AbstractStephen O’ Brien

Irradiated Overgrowth: Connecting Real Fallout Timelines with Post-Apocalyptic Films and

Games

Using the timelines of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl and Fukushima, such as Webster et al’s

article “Where the Wild Things Are,” we can raise questions about the videogame worlds of

Fallout, Metro, and films such as Mad Max, concerning the level of devastation that resulted in

the wasteland of a flora and fauna deprived world. In Chernobyl and Fukushima, both locations

were exposed to high amounts of radiation, more than that of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic

bombs. After thirty years Chernobyl is still humanly uninhabitable, while Hiroshima and

Nagasaki were livable after only a month. We can compare these timelines with the rural

landscapes of these games and films. These timelines also reveal an interesting difference to the

changes in city landscapes, between reality and the narratives. 

Michelle Scrogham

Beatin’ into Submission: Trauma Bonding in The Dark Tower and The Walking Dead

Patrick Carnes, in his book The Betrayal Bond: Breaking Free of Exploitive

Relationships, discusses the term trauma bonding which we can see in such films as The Dark

Tower and The Walking Dead. Trauma Bonding describes how one can be ensnared by the

manipulation of others. In these abusive situations, the abuser exploits trust or power to achieve

his or her goal. The abuser creates a reality where the victim is unable to break the bondage, and

at times even feels obligated to the abuser. In The Dark Tower book series, trauma bonding

occurs on a wide scale in the town Calla Bryn Sturgis; the Wolves from Thunderclap cull half of

the twins to harvest portions of their brains, then return them “roont.” The townspeople allow

this culling due to the belief that without such abuse the whole town and people would perish.

Trauma Bonding occurs in The Walking Dead when Carol stayed with her abusive husband and

on a wider scale when the Governor’s lieutenants in Woodbury stayed loyal to him, despite

knowing he was a sociopath. They felt secure in their position, and that security outweighed any

abuse.

Julia H. Abstract

This Cat’s Got Claws: The Black Panther and BLM Movement

T’Challa (Black Panther) and Wakanda’s history can be connected to the current Black

Lives Matter (BLM) movement with through the movement origin and the movement fight for

self-identity. Black Lives Matter is about many African Americans expressing their concerns

with how they are being treated in the world today, especially with law enforcement with

numbers of shooting. In the comic, a White nationalist (Neo-Nazi) named Ulysses Klaw killed

T’Challa wife for Vibranium after that event the citizen of Wakanda began to feel that their

sovereignty was threatened by outside powers. This event correlates with the death of Trayvon

Martin in 2012, and how many Black communities felt threatened by police brutality (outside

powers) causing the formation of BLM. The BLM movement wants more African American

representation in positions of power to protect their rights just as T’Challa wants more people in

his country to have power to make needful decisions. Many countries in the Marvel Cinematic

Universe want to change the Panther’s set of ideals used in Wakanda and alter his diplomatic

mission.

Rabecca Connors

Barbie meets Fiona: Conflicting Discourses of Beauty in Sci-fi Films

Foucauldian discourse analysis allows us to analyze the current changes in a discourse of beauty,

from superficial beauty to inner beauty, in Sci-Fi and Fantasy films. Michel Foucault focuses on

his concept of how power relationships in society are expressed through language and practices.

Foucault states that people use language to express their dominance and request obedience as

well as respect. Within movies from the early centuries to now, movies have a distinct difference

in how beauty was discussed. Superficial beauty occurs with Ava in Ex Machina and Pris in

Blade Runner. In contrast, Drax in Guardian of the Galaxy 2 talks about his deceased wife not

having any rhythm and one might assume she was dead in his village, yet he loved her

immediately, for this characteristic was inside her. Another inner beauty is seen in The 5th

Element; Plavalaguna sings so beautifully, the crowd becomes overly emotional. With over 15

sci-fi films in 2018, we may better see how inner beauty continues to outshine the superficial

beauty and how these discourses will still conflict with each other.

Grace Harper

More Clichés Than You Can Shake a Stick at: Analyzing the Tree-like Mimetic and Inimitable

Aspects of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Films

Stemming from Ian Jarvie’s book Philosophy of the Film, each film can be inimitable and

unique, much like trees; the theory of mimetic faculty asserts that there are many similarities in

every tree, but each one has a unique quality that makes each one one-of-a-kind. Philosophers

such as Aristotle, Plato, and Walter Benjamin have defined mimesis in different ways, ranging

from being used as the imitation of nature, or as a way to explain social behaviors in our daily

lives. Mimesis is used to portray the representation of nature and the similarities in aesthetic

qualities when imitated, but the intricacy and chaotic characteristics makes each tree unique. If

we consider films to be like trees, having any number of inimitable qualities and characteristics,

the way we categorize films based on general standards will change. Rather than focusing on if

films fits those general standards, we would focus on if a film brings any new ideas which set

that film aside from other similar films. Instead of cramming new films into a genre, those films

would be defined by the uniqueness in how they differ from films with similar themes. Films

would be classified as good or bad not by general standards, but by their originality. When we

begin to think of films in this way, we’ll start to see the beauty in their differences.

Xeona V.

It’s Alive!!: The various representations of A.I. in Sci-Fi films

Modern Science fiction seems to question where the development of A.I. can go within

human development.  A.I. is featured in various Sci-Fi movies, such as The Matrix, Blade-

Runner, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (film), Terminator, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the

Galaxy.  In The Matrix, the Agents (the A.I. in the franchise) create a false utopia, the digital

matrix world, for the humans, to use the humans’ physical bodies as a power source.  In Blade

Runner, the replicants (the A.I. in this franchise) are enhanced copies of humans that were

created by the Tyrell corporation.  In the film A.I., David and Teddy (both A.I. robots) follows a

similar storyline as Pinocchio.  In The Terminator, the A.I. robot is created specifically for

military purposes.  In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the A.I. prototype was created for

the purpose of serving the captain.  A.I. is portrayed in many different ways in popular Sci-Fi

films, and there will be plenty of opportunities to investigate A.I. in future films, such as the

Origins Unknown in 2018.

Lindy Dey

Cracks in the Story: Post-apocalyptic Verisimilitude of Nature in “The Last of Us” and

“Shannara”

Using Alan Weisman book, The World Without Us, we can use his progression of nature

reclaiming the earth to interrogate the verisimilitude within post-apocalyptic games and movies,

such as “The Last of Us” and “The Shannara” series. Weisman analyzes how long human

civilization takes to decay, urban areas to transform back to nature, and city infrastructure to

deteriorate into oblivion. The creators of “The Last of Us” used Weisman’s book in order to

design the cities in the game in order to maintain verisimilitude. However, other stories break

their own verisimilitude. For instance, “The Shannara” series, set around 3000 years in the

future, shows a rusted playground set which at that point in reality would have been disintegrated

going against its own verisimilitude. By using a sense of verisimilitude, we can reassess how we

analyzes ecology in post-apocalyptic narratives.

Jim Jones

“We Survive This by Pulling Together, Not Apart”: Altruism in Real Catastrophes and in Post-

Apocalyptic Narratives

Strong Altruism as described by Fletcher and Zwick can be witnessed in post-apocalyptic

narratives, such as in The Walking Dead franchise and in real life disasters, such as the recent

Hurricanes devastating Florida and Texas. Altruism is a characteristic or trait that a person or

animal presents that shows the need to protect the group while putting themselves in danger in

the process. Psychologist have multiple theories on the types of altruistic behavior that humans

show; these theories range from the sympathy for those in need to pathological altruism. From

the altruism of Herschel and Travis to the pathological altruism of Shane and Daniel, The

Walking Dead and Fear of the Walking Dead provide many case studies across the altruism

spectrum. Involved in rescue efforts in Texas and Florida, I’ve seen first-hand real-life altruistic

behavior, and its opposite, during catastrophes. Many altruistic people risked their lives to save

people and families stranded in their homes due to flood waters and debris. Truth, though, as it

turns out, is kinder than fiction.

Christian Santana

“Prepare for Light speed”. Comparing Real Hypothetical Interstellar Propulsive Technology with

That of Science Fiction.

  This research compares Science Fictional interstellar propulsion with real and

hypothetical Interstellar Propulsion, such as Rademaker and White’s Alcubierre Drive.

Interstellar Propulsion is the technology used to travel to other solar systems within our galaxy.

In the film Interstellar, space travel is made possible by sending a spacecraft through a wormhole

that ends in another galaxy or solar system. In the film The Martian, NASA sends astronauts to

Mars, and back, in with an ion drive, which travels much faster than current propulsion systems.

NASA’s very real, but still hypothetical, technology called The Alcubierre Drive uses “exotic

matter” as fuel to create a warp bubble to travel faster than the speed of light. Einstein's theory of

general relativity suggests that wormholes are possible; such exotic voyages may very likely be

our future.

Mike C.

The Joker Effect: Fetishizing Fear and What IT Means

The purpose of this paper is to explore why we fetishize over certain images or symbols

such as clowns. Is there a specific age where we are more susceptible to creating a lifelong

fetish? This paper will explore the film IT by Stephen King with concepts from developmental

psychology and adult fetishizing fear. The original film mentions that the children perceive

Pennywise the clown in whatever form they most fear. So for one child he sees the clown as a

werewolf because that’s what he fears the most and another child sees IT as his father whom had

died. However, the entity IT is almost always in clown form, suggesting this form is either what

people fear the most or are least afraid of. In the past few years, stories have circulated on the

internet about people dressing as clowns and standing alongside a dark highway or parking

garage, which raises the questions of why people enjoy dress up as clowns, and whether or not

it’s just about scaring others. For me, the allure has always been about the clown as a person and

the lack of obvious emotional expression. Sometimes, in many of our lives we hold onto a

moment-- forever, like IT clawing its way up and out of our subconscious.

Dr. Jones

A Federation Free-Lunch in /and Mega City One: Universal Basic Income in Judge Dred and

Star Trek.

Universal Basic Income (UBI), a concept offered in the writings of Thomas Paine,

mentioned in remarks by Martin Luther King, Jr., and discussed among current futurology

thinkers such as Elon Musk and Richard Branson, has a central role in the economics and social

structure of Star Trek’s Federation and Judge Dred’ s Mega City One. The concept of Universal

Basic Income concerns giving every person (regardless of financial status) a specified amount of

income per year. The current concept of UBI centers on offsetting the soon-to-be massive layoffs

and unemployment in a variety of industries due to automation and Artificial Intelligence.

Various Sci-fi narratives offer us ways of interrogating our real world future, from the utopian

version in Star Trek (where people pursue higher ideals of accomplishments and contributions to

others) to the dystopic civilization in Judge Dred’s Mega City (where people with too much free

time turn to crime and prankster lifestyles). This entire project raises significant questions about

the undergirding ideology sustaining our world today: what motivates people now and how will

that change in a UBI system, in what ways in a UBI system will people pursue either facile

fascination or elevated erudition, who are we when capitalist production and work ethic are not

the driving force for education and living. Discussions of UBI have grown significantly in the

last year, and we need more of that discussion in Sci-Fi narratives.

Matt Hudson

My Research has Jets: Exploring Barthes’ Enigmas and Fan Based Exaltation within Star Wars,

DC Comics, and Television

Some tertiary characters, such as Boba Fett, being unintentional enigmas, capture and

enthrall the imaginations of fans. An enigma, according to Roland Barthes S/Z, refers to any

element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the reader, raising

questions that demand explication, such as TR-8R from The Force Awakens. Disney tried to

make Captain Phasm the new Boba Fett, but fans chose TR-8R. These unintentional enigmas are

not confined to just movies or the Star Wars Franchise: Harley Quinn in the DCU, Maude from

All in the Family, and even the Fonz from Happy Days. Building on Barthes idea, we can see

how these enigmas were unintentional; they were never meant to enthrall the audience. We could

argue that fans seek to resolve the enigmas on their own; however, many of these characters

(listed above) breached the confines of their stories to find lives in fandom, in another form of

text that lies somewhere between Barthes Readerly and Writerly text.

Chris Ruppert

WoW, what a great resume?: Leadership Qualities in World of Warcraft

In 2017, Elizabeth Short from the Missouri University of Science and Technology showed a

significant correlation between gaming in World of Warcraft and the big five traits desired by the

corporate world: extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

However, negative preconception in regards to players of massive multiplayer online role

playing games such as World of Warcraft cause hiring managers to ignore these personality

traits. World of Warcraft players learn these skills while working together as teams to defeat in-

game challenges. Extraversion and agreeableness are found in employees that build positive

professional relationships as they show interest in other people. Openness suggests creativity and

better achievement while training. Conscientious employees develop skills in leadership as well

as efficiency. Neuroticism ties in with poor job satisfaction and negativity. We need a broader

and more vigorous public discussion concerning the worth of adding gaming skills to resumes.

Justin Sachariason

VR> IRL ;)?... Nope OMG!: How Ready Player One Forefronts Debord's Spectacle

Ready Player One and Debord’s idea of the Spectacle of Society takes the spectacle of the virtual

world within the film and forgets about the real world the people live in. Virtually created worlds

within VR games create a different version of Guy Debord’s spectacle. Guy Debord’s book,

Spectacle of Society, refers to an image through which we as a society interpret as a relationship

with other people. Virtual reality creates beautiful and immersive worlds that captivate the user

to such a degree that when the headset comes off, the user is left with a world (the real world)

that does not fulfill the relationship made with the virtual world. The spectacle that virtual reality

creates can lead to the destruction of the relationship we have with our own reality. Our reality

has been challenged before the advent of virtual reality with the movie Avatar, released in 2009.

Viewing Avatar created an effect on some of the audience which made some viewers depressed

and, in some extreme cases, suicidal about our current reality because our world did not seem as

beautiful and as full of wonder as the planet Pandora.