LOS ANGELES (July 12, 2017) 鈥� Capstone senior thesis projects from graduating seniors in 麻豆传媒集团鈥檚 School of Media, Culture & Design (MCD) can be both culminations and beginnings 鈥� and the recently-concluded academic year proved no exception.
鈥淭he 2017 year-end showcase of student work was, as we anticipated, among MCD鈥檚 best, highlighting the creativity and accomplishments of graduating seniors,鈥� said Sue Vessella, M.F.A., Dean, MCD. 鈥淥pening student portfolios is often a revelation, exposing achievement and profound inquiry in equal measure. We were again blessed with a wealth of projects and are delighted to share brief glimpses of three capstone submissions of note, in the Communication, Graphic Design and Psychology departments. They鈥檙e representative of the quality of student work that continues to distinguish the School.鈥�
Psychology: The Shame of Bullying
At the 2017 Western Psychological Association Annual Conference this spring, every graduating student in Psychology at Woodbury presented the results of his or her Capstone empirical thesis research project. Senior Nare Nazaryan addressed a topic now at center stage in public discourse nationwide, with her thesis, 鈥淚t鈥檚 Not Just for Kids: Association between Bullying, Narcissism, Shame and Irrational Aggression in Young Adults.鈥�
Nazaryan noted that bullying, an issue typically confined to younger people, was more prevalent in college than she anticipated. Based on her preliminary research, she was surprised at how little research focused on bullying among college students, so she shifted her focus to exploring socially aggressive behavior in young adults.
Fresh out of high school, many students maintain similar patterns of social interaction into their early adult years 鈥� but why would someone continue to engage in such negative behavior? Nazaryan was interested in how personality characteristics, such as narcissism, and emotional states, such as shame, manifested themselves. She found that narcissistic characteristics, relational aggression, and, surprisingly, shame, are higher in college students who have prior experience bullying others. In addition to completing surveys, participants wrote a response to a vignette about a frustrating social situation 鈥� in this case, being left out. Participants higher in shame and narcissism were more likely to perceive others as hostile and provide an ineffective solution to the vignette. Those higher in bullying and narcissism were more likely to provide an aggressive response to the vignette.
Nazaryan continues to work with her professors to develop her research for submission to an academic journal. 鈥淲orking on my capstone project made me realize how much I love doing research,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y goal is to continue my academic and professional career in this field. The reason why I鈥檝e developed a growing passion for research is because of my mentors, Dr. Christensen and Dr. Faber, who鈥檝e made this process highly rewarding and enjoyable for me.鈥�
Communication: The Art of Randomness
Among the 22 senior thesis projects in Communication was Jordan Alsobrook 鈥榮 provocative 鈥淎rbitrary Art: The Improbable Inseparability of Music and Picture鈥� (https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5bgyJSSbvHzU2ZoWjJzSTJ6X00).
Evoking the late filmmaker Robert Bresson, Alsobrook advanced this thesis: 鈥渢here is no real reason why [sound and image] pair so beautifully, yet they somehow manage to captivate us when consumed in unison.鈥� Alsobrook created a video essay, including a filmed interview with KCRW music supervisor Liza Richardson, to explore the mysterious relationship between music and picture and, by extension, the embedded randomness of art.
Alsobrook strategically juxtaposed a scene from Friday Night Lights with one from Baz Luhrmann鈥檚 The Great Gatsby 鈥� the point at which 鈥淚 really got to hash out the 鈥榥o rules鈥欌�� facet of the relationship of music and picture. In this, he drew inspiration from the creators of South Park: 鈥淸Matt Stone and Trey Parker] spoke about the importance of clarifying a narrative鈥檚 鈥榯herefore鈥檚 as opposed to its 鈥榓nd then鈥檚.鈥欌�� Alsobrook cited Nassim Taleb鈥檚 book Antifragile and the concept of 鈥渄omain dependency,鈥� which speaks to 鈥渙ur conditioned predispositions鈥� concepts and understandings that we believe to be true aren鈥檛 always consistent in other arenas. Sound is entirely dependent on its picture鈥攊.e. domain, and therefore it is totally random.
鈥淚 learned that reality more often than not looks different from our expectations,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚 learned that being able to connect thoughts from various subject matters is equally difficult. I hope that we all learn to embrace the randomness of art more.鈥�
Graphic Design: Not Just Off the Top of Your Head
As part of 鈥淩epeat10鈥� Woodbury鈥檚 annual exhibition of Graphic Design students鈥� work, senior Czarah Castro developed a short video, 鈥淒ear Hair鈥� (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqWvM8lGeJ0) that addressed the stresses of women鈥檚 tresses.
鈥淚n the lives of women, hair has been transformed into a medium of expression,鈥� Castro asserted. 鈥淲hile it mainly serves as an element of one鈥檚 identity, hair has played a significant role in storytelling by self-expression. Now, women can curl, straighten, color, and mold their locks into anything they like,鈥� but in doing so, 鈥渨omen end up in an abyss of mixed feelings and exhaustion as a result of hair鈥檚 unending possibilities. Playing as the roots to their flowering minds, hair has the ability to nurture or inhibit the confidence levels鈥� among women.
Castro invited a variety of women to write letters addressed to their hair. These letters opened up 鈥渁 monologue of confessions and revealed relationships that are unique to each woman and their locks鈥� revealing that despite their differences, women can find a common ground with each other when they discuss stories about their hair. These declarations uncovered themes of frustration, endearment and identity.鈥� Castro鈥檚 film urges women to take a reflective moment to understand how hair fits into their lives, encouraging them to celebrate being female and to acknowledge one aspect of their identity that helps complete the puzzle of who they are.