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RIDDLES OF REPRESENTATION IN FANTASTIC MEDIA
by
Janani Subramanian
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(CRITICAL STUDIES)
August 2009
Copyright 2009 Janani Subramanian
Object Description
| Title | Riddles of representation in fantastic media |
| Author | Subramanian, Janani |
| Author email | jananisu@usc.edu; janani.subramanian2@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Cinema-Television (Critical Studies) |
| School | School of Cinematic Arts |
| Date defended/completed | 2009-05-14 |
| Date submitted | 2009 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2009-08-07 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Marez, Curtis |
| Advisor (committee member) |
McPherson, Tara Lippit, Akira |
| Abstract | My dissertation examines fantasy and identity across a variety of media, and I analyze how their various forms interact with historical contexts and help us understand narratives of race. Science fiction films act as a valuable testing ground for theories of identity, as the creation of alienating worlds reveals the play of alienation and identification at work in the recent history of race and representation. In Chapter 2, for example, I focus on John Sayles' 1984 film The Brother From Another Planet, where the main character’s status as both extraterrestrial and black man lends insight into the black citizen’s relationship to an alienating urban environment in the context of a Reagan-era retreat from federal government support for inner cities. In Chapter 3, I argue that avant-garde film forms a fascinating relationship to science fiction in its similar displacement of time, place and narrative; yet the formal abstractions of the avant-garde, when utilized by filmmakers exploring racial and ethnic identity, reveals the specifically filmic codes used to construct identity on screen. Science fiction television has an equally fascinating structural relationship to representation in its use of seriality, long narrative arcs, relationship to domesticity, and commercial nature; for example, in Chapter 4, I discuss how The X-files uses the psychoanalytic and cultural associations of paranoia to build an entire series exploring fears of Others and outsiders, displacing multicultural anxiety onto a host of monsters and extraterrestrials. I end my dissertation with an exploration of the way various platforms of digital media reveal the way that the alleged erasure of identity, a futuristic idea embraced by some Critical Race Theorists, actually highlights its constant tangibility. |
| Keyword | science fiction; race; identity; avant-garde; television |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m2524 |
| Rights | Subramanian, Janani |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Subramanian-3066 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume44/etd-Subramanian-3066.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | RIDDLES OF REPRESENTATION IN FANTASTIC MEDIA by Janani Subramanian A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (CRITICAL STUDIES) August 2009 Copyright 2009 Janani Subramanian |
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