Media studies

This thesis presents an analysis of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and the film’s depiction of nature. This analysis will show that the film derives horror from the depiction of nature encroaching on human spaces. Through the film’s depictions of shark attacks, it forces viewers to confront their own edibility. The filmmaking techniques place humans on the other side of the eater/eaten binary, and present humans a prey. Similarly, the depictions of environments show the presence of nature as a disruption to the film’s established visual style. This thesis asserts film analysis as a necessary tool in understanding the nature/culture binary and how film narratives can contribute to this division.

This thesis The Representation and Evolution of Abusive Relationships: Harley Quinn and the Joker takes a psychoanalytic, gender, and media studies approach to comics such as Mad Love, The Batman Adventures, Suicide Squad and the film Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad (2016) Drawing on the work of Lenore Walker, Scott McCloud and other various scholars, this thesis will explore the distinctions in how the comics and film confront, disguise, or conceal the abuse. An analysis of the increasingly romanticized representation of abuse in the comics and film, where audience support for the couple and merchandizing were core concerns, reflect increasing audience participation in responding to and making demands upon narratives of toxic relationships and intimate partner violence.