History and criticism

This thesis examines the impact technology has on the music industry. Despite decrease in physical sales and piracy, statistics indicate that consumer requests for music content are strong. Although sales of physical product have decreased, the demand for digital music has dramatically increased. The current market players and technology innovations provide new opportunities to deliver music to the consumer. It is imperative to balance the divergent interests of consumers and artists, while ensuring profits for all parties involved.

Protosciences, or new sciences trying to establish their legitimacy, are ubiquitous in literature. In the old stories we hear of alchemists who can only dream of the discoveries that modern chemists take for granted, and in the new stories we hear of travelers moving faster than light as our greatest physicists attempt to make that fantasy a reality. Limiting our viewpoint to the modern scientific reductionist view of the universe not only makes little sense if we consider Michael Polanyi's theories of emergence and 'personal knowledge', but it robs medieval scholars for the conceptual credit they are due for theories they could not satisfactorily explain by the future's standards, and stifles the sorts of fantastic possibilities that are opened by the great science-fiction authors. Medieval authors' expositions of protoscientific thought laid the ground work for our own modern disciplines, and by reexamining how this happened we can develop a new appreciation for the power of the imagination.

This dissertation examines the role of speech inflection in the composition of melodies of American musical theatre and investigates how composers approached speech inflection in their work throughout this genre's history. Through analysis of songs and interviews with composers, this dissertation investigates the relevance of speech inflection in the various styles of composition existing on Broadway. The main focus of musical theatre compositions, especially post Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Oklahoma, is to move the plot along through songs. Therefore, the delivery of the text must be of ultimate consideration in the writing of modern musicals. A well-written speech-melody facilitates the process of a speech-melody-interpretation, which will result in the delivery of lyrics with an understandable, natural sounding quality. This investigation happens through a chronologic evaluation of the relevance of speech inflection during each of the distinct phases on Broadway, as well as an examination of the approach to writing with a speech-melody focus of each individual composer throughout history. This study explores the importance of speech inflection in American musical theatre songwriting focusing on a speech-melody approach to composition.

The goal of this research is to discover Shostakovich's inspiration and motivation for writing the Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues. Through the in-depth research of the cycle, this thesis will discuss the different aspects of the unique harmonic ambiguity of both the preludes and the fugue subjects so that readers understand Shostakovich's language of musical communication. Shostakovich lived during a transitional period in the history of Russia when totalitarianism was being challenged. The research will also explore how the political environment influenced his composition during those years.

Olive Schreine'rs novel, The Story of an African Farm, and nonfiction work, Woman and Labor, have compelled critics to apply the term New Woman to her main character, Lyndall, who speaks out for change against the established gender roles. The thesis proposes that by placing Lyndall in a colonial context, Schreiner creates a plot where place and language embody the possibilities for change. Considering that Schreiner's life consisted of a life in the colonies, first as a governess, later as a wife, one sees Schreiner's personal interest in change. Analyzing Schreiner's style of representing Lyndall's relationship with nature and other characters, one discovers the way Schreiner balances a feminist (and hence radical) shadow discourse of masochism with the discourses of nature and evolution. Schreiner registers an interest in change in her language by turning the linguistic-mental neighborhoods of Jane Austen inside out in favor of a more extrinsic language, the dialect of real South African neighborhoods. In her personal details, furthermore, Schreiner brings to life the language and landscape of her beloved country, creating the conceptual groundwork for political change. Read in this way, Olive Schreiner's work can be seen as creating space for more literature about social change like the award-winning work of the South African writer, Nadine Gordimer.

This thesis discusses the relationship between classic comic books and BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.) Will Eisner's The Spirit is used to discuss sexuality and power in comics, with special attention paid to Eisner's "The Kissing Caper." The Eisner chapter explores the relationship between sadomasochism, film noir, gender dynamics and comics. Using Judith Butler, Fredric Wertham and Theodor Reik, the gender politics of The Spirit are discussed. Women's changing roles in the post-World War II American workplace are linked to Eisner's BDSM themes in The Spirit from the character's origin story to the 1950s. In examining Alan Moore's Watchmen, the paper focuses on transactional power dynamics and how BDSM rituals are enacted in modern American comics. American power relationships in politics are used as a comparison and contrast to BDSM dynamics in Watchmen. Samuel R. Delany, William Moulton Marston and Pat Califia are used as theorists within the discussion of power exchanges in Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore's graphic novel. The consensual fantasy element to this power relationship is demonstrated as the underlying dynamic of the act, and not as actual punishment or nonconsensual sadism.

This project presents a three-level analysis of Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir to elucidate the way these films deconstruct the image of the Middle East that the dominant Western media perpetuate. The thesis demonstrates that the combination of highly expressive and easily understandable animated form with an autobiographical storyline that endows the films with attractive authenticity, personification and intimacy, creates a palatable setting for the intellectual texts. Further, this project discloses the ways representation gives rise to stereotypes and illustrates how the films articulate an alternative to the dichotomous perception of West versus Middle East. The movies impersonate a unique, subjective insight into the past, emphasizing that history is an ongoing, non-linear process that depends on where and who is narrating it, and to whom. Understanding that public memory is shaped by media content, the thesis asserts the necessity for more cultural texts that deconstruct the norm and eliminate bias.

Twelfth century French feudal culture witnesses the codification of new marriage laws and a rapid rise in popularity of the Cult of the Virgin Mary, with correspondingly renewed attention being paid to women by ecclesiastical intellectuals of all sects. Of particular interest to these churchmen was the duty of the medieval wife to bear children. The Lais of Marie de France, a late twelfth-century text, often focus explicitly on motherhood (both biological and symbolic) and therefore allow a deeper examination of the new cultural representations of women in the dual role of spouse and mother. The Lais further highlight the symbolic role of the child as guarantor both of a woman's social value and of the validity of the love relationship based on the tenets of fin'amors instead of formal marriage.

This thesis focuses primarily on homophobia and how it plays a role in the construction of queer identities, specifically in graphic novels and comic books. The primary texts being analyzed are Alan Moore's Lost Girls, Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and Michael Chabon's prose novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Throughout these and many other comics, queer identities reflect homophobic stereotypes rather than resisting them. However, this thesis argues that, despite the homophobic tendencies of these texts, the very nature of comics (their visual aspects, panel structures, and blank gutters) allows for an alternative space for positive queer identities.