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Touchstones of Popular Culture Among Contemporary College Students in the United States
Minnesota State University Moorhead RED: a Repository of Digital Collections Dissertations, Theses, and Projects Graduate Studies Spring 5-17-2019 Touchstones of Popular Culture Among Contemporary College Students in the United States Margaret Thoemke [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://red.mnstate.edu/thesis Part of the Higher Education and Teaching Commons Recommended Citation Thoemke, Margaret, "Touchstones of Popular Culture Among Contemporary College Students in the United States" (2019). Dissertations, Theses, and Projects. 167. https://red.mnstate.edu/thesis/167 This Thesis (699 registration) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at RED: a Repository of Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Projects by an authorized administrator of RED: a Repository of Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Touchstones of Popular Culture Among Contemporary College Students in the United States A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of Minnesota State University Moorhead By Margaret Elizabeth Thoemke In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language May 2019 Moorhead, Minnesota iii Copyright 2019 Margaret Elizabeth Thoemke iv Dedication I would like to dedicate this thesis to my three most favorite people in the world. To my mother, Heather Flaherty, for always supporting me and guiding me to where I am today. To my husband, Jake Thoemke, for pushing me to be the best I can be and reminding me that I’m okay. Lastly, to my son, Liam, who is my biggest fan and my reason to be the best person I can be. -
Marble Hornets, the Slender Man, and The
DIGITAL FOLKLORE: MARBLE HORNETS, THE SLENDER MAN, AND THE EMERGENCE OF FOLK HORROR IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES by Dana Keller B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2005 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Film Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2013 © Dana Keller, 2013 Abstract In June 2009 a group of forum-goers on the popular culture website, Something Awful, created a monster called the Slender Man. Inhumanly tall, pale, black-clad, and with the power to control minds, the Slender Man references many classic, canonical horror monsters while simultaneously expressing an acute anxiety about the contemporary digital context that birthed him. This anxiety is apparent in the collective legends that have risen around the Slender Man since 2009, but it figures particularly strongly in the Web series Marble Hornets (Troy Wagner and Joseph DeLage June 2009 - ). This thesis examines Marble Hornets as an example of an emerging trend in digital, online cinema that it defines as “folk horror”: a subgenre of horror that is produced by online communities of everyday people— or folk—as opposed to professional crews working within the film industry. Works of folk horror address the questions and anxieties of our current, digital age by reflecting the changing roles and behaviours of the everyday person, who is becoming increasingly involved with the products of popular culture. After providing a context for understanding folk horror, this thesis analyzes Marble Hornets through the lens of folkloric narrative structures such as legends and folktales, and vernacular modes of filmmaking such as cinéma direct and found footage horror. -
Post-Postmodernisms, Hauntology and Creepypasta Narratives As Digital
Spectres des monstres: Post-postmodernisms, hauntology and creepypasta narratives as digital fiction ONDRAK, Joe Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/23603/ This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version ONDRAK, Joe (2018). Spectres des monstres: Post-postmodernisms, hauntology and creepypasta narratives as digital fiction. Horror Studies, 9 (2), 161-178. Copyright and re-use policy See http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive http://shura.shu.ac.uk Spectres des Monstres: Post-postmodernisms, hauntology and creepypasta narratives as digital fiction Joe Ondrak, Sheffield Hallam University Abstract Horror has always been adaptable to developments in media and technology; this is clear in horror tales from Gothic epistolary novels to the ‘found footage’ explosion of the early 2000s via phantasmagoria and chilling radio broadcasts such as Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds (1938). It is no surprise, then, that the firm establishment of the digital age (i.e. the widespread use of Web2.0 spaces the proliferation of social media and its integration into everyday life) has created venues not just for interpersonal communication, shared interests and networking but also the potential for these venues to host a new type of horror fiction: creepypasta. However, much of the current academic attention enjoyed by digital horror fiction and creepypasta has focused on digital media’s ability to remediate a ‘folk-like’ storytelling style and an emulation of word-of-mouth communication primarily associated with urban legends and folk tales. -
Not of Woman Born: Monstrous Interfaces and Monstrosity in Video Games
NOT OF WOMAN BORN: MONSTROUS INTERFACES AND MONSTROSITY IN VIDEO GAMES By LAURIE N. TAYLOR A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2006 Copyright 2006 by Laurie N. Taylor To Pete. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have many people to thank for this dissertation: my friends, family, and teachers. I would also like to thank the University of Florida for encouraging the study of popular media, with a high level of critical theory and competence. This dissertation also would not have been possible without the diligent help and guidance from my committee members, Donald Ault and Jane Douglas, as well as numerous other faculty members and graduate students both at the University of Florida and at other institutions. Thanks go to friends and loved ones (and cats): Colin, Jeremiah, Nix, Galahad, and Mila. And, thanks go always to Pete, for helping with research, discussion, giving me love and support, and for being wonderful. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................iv ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1 Introduction..............................................................................................................1 -
Marble Hornets, the Slender Man, and the Emergence Of
DIGITAL FOLKLORE: MARBLE HORNETS, THE SLENDER MAN, AND THE EMERGENCE OF FOLK HORROR IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES by Dana Keller B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2005 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Film Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2013 © Dana Keller, 2013 Abstract In June 2009 a group of forum-goers on the popular culture website, Something Awful, created a monster called the Slender Man. Inhumanly tall, pale, black-clad, and with the power to control minds, the Slender Man references many classic, canonical horror monsters while simultaneously expressing an acute anxiety about the contemporary digital context that birthed him. This anxiety is apparent in the collective legends that have risen around the Slender Man since 2009, but it figures particularly strongly in the Web series Marble Hornets (Troy Wagner and Joseph DeLage June 2009 - ). This thesis examines Marble Hornets as an example of an emerging trend in digital, online cinema that it defines as “folk horror”: a subgenre of horror that is produced by online communities of everyday people— or folk—as opposed to professional crews working within the film industry. Works of folk horror address the questions and anxieties of our current, digital age by reflecting the changing roles and behaviours of the everyday person, who is becoming increasingly involved with the products of popular culture. After providing a context for understanding folk horror, this thesis analyzes Marble Hornets through the lens of folkloric narrative structures such as legends and folktales, and vernacular modes of filmmaking such as cinéma direct and found footage horror. -
Conference Booklet
30th Oct - 1st Nov CONFERENCE BOOKLET 1 2 3 INTRO REBOOT DEVELOP RED | 2019 y Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned Warmest welcome to first ever Reboot Develop it! And we are here to stay. Our ambition through Red conference. Welcome to breathtaking Banff the next few years is to turn Reboot Develop National Park and welcome to iconic Fairmont Red not just in one the best and biggest annual Banff Springs. It all feels a bit like history repeating games industry and game developers conferences to me. When we were starting our European older in Canada and North America, but in the world! sister, Reboot Develop Blue conference, everybody We are committed to stay at this beautiful venue was full of doubts on why somebody would ever and in this incredible nature and astonishing choose a beautiful yet a bit remote place to host surroundings for the next few forthcoming years one of the biggest worldwide gatherings of the and make it THE annual key gathering spot of the international games industry. In the end, it turned international games industry. We will need all of into one of the biggest and highest-rated games your help and support on the way! industry conferences in the world. And here we are yet again at the beginning, in one of the most Thank you from the bottom of the heart for all beautiful and serene places on Earth, at one of the the support shown so far, and even more for the most unique and luxurious venues as well, and in forthcoming one! the company of some of the greatest minds that the games industry has to offer! _Damir Durovic -
The Momo Challenge
the Momo Challenge Momo Is A No No The Momo Challenge has recently dominated headlines not once, but twice—first because it was supposedly linked to a 12-year-old’s suicide in Buenos Aires, then more recently because it allegedly began popping up in children’s videos online. But the second time, it became more complicated: Was it an actual challenge scaring children into harming themselves and others? Or was it made up in order to increase page views and interactions on social media? This confusion only added to the chaos, with concerned parents unsure who to believe or what to do. On the one hand, if it isn’t fabricated, then they want to talk to their kids about it ASAP, as well as take measures to ensure they never fall prey to it. But on the other hand, if it is indeed false, then they don’t want to needlessly scare their kids or add to the pandemonium. This Guide seeks to wade through all the information currently available to help you make sense of the whole debacle and offers practical ways to address it with your children and teenagers. What is it exactly? It’s an online challenge that targets teens, tweens, and even younger children (via snippets in YouTube Kids videos) and encourages them to contact an unknown person called Momo (represented by a woman with a gaunt face, bulging eyes, and creepy smile) via WhatsApp or Facebook primarily (though any other platform with messaging capabilities can also be used). The account then sends them violent/graphic images and texts, telling them to engage in various “challenges, which start out small and strange, then escalate to harming themselves and others, possibly culminating in the final challenge of committing suicide. -
Crossing the Streams: Game Audio Rule Breakers of the Last Decade
Crossing the Streams: Game Audio Rule Breakers of the Last Decade Scott Selfon Development Lead | Xbox Advanced Technology Group, Microsoft Event Sound Event Sound Parameter(s) Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Event Sound Parameter(s) The Unexpected Pivot Event Sound Parameter You Don’t Know Jack (Jellyvision/Berkeley Systems, 1995) Braid (Number None, 2008) The Non-Event Event Sound SSX Tricky (Electronic Arts, 2001) SSX (Electronic Arts, 2012) VOLUME Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (Silicon Knights, 2002) Dead Space (Electronic Arts, 2008) The Displaced Sound Event Sound The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Starbreeze/Tigon, 2004) Independence Event Sound Grim Fandango (LucasArts, 1998) Grim Fandango (LucasArts, 1998) The Reversal Event Sound Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (Red Storm Entertainment/Ubisoft, 2007) Halo 3 (Bungie, 2007) 4 6 5 4 5 3 4 The Audience is Listening Sound Player Silent Hill 2 (Konami, 2001) Portal 2 (Valve, 2011) Portal 2 (Valve, 2011) Portal 2 (Valve, 2011) The Game is Listening Player Event Sound Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (Ubisoft, 2002) The Audience is Speaking Player Event Voice Mass Effect 3 (BioWare, 2012) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda, 2012) The Feedback Loop Event Sound Gears of War (Epic Games, 2006) Gears of War 2 (Epic Games, 2008) BioShock (2K Games, 2007) Event Sound Questions? [email protected] Xbox LIVE Gamertag: Timmmmmay. -
SLENDER MAN PANIC Holly Vasic (Faculty Mentor Sean Lawson, Phd) Department of Communications
University of Utah UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL SLENDER MAN PANIC Holly Vasic (Faculty Mentor Sean Lawson, PhD) Department of Communications The last day of May, 2014, in the sleepy Midwest town of Waukesha Wisconsin, 12-year- old’s Morgan Geyser and Annissa Weier were discovered splattered with blood and walking along the interstate after stabbing a girl, they called their friend, 19 times. When asked why, they said that Slender Man, a creepy faceless figure from a website called Something Awful (www.somethingawful.com), made them do it (Blank, 2018). This crime was reported about all over the country, and abroad, by top media sources as well as discussed in blogs around the web. Using the existing research on the phenomenon of “moral panic,” my research investigates the extent to which news media reporting and parent responses to Slender Man qualify as a moral panic. To qualify, the mythical creature must be reported about in a way that perpetuates fear in a set of the population that believe the panic to be real (Krinsky, 2013). As my preliminary research indicated that Christian parenting blogs demonstrated a strong response to the Slender Man phenomenon, I will explore the subgenre of Christian parenting blogs to gauge the extent to which Slender Man was considered a real threat by this specific group. Thus, my primary research questions will include: Q1: To what degree do mainstream media portrayals of Slender Man fit the characteristics of a moral panic as defined in the academic research literature? Q2: In what ways do Christian parenting blogs echo, extend upon, or reject the moral panic framing of Slender Man in the mainstream media? Since the emergence of Slender Man, a decade ago, concerns about fake news, disinformation, and the power of visual “memes” to negatively shape society and politics have only grown. -
Vgarchive : My Video Game Collection 2021
VGArchive : My Video Game Collection 2021 Nintendo Entertainment System 8 Eyes USA | L Thinking Rabbit 1988 Adventures in the Magic Kingdom SCN | L Capcom 1990 Astérix FRA | L New Frontier / Bit Managers 1993 Astyanax USA | L Jaleco 1989 Batman – The Video Game EEC | L Sunsoft 1989 The Battle of Olympus NOE | CiB Infinity 1988 Bionic Commando EEC | L Capcom 1988 Blades of Steel SCN | L Konami 1988 Blue Shadow UKV | L Natsume 1990 Bubble Bobble UKV | CiB Taito 1987 Castlevania USA | L Konami 1986 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest EEC | L Konami 1987 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse FRA | L Konami 1989 Chip 'n Dale – Rescue Rangers NOE | L Capcom 1990 Darkwing Duck NOE | L Capcom 1992 Donkey Kong Classics FRA | L Nintendo 1988 • Donkey Kong (1981) • Donkey Kong Jr. (1982) Double Dragon USA | L Technōs Japan 1988 Double Dragon II: The Revenge USA | L Technōs Japan 1989 Double Dribble EEC | L Konami 1987 Dragon Warrior USA | L Chunsoft 1986 Faxanadu FRA | L Nihon Falcom / Hudson Soft 1987 Final Fantasy III (UNLICENSED REPRODUCTION) USA | CiB Square 1990 The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy SCN | B Taito 1991 Ghost'n Goblins EEC | L Capcom / Micronics 1986 The Goonies II NOE | L Konami 1987 Gremlins 2: The New Batch – The Video Game ITA | L Sunsoft 1990 High Speed ESP | L Rare 1991 IronSword – Wizards & Warriors II USA | L Zippo Games 1989 Ivan ”Ironman” Stewart's Super Off Road EEC | L Leland / Rare 1990 Journey to Silius EEC | L Sunsoft / Tokai Engineering 1990 Kings of the Beach USA | L EA / Konami 1990 Kirby's Adventure USA | L HAL Laboratory 1993 The Legend of Zelda FRA | L Nintendo 1986 Little Nemo – The Dream Master SCN | L Capcom 1990 Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! EEC | L Nintendo 1987 Mission: Impossible USA | L Konami 1990 Monster in My Pocket NOE | L Team Murata Keikaku 1992 Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos USA | L Tecmo 1990 Rescue: The Embassy Mission EEC | L Infogrames Europe / Kemco 1989 Rygar EEC | L Tecmo 1987 Shadow Warriors FRA | L Tecmo 1988 The Simpsons: Bart vs. -
“I Am an Other and I Always Was…”
Hugvísindasvið “I am an other and I always was…” On the Weird and Eerie in Contemporary and Digital Cultures Ritgerð til MA-prófs í menningafræði Bob Cluness May 2019 Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindad Menningarfræði “I am an other and I always was…” On the Weird and Eerie in Contemporary and Digital Cultures Ritgerð til MA-prófs í menningafræði Bob Cluness Kt.: 150676-2829 Tutor: Björn Þór Vilhjálmsson May 2019 Abstract Society today is undergoing a series of processes and changes that can be only be described as weird. From the apocalyptic resonance of climate change and the drive to implement increasing powerful technologies into everyday life, to the hyperreality of a political and media landscape beset by chaos, there is the uneasy feeling that society, culture, and even consensual reality is beginning to experience signs of disintegration. What was considered the insanity of the margins is now experienced in the mainstream, and there is a growing feeling of wrongness, that the previous presumptions of the self, other, reality and knowledge are becoming untenable. This thesis undertakes a detailed examination of the weird and eerie as both an aesthetic register and as a critical tool in analysing the relationship between individuals and an impersonal modern society, where agency and intention is not solely the preserve of the human and there is a feeling not so much of being to act, and being acted upon. Using the definitions and characteristics of the weird and eerie provided by Mark Fisher’s critical text, The Weird and the Eerie, I set the weird and eerie in a historical context specifically regarding both the gothic, weird fiction and with the uncanny, I then analyse the presence of the weird and the eerie present in two cultural phenomena, the online phenomenon of the Slender Man, and J.G. -
Evolution of the Youtube Personas Related to Survival Horror Games
Toniolo EVOLUTION OF THE YOUTUBE PERSONAS RELATED TO SURVIVAL HORROR GAMES FRANCESCO TONIOLO CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF MILAN ABSTRACT The indie survival horror game genre has given rise to some of the most famous game streamers on YouTube, especially titles likes Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games 2010), Slender: The Eight Pages (Parsec Productions 2012), and Five Nights at Freddy’s (Scott Cawthon 2014). The games are strongly focused on horror tropes including jump scares and defenceless protagonists, which lend them to displays of overemphasised emotional reactions by YouTubers, who use them to build their online personas in a certain way. This paper retraces the evolution of the relationship between horror games and YouTube personas, with attention to in-game characters and gameplay mechanics on the one hand and the practices of prominent YouTube personas on the other. It will show how the horror game genre and related media, including “Let’s play” videos, animated fanvids, and “creepypasta” stories have influenced prominent YouTuber personas and resulted in some changes in the common processes of persona formation on the platform. KEY WORDS Survival Horror; Video Game; YouTube; Creepypasta; Fanvid; Let’s Play INTRODUCTION Marshall & Barbour (2015, p. 7) argue that “Game culture consciously moves the individual into a zone of production and constitution of public identity”. Similarly, scholars have studied – with different foci and levels of analysis – the relationships between gamers and avatars in digital worlds or in tabletop games by using the concept of “persona” (McMahan 2003; Waskul & Lust 2004; Isbister 2006; Frank 2012). Often, these scholars were concerned with online video games such as World of Warcraft (Filiciak 2003; Milik 2017) or famous video game icons like Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series (McMahan 2008).