Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Gaboury, Jacob | Uroskie, Andrew
Date
2017-05-01
Keywords
Art history -- Film studies -- Cultural anthropology | conspiracy, film, media, technology
Department
Department of Art History and Criticism
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76671
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Conspiracy theorists often use media technology to create and distribute their ideas to a wider audience. In doing so, these theorists also use the same technology to manipulate the images they are using, thus changing the way the photographs or film stills were meant to be received originally. In changing these aspects of the object, the conspiracy theorist is creating an entirely new narrative based on their personal values. Throughout this paper I will refer to this idea as the “culture of conspiracy†and use it to discuss how technologies such as photoshop, DVD players, and manipulative rhetoric are used to create theories that completely change the intent of a film or image. The paper is broken down into four case studies: The Zapruder film, Michaelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow Up. The 2012 Stanley Kubrick documentary Room 237, and the /r/findbostonbombers Reddit thread that was used to identify the Boston Marathon Bombers. Through a historiography of these evens I will trace the culture of conspiracy and how it has evolved with the changes in media technology over time. | 42 pages
Recommended Citation
Gagliardi, Jennifer Carol, "The Culture of Conspiracy: Evolving Media Technology and Its Relationship to Conspiracy Theories" (2017). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 2555.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/2555