Leading Lad(y) in Love: Gender and Agency in Two Self-Reflective Romantic Comedies

What can romantic comedies with satirical elements tell us about the romantic comedy genre and romance in general? This senior seminar paper explores two self-reflective films – Isn’t it Romantic (2019) starring Rebel Wilson and Playing it Cool (2014) starring Chris Evans – that simultaneously break and follow this genre’s norms, actively parodying genre conventions and themes. Montemorano’s examination of gender and agency uses a combination of content and comparative analyses in order to study if the gender of main characters impacts how a movie follows or breaks genre conventions, how satire reveals and perpetuates gender and filmic norms, and if characters’ actions and agency could impact viewer perceptions and experience of a film. Montemorano also reflects upon audience reception of romantic comedy media, a consideration of increasing importance as the creation and dissemination of media allows for the spread of social and cultural norms, particularly through increasingly digital methods of communication

Body Language: Avatars, Identity Formation, and Communicative Interaction in VRChat

What meanings do actors attach to their avatars in virtual reality platforms? How does a person’s relationship with their selected avatar impact their communications with other persons in virtual reality settings? In this thesis, Montemorano seeks to answer these questions through qualitative, ethnographic fieldwork that she conducted in 2019 in the virtual reality space known as VRChat, and in connection with anthropological literature on embodiment, sociality, and personhood. This thesis details the author’s research findings, provides a brief historical background on virtual worlds and avatars, and discusses several noteworthy ethnographic studies of virtual worlds such as Boellstorff’s Coming of Age in Second Life. The result is a blend of pertinent vignettes with scholarly analysis of feminist and posthumanist theories of performativity, virtualism and play. Montemorano stresses the distinctiveness of anthropology in studying virtual worlds, owing in particular to the discipline’s emphasis on the social constructedness and performativity of identity and its methodological commitment to participant observation. By connecting her original research to broader anthropological theories and concepts, Montemorano hopes to spark thought on how digital platforms and virtuality potentially grant actors the ability to subvert traditional identity categories and create new and unexpected affinities

A Guide for Creating Great VR Storyboards: Planning to Make Your Virtual Vision a Reality

Virtual reality technology has grown in popularity due to increased industry production and innovation. However, the creation of quality content to run on these systems has lagged behind in comparison to the design of the physical equipment required to access virtual environments. How does one go about designing quality VR content? Originally created as instructional material for students in Brenta Blevins’ DGST 301E class, this infographic walks readers through the brainstorming and storyboarding process of creating virtual reality projects. This guide is useful for a wide audience of content creators as they take inspiration from other content mediums, think spatially, and consider the accessibility of their final products