Honors Presentations
HOPE JEANETTE BIDDLE
The Biddle BookTalk
Have you ever found yourself looking forward to a movie adaptation of a book, only for the adaptation to disappoint in the theater? The Biddle BookTalk podcast delves into the study of adaptations as a whole by looking specifically at the world of Panem from the best-selling series and box office success, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The primary co-host, Hope Biddle, explores what it means to keep the heart of a series while bending it to fit the medium of film, analyzes the threat of losing important political themes when adapting a novel, and navigates through the idea of “success” by looking at how literature and film as mediums impact each individual experience of The Hunger Games. With scholarly texts interspersed throughout all four episodes, The Biddle BookTalk creates a bridge between various areas of study and makes space for new ways of academic analysis. The secondary co-host, Caitlin Biddle, who has only seen the films, and guest, Christopher Biddle, who has only read the novels, are introduced to each other’s viewpoints with Hope Biddle acting as a mediary throughout discussions and, at times, are left questioning if their own experiences were as well rounded as they could have been.
EDEN BATYA WEIL CHANKO
From Fashion to Celebrity Culture: A Review of Journalistic Representations of the Met Gala from its Founding to the Present
This study focuses on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute fundraiser, the Met Gala, centering on how the gala has been covered in print media over the course of its nearly 75 year history. Using The New York Times, Vogue, and Women’s Wear Daily to conduct my research enabled me to explore how and why this event was originally established and examine whether there has been a transition in how the gala is portrayed in these popular and fashion trade media outlets. How the Costume Institute developed its curation style over the years aligns with the evolution of how the gala shifted from a fundraising-focused event, to becoming the red carpet for the fashion world. The Costume Institute exhibits adapted to be visually seductive, incorporating elements from other entertainment industries, to help illustrate garments’ importance and relevance in popular culture. This study shows that the gala has become a nexus for the intertwining of fashion, publicity, and celebrity culture. While the museum is a public institution meant for all to enjoy, the privatization of the event boosts public interest, making the gala a business in and of itself through the use of strategic marketing.
SUSANNAH MOORE LIST
“Stop Pretending Like You Know What They Need And Just Ask”: Representations of Police Brutality and Reform in The Rookie
This thesis explores the representation of police brutality and reform in The Rookie, examining how the show discusses and depicts the material through themes both continuously and linearly, taking into account the social identities of the characters, and how the show’s approach is more nuanced and complex than the stereotypes of the cop genre. This analysis of The Rookie is contextualized with the foundational history of depictions of policing and police brutality in fictional television shows and how they have shifted and developed over time. Additionally, an examination was done of the diversity of the cast as well as the producers’ and writers’ approach to writing episodes on police brutality. Using textual analysis on a purposive sample of 12 episodes spanning the show’s five seasons, I conclude that The Rookie’s portrayals of brutality and reform are more nuanced and complex than the cop genre, incorporating ambiguity and lack of resolution. While it does not entirely align with the genre, perhaps for the purpose of maintaining viewership or avoiding cancel culture, it is making strides towards having difficult conversations about real societal issues, through a fictitious and popular format.
ALEXANDRA WILLHOUSE
#Sponsored: Native Advertising and Surveillance Capitalism on TikTok
Native ads, or advertisements that fit the structure and format of the surrounding content including the social engagement features of social media platforms, are becoming increasingly popular on sites like TikTok. Through a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative analysis, this research identifies how native advertisements on TikTok frequently appear on the “For You” page, assesses how features of the platform behave as mechanisms of surveillance capitalism, and critiques the FTC disclosure practices for native advertisements. Throughout the sampling process, 50 native advertisements were collected by scrolling through the “For You” page on the mobile app while screen recording. The data was sorted into three different categories of native ads that fall along a spectrum: influencer, brand as influencer, and in-feed native ads. The spectrum ranges from user-generated content to traditional advertising, with influencer native ads being most closely related to user-generated content, brand as influencer falling in the middle, and in-feed native ads closest to traditional ads. This work sets a foundation for what the evolving forms native ads take on social media platforms like TikTok.
Honors Presentations
PIPER ACKERMAN
All the Young Dudes: A TikTok Potlatch
This thesis answers the question of how TikTok has affected fan status within the fan potlatch through an examination of TikTok fan videos within the All the Young Dudes (ATYD) fandom. Status within a potlatch, or fan gift exchange, is dictated by whether a fan object (fanart,edit, text) is accepted by the collective. Archive of Our Own user Mskingbean89 wrote the fanfiction, All the Young Dudes, in 2017 and it remains the most circulated fan text of all time with 13.6 million hits. ATYD is a prequel to the Harry Potter series following the Marauders, a friend group from Harry Potter’s father’s generation. I conducted a qualitative textual analysis of ATYD TikTok videos. Patterns in form and tone revealed the collective’s value for consistent character visualization and angst. Fans positioned themselves as a part of their fan object, directly intertwining viewers’ perceptions of the content with their perception of the user. Because of TikTok’s emphasis on the individual user, fan content creators are motivated to follow the collective’s established content standards in order to increase their visibility within the platform’s algorithm. Ultimately, this thesis revealed a transition in the objective of fan content creation from a generous content network to prioritizing algorithmic visibility.
EMMA ASH
In My Artist Connection Era: An Exploration of Fan Parasociality with Artists through Mediatized Liveness
This study explores fans’ emotional connections with artists when watching mediatized concert videos on YouTube. Through a focus group and four semi-structured interviews, I heard directly from respondents about their expectations from liveness, perception of artist authenticity, and experiences with mediatized liveness. From this qualitative study, I drew conclusions about mediatization’s effectiveness as a medium to emotionally connect with an artist. I found that mediatization reveals its own shortcomings by lacking the physicality and fleetingness of in-person shows, but is still sought after to emotionally connect with an artist if being at an in-person concert is unattainable. For the videos, most respondents are willing to suspend their disbelief of the screen and emotionally connect with an artist if the video embodies their in-person concert expectations: the video is unpredictable; offers variations and uniqueness; the artist personalizes the show and appears relatable onstage; and if the viewing experience itself feels authentic. By exploring fan expectations from concert videos, this study redefines liveness to exist on a continuum where mediatization’s impact on liveness should be considered in today’s concert experiences.
ELIZA BLOCK
The Cost Of $elf-Care: An Analysis of Self-Care Haul Videos on YouTube
Within the past few years, self-care haul videos have emerged on YouTube. These videos have garnered millions of views and have grown into a popular trend where predominantly young female-presenting YouTubers shop for hygiene, skin-care and beauty products. As self-care is now being used to promote hygiene and beauty products, the meaning of self-care has transformed from taking care of your mental and physical health to enhancing your appearance. Through a textual analysis of the most viewed self-care haul videos and top comments on YouTube, this study analyzed the gendered labor and consumption involved with self-care. The findings of the study communicate that female-identifying YouTubers define self-care as consuming products to improve themselves through enhancing their physical appearance. The YouTubers also encourage their viewers to consume these products by using the same advertising tactics that they claim to despise. The main takeaway that this study of self-care haul videos provides is that “self-care” is a term that is used to promote stereotypes of gendered consumption and existing beauty standards.
SHOBHA PAI
Breaking the Mold: Analysing Gendered Perceptions of Chefs in Reality Cooking Competitions through the Stereotype Content Model
This paper delves into analyzing audiences’ gendered perceptions of chefs in cooking competitions shows through the stereotype content model. As a form of labor, cooking is stereotypically feminine, but the cooking industry is male-dominated. Drawing upon the stereotype content model, this research focuses on the perception of warmth and competence of chefs using gender as a differentiating factor. The study also undertakes an exploratory analysis of media literacy for the perception of stereotypicality through reality television. A survey was used with eight different videos of chefs from the show Hell’s Kitchen. Findings suggest that female chefs are seen as more stereotypical when compared to male chefs but male competent chefs are considered more stereotypical than female competent chefs. This suggests the importance of competency in the perception of chefs. The media literacy part of the study focused on a qualitative exploration of survey responses broken down into six categories to suggest questions for a future media literacy reality television scale. By shedding light on these perceptions, the study can be used to understand the nuances of the cooking industry and also inform the way producers create storylines on cooking shows to highlight the gender differences in competition shows.
SARAH WEDEKING
“There’s Only One Bed!”: Examining the Romcom Narrative Used in Supernatural’s Case of Queerbaiting
“Is the romantic comedy dead?” people have ruminated in recent years. My answer: No, but it does look different. Elements of the romantic comedy, such as its structure, have been found in unexpected places like the CW television show: Supernatural (2005-2020). My study focuses on the fan pairing between characters Dean Winchester and Castiel, colloquially known as “Destiel,” and how elements of the romantic comedy have developed or hinted at their relationship. “Destiel” is a famous case of queerbaiting, in which a queer couple is hinted at to draw viewers with no intentions to actualize it. Queerbaiting is a nuanced topic, both developed through fan interpretations and the intentions and marketing of the producers. Through visual and textual analysis of Supernatural, coupled with fan discourses, my study examines how Supernatural both fits and complicates the romcom genre as a case of queerbaiting. It also focuses on viewers and how they’ve identified elements of the romcom with “Destiel.” My study exemplifies how the elements of the romcom contest the masculine framework of Supernatural and importantly, how fan readings invigorate the genre. Rather the romantic comedy acts as a central villain from Supernatural: something that never truly dies, always coming back in ways we’ll never expect.
