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The Evolution of Females and Femme Fatales in Science Fiction Television: 

From Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954) to Orphan Black (2013-2017)

ABSTRACT: As studied by numerous scholars, and generally recognized by audiences as well, science fiction television and film have primarily been masculine-dominant texts. At its core, the genre’s focus on science and technology has widely been “linked [by feminist critics] to the dominating structures of a patriarchal culture” (Telotte 49). In the vast majority of science fiction works, male figures significantly dominate in quantity and control compared to female counterparts. Historically, these female figures and femme fatales present limited and stereotypical gender conformities including but not limited to the beautiful heroine in distress, the assistant figure taking and following male-directed orders, or the created and controlled sensually-portrayed cyborg or robot (or simply a sensual female) that threatens uncontrollable and erratic behavior. As Mary Ann Doane explains in her study of science fiction texts, these stories often recounted the efforts “to control, supervise, regulate the maternal – to put limits upon it” (170). By comparing science fiction television from the mid-twentieth century to a modern-day series, we can see how these topics and issues concerning female figures and femme fatales surface, have changed and progressed over time, and reflect the advancing roles of women in society. Accordingly, we’ll analyze how the treatment of female figures and femme fatales in Orphan Black (2013-2017) and Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954) reflect the changes and developments in science fiction television and, in turn – through their timely differences – reflect advances of female roles (and third wave feminism) in society as a whole.

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Oedipus’s Influence: Psychoanalyzing Modern Adaptations of Hamlet 

ABSTRACT: Carefully psychoanalyzed by Ernest Jones, “the whole picture presented by Hamlet…points to a tortured conscience, to some hidden ground for shirking his task, a ground which he dare not or cannot avow to himself” (Jones 89). Regarding Jones’s theory, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet examines the concept of psychological repression and the plethora of indefinite details that characterize Hamlet’s person, namely the attributes of a potential Oedipus complex that explains his hesitancy in vengefully killing his uncle. Influenced by Jones’s concept, cinematic adaptations of Hamlet have manifested alternative scenarios to fit Hamlet’s plot and major themes. Accordingly, they explore the original play and the effects of an Oedipus complex, not only on the delayed revenge of Hamlet’s father but also on Hamlet’s inner self, behavior, and surrounding friends and family. Therefore, Jones’s theory of an Oedipus complex in Hamlet extends farther when applied to modern-day film adaptations. By psychoanalyzing Shakespeare’s Hamlet through Ernest Jones’s concept of the Oedipus complex, we can determine how the Hamlet figure’s relationship with Gertrude, the mother figure, significantly affects his actions and inner character in Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation Haider and Feng Xiaogang’s The Banquet. This analysis includes his previous and newly developed sense of morality, personality, behavior, and decision-making. Additionally, the portrayal of this mother-son relationship in each of the two film adaptations presents itself in a way that – though to varying degrees and with considerably different narratives – significantly affects and differs from his romantic relationship with Ophelia and his treatment of her.

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Sudden Fear of Autonomy:

Gender Dynamics, Stereotypes, and Inequalities in Post-War Hollywood Cinema

ABSTRACT: An incredibly contemporary yet unconventional post-war film noir, David Miller’s Sudden Fear (1952) epitomizes the genre’s unrelenting criticisms of societal realities and traditional social relations. Reflecting the post-war struggles with class and the changing dynamics of gender roles, the film consequently looks both forward and backward in history. On the one hand, Sudden Fearadheres to traditional stereotypical and inferior representations of women, heightening the protagonist’s vulnerability and emotional turmoil as well as demonstrating each female characters’ need of male affection for a happy, fulfilled life. Simultaneously, Miller’s film also suggests women’s resolute willpower to break from patriarchal realities of post-war America, where society sought to reposition women back in their traditional inferior homemaker roles. In the process, Sudden Fear exposes class struggles that inevitably interplay with gender conflicts of post-war America. Such complex social realities surface through the unconventional characterization of a wealthy, successful woman who becomes threatened by the (financial and emotional) desperation of far less affluent figures – her new husband and his paramour. By the conclusion, the film perhaps portentously suggests women’s perseverance in rising toward independence and self-autonomy that diverges from America’s ingrained patriarchal structures. With such efforts, it concurrently proves the immense struggle for women to achieve autonomy and highlights the limitations of such female empowerment when stricken by not only gender but class inferiority – perhaps even arguing the success of each as fictional realities, altogether. 

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A Show of Sex:

The Cause and Consequence of Avery’s “Red” Series on Gender Relations during the 1940s’ War and Post-War Era

ABSTRACT: With endless gags and exaggerated characters, both emotionally and physically, Tex Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood cartoon series assures its position in popular entertainment of the 1940s. Under the surface, the comically fatuous characters and stories take on much more complex, timely meaning. Created “in the midst of the wartime rise in the country’s sexual temperature” (Barrier414), the “Red” series’ first installments, Red Hot Riding Hood(1943) and Swing Shift Cinderella(1945), introduce fairy tale characters that are willingly transformed and placed within modern contexts. The last cartoon in the series, Little Rural Riding Hood(1949), adopts these exaggerated characters and their heightened sexual fevers, yet it deviates from wartime contexts by devising two foil characters that collectively reflect further shifts in the post-war era by the end of the decade. As a series, the cartoons showcase the considerable impact of social climate on film narratives in war and post-war America, in addition to their influence in changing or maintaining societal norms. While Tex Avery’s wartime cartoons Red Hot Riding HoodandSwing Shift Cinderellafocus the use of female characters to gratify male audiences and the country’s demand for pleasure, Little Rural Riding Hood, his final post-war installment, proceeds further to directly encourage patriarchal gender dynamics and reinstall traditional gender roles, using female characters as the objectified tool for each.

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Child Photography: Investigating What's Appropriate 

ABSTRACT: The art of photographing children can have a profound impact on its audience, but one’s preconceived conventions about nudity displayed in pictures either guide or misguide a viewer’s overall reaction and acceptance of both the photograph and the photographer. The distinction between child photography and child pornography is, therefore, crucial to explore as misperceptions degrade pictures and criminalize photographers. By investigating various case studies of photographs and photographers that display child nudity, we can distinguish the difference between appropriate and inappropriate images that exhibit such nudity. In the realm of artistic photography, Sally Mann and Robert Mapplethorpe demonstrate the innocence and naturalness of children’s nudity, whose consensual display in an image should not be confused with child pornography. Such a misguided designation not only misinterprets the purpose of the photograph but also criminalizes the photographer. In addition to downright criminalization, documentary photography like Nick Ut’s “Napalm Girl” exemplifies the gross misjudgment of automatic censorship due to a pictured naked child. Such censorship laws and policies often prematurely classify the morals of a photograph that contains child nudity. However, Irina Ionesco’s photography of her daughter Eva serves as a foil to its latter counterparts. Ionesco’s images outline the inappropriateness of a photographed naked child when the image’s context is undeniably coquettish and lacks consent (or at least the mere comfort) of the subject, herself. Intentions of the photographer, treatment of the child-subject photographed, as well as the context of the situation should altogether be considered in determining the appropriateness of nudity in child photography. Thus, the presence of nudity does not and should not automatically affix the classification of inappropriateness or, even worse, child pornography.

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How Style Defines Timeless Psychological Horror Films: 

Comparing Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) & David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows (2014) 

ABSTRACT: Within the genre of psychological horror, films are significantly defined by the director’s style in carefully crafting a narrative whose thrills often stem from a distortion of the ordinary. Though created over 30 years apart, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows share many of the same approaches to effectively creating their psychologically thrilling horror films. While Kubrick focuses on the human psyche affected by neglectful anger as well as supernatural forces that exaggerate such characteristics, Mitchell’s shared focus on the human psyche stems from its handling of subjectively experienced death threats from a supernatural yet realistically, sexually transmitted malady. Considering their fundamental differences, how does the 2014 horror film It Follows adopt the style of 1980s horror film The Shining, and why do their styles create effective and successful horror films?

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