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open access

Overcapacity

Description: Overcapacity is a self-reflexive, personal journey film that explores the filmmaker's exploration of his lifelong problem with obesity and health. The film follows his progress as he discusses his weight problem with his partner and parents as well as works with a personal trainer and doctor in an effort to affect a lifestyle change while also confronting issues that have led to and perpetuate his current health situation.
Date: December 2013
Creator: Ferguson, Ryan
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Performance Rights in Sound Recordings: the Impact of the Performance Rights Act on Radio, Records, and Performing Artists

Description: The original works of copyright holders included tangible creations, as music written on a page, thereby, extending copyright protection to songwriters and music publishers. Until 1995, absent from U.S. copyright law was protection for copyright owners of intangible sound recordings. the Performance Rights Act (PRA) seeks to amend the US copyright law in order to grant copyright holders of sound recordings the right to performance royalties from terrestrial broadcast radio. If passed, the le… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Wright-Harmon, Joy
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Piracy on the Ground: How Informal Media Distribution and Access Influences Cultures in Contemporary Hanoi, Viet Nam

Description: This thesis explores how pirate cultures and “informal” distribution circuits operate on the ground level and integrate global media texts (mainly Hollywood films) into a small section of the local everyday society of Hanoi, Viet Nam. Situating the pirate stores and its components as active and central, this thesis will examine the physical flow of media through these store sites. In addition, by exploring the interactions between media texts, store owners and workers, customers, and the store’… more
Date: August 2012
Creator: Tran, Anthony
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Playing Nice: the Limitations and Stereotypes Placed on Female Hero Representation in Video Games

Description: This thesis provides an investigation of how gender stereotypes affect the narrative, mechanics, and experience of three different console based video games (Venetica, WET, and Velvet Assassin) with female protagonist. Each game is addressed within separate case study chapters and discusses how gender is integrated and intertwined with each narrative structure, image representation, and interactivity. Further analysis is provided in each case study as gender is addressed across several parts of… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Cisneros, Linet L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Programming for the Latino Youth: a Content Analysis of Prime Time Television Programs By Three Spanish-language Broadcast Networks

Description: This study reviews U.S. Spanish-language broadcast networks' prime time programming content targeted to the Latino youth audience. It explores the relationship between the Latino youth and prime time programming by Spanish-language broadcast networks and how they seek to attract this market as is reflected in the characteristics and quantity of their content and preferred formats by using the strategic management theory. This study identifies the amount and type of prime time programming that w… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Vazquez, Gabriel
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Provincial Heroism: Hunanese Audiences and Sylvester Stallone

Description: The thesis focuses on analyzing and discussing Hunanese audience members’ receptions of three of his films – Rocky IV (1985), Cliffhanger (1993) and The Expendables (2010) to reveal the audiences’ motivations of admiring him and his movies. The analysis is based on Hunanese male characteristics because Hunanese culture is a male centric culture. In the Rocky IV film, Hunanese fans like his manhood, nature of soldier, and determination. In the response to Cliffhanger, some audience members appre… more
Date: August 2012
Creator: Kuang, Jun
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Reality Television: Using Para-Social Relationship Theory and Economic Theory to Define the Success of Network Reality Programming

Description: This study seeks to use a dual-theoretical approach, through the use of para-social relationship theory and economic data analysis, to explain the success of reality television since the early 2000s. This study uses both qualitative and quantitative components to understand the growth of reality television. This study includes a literature analysis of both methodologies used. Focus groups were used to seek to find a strong level of para-social interaction in viewers of reality television. Two f… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Dyer, Caitlin Elizabeth
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Rehlet Iraqi (An Iraqi Journey)

Description: Rehlet Iraqi was created to depict an Iraqi refugee family’s struggle after fleeing war-torn Iraq. Their struggle is highlighted with hope and high expectations for a better life within the United States. This film emphasizes the toll that emigration has on the life of a family before and after their arrival to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Date: August 2011
Creator: Wahbeh, Fadi
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Rickshaw Man

Description: This documentary film tells the story of Mohammad in India, and Mike in the United States, who are separated by social, economic, cultural, linguistic and religious differences, and yet there is an inanimate object that connects them-the rickshaw. The film examines how rickshaw men are viewed and treated by the society they live in and also illuminates the threads of commonality between these two men to show that they are not so different from each other after all.
Date: December 2013
Creator: Thomas, Denny G.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Social Networking: the Benefits of Twitter for Music Fans and Consumers

Description: Due to the evolution of new media technologies, social networking websites have become major avenues for online media consumption. Twitter is one of many proven beneficial for online users. It is utilized for many different reasons, one of which includes music. It is then necessary to know how beneficial Twitter is for music fans and consumers. This study attempts to analyze the benefits of Twitter for music fans and consumers. Using an online survey, different gratification items are measured.… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Perrilliat, Jessica A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Stage and Scream: The Influence of Traditional Japanese Theater, Culture, and Aesthetics on Japan's Cinema of the Fantastic

Description: Although widely viewed in the West, Japanese films are often misunderstood, as they are built on cultural, theatrical, and aesthetic traditions entirely foreign to Western audiences. Particularly in regards to Japan's "fantastic" cinema - including giant monster pictures, ghost stories, and "J-Horror" films - what is often perceived as "cheap" or "cheesy" is merely an expression of these unique cultural roots. By observing and exploring such cultural artifacts as kabuki, noh, and bunraku - the … more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Petty, John E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Standing Up to Experts: The Politics of Public Education

Description: In a small room in Austin, Texas, a group of 15 people are single-handedly deciding what is taught to the next generation of American children. The highly politicized 15 member Texas Board of Education is currently going through the once-in-a-decade process of rewriting the teaching and textbook standards for its nearly 5 million schoolchildren. Texas is also unbelievably influential on the standards that textbook publishers use as a basis for their textbooks nationwide. Over the last 10 yea… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Thurman, Scott
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Tactile Media: Factors Affecting the Adoption of Touchscreen Smartphones Among Consumers with Vision Loss

Description: Touchscreen technology is on the rise as the new standard in smartphone design. But, the usability of touchscreen is hindered for consumers that lack the physical ability to navigate such devices. Two focus groups were conducted in order to identify specific uses and gratifications that people with visual impairments had when using mobile phones. Additional questions were presented to the participants to determine if touchscreen technology limited access to communication and entertainment. The … more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Bradley, Sapora L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Teacher Perceptions of the Flipped Classroom: Using Video Lectures Online to Replace Traditional In-class Lectures

Description: Advancements in media technologies have resulted in increased student usage causing teachers to struggle to be able to engage and hold student’s interest in a typical classroom. As students’ needs change, the field of education changes. One strategy that is gaining in popularity among teachers is the implementation of the “flipped classroom” also known as the “inverted classroom” or “reverse instruction” - a method incorporates technology to “flip” or “reverse” what is typically done in class … more
Date: August 2012
Creator: Snowden, Kelly E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Textual Analysis of the Closer and Saving Grace: Feminist and Genre Theory in 21St Century Television

Description: Television is a universally popular medium that offers a myriad of choices to viewers around the world. American programs both reflect and influence the culture of the times. Two dramatic series, The Closer and Saving Grace, were presented on the same cable network and shared genre and design. Both featured female police detectives and demonstrated an acute awareness of postmodern feminism. The Closer was very successful, yet Saving Grace, was cancelled midway through the third season. A close … more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Stone, Lelia M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

True Bromance: Representation of Masculinity and Heteronormative Dominance in the Bromantic Comedy

Description: This project explores the representation of white, American masculinity within the Hollywood bromantic comedy cycle. By analyzing three interrelated components (close homosociality, infantilization, and relationship to patriarchy) of the model of masculinity perpetuated by this cycle of films, this study reveals the hegemonic motives therein. Despite the representation of a masculinity nervously questioning its position within the romantic comedy narrative and the broader patriarchal structure,… more
Date: December 2013
Creator: Hartwell, David B.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

True Tales of the Atom

Description: True Tales of the Atom documents the creative process in the making of the film of the same name. It describes the intent and result of each step in the filmmaking process, including esthetic, budget and technical decisions. How the inclusion of animation increased the complexity and technical demands on the postproduction. It shows the problems encountered and overcome working on a production alone. Finally, it details the successful completion primarily due to extensive preplanning. The film … more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Westergaard, Jerry
Partner: UNT Libraries
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