English
Presenter(s): Tiffany Wong
Advisor(s): Dr. Eileen Jankowski
The Kitsune, known as the fox spirit in Japanese culture, and Kumiho in Korea, is rooted in Chinese mythology where it is known as Huli Jing. Foxes hold the honor of being one of Japan's five spiritual animal species and shared a close relationship with humans in Ancient Japan, so it is no surprise that Kitsunes have made such a lasting impact on its culture. These shape shifters are known to be benevolent creatures, as well as evil, sometimes seeking humans to eat their flesh to absorb memory and their human form. This classification of foxes is the yako, and brings destruction and anguish. Zenko foxes, however, are associated with the goddess of prosperity, Inari, and bring happiness and wisdom. Furthermore, Kitsunes gain their magical looks and powers as they grow a new tail every 100 years, growing up to nine in total. The Kitsune and Japanese folklore bear a similar likeness to Greek mythology. Much like how the Japanese worshipped Inari, the Greeks worshipped gods who were also associated with an animal. For example, Zeus’s sacred animal is the eagle, and Poseidon’s, the dolphin. These animals served gods and intervened in human lives on account of the gods they belonged to. One difference, however, is that the Japanese made sacrifices to the Kitsune themselves, as they were seen as deities who had the power to bestow either supernatural good or evil on humans. The Kitsune’s importance to the Japanese has not faded since its first appearance in Japanese literature in the 10th and 11th century, where they were simply told as black and white foxes that were associated with either good or evil. Today, they can be seen as statues throughout Japan, near shrines for Inari, and even through Western literature such as Jeannine Hall Gailey’s poem, “The Fox-Wife’s Invitation”.
Harry Potter’s Mythical Monsters: Victims of Structural Power and Privilege
Presenter(s): Lauren Sieberg
Advisor(s): Dr. Julye Bidmead
How can the realm of fiction–specifically in relation to popular speculative literature–reflect the real societal issues we see in the world today? Through a meticulous dissection of one of the most popular works of modern fantasy, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, it becomes evident that novels such as these often act as a window into complex concepts we deal with in real life. One such topic is the construction of privilege and power; not only does this include how some have more power than others, but it also delves into how aspects of one’s identity can intersect and complicate the advantages or disadvantages they are assigned within society. In Rowling’s Wizarding World, not all magical beings and beasts are considered equal. Throughout the series, it is established that numerous magical creatures are social outsiders who lack the privilege and power that most wizards are automatically granted, ranging from private property ownership to autonomy to the right to pursue one’s greatest dreams without judgment. For beloved characters like Remus Lupin and Rubeus Hagrid, this means that they cannot be viewed as insiders to the larger wizarding population while still being true to significant aspects of their identities (being a werewolf and half-giant respectively), leading them to hide those parts of themselves for fear of being misunderstood. Many creatures, such as mermaids and house elves, are not even given the luxury of choosing how they are viewed by the magical community and are misjudged with little to no power or privilege in the wizard-centric society. By deconstructing these conflicts within Harry Potter, we can improve upon our understanding of their parallels to issues faced by numerous marginalized groups in our own world, demonstrating how fiction often helps us explore a range of lived experiences and cases of inequality and inequity.
Why Are We Afraid of the Unknown?
Presenter(s): Mia Crum
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of my project is to answer the questions “why are we afraid of the unknown?” and “how is this fear used effectively in horror movies?” from a psychological perspective. According to clinical psychologist Steven Reiss, many fears that we have can be underpinned by the fear of the unknown. To answer these questions I’ll be looking at movies from the “psychological horror” genre as it's all about the darker side of the human psyche, deep emotional fears, and psychological struggles translated to film. Pareidolia and the uncanny are two themes frequently used in this genre to create a sense of humanity where it shouldn’t be and remove it from where it should be. Sigmund Freud’s essay titled “The Uncanny” addresses the meaning of “uncanny” and concludes that these fears are a return of repressed ones rooted in childhood experiences. For the creative aspect of this project, I’ve created a short story that presents the fear of the unknown in a day to day setting while using elements of the uncanny and pareidolia to make my audience uneasy. The story follows a woman who’s house-sitting for her wealthy friends while they’re on a 2-week honeymoon vacation. Strange things start happening around the house that slowly drives the protagonist to her breaking point. I hope by providing my audience with this research and my creative project they will be able to conclude whether or not they believe the unknown is effective in horror.
Horror-Comedy Guidelines
Presenter(s): Nick Pavlakovich
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of my short story “Isolation” is to successfully prove horror and comedy can go together. Many people believe the two don’t mesh, which I would like to disprove. The story will follow a group of college students on a travel study who get stranded in the Australian Outback. One of the keys to my story being successful will be the interaction between the characters. In order to make these relationships as strong as possible, I have read two articles about psychology and personal interactions. When it comes to the use of horror-comedy, I want to apply a strategy that Stephen King has used in his stories. This is to focus mainly on fear. A perfect example of this is the famous “Here’s Johnny” line from The Shining, because it is meant to be scary, but also makes the audience laugh. The base of the story must be horror to implement comedy in a correct way. If I were to use comedy as a foundation, I don’t think that would work well. It is easier to make a scary story funny than it is to make a funny story scary. Obviously, there are not many short stories that use horror-comedy, so much of my research on the topic has been through films. For example, Scream writer Wes Craven wrote characters that the audience would not want to know. I believe this will be a hard element to use. However, I think it is an ideal strategy when it comes to writing horror. I want to feel connected to the characters I write, but I want to base them off the type of person I don’t personally like. This story should be successful in proving that horror and comedy work well together by following some of these guidelines.
Incorporation of Infrasound and Musical Elements in Horror
Presenter(s): Isabella Sills
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of this project is to research and investigate the effect music and sound effects have on horror films, specifically, the natural phenomena known as infrasound will be explored in depth. Just outside our range of hearing at 20 Hz, infrasound may not be audible, but can still cause physical reactions such as anxiety, uneasiness, and extreme sorrow (Morrow, 2017). I am looking to create a horror comic in the form of a video that heavily relies on musical cues and the incorporation of infrasound to build up parts of the story told in the form of a comic. In the case of horror films, the usage of infrasound combined with musical scores contributes to viewers’ unease and naturally puts them more on edge as they begin to anticipate the next scare. Little is known in regards to infrasound and its incorporation in horror films, however both the 2007 film Paranormal Activity and 2002 French psychological-horror film Irréversible utilized infrasonic sound to create chilling sound effects. This project will explore creative ways to incorporate the usage of musical cues and infrasound in horror to illustrate the vital role this phenomenon has on the effectiveness of horror films. In addition, I hope that by incorporating sound into a visual project, this will provide a more immersive experience for the audience.
Serial Killers in the Media
Presenter(s): Samara Othmani
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of this project is to bring awareness of the growing attraction of male serial killers in the horror genre. White, aggressive, straight males have constantly been portrayed as attractive through the media, most of the time this has been done in horror films. Horror films provide an excellent opportunity to highlight serial killers. I believe that creating a short film designated in exaggerating the media’s glorification on serial killers will provide insight on how dreadful these points of views actually are. In my short film I would like to create the main character antagonist as a white, violent, straight, attractive male, therefore, throughout the film I would like the audience to feel love as well as hatred towards this character. The audience will be questioning their relationship between themselves and the antagonist. At first, I will present the antagonist as the protagonist, I will do this by portraying him as a welcoming, charming, attractive male. I will use music to highlight this idea by playing cheerful and bright music. Then as his true personality unfolds the film will take a dark turn…literally. The second half of the film will be in black and white, without any cheerful or bright music. These visual and auditory techniques will allow this transaction to be sharper and more focused. Although, this might seem redundant to films that glorify serial killers, I vision my film to completely mock that idea. By mocking this idea, I hope to educate the public on the affect this idea has on younger viewers. manipulated by the media. This type of horror movie will be able to educate the audience in a different way than any other genre could.