Bachelor thesis | Film- en literatuurwetenschap (BA)
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In this text, I conduct a historical exploration of the theoretical evolution of both the reader in literary studies and viewer in film studies. Spanning from Antiquities right up to contemporary...Show moreIn this text, I conduct a historical exploration of the theoretical evolution of both the reader in literary studies and viewer in film studies. Spanning from Antiquities right up to contemporary criticism, I illuminate their parallel, yet differing, transformations. In both disciplines, the theoretical reader or viewer are initially hypothetical, static, passive entities in object-centric, meaning film or text focused, modes of study. The theory of both film and literary studies eventually evolves to reverse that initial perspective of, and approach to, the relationship of the film or text to its viewer or reader, respectively. Both disciplines follow alternative paths which results in varying nuances and repercussions for their unique conceptions of the reading or viewing subject, the textual or filmic object, and their relation to each other. This work not only explores the evolutions of these disciplines regarding their subject, object, and the relationship thereof, but also examines said variations, nuances, and repercussions encountered to highlight that their greatest divergences stem from their political anchorages. In the end, we achieve a means by which we may draw comparisons between both these two disciplines regarding various conceptions of the reader, viewer, film, and text; enriching the field of Reader(ship), Viewer(ship), and Audience studies by approaching them from a combined perspective.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to uncover the performative instead of the descriptive nature of trauma in contemporary American texts: Wild and Into the Wild. It is widely accepted that larger traumas...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to uncover the performative instead of the descriptive nature of trauma in contemporary American texts: Wild and Into the Wild. It is widely accepted that larger traumas need a narrative to be worked through, yet these seemingly non-typical examples show that narratives need a certain level of trauma as well. In chapter one the contradictions within trauma narratives will be analyzed by outlining the existing research. Chapter two places Wild amongst these theories and analyses Strayed as a learned, critical trauma author and her novel as autobiographical and calling upon the traditions of trauma. Chapter three both compares Wild and Into the Wild, one being autobiographical and the other describing someone else’s trauma. The positions chosen by the authors provide them with the opportunity to both link the stories to larger societal wounds and it gives the author as well as the audience the chance to work through their own traumas.Show less
