Browsing by Subject "Narrative"
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Item A comparison of cognitive impacts of narrative and human-computer interaction as two sources of perceived realism in video games(2019-07-08) Yang, Jiahua; Eastin, Matthew S.Perceived realism in video games, indicating the degree game players perceive the game is realistic, influences game player’s cognitions. Previous research has explored the dimensional structure of perceived realism from two aspects. Adopted from traditional media, the first aspect narrative plays an important role in facilitating perceived game realism. Interactivity of video games enables the other source of perceived realism, which is human-computer interaction (HCI). This study examines the structure of perceived realism in video games, categorizing dimensions of perceived game realism into narrative or HCI, and comparing the influence of these two types on players’ cognitive outcomes, which are identification, immersion, and emotion. The results support the hypotheses that perceived HCI realism has stronger positive influence on people’s identification, immersion, and positive emotions compared to perceived narrative realism. Impact of each dimensions are also examined. Industry implications and future research directions are discussedItem Affecting violence : narratives of Los feminicidios and their ethical and political reception(2012-12) Huerta Moreno, Lydia Cristina; Robbins, Jill, 1962-; Domínguez Ruvalcaba, Héctor, 1962-; Arroyo, Jossianna; Chapelle-Wojciehowski, Hannah; Ravelo-Blancas, Patricia; Pia Lara, MariaIn Mexico there is an increasing lack of engagement of the Mexican government and its citizens towards resolving violence. In the 20th century alone events such as the Revolution of 1910, La Guerra Cristera, La Guerra Sucia, and most recently Los Feminicidios and Calderon’s War on Drugs are representative of an ethos of violence withstood and inflicted by Mexicans towards women, men, youth, and marginalized groups. This dissertation examines Los Feminicidios in Ciudad Juarez and the cultural production surrounding them: chronicles, novels, documentaries and films. In it I draw on Aristotle’s influential Nicomachean Ethics, Victoria Camps’ El gobierno de las emociones (2011), María Pía Lara’s Narrating Evil (2007), Vittorio Gallese’s and other scientists’ research on neuroscience empathy and neurohumanism, and socio-political essays in order to theorize how a pathos-infused understanding of ethos might engage a reading and viewing public in what has become a discourse about violence determined by a sense of fatalism. Specifically, I argue that narrative and its interpretations play a significant role in people’s emotional engagement and subsequent cognitive processes. I stress the importance of creating an approach that considers both pathos and logos as a way of understanding this ethos of violence. I argue that by combining pathos and logos in the analysis of a cultural text, we can break through the theoretical impasse, which thus far has resulted in exceptionalisms and has been limited to categorizing as evil the social and political mechanisms that may cause this violence.Item Amelioration, attrition, and reflexivity : new narrative discursive strategies in Robert Schumann's Drei Fantasiestücke, op. 73(2021-08-02) Mendes, Sarah; Wheeldon, MarianneIn this report, I expand Byron Almén’s narratological discursive strategies by adding three new strategies to clarify different actantial profiles in Robert Schumann’s Drei Fantasiestücke, op. 73. By drawing upon the works of Almén and Robert Hatten, I formulate the strategies of amelioration, attrition, and reflexive. Following methodological concerns, I explore various applications of discursive strategies in conjunction with these new strategies in each movement. In the first movement discursive strategies are employed in a tragic archetype, and thus outside the comedic archetype that Almén presents discursive strategies in. Amelioration, drawn from Hatten’s gestural work, is the discursive strategy I suggest for the first movement. The second movement explores attrition, a new strategy Almén posits in the comedic archetype but that he never analyzes in A Theory of Musical Narrative. Finally, I incorporate narrative phases, another strategy of Almén’s, with a reflexive discursive strategy to show the interaction between discursive strategies and other forms of analysis. These three strategies may be used to provide more nuanced narrative interpretations.Item The animal at the scene of writing : narrative subjectivities of the Lebanese civil war(2010-08) Miller, Alyssa Marie; El-Ariss, Tarek; Ali, Kamran A.This thesis inquires into anti-humanist trends in Lebanese literature of the civil war and post-war period by examining the limit concept of the animal in three novelistic works: Beirut Nightmares [Kawābīs Bayrūt] (1976) by Ghādah Sammān, Yalo (2002) by Elias Khoury, and The Tiller of Waters [Ḥārith al-miyāh] (1998) by Hudá Barakāt. Marking a departure in previous critical work done on this body of literature, which has been dominated by trauma theory as an analytical framework, this thesis employs an innovative synthesis of narrative theory and affect theory to describe how the authors utilize narrative to humanize the war experience, thereby mitigating the effects of contingency and fragmentation on the narrative subject. After the collapse of the state, the human being is separated from its political form, leaving it perilously exposed to acts of violence. It may also, however, carry out aggressions on its fellow man with impunity. Both of these terrible aspects of man’s nature in wartime are understood conventionally as exposing a beast within man, since they radically undermine the precepts of moral value and self-sovereignty that constitute the pillars of humanism. Through acts of “composition” the first person narrators of these novels strive to insulate their affective core from participating in ambient currents of violence, which are viewed as a kind of contamination understood as “becoming-animal.” While implicating the subject in a participation that is other-than-human, these animal becomings are also, following Deleuze and Guttari, ways of attaining a new vitality and escaping the hierarchical symbolic power of logos. Use of this animal figure allows the authors to rethink the human in ways that does not assume a fixed humanist ontology. For Sammān, the animal represents a principle of vitality that allows her protagonist to overcome human sources of inertia, such as melancholic memories or ingrained habit, thereby preserving the authentic voice of the writerly self. For Khoury and Barakāt, the animal permits them to foreground the figure of the subaltern who stands in a minoritarian relation to logos. They also propose a post-humanist ethos of co-presence based on the affective subject’s receptivity and vulnerability; its capacity to both affect and be affected.Item Apposition, displacement : an ethics of abstraction in postwar American fiction(2013-05) Heard, Frederick Coye; Kevorkian, Martin, 1968-The decades following two world wars, the European Holocaust and the threat of nuclear annihilation presented American authors with an occupational dilemma: catastrophic histories call out for recognition, but any representation of them risks adding violence to violence by falsifying the account or conflating historical acts of violence with their artificial doubles. This project reimagines the political aesthetics of postmodern American fiction through two major interventions. First, I identify an aesthetic structure of apposition--a parallel relationship between abstract works of art and the everyday world that I take from William Carlos Williams--that allows me to productively resolve a tension in the aesthetics of Hannah Arendt: because representation takes mimesis as a particular end, Arendt disqualifies representational art from politics, which she defines as open-ended action between human beings and not as end-centered state-craft. At the same time, Arendt claims that art is a product of thought, the cognitive activity she associates with political action over and against fabrication. My heterodox reading of Arendt shows that appositional narratives, like political actors, perform their own self-disclosure, beginning the open-ended chain of actions and reactions that Arendt identifies as the substantial form of politics and ethics. Second, I use my revision of Arendt to demonstrate that appositional narratives act politically through the very same metafictional tropes that critics often label as escapist or solipsistic. Rather than copy historical experience, appositional narratives reject illusionary representation and present themselves as actors, inciting their readers to respond with pluralistic, provisional judgment. Taking Vladimir Nabokov, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison--three central but rarely-juxtaposed postmodern novelists--as case studies, I show that we cannot properly assess the political implications of postmodern fiction without understanding the specific mechanisms of narrative apposition. Appositional works stand temporarily and self-consciously in the place of the world, displacing it in the experience of their readers. This narrative strategy provides a political alternative for novelists facing the ethical crises of postmodernity. Appositional narratives displace their readers' settled beliefs and press them to exercise their human capacity for judgment. They embrace their responsibility for the world by refusing to represent it.Item Art and ecology : an exploration of the nature of art through my own(2021-09-27) Menendez-Pidal, Miguel Alejandro; Tejera, Januibe, 1979-I pose the argument that all artistic mediums have the same underlying storyline but with varying details. My purpose in writing this paper is to explore this curious phenomenon I felt working in the state park: When I decided to stop composing almost entirely for a duration of nine months and fill that void with recording, filming, and producing a “wildlife documentary”, I didn’t stop composing. It was curious to see how many of my colleagues innocently questioned the nature of my work, while I felt that constructing the project was really no different than writing a fugue, a contemporary piece, or any other classification of music. The harmless questioning, I should add, was integral for me to look within myself and question the nature of art so rigorously. This paper essentially answers why I, through my own experience and perception of things, was able to switch between two “genres” of art -- music composition and film production. There are components of this paper that meander from the project to allow preception of art to be broad, and open to discussion. I stress that the principles, conceptions, and opinions presented speak best to my own processes of synthesis.Item The artist as researcher : a narrative case study of Lead Pencil Studio(2013-05) Palmiter, Erica Maria; Bain, ChristinaThis thesis is a narrative case study that examined the studio art practice of Lead Pencil Studio, a Seattle-based artist collaborative that explore our spatial relationships with architecture through site-specific installations. The case study specifically focused on the work of Daniel Mihalyo and Annie Han (Lead Pencil Studio) while they were at the Visual Arts Center in The University of Texas at Austin for a spring 2013 artist-in-residence program. The research focused specifically on the artists’ day-to-day process, examining the thoughts and actions that went into creating their work, Diffuse Reflection Lab, a two-story plywood structure that examined reflection’s effect on architecture through various vignettes. Through concentrated observations of the Lead Pencil Studio’s work and three semi-structured interviews, this thesis examined how traditional research practices are integrated into the studio art process. By examining the art/research relationship the author also situates this work in the field of practice-based research. While this work specifically focused on the research conducted by a pair of professional artists, it also extends to a broader argument about the role of research in art lessons. Since this thesis is based in art education, it connects the themes observed in the artists’ studio practice to interdisciplinary learning and arts integration. The author ultimately argues that Lead Pencil Studio’s art/research practice can be used in the classroom as an example of transdisciplinary learning and that it models a rigorous approach to creativity within other disciplines.Item Conflict mediation discourse examined through a Girardian lens : weapons and wounds in conflict talk(2012-05) Green, Erik William; Maxwell, Madeline M.; Browning, Larry D.; Dailey, Rene M.; Vangelisti, Anita L.; Richardson, Frank C.Mediation promises a way for conflicting parties to address differences and reach an agreement to settle their dispute. This study looks at mediation discourse of five cases from a university conflict resolution center through the lens of Girard’s (1977) theory of mimetic desire. Girard (1977) suggests that we are all in a pattern of mimesis. Antagonism that is prevalent in conflict develops, in Girard’s view, from the cycle of desire when one person wants an object and another person copies that desire for the object. The two parties quickly forget the object, but antagonism emerges as the mimetic desire continues. Girard argues parties have a tendency to place blame on a scapegoat to break the antagonism pattern. Alternatively, in her application of Girard’s theory, Cobb (1997, 2003, 2010a, 2010b) advocates a social constructionist perspective where disputants work on turning thin conflict stories into thicker ones to break the pattern. This project addresses a need for research on cycles of antagonism in discourse constructed by disputants during real mediation sessions. Knowing how disputants construct discourse lends insight into how people handle their most challenging interpersonal problems. The analysis of discourse through the guiding frameworks of conflict tactics, production format, and tenor of discourse sheds light on how disputants construct perpetuated mimicked antagonism and how they break the pattern. Additionally, findings highlight the emergence of weapons and wounds in the discourse suggesting that communicative violence is constructed whether or not there was actual physical violence. Components of thin conflict narratives are evident in findings from all five cases. Yet, while two cases are characterized by discourse of perpetuated mimicked antagonism, three represent a break in that pattern without placing blame on a scapegoat or constructing a thicker conflict narrative. The distinctions between a perpetuated and broken cycle are unpacked through the discussion of: a) animator-only position; b) indirectness and presumptive attribution; and c) shift in footing between talking to the other disputant and the mediators. This project provides a more nuanced understanding of the Girardian perspective relating to conflict mediation to contribute to the extant literature on conflict discourse and mediation practice.Item Cusco después de Los zorros : the legacy of Arguedas in contemporary Andean narrative(2012-05) Thompson, Rebecca Leigh; Arias, Arturo, 1950-; Polit, Gabriela; Rivera-Diaz, Fernando; Carcamo-Huechante, Luis; Tucker, JoshuaThis dissertation is an in-depth investigation of the manner in which Peruvian Andean identities are represented and constructed in Cusqueñan literature after José María Arguedas’s posthumous publication of El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo (1971). In this text, fragmented language reconstructs itself in the form of a new community for the future that can be seen as the symbolic “body” of a possible nation, a “utopia under construction.” Peruvian Andean authors after Arguedas echo his perspective on language through their literary production: they pick up the fragments of the Andean past to recreate and reformulate a new Andean identity through language. Subsequently, they transform their perceived marginality into the “new center” of Peruvian contemporary identity by positing choledad (a term originating in the Colonial era used to negatively denote a person’s Andean or indigenous characteristics) as a defining trait of all Peruvians.Item Diminuology : a narrative the phenomenology of scale(2015-05) Loveall, Ian Michael; Isackes, Richard M.; Bloodgood, WilliamDiminuology is a performative installation piece designed to re-imagine the relationship between audience and performer in the creation of narrative through scale objects.Item Eleanor and the egg(2015-05) Ota, Kelly Mie; Shea, Andrew Brendan; McCreery, Cindy; Carter, MiaThis report summarizes the script development, pre-production, production and post-production of the making of the short narrative film Eleanor and the Egg. This film was produced as my graduate thesis film in the department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin in partial fulfillment of a Master of Fine Arts in Film Production.Item Engaging audiences : smartphone use in live performance(2019-06-20) Gendal, Alex Jay; Lynn, Kirk; Ortel, SvenSmartphones have become integral to modern society and culture. We use them daily for communication, research, and recreation. In live theatre, smartphones become disruptive when audience members interact with them rather than view the performance. Smartphones by themselves are not a distraction, but even without interaction they buzz, light up, and make noise. For these reasons, smartphones are also considered as a distraction from other forms of live entertainment, like movie theaters, concert venues, and museums. I believe smartphones are a huge untapped resource to further connect the audience with live performance experiences. Smartphones have the capability to create a new level of engagement by giving audiences agency over how they want to participate within a theatrical experience. While there are already plays that integrate smartphones, this thesis investigates smartphones as a storytelling device. Specifically I will look at integrating smartphones in a live-performance narrative to enhance audience engagement. To do this, I will focus on three main questions: Can smartphones successfully be used to engage audiences by giving them agency over the narrative? What forms of smartphone communication allow audiences to easily interact with the narrative? Can audiences feel that the choices they make with their smartphone affect the arc of the narrative? In order to determine how effective smartphone use in live theatre is, I will create an original play that purposefully interweaves audience engagement with smartphones throughout the narrative. To gauge the success of this investigation I will gather data from the participants during and after the performanceItem Ex-votos : reality and fiction in a Mexican short film(2012-12) Guerra Lucas, Ivete Raquel; Raval, P. J. (Paul James); Stekler, Paul; Ramirez-Berg, Charles; Lewis, AnneThis report will summarize the process of developing, producing and finishing the short film Ex-Votos. Shot on HD video in Real de Catorce, Mexico during the fall of 2012, the film was produced as my Graduate Thesis Film in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin in partial fulfillment of my Master of Fine Arts in Film Production degree.Item Examining individual and joint sense-making in stressful relational narratives(2014-05) LeFebvre, Leah Elina; Dailey, René M.This dissertation examined individual and joint storytelling as a communicative process to explore relational turbulence about stressful events. Response to change in romantic relationships inherently involves a degree of instability as individuals alter their thoughts and actions. The instability and chaos that results when transitions impact interpersonal relationships is relational turbulence (e.g., Knobloch & Solomon, 2004). The theoretical focus is the relational turbulence model (RTM) that serves to illustrate the ambiguity and complexity embedded in relationship experiences and the negotiation of behavior. Examination of stories showcased the representational relational state (i.e., uncertainty) and cognitive activities (i.e., partner interdependence) present in the relationship. First, the dissertation further positioned the influence turbulence has on individual and relational communication to negotiate discomfort, negative emotions, and difficulties that ensued during transitions. Second, this study examined expressions individuals chose to highlight, through storytelling, that apply to relational turbulence mechanisms: relational uncertainty and interdependence. Third, this dissertation examined identity development and/or fluctuation as a byproduct of turbulence exhibited through stories exploring another potential relational turbulence mechanism. A review of literature discussed the theoretical framework for the relational turbulence model and storytelling content and structure. The exploration of stories and storytelling was reviewed as a means for investigating RTM, followed by analysis procedures outlining individual and relational storytelling processes. Results revealed 14 transitional events categories and 23 subcategories. Additionally, qualitative themes and subthemes that emerged for relational uncertainty, partner interdependence, individual and relational identity. Results for relational uncertainty triangulated previous scholarship while also identified two new themes. Partner interdependence results indicated more specificity in forms of partner interference and facilitation. Identity emerged as a third mechanism and preliminary investigation found static and dynamic forms. Quantitative results analyzed significant correlations and comparisons between narrative completeness in individuals' and relational partners' storytelling experiences. The dissertation highlighted how relational turbulence influenced the storytelling content and structure of individual and joint stories.Item Florence(2015-05) Kuntz, Caleb Brandon; Raval, P. J. (Paul James); Rifkin, Edwin; Spiro, EllenFlorence is an 8-minute narrative film about an adolescent girl with a spectrum of Asperger's Syndrome that is medically misdiagnosed and prescribed psychotropic medication. The following report gives and account of the conception, pre-production, production and post-production phases of the film's realization. The lessons learned through both successes and failures will be considered as well as the future life of the project.Item From chaos to harmony : public participation and environmental policy(2011-12) Dulay, Marcel; Eaton, David J.; Rodriguez, Victoria E.; Spelman, William G.; Browning, Larry D.; Maxwell, Madeline M.Water quality issues in the Leon River watershed in Texas exemplify the challenges water resource managers and the public face in the ongoing effort to improve water quality in our nation’s water bodies. Some pollutant sources are difficult to regulate and likely managed through non-regulatory means, such as voluntary action. The Leon River challenge is how to go beyond regulations to address the concerns of citizens and produce options they want to develop and implement voluntarily that address a common good. This dissertation argues that voluntary measures work only if those who must take action support the action, otherwise conflict can occur. Thus, it is critical to learn what people are willing to do to promote the public good (e.g., swimmable streams). This can be achieved through an effective public process. Public participation processes may have barriers that impede success, such as inadequate access, intimidation, competing interests, limited accountability, and scientific mistrust. This dissertation developed process enhancements to overcome these barriers based on documented public participation principles. This research tested whether specific enhancements can improve the quality of a public process and achieve desired process outcomes. This dissertation reports on quasi-experiments with stakeholders making actual environmental decisions. The findings suggest that these enhancements are capable of reducing conflict and reducing the time to produce environmental policy. Five process enhancements (representation, film, narratives, deliberative decision-making, and decision support) were put into operation to provide options for government agencies and stakeholders to consider when undertaking public participation processes. The lack of access can be avoided by giving stakeholders voice with representation through different types of meetings levels (e.g., focus groups and town hall meetings). Films, when captured, edited, and shown to others, can remove the mechanisms typically associated with the intimidation perceived by speakers during discussions. Narratives were used to collect information about stakeholders to develop a deeper understanding of the diversity of interests affected by a policy, avoiding gridlock from positional bargaining. Deliberative decision-making (no voting) can assure stakeholders have real and equitable decision-making power, with scenarios collaboratively developed that address the common good. Application of a decision support system (DSS) as an overlay to a scientific model can provide stakeholders direct access to science so they can develop scenarios, evaluate alternatives, and choose solutions.Item How grown-ups are born : the emerging-adult genre and American film and television(2017-08) Rennett, Michael David; Staiger, Janet; Schatz, Thomas, 1948-; Kearney, Mary C; Beltran, Mary; Mickenberg, JuliaThis dissertation explores the representation of emerging adulthood in both films and television series. Recent research in the fields of sociology and psychology has advocated the development of a new life stage for twenty- and thirtysomethings that is in between adolescence and adulthood. During this age range, young Americans receive education and training for the jobs that will last the rest of their adult work lives and explore difference possibilities in love, work, education, and worldviews. While sociological research currently exists on the actual lives of emerging adults, little work has been done on its representation in the media. This dissertation aims to fill this gap in the discourse by analyzing emerging adulthood as its own genre that represents this new life stage in both films and television programs. While I use Jeffrey Jensen Arnett’s sociological definitions of emerging adulthood to initiate my study, I analyze fictional narratives to illuminate what I have discovered to be at least 300 texts produced since the 1960s that circle around characters and plot points about transitioning into adulthood. To analyze the emerging-adult genre, I utilize the five different ways in which aspects of a person’s identity have been discussed as film and television genres: character representations; descriptions of semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic elements; historical periods; audience demographics; and authorship. Chapter One focuses on how the sociocultural elements represented in emerging adulthood (love and emotional partnerships, securing financial and residential independence, and finding a financially stable and personally rewarding career) are represented in media texts. Chapters Two and Three are dedicated to analyzing emerging-adult narratives, but Chapter Two focuses on film while Chapter Three focuses on television. I divide the narrative structure into two chapters due to the industrial and narrational effects upon each form of storytelling. Chapter Four concentrates on the historical roots of and changes in the emerging-adult genre to address the pragmatic approach found in Rick Altman’s genre theory. For this chapter, I divide this genre into three generation-based periods: Baby Boomers, Generation-X, and Millennials. The conclusion summarizes my findings and addresses areas of potential media studies research for this genre.Item In search of transformational play : a qualitative analysis of narrative serious games(2016-05) Winzeler, Elena Marie; Liu, Min, Ed. D.; Hughes, Joan EThis report aims to improve understanding of how narrative design elements in serious games contribute to the gameplay experience, with the goal of providing guidance in narrative serious game design. Despite the strong theoretical justification for narrative serious games, no consensus exists regarding what makes an effective narrative. Transformational play theory provides a framework for narrative serious game design based on the intersecting elements of person with intentionality, content with legitimacy, and context with consequentiality. This report examines high-quality narrative serious games through the lens of transformational play to derive explanations for design effectiveness. A diverse sample of three narrative serious games is examined: Mission US: A Cheyenne Odyssey, Quandary, and Citizen Science. The findings are described for each game, and compared across games. The significance of the findings to narrative serious game design are discussed and distilled into a set of narrative game design heuristics.Item It’s not the Internet; it’s television : deciphering the path for new narrative in an electronic world(2010-12) Gray, Jessica, 1977-; Kelban, Stuart; Thorne, BeauIt’s not the Internet; it’s television: deciphering the path for new narrative in an electronic world evaluates the changing processes and product of narrative on the Internet and in television through the revision of Jessica Gray’s pilot "Small town werewolves" and the FRINGE spec, "Three blind mice."Item Marginal nature: urban wastelands and the geography of nature(2009-12) Anderson, Kevin Michael; Doughty, Robin W.; Parmenter, Barbara; Manners, Ian; Young, Kenneth; Richardson, Richard H.In the United States, the foundational myths of Nature are wilderness and pastoral arcadia. This dissertation examines a different kind of nature that emerges as habitats in urban wastelands and margins. This cosmopolitan community is a hybrid nature that is the unintended product of human activity and nature's unflagging opportunism, which I call marginal nature. Marginal nature is neither pristine nor pastoral, but rather a nature whose ecological and cultural significance requires a reassessment of our narratives of nature. The wastelands are unique sounding boards for measuring perceptions of nature, since these places provoke ambiguous responses of attraction and repulsion. I explore perceptions of wasteland habitat from the perspectives of urban space, urban ecology, and literature about urban nature. The primary methodology of this dissertation is hermeneutical inquiry which reveals the layers of environmental discourse concealing marginal nature beneath language that asks it to be something that it is not. This environmental hermeneutics focuses on key issues of the geography of nature: nonhuman agency, place, and nature/society hybrids. I argue that comprehending the lifeworld of the wastelands requires a reassessment of the concept of place as a coproduction of humans and nonhumans, that is, an ecology of place.
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