Program Overview

Student Research

The following Master's theses have been completed by students in the MA in Media Studies program to date.

Student Research

The following Master's theses have been completed by students in the MA in Media Studies program to date.

Martin, Channelle.  (August 2011).  A Black Girl Named After a Plantation: The Case of Tara Thornton and Ironic Racism in Alan Ball’s True Blood (Supervisor:  Sasha Torres)

Hiltz, Emily. (June 2011).  A Force of Nature: The Maternal Appetite of Good and Evil Women in "Snow White," "Hansel and Gretel," and "Rapunzel." (Supervisor: Romayne Smith Fullerton)

Hunt, Daryl. (October 2010). Terror Out of Context: Jacques Ellul's Technique Applied to National Security Problems from the Red Scare to 9/11. (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Kjosen, Atle. (August 2010). An accident of value: A Marxist - Virilian analysis of digital piracy". (Supervisor: Dr. Bernd Frohmann)

Pedri, Jennesia (July 2010). The limitations of fidelity in the novel-film adaptation of Peter Pan, Where the Wild Things Are, Alice in Wonderland, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Twilight Saga. (Supervisor: Dr. Lynne McKechnie)

McGeagh, Brendan. (July 2010). From Canada For the World: National Myth and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. (Supervisor: Dr. Sharon Sliwinski)

Afsahi, Nazgol. (July 2010). A Discourse Analysis of Transsexuality Through Three Fields: Expert Knowledges in Legal, Medical and News Texts. (Supervisor: Dr. Amanda Grzyb)

Wheal, Stacey. (June 2010). What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?: Exploring Literacy Discourse via 'Net Gen' Adaptations of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Rogers, James (May 2010). Killer Vacations' and 'Murder Music: The Discourses of Gay Identity, Consumerism, and Race in the Gay-Dancehall Confrontation. (Supervisor: Dr. Susan Knabe)

Pirie, Maeghan (April 2010). Collaborating Dialogues: Filmmaking Practices of Barb Cranmer, Shelley Niro, and Alanis Obomsawin. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Preston, Melanie. (April 2010). Situating the Stage, Playing the Field: The Politics of Location in Leaky Heaven's Ziggurat. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Cornell, Kerstin. (December 2009). The Antioch Debacle: A Corporatist Misadventure in Higher Education. (Supervisor: Dr. Sasha Torres)

Cohen, Dustin. (November 2009). Objet Petit (a)vatar: Psychoanalysis, Posthumanism and the Question of the Self in Second Life Student. (Supervisors: Dr. Sharon Sliwinski and Dr. Alison Hearn))

Nelson, Craig. (September 2009). Adult Swim: Reflexivity as an Entertainment Television Brand. (Supervisor: Dr. Amanda Grzyb)

Carrocci, Lindsay. (June 2009). Representing the Promotional University: Undergraduate Student Recruitment Strategies in Ontario, 1997-2007. (Supervisor: Dr. Daniel Robinson)

Gladstone, Lia. (June 2009). Locating the 'Act' in Activist Art: Exploring the Pedagogical Possibilities of 'My Life in 5 Minutes' For Feminist Students. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Murray, Cameron. (June 2009). Multiform Narratives in the Heterotopic Space of Technoscience: A Critical Instance Case Study of a Western Canadian Genomics Research Facility. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Noon, Derek. (August 2008). Machines for Living: The Situationist International and Videogames. (Supervisor: Dr. Nick Dyer-Witheford)

Luedecke, Patricia. (August 2008). The Guilded Goddess at the Gate: Idyllic Industry, Blooming Myths and Cybersilence in the Garden. (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Schmalz, Michael. (August 2008). The Not-So-Long Tail of Digital Play. (Supervisor: Dr. Nick Dyer-Witheford)

Williams, Sherilyn. (July 2008). Crafting Resistance: Handmade Culture as Third-Wave Feminist Response to Consumerism. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Young, Alyson. (July 2008). Defacing the 'Book: Examining Information Revelation, Internet Privacy Concerns and Privacy Protection in Facebook. (Supervisor: Dr. Anabel Quan-Haase)

Black, Toban. (June 2008). Hypermodern Ecological Degradation: An Innisian Critique. (Supervisor: Dr. Robert Babe)

Preston, Jeffrey Michael. (June 2008). Augmented Ability, Integrated Identity: Understanding Disability, Adaptive Technology and the Construction of Identity. (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Svec, Henry. (June 2008). The World Can’t Tell You How You Are: The Actors’ Studio, Inside the Actors Studio, and the Performance of Being. (Supervisor: Dr. Alison Hearn)

Arntfield, Mike. (August 2007). Version 5.0: A Genealogy of Technological Determinism in Modern Law Enforcement & the Rise of the Television Police Drama. (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Kish, Zenia. (August 2007). In the Eye of Hurricane Katrina: How a Media Storm Brought America’s Third World into Public View. (Supervisor: Dr. Sasha Torres)

Pietrzyk, Kamila. (August 2007). Exit from the Myopic Impasse: Social Movement Strategy in the Age of the Internet. (Supervisor: Dr. Edward Comor)

Cruz, Trent. (July 2007). Gaming the Good War: Playing World War II Video Games in the Shadow of the War on Terror. (Supervisor: Dr. Nick Dyer-Witheford)

Zomer, Arielle. (July 2007). Tuning Into CFPL: The Role of CFPL-AM and CFPL-FM Radio Stations in Building and Maintaining a Local Community Identitiy in London, Ontario 1922-2007. (Supervisor: Dr. David Spencer)

Timmins, Rachel. (June 2007). Crisis, Collapse, Creation: A Virilian Examination of Technological Penetration and Its Effect on Identity. (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Armstrong, Matthew. (April 2007). Is Terrorism Dialogue? (Supervisor: Dr. Sasha Torres)

Dick, Maren. (April 2007). Cross-media Youth Programming, Critical Pedagogy and the Case of RENEGADEPRESS.COM. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Shepherd, Tamara. (April 2007). Identity, Embodiment and Subversion in Pro-Anorexia Weblogs. (Supervisor: Dr. Alison Hearn)

Swain, Stephen. (April 2007). Mediated Heroism: A Discourse Analysis of the Hero Image of Pat Tillman. (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Ward, Kadie. (April 2007). The Creative City and the Creative Class(es): How they restructure the local in the city of London, Ontario. (Supervisors: Dr. Tim Blackmore and Dr. Joy Parr)

Elias, Rebecca. (December 2006). Democratic Illusions: Mythic Heroism and National Fantasy in Post-9/11 Superhero Films. (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Arbour, Joseph. (November 2006). Bring Us Back to the Future, Not Forward to the Past: The Modernist Sensibilities and Postmodern Anxieties of Exclaim! Magazine. (Supervisor: Dr. Keir Keightley)

Jacques, Alison. (August 2006). The Pretty Accused: Evelyn Dick in the Press and Popular Culture, 1946-2006. (Supervisor: Dr. Daniel Robinson)

Manzerolle, Vincent. (August 2006). The Consumer Database, Consumer Sovereignty, and the Commercial Mediation of Identity in the United States. (Supervisor: Dr. Edward Comor)

Schach, Emily. (August 2006). Icon of Consumption: The Cosmo Girl and the Commodification of Femininity, 1965-1975. (Supervisors: Dr. Alison Hearn and Dr. Daniel Robinson)

Song, Chan (Melody). (August 2006). Editing Culture: Chinese-Made Movies' Exoticization of Chineseness. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Micheti, Anca. (July 2006). Epidemics and their Meanings: Representations of SARS in Canadian Newspapers. (Supervisor: Dr. Jacquelyn Burkell)

Harris, Rhea. (April 2006). America in the End Zone: Football, Nationalism, and the New England Patriots.   (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Kudirka, David. (April 2006). Shooter: Character in Video Games. (Supervisor: Dr. Nick Dyer-Witheford)

Carr, Ryan. (August 2005). Insubstantial Life: Theoretical Conversations on Media and their Role in Determining (?) Culture. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Papayanis, Alena M. (August 2005). Soldiering for President: John Kerry’s Vietnam Veteran Campaign in the Age of the Iraqi Frontier. (Supervisor: Dr. Tim Blackmore)

Wong, Anna S.P. (August 2005). Representation of the Self in Online Chat Rooms: Identity Play. (Co-Supervisors: Dr. Catherine Ross and Dr. Jacqueline Burkell)

van der Veen, John. (May 2005). Information and the Mind-Matter Divide: Unpacking the Works of Gregory Bateson and Kenneth Boulding. (Supervisor: Dr. Robert Babe)

Zeffiro, Andrea F. (November 2004). Ready-to-Where?: The Cultural Politics of the Runway Space. (Supervisor: Dr. Carole Farber)

Kerr, Kate G.L. (September 2004). 'Living to die': The Culture of Hip Hop Death. (Supervisor: Dr. Sasha Torres)

Solursh, Catherine. (September 2004). Claiming our Groove: Female Club DJs and an Exploration of Gender and Technology. (Co-Supervisors: Dr. Carole Farber and Dr. Keir Keightley)

West, Peter C. (September 2004). Perceptions of 'Anonymity' Online: Exploring the Concept of Anonymity in an Online Context from the Perspective of the Individual Experiencing It. (Supervisor: Dr. Jacqueline Burkell)

Adams, Kristin. (August 2004). Melodrama as an Educational Tool: Children’s Television and the Case of Degrassi Junior High. (Supervisor: Dr. Sasha Torres)