English
Presenter(s): Jordan Tatreau
Advisor(s): Dr. Eileen Jankowski
Each culture finds vastly different ways to explain the world around them, with many often resorting to a god or pantheon of gods. However, each culture’s gods are entirely unique and fascinating—even when there is overlap, few ever represent the same aspect of life the same way. I seek to explore The Morrigan of Irish mythology, as well as her similarities and differences with other well known mythological figures. The Morrigan was a shapeshifting goddess who represented the circle of life, both fertility and war. Her role in mythology is as complex as her nature, and draws to mind similarities with many other figures, such as Athena or the Valkyries, though none fully encompass her. She could be tender or vindictive and could turn the tides of battles on a whim, either cloaking the land in a fog to protect or seeking out violent revenge against those who slighted her. Though many of her myths have been lost to time, The Morrigan looms even still as a powerful mythological figure, one shrouded in mystery and wonder to this day.
Jesus Christ and His Importance
Presenter(s): Kenny Koerber
Advisor(s): Dr. Eileen Jankowski
In society today, there are many aspects that have been taken from ancient societies. This is visible in brands like Nike, sporting events like the Olympics, and city names like Athens, Tennessee. However, Jesus Christ and the importance of the Bible is possibly one of the most influential pieces of text in modern society. Christianity is one of the biggest religions in the world, with billions of followers. It is found all over the world; North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The reason why Jesus is so famous is because He taught people how to love, how to have a stable family, and how to have hope. When people are in distress, they turn to God, whether it be praying, or simple hope. One of the biggest ways Jesus Christ can be seen in society today is in government. America itself had a Christian upbringing regarding its government. In the pledge “...under God...” is stated. This is a clear giveaway that yes, America was in fact influenced by Jesus Christ. The difference by the influence of the Greek Gods and Jesus Christ, however, is very visible. Nowadays, no one practices the old religion of the Greeks. Jesus Christ, however, has many followers with Christianity. People revolve their lives around him, whether they are the Pope, a priest, or just a devout believer. For this, Jesus Christ is one of the most influential ancient mythological figures in today's society.
Hey Beautiful: Calling Out Catcalling Culture
Presenter(s): Alanna Cronk
Advisor(s): Dr. Samantha Dressel
Catcalling: almost every female-presenting person experiences it, yet everyone has a different interpretation of the experience. There is a gradient of opinions of the subject ranging from longing to experience the validation catcalling can bring to reviling the insulting nature of the act. After establishing the frequency of catcalling across age and gender, this ethnographic research project will use qualitative surveys with around thirty individuals to identify and evaluate the range of attitudes people have about catcalling. This study will use Kristen Di Gennaro and Chelsea Ritschel's definition of catcalling, defining the act as "a comment in public taking place between the unacquainted breaching the norms of civil interaction between strangers but often including evaluative statements" (2019). Participation in this study is confidential and will take place remotely with an online survey that is approved by Chapman’s Cayuse Internal Review Board. This project will use open coding to identify and group the unique interpretations of catcalling. With this grouping, the project will then arrange the data in a gradient ranging from negative to positive. Each group will match with a past study that has matching theory explaining the motivation for catcalling. For example, in a group of data with mostly negative feelings towards catcalling, a theory explaining a negative motivation for catcalling will be selected. Creative activity and research become one with the deliverables of this project. Twenty individual profiles will be the center of the first deliverable, a twenty-page zine. The zine will also feature samples of the subjects' handwriting, pictures of any relevant personal effects, and artistically related collages. The second deliverable will be a traditional ten-page research paper.
Shock vs Suspense
Presenter(s): Skylar Fisher-Duddy
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
My research is centered around the argument of ‘shock vs suspense’ within horror projects. The idea of suspense vs jump scares has been a long running debate within the horror industry. While movies that have jump scares might be frightening in the moment, many psychological thriller-type movies like Alfred Hitchcock’s, ‘The Birds’ or ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ have proven to be just as or even scarier than straight forward horror movies. Using different articles and statistics on the success of the two different tactics in horror films, including Keith Lafountaine’s analysis on the argument and the evaluations of the financial achievements within the horror industry, I have concluded that a horror project utilizing the idea of suspense and build up is more successful and/or sometimes even scarier than a project that incorporates only shock and jump scares throughout. I will use my findings and analysis to incorporate the more successful tactic into a horror screenplay. Hopefully, this will affect the level of how scary the screenplay will be to an audience and how effective it will be if made into a horror film.
Horror Slashers
Presenter(s): Sam Wilson
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of my screenplay is to reinvent horror holiday slashers and pay homage to them, as well as putting a spin on the clichés and tropes of the subgenre. I pulled influence from films like Black Christmas which relied heavily on suspense and the plot of “killing one off one by one”. My script has a similar setting, with Christmas around the corner and snow falling. I avoided clichés like the “killer mask” or “a girl getting killed in the shower."Through my research, it helped me figure out the strengths of slashers and the weaknesses. My story follows two sisters on Christmas Eve night. Neither of them believes in Santa, and their Christmas spirit has disappeared. But on this night, they soon find out that there’s something sinister going on. They hear the sounds of a sleigh and the chuckling of an old man. Could it be Santa that has arrived? The audience should feel paranoid and suspicious like the girls are. Is there someone upstairs? The audience questions themselves throughout. One of the most important elements of the slasher is “suspense”, so I hold as much tension and mystery as I can to make the audience feel uncomfortable. Wes Craven said it best with the quote, “As long as you keep the audience on the edge of their seats, either scare them or keep them guessing, you can put anything in there you want.” By the end, the viewers/readers understand what’s going on and the motive for the killer.
Horror and Smiles
Presenter(s): Erik Wood
Advisor(s): Sam Risak
The purpose of my project is to create a horror short story that avoids drawing its frightfulness from narrative cohesiveness and instead invokes feelings of unnatural discomfort through disorientating atmospheres, and the kind of agitated nuzzles that should, all things lovely, elicit sunny celebrations. Enveloping dust and dirt, their lascivious existence in the perforated fringes of exaggerated imagination experienced in the night-time corners of our most comfortable environments, are of especial interest to my project; the tease of things jaundiced, readily smothered or otherwise avoided entirely, that suddenly appear in the threads of everyday experience are an area that I desire to resurface in the reader’s memory in an attempt for a conjoined elevation of the horror therein. In alignment with the interests of my project, I intend to situate the reader in a trembling space unable to provide an accessible escape to the refuge of distinct setting or character motivations. As a result of my story’s artifice, I understand that its horror necessitates some experimentation to nurture a vicious encroachment upon the audience of my completed work. Enfolding myself within examples of my favorite horror stories, in both writing and film, I have researched how to operate as a storyteller and, in doing so, a predilection for surreptitious circumstances have alighted in my framework, which I intend to animate through inexorable narrative shifts and general instability, akin to that of unspecified character relationships in writing and spectral camera shakiness in movies. Horror in the style of my enticements is frequently represented in film and I would like to dispel this preconception by investigating it in a more foreign format, inspiring innovation in creative endeavors. I aim to use a lynchpin of someone in trouble to project all of this and, ultimately, to remove the warmth of a sidelong smile.