^ Moving to College of Arts, Law and Social Sciences http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8590 2026-04-19T03:40:24Z 2026-04-19T03:40:24Z Morse, Rhianna Maria http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32036 2025-09-25T02:00:23Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Windows of fantasy: The significance of science fiction and fantasy film and television posters Authors: Morse, Rhianna Maria Abstract: The research set out in this thesis explored science-fiction and fantasy posters, specifically those related to films and television shows, from the perspective of their owners, examining their potential as sources of cultural significance and meaning. The research explored these in terms of the components (e.g., content) of the poster, the room they are displayed in, their placement, the media texts (films or television shows) they reference, morals, behaviour, identity, sense of self, well-being (through emotional responses), self-expression, other opinions and levels of investment. Given that science fiction and fantasy are otherworldly and imaginative genres, exploring their posters offers a unique lens, akin to exploring the fantastical worlds they depict. Data were collected through an online survey and semi-structured interviews with adult science-fiction and fantasy film and television show poster owners. The significance and meaning of these posters were framed by two conceptual models: ‘The Three Significances’, aesthetics, functionality, and significance (both spatial and personal), and ‘The Big Three’, content, design, and colour. Among these, content held the greatest significance for owners. Posters served as tools for self-expression, reflecting their owners' identities, affinities, and convictions, while also reinforcing their connection to films and TV shows they reference. Rather than shaping moral beliefs, posters were more likely to reinforce their sense of self and fan identity and evoke emotional responses. The space in which posters are displayed shapes their meaning and significance, just as posters influence the atmosphere and function of that space. Official posters tend to be accurate depictions of the media text, while fan art posters offer creative reinterpretations of already reimagined worlds. Additionally, the type of poster, physical or digital, plays a crucial role in shaping ‘The Three Significances’, influencing its availability (both in terms of content and accessibility) and its presentation/display (how it is showcased and experienced). Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Demir, Pax http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31780 2025-08-22T14:42:25Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Approaching improvisation through maqam practices Authors: Demir, Pax Abstract: This study explores the differences between the Ottoman/Turkish, Anatolian, Persian, Arabic and Azerbaijani maqams, and how improvisation works in the maqam tradition. The concept of maqam varies from area to area, and this study has examined four different maqam traditions to try to find similarities that can create community and understanding. It refers to thinking from a broader perspective instead of thinking only about a single maqam tradition. This study also considers ideas about improvisation and demonstrates that there are always rules in maqam and improvisation does not mean just playing freely and musicians must know the rules. This work includes some comparisons with Indian music, especially with raga and improvisation, as there are similarities with the maqam tradition. Researching improvisation in maqam music is unusual but I have chosen to focus on this through observations and discussions and observations from different maqam areas to gain a broad perspective. The project also includes a series of my own improvisations from different maqam areas. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Pizzey, Rebecca Geena http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31719 2025-08-15T13:41:39Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Checking my body for signs of life: A novel – ‘I think I hated her. I also love her.’ A creative and critical analysis of maternal ambivalence as experienced by the adult daughter Authors: Pizzey, Rebecca Geena Abstract: This thesis comprises a full-length novel, entitled Checking My Body for Signs of Life, and an accompanying critical exegesis. The former falls under the genre of literary fiction, and follows thirty-two-year-old Sky, who, along with her twin sister Jess, is trying to come to terms with the fact that her abusive mother Kelsie has just died. Sky’s attempts to navigate her mother’s death see her confront her traumatic upbringing and subsequent behaviours, the foundations of which are the ambivalence felt between her and her mother. Resultingly, the critical exegesis explores this link, being underpinned by one central question: can daughters ever really know their mothers? To answer this, particular focus is paid to the relationship between maternal ambivalence and first, female hunger, then second, female sexuality, owing to the fact that, for Sky, hunger and sex are two experiences invariably influenced by her mother, in tandem with heteropatriarchal conditioning. My inquiry is based on close analysis of Checking My Body for Signs of Life; in particular, the development of the creative decisions behind it. It also discusses the three main ways my research informed the book: the creative representation of maternal ambivalence as inevitable; maternal ambivalence as situated within heteropatriarchy; and the idea of maternal selves as concealed or ‘split’. The critical essay draws on feminist (Angel 2021; Febos 2021 and 2022; Rich 1976; Srinivasan 2021), psychoanalytic (Parker 1995; Winnicott 1964 and 1994), and fat-activist (Gay 2017; Gordon 2020; Hornbacher 1998; Orbach 1978) approaches. With reference to Donald Winnicott and Adrienne Rich’s representations of maternal ambivalence, Chapter One argues in favour of the existence of private and public ‘selves’, and how the gap between the two inevitably leads to ambivalence. Chapter Two discusses how literal and symbolic hunger is born from ambivalence, contending that the mother informs the daughter’s sense of her ‘self’ as a hungry person within a heteropatriarchal society. Chapter Three examines female sexuality, with a focus on the ambivalence that inevitably – and, it argues, crucially – resides within desire. This thesis concludes with reflection on how the very process of conducting research or producing a thesis is itself an exercise in ambivalence, owing to a requisite degree of enquiry and curiosity. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Jolomba, Warona http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31494 2025-06-25T02:00:19Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Who gets to have a voice? A comparative analysis of traditional and subversive white saviour narratives in fiction Authors: Jolomba, Warona Abstract: This PhD thesis, Who Gets to Have a Voice? A Comparative Analysis of Traditional and Subversive White Saviour Narratives in Fiction, investigates the enduring presence and evolving forms of the white saviour trope in contemporary literature. It comprises a critical study and a creative component: The Grand Scheme of Things, a novel that interrogates institutional bias through the story of two friends who fabricate their connection to a hit play in order to expose the inequities of the British theatre industry. The critical component traces the legacy of white saviour narratives from canonical texts to recent fiction that consciously subverts or destabilises the trope. Through close textual analysis, this thesis compares traditional narratives that reinforce white moral authority with those that complicate or satirise the trope to reveal underlying structures of racial and cultural power. It draws on postcolonial theory, critical race studies, and narratology to examine how voice, agency, and legitimacy are distributed in these texts, asking: who is allowed to speak, and who is spoken for? By placing the creative and critical components in dialogue, the thesis offers both an analytical and artistic intervention into the cultural logic of the white saviour. The Grand Scheme of Things embodies the theoretical concerns of the research, experimenting with form and voice to highlight the limits of meritocracy, the performance of allyship, and the precarious nature of visibility for marginalised creators. In doing so, this project contributes to wider conversations around authorship, representation, and the politics of storytelling in contemporary literature. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London

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