Questioning the Nature of Reality: The Emancipatory Politics of Westworld (2016-)

Jones, Morgan

Questioning the Nature of Reality: The Emancipatory Politics of Westworld (2016-)

dc.contributor.advisor	Smith, Laurel
dc.contributor.author	Jones, Morgan
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Purcell, Darren
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Fields, Alison
dc.date.accessioned	2021-05-14T14:23:00Z
dc.date.available	2021-05-14T14:23:00Z
dc.date.issued	2021-05
dc.date.manuscript	2021-04-27
dc.description.abstract	The myth of the American West is rooted in a visual language of commodification, nationalism, and violence. The Western film genre codifies this aesthetic representation of space; it naturalizes the United States’ continuing colonization of the American West. To critique this popular geographic imaginary of the West, I analyze the long form television series Westworld (HBO 2016-). Drawing on film geographies, feminist geopolitics, and Jacques Rancière’s politics of aesthetics, I argue that the first season of Westworld can deconstruct our perceptions of the West, illuminate the power structures we take for granted, and create new emancipatory space. Keywords: Westworld, film geographies, feminist geopolitics, Jacques Rancière, aesthetic politics, emancipatory politics, Western, geographical imaginary, landscape, American West	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244/329561
dc.language	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	geopolitics	en_US
dc.subject	feminist geography	en_US
dc.subject	film geographies	en_US
dc.subject	emancipatory politics	en_US
dc.subject	Geography.	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Master of Arts	en_US
dc.title	Questioning the Nature of Reality: The Emancipatory Politics of Westworld (2016-)	en_US
ou.group	College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences::Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability	en_US