines the different ways Marvel represents female characters and how Marvel has evolved its characters since the release of the comic books. Through the analysis of selected films, the conclusions drawn answer the main questions of this thesis.The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) originated in 2008, with the release of Iron Man (Favreau, 2008) featuring one female character, Pepper Potts, ten years later this has now developed into twenty-nine across the film universe alone. Importantly, in 2018, Hope Van Dyne, also known as the Wasp, is the first female character in the franchise featured in the title of the film, Antman and the Wasp (Reed, 2018). The reasons for conducting this research into the representation of women in the MCU, is that within the decade of films created by Disney there is a shift in terms of the representation of women on screen as well as representing women off-screen. Captain Marvel (Boden and Fleck, 2019) will be the first film to feature a woman as the central protagonist; in addition, this is the first film directed by a woman, Anna Boden. Kevin Feige states, “We’ve always had powerful female characters and heroes in our films. But having a female superhero franchise title for the first time feels overdue” (Feige in Crowther, 2019: pg. 53). Since the introduction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, there has been limited literature which considers the representation of women. Nahum Welang (2018) considers the possession of agency of the women in Black Panther (Coogler, 2018) as they are able to write their own stories and shape their own identity. Recently, Lorraine Cink (2019), Powers of a Girl, collated female characters within the Marvel comics and examined their different abilities including background data into the origins within the comics. Aside from female representation, Terence McSweeney (2018) examines the representation of masculinity in Guardians of the Galaxy (Gunn, 2014) in the form of Starlord’s hypermasculinity. Another aspect considered is the redemption of the father figure in Antman (Reed, 2015) in relation to Scott Lang and Hank Pym. In terms of academic work examining representation in the MCU, the examination of female representation in literature is limited to work which considers recent cinematic releases such as Black Panther, which importantly represents not only women but African culture on screen. This dissertation has been broken into three sections; literature review, methodology and the analysis of the selected films in the MCU. The selected films, on first examination, focus on different aspects of the representation of women in the narratives, thus are appropriate in the examination of the forms of the representation of women in the MCU. The analysis will consider the changing representation of women from the origin of the MCU to the recent release of Captain Marvel (Boden and Fleck, 2019) in order to gain a broad understanding of the different modes of representation utilised.Item Approaching Romance Differently: An Investigation into Richard Linklater’s, Before Trilogy and its relationship with the Romantic Comedy Genre.(2018)Richard Linklater is arguably one of the most prolific and diverse filmmakers to emerge out of Hollywood in recent times. With a career spanning over thirty years and with nineteen feature films to date, Linklater has produced a plethora of work, each stylistically distinctive in its own right. These range from his break out film, Slacker (1990), cult classic Dazed and Confused (1993), the family orientated hit School of Rock (2003), all the way through to his Oscar nominated Boyhood (2014). However, it is Linklater’s Before Trilogy that stands out as his greatest cinematic achievement to date, or, as Gilbey (2014) refers to it, “The crowning glory of Linklater's career” (p.20). The Before trilogy is comprised of three films, Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). The films and their approach bear some resemblance with François Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series, which follows the character of Doinel over five films spanning a twenty year period. However, the Before Trilogy is, arguably, more ground breaking and revolutionary than the Doinel series, as it looks at love over the course of three films, each set and made nine years apart. Each film provides a brief window into the life and relationship of Jesse, played by Ethan Hawke, and Céline, played by Julie Delpy. In Sunrise, young travellers, Jesse and Céline, meet by chance on a train and spend a romantic night together in Vienna. The couple are aware their time together is limited, with Jesse having to catch a plane at dawn, and, before they part, they agree to meet again in Vienna six months later. In Sunset, nine years later Jesse and Céline meet again by chance, this time in Paris, and it is revealed they did not keep to the arrangement made in Vienna to meet six months on. Despite having changed significantly they reconnect over the course of an evening with the film ending on the suggestion they will get together. A further nine years later, in Midnight, this suggestion is in fact confirmed, and Jesse and Céline are now in a long-term relationship, holidaying with their family and friends in Greece. Since the release of Sunrise in 1995, and subsequently the release of Sunset in 2004 and Midnight in 2013, there has been much discussion in academia about the films and their genre classification. Speaking shortly after the release of the second film, Linklater admitted that even he was unsure about the genre of both Sunset and Sunrise, saying they were “technically romantic comedies maybe, but I don’t acknowledge the genre stuff too much” (2004). Despite some disagreement amongst scholars, it is widely accepted that the Before films belong to the Romantic Comedy genre, a genre that for Grindon (2011) is wide and complex. As best described by both Deleyto (2009) and Hettich (2013) the Before films exist very much within the independent discourse of the Romantic Comedy genre. Due to the fact Midnight was only released five years ago, much of the discussion still circulates around the first two films, either individually or collectively, with very little scholarship tackling the trilogy as whole. However, this not to say that the scholarship on the Before series, in regards to its genre classification, is at all lacking, with scholars like MacDowell (2017) recently writing on the subject. The fact that Midnight shares many similar characteristics with its predecessors also means that much of the existing literature is still very much applicable to the trilogy as a whole. The primary focus of this dissertation, however, is not the genre classification of the Before Trilogy, as it is an area that has already generated much academic discussion. This dissertation will, instead, look to build on this discussion and work on the basis that the Before films do, in fact, belong within the Romantic Comedy genre. It will seek to identify why the Trilogy occupies such a unique space within the genre, examining what it is about the films that makes them stand out so acutely from their more conventional counterparts. Whereas much of the existing literature on the films tends to look at each film individually, and only briefly examines the three films and their unique qualities, this research project will provide a more in-depth analysis, looking at the trilogy as a whole.Item ‘“We all go a little mad sometimes”: Analysing the Slasher Film’s Final Boy’(2018)The slasher genre, a sub-genre of horror, contains a multitude of common tropes and conventions, most notably the specific character types its films often display. The most significant character found within the slasher genre, aside from the hatchet-wielding killer, is that of the Final Girl, with extensive academic work and discussion available on her. However, one character remains significantly under discussed and that is the Final Boy. The Final Boy, although less common than the Final Girl, features in several films of the genre and can often bear more importance to the film than she does. Through the pointing out and breaking down of specific characteristics, and applying them to characters within the genre, this can be changed, providing a detailed understanding of the Final Boy. The Final Boy, as a character, is an elusive and underresearched one who, despite this, emerges, to varying degrees, across the history of the slasher genre. Much focus is given, rightly so, to the Final Girl who remains a character integral to the majority of slasher narratives. However, in several films containing a Final Girl, or films that do not, there is a Final Boy. This is not limited to smaller, lesser-known films, hovering on the fringe of the genre. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (Sholder, 1985) contains Jesse Walsh, an odd, troubled teenager who struggles with Freddy Krueger throughout the film, as the protagonist and one who defeats Freddy, not Lisa, the Final Girl. Lisa, although assisting in stopping Freddy, takes a back seat to Jesse who also takes the brunt of the emotional damage Freddy inflicts. Randy Meeks of the Scream franchise, uses his extensive knowledge of horror films to help Sidney defeat Ghostface and absorbs many of the traits traditionally given to a Final Girl of the genre. Even the lesser-known The Burning (Maylam, 1981) features two surviving males who, between them, display qualities reminiscent of Cropsy, the film’s resident psychopath, using this to defeat him at his own game. The Final Boy exists in multiple places across the genre, as protagonist or, at least, defeater of the killer, including key films which define the genre, demonstrating the importance of the character and the need for this study. The Final Boy will be defined by his connection to the killer, using this to defeat him at the end of the film. This defining aspect of the character makes him easy, and important, to pinpoint. His struggles with this connection, as well as the gendered and sexual complications that come with it, make the Final Boy an important character to analyse. This provides an understanding of the Final Boy as well as creating and adding to analysis of the killer’s character. The Final Boy’s connection to the killer is one which makes his battle with him much more personal than that of the Final Girl, fighting both the literal killer and the similarities they bear. The Final Boy continues to emerge as a significant character in slasher narratives and is not only a surviving male character, something not commonly associated with the genre, but one which drives the film and battles the killer on a much deeper level than the Final Girl. This importance to the narrative emphasises, and justifies, the need, and potential, for such a study on the character. The Final Boy is a key character in the slasher genre and deserves to be treated as such. His importance as a character has been understated across studies of the genre, demonstrating a clear gap in academia, as well as in general understanding of its films. This understanding can be crafted through the isolating and analysing of different characteristics and applying these to various depictions of the character, demonstrating the importance and significance of the Final Boy.Item “The effects of key changes being brought in under new General Data Protection Regulations on theatre companies and how theatre companies can navigate these changes(2018)This study's objective was to offer a basic guide to the changes being brought in through the General Data Protection Regulations on the 25th of May 2017. With a focus on how these changes will affect theatre companies and some suggestions on how theatre companies can amend their business practices if necessary to navigate these changes. Using the methods of formal interviews, informal discussions, a small survey and utilising the presentations and teaching tools currently being used by solicitors who are carrying out training with companies to help prepare for GDPR. This research has shown there is a lack of clarity and an excessive amount of confusion leading to the arts being under prepared for these changes. In conclusion this research will offer a breakdown of the key points theatre companies should be aware of but it will also encourage readers to do their own research as the GDPR means that blanket approaches are now no longer good enough. Each business should be amended their data management practices to fit their business needs. There will be many avenues for follow up research after the GDPR comes into effect, but the arts must acknowledge that they fell behind and will hopefully use this lack of preparedness to act as an example for future legislation changes.Item Environmental Portraiture Photography(Queen Margaret University, 2016)Portrait photography offers an audience a visual representation of a person, and depending on how the subject if photographed the viewers can ascertain a number of different elements from the picture. While all portraiture photography can describe the subject, environmental photography achieves much more than a simple representation of a person's looks. Environmental portraiture captures a subject's personality, their characteristics, their hobbies, careers, or nature. Whether these environments work to showcase a person's background explicitly or to ensure they are comfortable in the place they are being photographed, the end result should be a picture in which the viewer can answer questions about who the subject is, but also be intrigued by the questions these environments bring up. It is the intentions of this study to look at the development of photography, the history of portraiture photography and the elements of this specific branch of portraiture and to use this research to capture strong images of environmental portraiture.Item A Feminist Reading of the ways in which Timberlake Wertenbaker portrays violence against women in her plays, with specific reference to The Grace of Mary Traverse (1985) and The Love of the Nightingale (1989).(Queen Margaret University, 2016)This dissertation is a feminist reading of the ways that playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker portrays acts of violence against women in two of her plays - The Grace of Mary Traverse (1985) and The Love of the Nightingale (1989). Using work on gender and feminism from Mackay (2015), Thompson (2001), Bowden and Mummery (2009), York (2011) and Cameron (1995) and on violence against women from Romito (2008), Johnson et al. (2008) and True (2012), this study argues that Wertenbaker uses portrayals of violence against women in her plays to reflect upon the patriarchal society in which we live today.