http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 720 https://escholarship.org/uc/hhpthesis_26theses/rss Recent eScholarship items from Humanities Honors Theses 2026 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 07:36:39 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2h21h6k5 This thesis examines how the reception practice or aesthetic sensibility known as camp is exercised in the 21st century. It explores the contemporary avenues in which the sensibility appears and evolves, namely, social media platforms. Through sites such as X and Instagram, it investigates the range of content that emerged from the Wicked franchise and its seemingly never-ending press tour. From users making press tour parodies to adding Wicked images to arbitrary posts, this thesis identifies where the essence of camp develops. It begins with one of the most recognized and remixed moments from the press tour, the Out Magazine interview by Tracy E. Gilchrist with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, and examines its varied responses to assess where a sense of esoterism differentiates parody makers from camp creators. Users’ inability to perceive or play into the humor highlights how camp receptors communicate through the content’s visual and linguistic language. Furthermore, this... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2h21h6k5 Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Meskel, Cassie https://escholarship.org/uc/item/61h2838m Political instability and radical ideas flourished in the 1850s, the first decade of Californian statehood. As California sought to establish its institutions, the new state tested its limits amidst the nationwide sectional crisis. This project explores and contextualizes calls within the state for California to challenge the federal government by claiming direct ownership of the state’s vast public lands, an idea which chiefly flourished between 1849 and 1855. The federal government’s perceived mishandling of California’s administration, land claims, and land policy fueled local discontent, increasing support for state-level action. Supporters' diverse arguments and goals reflected many of the ideas held about California as a social and an administrative project. The state ownership movement reflects early attempts by Californian politicians to establish regional preeminence and autonomy during national debates over the power of the federal government. Ultimately, the movement... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/61h2838m Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Trytten, John https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6sw0w5kh This thesis examines how New Media, especially social media, has influenced contemporary cinematic aesthetics and narrative form in film and television. Through close analysis of three primary case studies—Bo Burnham: Inside, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and the ScreenLife film Searching, alongside a discussion of Beast Games and War of the Worlds as negative comparative examples—the project demonstrates the increasing ubiquity of New Media aesthetics in film and television.  It first shows how social media’s visual language of authenticity and intimacy has reshaped performance-based media, particularly in comedy specials and reality television. It then analyzes how rapid-cut, highly stylized “retention editing” can be transformed into narratively meaningful hypermediacy. Finally, it considers ScreenLife films and their utilization of a digital mise-en-scène, examining how it can deepen intimacy and characterization, whilst also revealing the limits of the format when... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6sw0w5kh Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Bitetti, Bryce https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5bz3j28v The moral dissonance of accepting the violation of moral standards in pursuit of religious ends must be accepted as a premise of Israeli geopolitical affairs. However, the devices by which Israel continues to both physically and ideologically expand reveals a logic of domination that extends far beyond the mere realization of religious ideals. Zionism can be read as an attempt to overcome the chronic impotence and diasporic condition Friedrich Nietzsche associates with priestly ressentiment by transforming a historically persecuted people into a sovereign political power. However, the persistence of moral narratives grounded in existential victimhood suggests that state power does not automatically dissolve reactive value-structures. The case of Israel complicates Nietzsche’s master/slave morality dichotomy by demonstrating how modern nationalism can fuse sovereign force with priestly moral legitimation. Using Nietzsche’s Genealogy and some aphorisms from Beyond Good and Evil... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5bz3j28v Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Slater, Alyssa Isabella https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3jd1j0bj This paper evaluates the masculinist segment of the homosexual emancipation movement in early 20th-century Germany in relation to Magnus Hirschfeld's Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, broader German society, and the emerging National Socialist Party. In particular, this paper focuses on how certain masculinists, with varying relationships to the NSDAP, aimed to center homoerotic desire and homosocial bonding within their visions of Hellenistic revival – visions which were otherwise also taken up by the National Socialists. This research primarily examines the images and essays of the early gay publication Der Eigene ("The Self-Owner," or "The Unique One") in this context. Current scholarship on Der Eigene and the masculinists – though limited in comparison to the body of work on the portion of the gay movement associated with Hirschfeld – focuses on the rhetorical dimensions of the attempted reconciliations between masculinist visions of same-sex desire and often-fascist nationalisms.... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3jd1j0bj Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Black, Julia