Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37948

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 71

2D Animation: The Key to Growth and Adaptation of the South African Animation Ecosystem
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Gardiner, Eric; Cloete, Stephen
This paper examines South African animation with a focus on unveiling how local animators have adapted to overcome the challenges existing in their local circumstances. This research investigates the history of different techniques used by animators in South Africa and how they have evolved or died out. The data from a collection of over 170 locally produced animations is combined with opinion data from industry professionals to paint a clearer picture of current attitudes, trends and future trajectories. The cultural significance of localised animation is emphasised, and the core rhetoric of this paper is to stimulate the creation of more such media. This paper provides the most value to startup animators in South Africa who can leverage this collection of resources and information to bridge their gap in knowledge on South African industry processes such as financing one’s first animation project and developing a low-cost pipeline. The research in this paper uncovered that 2D animation plays the most significant role out of all techniques used in South Africa. It also reveals three differing business strategies that have been employed by South African animators to successfully fund locally themed animation productions.
A Beginner’s Guide to Puzzle Design: Creating an applied guide for effective puzzle design in videogames
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Prinz, Erik; Flusk, Timothy; Reid, Kieran
While a vast collection of information exploring effective puzzle design exists, it is riddled with conflicting opinions and inconsistent formats, making it arduous to engage with. This research aims to curate this collection, organizing its knowledge into an applied guide for puzzle design in videogames. This will be accomplished through an amalgamation of design principles offered by selected works of oundational literature, and the insights contained within the design philosophies of three industry professionals (Jonathan Blow, Kim Swift, and Arvi ‘Hempuli’ Teikari). The synthesis of these two families of information will be aided by the simultaneous development of a puzzle platforming videogame. Through a process of iteration and playtesting, this game will be used to assess the value and accuracy of the developing guide. With careful consideration of useful structures present in the foundational literature, the plethora of existing information can be reformatted to be user-friendly and appliable by novel puzzle designers.
A Happier Life Through Sad Mode - Designing Automated Players for Single Player Games
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Chola, Saili; Reid, Kieran; Du Preez, Kirsten
Solo games are a keystone of tabletop board gaming for players and designers alike. While they are numerous and enjoyed by many members of the community, there is a noticeable lack of clarity and exploration of what principles make these games uniquely interactive and enjoyable experiences for players. This project responds to this inadequacy through the development of a playable game and a research report. The game demonstrates and tests the virtues of solo game play mechanics while the report expands and discusses the interpretable results and qualities of said solo game mechanics.
A practice based inquiry into materiality, minimalism, fantasy and actuality in animated documentary
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Pater, Dominik Łukasz
This thesis is part of a creative practice PhD that explores the creative possibilities of using animation as a documentary medium through the making of a half-hour animated documentary, titled Polonia, that takes as its subject a historical narrative focusing on the emigration of two Polish families from Poland in the early 1980s, set within the context of broader geopolitical events of that time. This written thesis contextualizes the making of the film by outlining a brief history of animated documentary and through a discussion of the key theoretical concepts that inform the discourse around this subgenre of documentary filmmaking. The thesis provides the historical context for the film’s narrative, outlines its production processes and unpacks its creative choices and iconography. The final part of the thesis discusses key theoretical insights that have emerged from the creative process and how they point towards a ways in which animation can be conceptualised as a legitimate documentary medium. The concept of constructedness as a means of self-reflexivity is identified as the key factor that grants animation this legitimacy. This leads to a discussion of the film as a spatial construct, resulting from the dual process of reconstruction and construction, and comprising both archival and cinematic spaces, as well as the liminal space that exists between fantasy and actuality. There is also a discussion of the film’s performance in and of animation, identifying the avatar as a distinct category of animated character that is granted documentary legitimacy, substance and interiority through its relationship to a real-world referent. Finally, the role of sound is addressed, as relating to the film’s self-reflexive constructedness.
A self-revelatory performance study on the use of storytelling with puppets to explore the experience of a daughter with an absent father
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Wites, Nontsikelelo
This research aims to explore the use of puppetry in addressing the impact of an absent father on their daughter through self-revelatory performance. Self-revelatory performance is a hybrid of therapy and theater, where a performer draws on personal experiences or existing social issues in need of therapeutic exploration. I conducted eight workshops where I created puppets and used those puppets to explore through narration and performance to reflect on my experiences of how growing up without a father has impacted me. This research has highlighted rejection as the main impact of a father's absence on his daughter ‘s life, which leads to confidence and trust issues. Furthermore, the study argues that the use of puppetry within a therapeutic space functions similarly to psychodrama by aiding individuals in examining their unresolved present challenges. Moreover, it suggests that the exploration of symbols and metaphors through puppetry encourages individuals to thoroughly investigate, engage with, and express their emotions regarding the issues that led them to therapy, ultimately progressing toward healing. I hope this study helps to build knowledge, can be beneficial to scholars and professionals in the field of drama therapy, and may help shape therapeutic practices in this field.
A transpersonal approach to drama therapy techniques for embodied grief work with women who experience loss and distress from an abortion
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Brollo, Gillian Susan; Pankhurst, Margie
Abortion as a lived experience is not often explored in research or therapy, particularly when women are distressed as a result of an abortion. This research addresses the scarcity of such explorations through developing and testing a workshop model based on transpersonal drama therapy in order to examine how women who are distressed after an abortion express and manage their experience, and also how women can integrate an abortion into their life story in order to find healing. The two key questions are concerned with firstly, how embodied activities can bring unconscious feelings to the surface, and secondly how narrative can work to integrate a distressing experience into a life story so that its emotional impact is managed and the individual finds ways to move forward from the traumatic event. Chapter One is an introduction to the context, one in which women who experience a sense of loss or grief after an abortion find few places for support, healing and most importantly, for expressions of distress. The introduction touches briefly on the hyper-politicised nature of abortion as a phenomenon and how difficult it is to communicate nuance within such a polarised context. Chapter Two is a description of the theoretical framework of the transpersonal approach which also serves a literature review. The literature drawn on includes models of drama therapy, griefwork, embodied grief activities such as rituals, transpersonal philosophies which present a world where the material and the immaterial are connected and draws these theories together within an Afrocentric paradigm. Chapter Three describes the methodology and explains how the workshop was designed and its aims. Chapters Four and Five are concerned with how data was obtained and a data analysis and discussion flowing from that analysis. The final chapter looks at findings including a deep sense of relief and healing in being offered a space to explore their personal experiences of abortion, and in the affirmation iv provided by witnessing other women’s stories and telling of their own; and recommendations for future research such as trying the model with a rural cohort, and extending the process in combining individual and group work in order to dive deeper into individual stories.
A visual-temporal excavation of Schaapplaats rock shelter: unearthing a trace fossil
(2021) Yorke, Naudia
In this research report, I set out to provide information about Schaapplaats rock shelter through a multi-sensory, ekphrastic approach as set out by the artist William Kentridge1 to guide the process of looking. As such this project presents an experience of space and time compressed within a single landscape. The research foregrounds the different ways of looking and different ways of perceiving the elements in the landscape. Schaapplaats is a farm located in the eastern Free State. A rock shelter at Schaapplaats which I examine contains a number of objects and traces that relate to various moments in time. The site is an event-loaded spatial nexus which I unpack, closely examining each object to expose the complex layering of objects and traces of events over time. My aim in examining the site in this way is to interrogate the variety of elements in the rock shelter to understand the complicated nature of time and the reading of it in objects. My methodology involves the slow process of describing and pulling-apart the objects, fieldwork that is primarily comprised of being in the space, and visually constructing and reconstructing the space and the elements within it – with a particular focus on the trace fossil (a dinosaur footprint) present in the space. The result is a reflective paper that considers meanings that could be drawn from a singular item, in conjunction with a number of other items within a space that is complex in its variety of traces and temporally layered.
Africanfuturism, placing Africa in the future: an analysis of Pumzi (2009) and Afronauts (2014)
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Shirinde, Karabelo
Taking into consideration Africa’s long historical relationship with colonialism, alienation and currently neo-colonialism, ‘africanfuturism’ a sub-genre of science fiction and the focus of this study, brings forward the necessity of rooting African science fiction films in the continent of Africa, created by Black people of African descent and ensuring that narratives are driven by the histories, daily social-political and cultural experiences of the people within the continent. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how the African science fiction films Pumzi (2009) directed by Wanuri Kahiu, and Afronauts (2014) directed by Nuotama Frances Bodumo portray africanfuturism. This study used a developed africanfuturist framework inspired by the description of africanfuturism by author Nnedi Okorafor (2019) and Masego Mashigo (2018). The chosen case study films were analysed according to africanfuturist components, namely: iconography, ideology, geopolitical and socio-cultural background, semiotics and symbolism, and the filmmaker’s profile to determine the extent to which they portray africanfuturism. Further research objectives of this study included the discussion on how Western science fiction films present colonial conventions and the difference between afrofuturism and africanfuturism within the literature review. With the application of the developed africanfuturist framework, this study concludes that both Pumzi (2009) and Afronauts (2014) successfully portray africanfuturism in the capacity of their geological settings, ideological viewpoints, socio-economic and political representations and local cultural symbolisms within the continent. Finally, both films present a nuanced understanding and portrayal of science and technology as it relates to the African continent, and further dismantles preconceived notions about the African continent as described by the West. These representations essentially redefine the relationship between Africa and the science fiction genre by clearly demonstrating, transforming and representing the continent within an imaginative and realist space, coupled with scientific, technological and globalist expressions.
Always looking’: visual and artistic explorations of the living legacies of enslavement in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Soudien, Amie Lindiwe Hanan; Cloete, Nicola
In the context of marginalised slave histories in South Africa, I explore the poetic and artistic strategies of artists and cultural organisations in evoking slave memory in the present. I examine how the work of contemporary artists such as Gabrielle Goliath, Bronwyn Katz and Berni Searle, among others, eschew colonially-informed practices of commemoration in favour of artistic methodologies that centre care, recuperation and repair. I look to the work of independent, activist cultural organisations such as the District Six Museum and the Prestwich Place Committee that evoke the memory of enslavement in the present through collective, public-oriented acts of remembrance. I draw direct correlations between historic, VOC-era Cape of Good Hope and contemporary Cape Town, to elucidate how the living legacies of enslavement shape urban space, aesthetics, and social stratification. I employ an interdisciplinary, Black feminist-informed research methodology to centre the life stories of enslaved women and to reappraise narratives concerning the VOC settler-colony. Through engagements with the speculative, as proposed by scholars such as Saidiya Hartman (2008), Yvette Abrahams (1996) and others, and Jennifer Nash’s theorisation on “beautiful writing” as a reparative tool (2019b), I engage with the political underpinnings of historiography and interrogate the ethics of knowledge production. My analysis demonstrates that in content and methodology, the artistic, speculative and commemorative work explored provides new insight into the legacies of enslavement and the implications of these legacies for those living in Cape Town today.
An Ecofeminist Reading of Hadestown: The Myth, The Muscial
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-03) Vos, Abigail; Somma, Donato
Hadestown: The Myth, the Musical has merged two ancient love stories and has presented these stories within a world riddled with environmental damage. The four main characters (Orpheus, Eurydice, Persephone, and Hades) are influenced by the environment in various ways. Persephone acts as the goddess of the natural world and therefore is nature’s ambassador. Hades, the king of the Underworld, has become an industrial mogul and has inadvertently damaged the earth with his industrial kingdom. As a result, Eurydice is left to suffer these consequences and faces poverty and hunger because of the environmental imbalance that engulfs her. Orpheus, in response, attempts to write a song that will bring balance to the world once more. Our characters are situated within an environmentalist fable; therefore, the musical’s narrative centres around how these characters interact with the environment. The music of Hadestown has been carefully selected in an eclectic way. Jazz, folk, musical theatre, and opera have all had various influences on the musical world of the show. This influence is not simply limited to the score, but the histories of these genres bleed into the work. Folk and jazz both carry profound messages of struggle and protest with them, and therefore the use of these genres aids in the environmentalist activism presented in the musical. These genres and their social and geographical histories are layered into Hadestown. The musical allows for deep character analysis and textual analysis through the writing of Anaïs Mitchell. In this research, I will present an analysis of the lyrics of Hadestown to present the embedded themes of environmentalism, anti-capitalism, and anti-industrialism. My analysis will present how the pained Earth and Her inhabitants reflect the pain endured by the Global South, specifically by women. Impoverished women in third-world countries face most environmental consequences accompanying the Global North’s incessant need for more. This effect is portrayed in the lives of Eurydice and Persephone. An ecofeminist framework will be applied to the work as Persephone exhibits inherent ecofeminist traits. Hadestown presents its audience with a mirror of the world they live in and ask its audience what it will do about it.
An integrated literature review investigating how significant elements of drama therapy, namely role method and narradrama, can support the congruent identity formation of teenagers influenced by contemporary social media
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Maddams, Amy Charlotte; Hill, Monique
Social media, which is widely used by teenagers world-wide, can have both a positive and/or negative impact on their developing self-identities. Extensive research has been conducted on the impact of social media on the mental health of teenagers but has failed to address the impact on their developing identities. This research aims to fill that gap by ascertaining how Drama Therapy informed Role Method and Narradrama can support the congruent identity formation of teenagers impacted by social media usage. It also aims to identify tools for drama therapists to use when addressing these issues. An integrative literature review was conducted in which diverse perspectives from existing literature were reviewed, critiqued, and integrated. Grounded theory was then applied to identify and categorise themes that emerged from the literature. There was strong evidence to support the use of Narradrama to help teenagers reauthor their problem-saturated stories and strengthen their congruent identity formation. Role Method was also shown to greatly benefit congruent identity formation through the expansion of an individual’s role repertoire. The results demonstrated that both Narradrama and Role Method provide appropriate tools for drama therapists to use to address the issue of congruent identity formation and are well placed to support the congruent identity development of teenagers who have been impacted by social media usage.
Analysing the player's involvement in video game character animation
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Ponde, Rugare; Whitcher, Ray
This dissertation investigates the impact of animation on player interest in an existing video game character. There is high demand and expectation regarding character animation quality, yet understanding and achieving this standard is complex and challenging. The quality of a character’s animation is often derived from its direct appeal to the audience and how its representation informs their impression. However, there is a gap in the literature where there is little on how style representation plays a role in character perception and identification in video games. A practice-led approach was used to understand the relationship between player involvement and the player-character's appeal. The process involved the creation of an animation reel to demonstrate how a popular video game character's acceptance can change based on a player's perception of style in the character's animation. I used Link from the video game Super Smash Brothers Ultimate (Nintendo, 2018). The reel was presented to adults between 18 and 35 to review the animations. Using the process of creative exegesis, the theories and concepts about character appeal, animation design, and player involvement were combined to analyse and critique the contributing factors that inform the perception of the creative work. The results from this study indicate that a change in movement style impacted the perception of Link and the participant's demonstrated interest to play him. This study confirms that style representations are an important design consideration to improve a character’s appeal. This topic may benefit the art and technique of character design and how to improve on it.
Barriers to protection: gender-related persecution and asylum in South Africa
(2009-10-12T12:24:42Z) Middleton, Julie
In 1998, South Africa became the first country to explicitly state within its refugee law that gender related persecution is a binding basis for asylum, further distinguishing South Africa as a state with outstanding legal commitments to gender equality. Creating further visibility within the law, however, is only one step in the process. How the law is implemented determines its real worth and effectiveness. This study assesses the manner in which asylum decisions are made, particularly in cases of gendered harm, questioning readily accepted and essentialised notions of women and gender. It looks at how the South African asylum system defines legitimate refugees, and the interplay of fluid interpretations of gender, culture, violence and the political within these constructions. Through interviews with officials and asylum seekers, the study identifies trends in the refugee system, and interrogates the reliance on narrow understandings of the political and personal, as well as the nature of conflict and culture.
Beneath the violence: a performance as a research inquiry into the use of performance as a rite of passage to better understand black masculinity
(2021) Johnson, Jermain
The purpose of this Performance as Research project was to gain a better understanding of black masculinity in urban Johannesburg, and the underlying different narratives of young black men in contemporary South Africa. This Performance as Research project made use of Applied Theatre techniques, Drama Therapy techniques and auto-ethnography as methods of inquiry to facilitate data collection and the creation of performances. It also included, specifically, autobiographical work, Invisible Theatre, and Self-Revelatory performance. The research locates itself within the Creative Research framework, as the dialogue on black masculinity was largely articulated through a creative process (a series of applied drama social inquiries) and a performance (pre, during and post). The researcher made use of movement as the medium to argue for the use of performance as a rite of passage to potentially transform held narratives on black masculinity, and to question the extent of the transformation
Black Writings: The Modal Mixtape Sampling and Remixing the Ethos of South African Poor Theatre with the Film Medium
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-03) Sono, Sipho Alex; Jansen van Veuren, Mocke
Let’s imagine I’m standing in a record store aisle, with all these nostalgic “records” of film and theatre that I’m too young and perhaps too black to be drawn to, but still somehow feel connected to. Not only that, but I can’t shake the feeling that these records have informed me as a South African and could form new work in a strong way. I'm trying to make a “song”, a cohesive language for my practice as a filmmaker, with an underpinning interest, ethos and an understanding of South African Poor Theatre. In my hand I have a Grotowski “record”, called Towards Poor Theatre (1976), that is the main sample for my track. I’m also “digging through crates”, looking at the Theatre of the Oppressed by Augasto Boal (1974) and other theories of theatre in film, to mix together to make the song. I’ve been listening to tracks by Athol Fugard and Barney Simon, as sources of inspiration. As Pharrell Williams describes chords as “coordinates pointing us to emotion” (2019) , I have begun to think that maybe plays such Woza Albert (1971) and Sizwe Banzi is Dead (1972 ) and their recordings for BBC (1982 and 1983) can serve as chords and indicators to the direction for my filmic practice. Although you might not find a section entitled “methodology” in this paper, what you will find is that it is underpinned by practice based research methodologies, in the interest of Walter Mignolo’s epistemology disobedience. In this paper, I employ DJ Lyneé Denise’s concept of The DJ Scholarship (2013) as a research methodology, which sees the paralleling between the roles of the research to those of a DJ, borrowing ideas and recontextualising them . I sample theatre concepts, ideas and theories to mix and remix them and eventually form my own knowledge around my filmic practice. This notion of deejaying also exists in the research question itself, as it seeks to attempt a blending of two artistic disciplines. It is further carried in the way I approach film and storytelling, through the editing process, cutting, scratching, loop and rewinding for further indentation. This research further makes use of auto-ethnographic methods for meaning making and epistemic disobedience. These methods are employed through personal anecdotes and reflexivity as additive interrogators and informers to the research exploration. This research project also makes use of the personal, in the research film as a means to explore therapeutic processes for film as well as an exploration of the personal as a political enquiry. Auto-Ethnography functions in the crux of this research, it is an inquiry of the self, as a black “born free” South African and my relationship with Poor and Protest Theatre as an inherited artistic voice. As I stand in the middle of this record-store of theoretical frameworks and literature, I am also analysing the “records” which pick and sample. I am studying them and thinking about what they represent and what they indicate about me and the ethos of my filmmaking practice in a traumatised, post-apartheid South Africa . So let’s get to mixing.
Bridging the Digital Divide: Afrocentric Approaches in the 2021 My Body My Space Online Arts Festival for Rural Emakhazeni, Mpumalanga
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Khathi, Nomfundo Linami; Ntombela, Nontobeko
The attempt at online arts festival for a rural community seems to be executed in ways that do not consider issues of digital dissemination in historically marginalised spaces. Those organising events requiring internet access in rural communities overlook that rural areas are not very ‘well’ developed. The study does not reject online arts festivals for historically marginalised areas but suggests that the approach taken should take into account rural issues related to resources. The hindrances with online access for rural communities have not been adequately addressed. The theory of Afrocentrism emphasises that Africans need to make Africa the centre of their own problems and solutions, by advocating that Africans need to locate themselves historically and culturally. They need to acknowledge their context and situation so that they can provide solutions aligned with their problems. The study notices a paradigm shift in South Africa, as the MBMS festival is now being held in the rural Emakhazeni community, moving away from the ‘traditionally known’ urban festival locations. This shift includes moving from an in-person MBMS festival to an online format in 2021, which has been affected by data and internet coverage issues in rural Emakhazeni. While the festival is accessible online by anyone, its original intention was to serve the Emakhazeni rural community. Through a predominantly qualitative research approach, primary and secondary data were examined, exploring the 2021 MBMS online arts festival hosted on WhatsApp for rural Emakhazeni. The stakeholders in this study include the organisers of the MBMS festival, the Department of Arts and Culture, the Emakhazeni community members, and the performers of the festival. I engage d with multiple sources, to explore how these paradigm shifts could be envisioned or executed differently with an Afrocentric perspective. Although the MBMS online festival is curated in a way that appears to respond to the modern discourses on accessibility and audience development, it simultaneously forgets that rural areas are not very well developed in many parts of South Africa. Through an exploration of the 2021MBMS festival, I unpack the way it established online accessibility and address the implications of this for the rural Emakhazeni. This research contributes to the investigation of what was silenced during the colonial and apartheid eras in South Africa, when many individuals were marginalised and denied access. Both practical steps and policy-oriented approaches are suggested by the study.
Bubblewrapped: (Queered) Exhibition Making as a Means of Creating Spaces in Johannesburg Which Balance Intimacy, Safety and Access
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Nyathi, Denzel; Twalo, Sinethemba
While the exhibition, as perhaps the main tool of curating, is an excellent space for symbolic generation, I venture to draw close parallels to the internet, as a possible exhibition site of its own, to question how better the traditional art exhibition can be configured to make room for intimacy in the face of capitalism and its subsequent implications on how it is the contemporary Johannesburg art ecosystem operates and dictates professional interaction. It maintains the ever-relational position of contemporary curatorial practice, while complicating the issue of proximity (between disciplines and between people) even further by looking into what role controlling access plays in ensuring an intimate experience feels safe, and doesn’t border on being an experience which makes one feel unnecessarily vulnerable. The affective fine-tuning of this venture becomes a precarious task, which I undertake collaboratively with the interviewee respondents of this research. In consideration of these people and the overdetermination of the commercial sector in the Johannesburg art scene, the research report below asks the question of how it is that exhibition making can be reconfigured by the curator to work in more intimate ways to therefore make space for the various members involved in exhibition-making to feel a sense of safety and belonging in their work. bubblewrapped, as a queered exhibition, takes further this research and continues to think with the various practitioners in a public exhibition format, and thus continues to experiment with means of preserving intimacy
Catch and release: A Practice-based analysis using interviews from healthcare workers, to explore the impact on self-care, using 5 Drama Therapy core principles and practices.
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Adlam, Antoné ; Thibedi, Linda (Mdena)
This is a Practice-based Research study analysing the impact of five core principles from Phil Jones’s nine core principles in drama therapy. Data was collected from interviews with healthcare workers within a private hospital in Johannesburg. This research aimed to find the most suitable core principle for each interviewee, in order for them to practice self-care in an explorative and creative manner. While the research identified the importance of drama therapy and the core processes used within the researcher's rehearsals and solo performance based on the answers from interviews with the healthcare workers, the researcher identified the unique approaches and impact drama therapy holds to practice self-care. The integration of the core principles (as named by Jones, 1996) are embodiment, play, dramatic projection, interactive audience and witnessing, as well as drama therapeutic empathy and distancing.
Causal analysis between unedited and edited translation text: Biko’s non-fiction prose
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Gumede, Thokozani
A research report submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree in Translation Studies from the Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. 2022
Challenging the Representation of Masculinity & Themes Pertaining to Rape Culture in Film & Televisual Media
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-06) Gondo, Jackson Onai; Heatlie, Damon; Dladla, Tiisetso
This dissertation raises questions around the representation of masculinity and in turn the notion of ‘toxic masculinity’ in film and televisual media, and will result in a project in the form of a screenplay and animated scene that subverts these representations and makes the audience, through viewing the film, question their relationship to toxic masculinity and ‘rape culture.’ The dissertation looks at the narrative and visual conventions pertaining to masculinity that have existed throughout the history of film and television and how they still manifest themselves today. It looks at attempts to subvert these conventions and where these attempts failed. It also looks at literary scholars who have theorized these notions of masculinity and how those ideas have indeed manifested throughout film and television.