Dissertations

WRITING A DISSERTATION in the final year of their studies provides an opportunity for students to apply their knowledge and understanding acquired during the taught courses to investigate a specific topic related to their field of study. The dissertation is also a chance to demonstrate research and analytical skills in the form of a substantial written project, which can support future studies and/or professional preparation. The course is shared between BA (Hons) Media and Communications, BA (Hons) Films Studies and BA (Hons) Film and Television Production students.

Musammat Fatima Begum

A study of video-games: The relationship between visuo-motor skills in Left 4 Dead 2 and cooking.

MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS m.fatimabegum22@gmail.com

Video-games have been recognised by researchers from game studies and neuroscience to enhance the following cognitive related skills: memory, focus and problem solving. Existing studies yielded gaps of knowledge of named activities to which motor skills acquired from video games can be applied. This research conducted a study to examine the effects of transferring visuo-motor skills to cooking from first person shooter video game Left 4 Dead 2. This demonstrates an established relationship of cognitive development inside and outside of the cyberspace, which contributes towards future research associated with age related declined motor skills caused by illness. A detailed selfreflected autoethnographic journal was produced to assess the correlation between cognitive development gained from Left 4 Dead 2 and its involvement in cooking. The findings reveal a positive influence of video-games on cooking, establishing that video-games can be useful for improving the quality of daily activities.

Summer Children-Smith

The Seen Does Not See Back: Self-Representation and Sexualisation of Women on Social Networking Site Instagram MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS summerchildrensmith@gmail.com

Founded in 2010, Social Networking Site (SNS) Instagram has become a hub for self expression and the self-employed. This research explores the social pressures created by SNSs and their effecrs on women. Departing from Laura Mulvey's claim that "in a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been spit between active/male and passive/female" (2001, p.19), the dissertation focuses on the representation of young women on Instagram, centralising issues concerning the sexualisation of the female body, selfrepresentation, and gender stereotyping. It uses a mixed methdology: an interview with a small influencer and a mass audience questionnaire aimed at a female target audience aged 18-29. As stated in the title, the focal point of the study is to understand how women are represented online in a sexualised light; using specific case studies within my interviews, this investigation creates an understanding of what women deem to be sexually explicit and objectifying. The significance of this analysis is that it illuminates the many issues young women face on platforms like Instagram and how this affects how they perceieve not just themselves, but other female users.

Georgiana Cojocaru

Gendered-Designed Gender—Disrupting the Marketplace of Hegemonic Masculinities and Femininities: An Autoethnography MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS gc2373cpa@gmail.com

For the past decades, social scientists have attempted to deconstruct gender stereotypes that are strongly embedded in culture and reinforced on a daily basis. This thesis examines how gendered cues depicting traditional norms of femininity and masculinity are utilised in gendered-designed products to reinforce the heterosexual binary view of gender. In a world of pinks and blues, the individual has no choice but to identify oneself as either "masculine" or "feminine." By combining gender and consumer theoretical disciplines, this autoethnographic essay reflects how the marketplace of gendered femininities and masculinities affected the development of my gender identity.

This essay argues that the hegemonic group of femininities and masculinities are subordinating an inferior group of males and females who struggle to conform to society's gender norms. This reflective thesis examines how I was exposed to hegemonic groups of men and women who reinforced gender stereotypes and tried to humiliate and sanction those who did not conform. As a member of a subordinated group that couldn't adhere to either of the two available gender alternatives offered by the marketplace and traditional thinking, I disrupted gender stereotypes and became gender neutral.

This essay encourages individuals to detach themselves from the heterosexual gendered labels attached to their identity and disrupt the binary view of gender. It also reveals how consumer researchers might begin building scales for queer and genderneutral people.

Daisy Ellis

Women Beyond the Pole: How Female Filmmakers Are Humanising Strippers on Screen FILM STUDIES daisy.elli5@icloud.com

For so long strippers on screen have been portrayed as struggling single mothers, drug addicts and nameless figures in the background used as objects to serve the male gaze; they have also almost always been directed by men. This thesis explores how female filmmakers in recent years have been challenging these stereotypes, instead creating three-dimensional characterisations of strippers, with depth, character, and agency, rather than just a tiny bikini and pair of 6-inch pleasers. Using a close reading of the female directed and female led film Hustlers (2019), this thesis explores how the film's themes of family and sisterhood create dimension for these characters and how through Lorene Scafaria's directing, the film at no point sexualises these women for the sake of sexualisation and visual pleasure, but instead punishes the men who do. Through Hustlers (2019) this research challenges the relevance of Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory while also exploring the lesser-known female gaze and the presentation of female characters when directed by women.

Eve Flude

Audience Reception of Jennifer's Body (2009) and its Link to the Subversion of the Heterosexual Male Gaze FILM STUDIES fludeeve@gmail.com

Jennifer’s Body (2009), the teen horror-comedy starring Megan Fox as a cheerleader-turneddemonic succubus, is now widely regarded as a cult classic years after its release. However it opened to poor reviews, mostly from male critics who were expecting it to be a male-fantasy sex-romp due to the poor marketing aimed towards teenage boys. It seems the majority of male spectators could not seem to fathom that the film wasn’t made with them as the target audience. In fact, it is a perfect example of a film made by women, for women. The film draws male audiences in with the expectation of typical horror conventions and cliches, but turns these conventions on their head by having powerful, violent, three-dimensional female characters, powerless men as their mewling victims and an unapologetic tragic queer love story between the two protagonists. Using a close analysis of the film itself and audience reviews and reactions, this thesis explores the idea that the use of the queer/ female gaze is the reason Jennifer’s Body was harshly and unfairly judged by its unintended audience: heterosexual men.

Sara Gashi

The Portrayal of Domestic Violence in Albanian Society and How it Has Helped to Change Society's Wiews on Women. MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS saradgashi@hotmail.com

Over the last 30 years Albania has progressed from one of the strictest communist dictatorships in Europe to a democratic nation, but women’s rights and gender equality have not experienced the same progression. This dissertation explores how Albanian social media portrays domestic violence in order to change societies views on women. Through my research it became evident that there was a gap within the research on the impact social media has had on the way society views victims of domestic violence, therefore my dissertation will further explore this as an extension of existing works of feminism research within Albania, whilst looking at the changes in society through the lease of ‘social media movements’.

Grace O'Hanlon

How has the portrayal of Nuns in Movie Musicals changed between the years of 1960—1993? FILM STUDIES graceohanlon102832@gmail.com

Exploring three case study films of the Sound of Music, Sister Act 1 and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habbit, this essay discusses the positive and negative portrayal of the themes of Christianity and in particular the representation of the Sisterhood. It examines the impact of the time of release as well as the time these films are set, the role of the Nuns in the film and how they are portrayed through different elements of film making such as the Mise en scene and Cinematography. This essay also explores the reception of the films and how the audience and critics responded to their portrayal of the Sister hood and this outcome then impacting religious movie musicals in the years following the release of these films.