the American Papers 2017 ~ 2018 1 The American Papers 2 The American Papers Editor-in-Chief Clayton Finn Jasmine Mayfield Managing Editors Michael Paramo Jonathan Schreiber Jena Delgado-Sette Editorial Board Roxana Arevalo Barbara Tkach Michael Gandara Jesus Pelayo Layout Editor Bahar Tahamtani Faculty Advisor Dustin Abnet Copyright © 2018 The American Studies Student Association California State University, Fullerton. All rights reserved. ISSN 10598464 3 The American Papers 4 Professor Abnet would like to thank the editors for their hard work, camaraderie, and professionalism while preparing this edi- tion of The American Papers. Their willingness to give freely of their time—even over summer break—to add to this institution is very much appreciated. He also would like to commend the authors for their exceptional papers and good-natured responses to the editorial process. Michael Paramo, Jonathan Schreiber, and Jena Delgado-Sette deserve special recognition for their service as Managing Edi- tors as does editor Michael Gandara for his assistance securing funding from the InterClub Council. Together their efforts made the production of the 2017-2018 issue possible. Professor Abnet offers special thanks to Bahar Tahamtani for her beautiful work on the layout and design of this issue. Finally, he especially would like to thank Clayton Finn and Jasmine Mayfield for serving as this volume’s Editors in Chief. Their professionalism, hard work, kindness, and dedication to the success of The American Papers has been remarkable. 5 The American Papers Welcome to the 2017-2018 American Papers! First and foremost, the American Papers is a testament to the many faculty men- tors that have spent countless hours of their time to assist students at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) in their personal academic development and in making this journal what it is today. Our mission as writers and editors is to hold up the long-standing tradition of presenting the highest quality papers written by both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in our American Studies courses over the current academic year. As American Studies students and scholars, we strive to examine and better un- derstand various aspects of American culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. This year’s journal reflects this goal by traversing through the diverse classes that our department offers. At CSUF, the American Studies department has worked hard to develop courses that engage students in many avenues of study, such as fashion, lit- erature, and the built environment. This year’s journal features papers written for new and traditional courses focusing on gender, race, sexuality, popular culture, and more. Each year, the American Papers publishes one exceptional paper chosen by a com- mittee of our professors to honor Earl James Weaver, one of the founding professors of American Studies at CSUF. This year’s winner is Ashley Loup’s “Plead the Fifth,” which discusses changing cultural perceptions of African American lawyers through- out modern history and was published in last year’s issue of the American Papers. We are happy to present the runner-up of the 2017 Weaver prize for publication in this issue. Entitled “The Talk: A Survival Guide,” Jena Delgado-Sette examines the ways African American parents talk to their children about the inevitability of police encounters. We hope that this year’s journal will engage our readers in ways it has not before. Several of our essays explore contemporary and even locally relevant topics in Ameri- can culture that are changing the discourse of earlier scholarship and adding new and exciting pathways to critical discussion and analysis. Finally, the Editors-in-Chief wish to thank our contributors and our editorial staff for all their hard work in put- ting this year’s issue together. It has truly been a pleasure to work with our excellent students and our consistently supportive faculty advisor, Professor Dustin Abnet. The Editors 6 Course Descriptions AMST 201: Introduction to American Studies With the concept of culture as a unifying principle, focus is on four separate time periods to provide the framework for an understanding of American civilization. Various kinds of documents used to illustrate the nature and advantages of an inter- disciplinary approach. AMST 345: The American Dream Interdisciplinary analysis, in settings both historical and contemporary, of the myth and reality surrounding the notion of America as a land of unparalleled and unlim- ited possibilities, especially in the achievement of personal material success. AMST 350: Theories and Methods of American Studies Provides an understanding and appreciation of methodology, theories of society, and images of humanity as they affect American Studies contributions to scholar- ship. Fulfills the university upper-division writing requirement for American Studies majors. AMST 401: Stories of Los Angeles Reading the City: Cultural life of an American city as seen through its historical memory and self-image, and its diverse racial, ethnic, and class life, and its artistic and expressive culture. AMST 401: Literature and American Culture Contemporary literature as a cultural document. The relationship between American culture and its recent fiction, focusing on several important novels and plays since the end of the Second World War. AMST 401: Stories of Los Angeles Examines how people have told stories about Los Angeles. Los Angeles is repeatedly represented, fantasized, and forgotten, famously divided and sprawling, renowned for both sunshine and noir–and it is also the setting for most of our lives, so its contra- dictory stories are well worth exploring. AMST 451: American Fashion Cultural politics of fashion in America. Uses interdisciplinary sources, including material culture, visual arts, legal codes, protests, advertising, and popular culture to study the diverse meanings of fashion in the past and present U.S. AMST 488: Race, Sex, and the Urban City Focusing on major urban spaces at key moments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this course examines the ways that anxieties about race, gender, youth, and sexuality have come to be identified with urban spaces and modern city life. 7 The American Papers AMST 501: Theories and Methods The American Studies movement. Its conceptual and methodological development. The way this development was affected by and in turn reflected larger trends in the culture itself. AMST 502: Themes in America Culture and Desire: Theoretical Approaches to the History of the Emotions: Ad- vanced analysis of enduring patterns and innovative shifts in the ways Americans have defined, controlled, and expressed emotions such as anger, lust, shame, pride, fear, jealousy, grief, and joy from the 17th century to the present. This year, taught by Dr. Jesse Battan. AMST 502: Public Memory Weaver Award Course Analysis of cultural practices of remembering (and forgetting) in relationship to both scholarly and popular constructions of the history of “American experience.” Exam- ines the how narratives, artifacts, and sites of public memory can be seen to create as well as reinforce social boundaries. 8 9 The American Papers 10 Table of Contents AMST 201: Introduction to American Studies A Master of Eloquence: How Phillis Wheatley Poetically Advanced the Antislavery 14 Cause by Humanizing African Americans by Lillie Bosfield AMST 345: The American Dream Immigrant Cinema: How Immigrants in Film Struggle for the American 16 Dream by Evan Dang AMST 350: Theories and Methods in American Studies Get Out: A Portrayal of Contemporary Racial Power Tensions in America 20 by Barbie Tkach AMST 401: Stories of Los Angeles The Underlying Messages of The Twilight Zone 23 by Kristiana Guzman What Are Those Yellow Spots on the Screen? A Look at Vietnamest Representations 32 in Movies by Steve Nguyen AMST 401T: Literature in American Culture “Grinning Horribly”: A New Cultural Analysis of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle 39 by Jon Schreiber An “AIDS Memory Story”: The Desexualization of Gay Men’s Relationships during 47 the Marriage Equality Movement by Raymond Gandara Zoot Suit: A Correction to American Public Memory 57 by Francine Rios AMST 451: American Fashion Prosecutorial Style: The Courtroom, the Clothing, and the Refashioning of 67 Marcia Clark by Ashley Loup AMST 488: Race, Sex, and the Urban City “Your Own McDonalds!”: Race, McDonald’s, and the Inner Cities 74 by Alyssa Dilday AMST 599: Science Fiction and American Culture Blinded Me with Science Fiction: The Decline in Utopian Narratives and the 78 Dystopian Turn by Jasmin Gomez 11 The American Papers AMST 501: Theory and Methods Queer Empowerment Anthems: Subversive Legacies and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” 85 by Michael Paramo AMST 502: Themes in America The Price of a Sexual Politics of Respectability: W. E. B. Du Bois, Racial Uplift, and 92 the Harlem Renaissance by Clayton Finn “The Talk”: A Survival Guide 105 by Jena Delgado-Sette The Earl James Weaver Graduate Paper Prize 12 13 The American Papers A Master of Eloquence: How Phillis Wheat- ley Poetically Advanced the Antislavery Cause by Humanizing African Americans Lillie Bosfield There is a common phrase known as “actions speak louder than words” and while it can be true in certain circumstances, words can speak just as loudly. Words have the power to reach mass audiences and important figures, especially if they have compelling messages behind them. Phillis Wheatley was an example of an individual who used her literary talent to influence how people thought about complex concepts. She was a slave girl who learned how to read and write at an early age. Her masters felt that she would grow up to be a genius, especially because the idea of a slave being educated was simply unheard of at the time (Raphael, 100). By using the medium of poetry and savvy word choices, Phillis Wheatley was able to form a connec- tion between African Americans and the colonists, and make the argument that African slaves deserved the right to equality.