English Honors Papers
Elizabeth Durand, “The Politics and Aesthetics of Anthropomorphism in Dumbo”
Panel 1: Race and Trauma in Anthropomorphic Literature:
Kaitlynn Lee, “WDAS’s Trail of Broken Promises: A Failed Attempt to Uphold Racial Equality”
Josephine Du, “Maus: A Lesson on History and Empathy”
Veronica Kordmany, “‘The Othering of the Jew’: Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale”
Visual media often uses creative tactics to teach lessons, intentionally or otherwise, on topics that aren’t ‘entertaining,’ such as trauma, war, and race. The media works to obscure the racial stereotyping that exists institutionally. Our papers discuss how graphic novelist Art Spiegelman grapples with the responsibilities that come with hearing a Holocaust survivor’s testimony, how censorship is used as a method of controlling the narrative, as seen by the trends of banning books like Maus, and reveal the underlying problems hidden within Disney narratives.
Panel 2: The ABCS of Children Media: Culture, Psychology, and Cognition:
Kristen Bamberger, “The Peppa Pig Phenomenon”
Jonathan Jacques, “An Anthropomorphic View: Adventure Time and Children’s Emotions”
Nika Nunez, “Affect and Anthropomorphism”
Whether it’s through the Peppa Pig Phenomenon, the psychology of emotion, or the therapeutic functionalities of anthropomorphism, we delve into the inner workings of anthropomorphism in children’s media.
Panel 3: Anthropomorphic Agency in Children’s Literature and Culture:
Jessica Alexander, “The Minotaur: How Children’s Picturebooks Portray his Monstrosity”
In “Anthropomorphic Agency in Children’s Literature and Culture,” we explore how animals and other creatures are represented in media. Jessica Alexander talks about retellings of the Minotaur story to see how he is portrayed as monster versus human. Dylan James explores how the narration in Winnie-the-Pooh affects agency and how the characters function outside of the textual framework. Lastly, Nev Yakubov discusses several Disney Princess films ranging from the 1930s until the 2010s to map the development and function of animal sidekicks.
Roundtable:
Whether it be through faces spilling from the clouds at a distance, giant whales who swim through the sea, or toys who worship humans and machines: all our texts question our understanding of the divine. In our roundtable discussions we will be focusing on the incomprehensible nature of the divine and our relationship to this phenomenon.
Panel 4: Fear and Uncanniness in Science Fiction
Pawan Mirchandani, “Fear and Loathing in Science Fiction: A Century of Communism, Counterculture, and Computers in the United States”
Huzagary Usman, “Familiar Faces Anthropomorphism and the Uncanny Valley”
Alex Huynh, “The Cyborg in our Shells: A Critical Analysis of Ghost in the Shell (1995)”
Panel 5: “Building It up and Breaking it Down: An Anthropomorphic Critique of Humanity”
Vincent Valentini, “The Puppet Valley: Anthropomorphism as Critique”
Ummul Abida, “HumAnimal Coexistence in The White Bone and Dog Days”
We explore the cycle of building and destroying that humans consistently perpetrate with disastrous ends. We will meditate on human interference in the natural landscape and the ways that we manipulate it to our own benefit without considering ecological consequences. Finally, we will close with a recollection of the experiences and conversations that influenced the creative process.
