Honors Presentations
MADELINE ANDERS
Childhood on Camera: Family Vlogging, Privacy, and Harm
On YouTube, family vlogging videos showing the day to day lives of a given family have only grown in popularity. This study examines the ethical implications of this content, through a textual analysis of vlogs uploaded by three popular vlogging families, The ShayTards, Bratayley, and The LaBrant Fam. This analysis found evidence of harm through displays of embarrassment, negative emotional responses, an acknowledgement of the audience, narratives driven primarily by the adults, and an overall lack of clear consent. This research aims to examine these harms as they concern a vulnerable population that cannot speak for themselves, especially as this content is largely monetizable. Overall, this study found that while parents may claim they are filming for the sake of capturing memories, these children are performing labor for the sake of filmed entertainment.
DAISY CUNNINGHAM
"It’s all about the he says/she says bull”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Representation of Intimate Partner Violence in The New York Times Coverage of Depp v. Heard (2022)
Depp v. Heard (2022) was a defamation case that relied on testimonies of intimate partner violence (IPV). As it was a televised trial that focused on two prominent celebrities, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, it became a cultural phenomenon that permeated public discourse. IPV can be recognized as a public health issue and an issue of systemic violence, so the ways in which it is reported on, especially in celebrity instances, can influence public perception and policymaking surrounding the issue. Foucault’s concept of biopolitics can be used as a grounding framework to understand institutions of power, such as the media, and the ways in which their power affects whether physical bodies are allowed to thrive or suffer. A critical discourse analysis was chosen to analyze the rhetorical strategies of 20 New York Times articles that covered the trial to specifically look at the representation of IPV. Findings demonstrated subtle rhetorical biases that placed Depp’s narrative in the foreground, and language that was used to downplay the severity of the alleged abuse and IPV overall. Other language was used to sensationalize the trial and posed it as a source of entertainment.
KATIE DEMICCO
Final Girl to Monstrous Woman: Exploring Binaries in Contemporary Horror Through Maxine and Pearl in Ti West’s X Trilogy
Throughout the course of this project, I researched women’s portrayal in horror, going back to Gothic literature all the way to 90s slasher films. The “final girl” trope became a widely known and recognized trope for women in horror films. Now in contemporary horror films, there seems to be a shift of how women are represented. The X trilogy, including the three films X (2022), Pearl (2022), and MaXXXine (2024), contain strong, powerful, scary, and even potentially “monstrous” main leads who rattle the “final girl” trope and prove that women do not have to fit into a mold when being a part of the horror genre. This breakaway from stereotypical representations serves as a source of female inspiration and empowerment. The characters of Pearl and Maxine represent a shift in horror films and this brings refreshing change into the horror genre as the “final girl” has transformed into the “monstrous woman.”
HARPER G. HOGAN
“The Girls That Get It, Get It”: The Power of Digital Parlance on TikTok
This study examines the functions of feminine-coded slang on TikTok, specifically girly, baddie, demure, and brat as mechanisms for identity formation, sites of cultural redefinition, and objects of commodification—thus illuminating the intricate interplay between identity curation, consumerism, and gender expression in digital spaces. Through digital ethnography and rhetorical analysis of over 500 videos, I trace how specific terminology migrates from marginalized communities into the algorithmically produced mainstream, evolving to become socially generative and commercially exploitable. Key findings include the rapid commodification of girly as a marketing tool, inspiring the development of the "Vanity Theory"---which illustrates how intimate settings collapse boundaries between public/private life while transforming parasocial presentations into economic enterprise. Another important finding was the dichotomy between demure and brat as a symbolic, contemporary iteration of Freud's Madonna-Whore complex: reinforcing rigid feminine archetypes rooted in the male gaze. Ultimately, this paper finds that slang most popular in communities of women online is now deeply entangled with commercial logics, shaping how young women navigate femininity in digital society in ways that ultimately reinforce postfeminist sensibilities. Empowerment is reframed through consumer choice rather than structural change, ensuring femininity remains commodifiable while obscuring the extent to which women’s self-expression remains tethered to market forces.
ARDEN MCHUGH
Sleaze
Sleaze is a dramatic television series set in post-9/11 New York City that follows 21-year-old Andy, a Stanford dropout grappling with the death of her father in the attacks. Andy reconnects with her childhood best friend Shaun, who invites her to manage his up-and-coming band, Fraught. By grounding Sleaze in the historical realities of the early 2000s, the series reflects on how trauma and subculture collide.
HANNAH PERFETTI
Embodied Expression: Dance as a Dialogue of the Body
This research explores the intersection between the fields of Media & Communication and Dance and discusses dance as a live communication event. Through interviews with student choreographers and dancers at Muhlenberg College as well as a voluntary online survey of audience members from the 2024 production of Reset, I explain how the meaning of a dance piece is co-constructed and understood from different perspectives. The physical embodiment and sharing of dance has the power to transcend verbal communication in carrying out personal narratives. Choreographers often use music as a central source of inspiration in developing their work. Dancers bring the choreographer’s artistic vision to life through emotional investment, creative input, and developing camaraderie among the cast. Audience members then engage with the final presentation of a dance work on stage, forming their own interpretation through what they witness at the performance. My findings highlight how music and performer authenticity significantly influence audience reception and emotional engagement. Live dance performances offer a unique, communal experience that cannot be replicated through mediated platforms, emphasizing the value of in-person artistic exchange
DYLAN SCHWARTZ
Analyzing Ideological Discourse in Viewer Reactions to the Political Satire of The Boys
Satire often serves as a mirror to society’s current socio-political tensions, provoking laughter, discomfort, and debate. This project investigates how political satire in the television series The Boys is interpreted by viewers within digital fan communities, specifically the subreddit r/TheBoys. Through discourse analysis of twelve posts and their comment sections, this study explores how users’ ideological leanings shape responses to the show’s critique of political extremism, corporate power, and performative activism. By categorizing comments according to political orientation, the research identifies recurrent behaviors: liberal users reinforcing the show’s critique of right-wing ideologies, conservative users defending or reframing controversial characters, and centrists or unaffiliated viewers expressing frustration over ideological conflict. While some conversations yielded insightful critique, most devolved into polarization and conflict, rather than engagement with the show’s themes. These findings support theories of selective exposure and echo chambers, showing how entertainment media becomes a platform for political identity reinforcement. This project contributes to media and communication studies by illustrating how satire in popular media can both challenge and deepen political divides. The paper argues audience interpretation through individual ideology plays a central role in shaping the impact of political satire in contemporary discourse.
MARIE E. TOHILL
“Lookin’ for a new America”: Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Reclaiming the Country Music Genre
Beyoncé’s album Cowboy Carter (2024) serves as a Black feminist and counter-hegemonic reclamation of the country music genre. Through the album’s musical content, visual paratexts, and performance at the “Beyoncé Bowl,” Beyoncé speaks to a legacy of Black excellence in country music, specifically the contributions of Linda Martell and the artists of the Chitlin Circuit. She also reclaims the aesthetics of American patriotism as a Black woman through her choices of mise-en-scène in the album’s visual content. My research contextualizes Cowboy Carter within a larger history of Blackness in country music, while also answering questions about how white folks came to erase and exclude Black musicians from the country music industry when the music was recorded and commodified. By analyzing the album’s themes and visuals, while considering the socio-political context of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, my essay argues that Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter critiques the exclusionary practices of the country music industry and reimagines the genre through a Black feminist lens. Beyoncé uses the album to call out the concept of genre as an exclusionary tool, reclaim American patriotism for a marginalized audience, and break down barriers for Black musicians.
ANDREW WHITE
Comfort in Crisis: Children’s Media as a Coping Mechanism by Young Adults
This project looks at how young adults consumed children’s media during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as a coping mechanism to handle stressors surrounding the lockdown. The research involved a multi-methodological approach of surveys and interviews to explore the motivations and emotions surrounding children’s media usage in young adults. The research found that young adults were motivated to consume children’s media to deal with the increased time from the lockdown and find a source of comfort to handle their anxieties. The top emotions from respondents were joy, laughter, comfort, and nostalgia, and these point towards how children’s media had a positive impact on mental health. The research found that young adults did not form attachment to specific characters, but they did feel attachment to certain themes found commonly in children’s media, such as themes of friendship and family. The research also found how children’s media consumption helped create opportunities for social interactions, such as social TV watching and participation in children’s media fandoms. All of these findings are important as they can help guide future recommendations on ways young adults can manage their mental health and types of content media industries should create.
