Portfolio/CV

Research


Spring 2023:

From Damsel in Distress to Leading Lady: Undergraduate Honors Thesis

DamseltoLeading.pdf

ABSTRACT:

This thesis examines how gender identities, specifically cis and trans women, are represented in the Super Mario franchise by examining the characters of Princess Peach, Birdo, and Vivian. I look at how the representation of these characters’ gender is handled throughout the lifetime of the franchise down to specific games to understand how their appearance and behavior are influenced by and influence societal and gender norms at given times.

This thesis is heavily interdisciplinary, taking concepts from gender studies, literary studies, translation studies, and video game studies. Gender studies scholars I make use of  include Judith Butler, Lee Edelman, Jack Halberstam, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. I also draw from game theories and the practices of important industry figures, predominantly Super Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Kirby and Super Smash Brothers creator Masahiro Sakarai. Alongside, I also look at audience responses to these games and their representations of gender to create a coherent timeline of these characters’ development. 

This thesis demonstrates how video games reflect, contribute to, and counter the gender norms that cultures and societies create. Princess Peach went from being the passive “damsel in distress” to being a more frequent active, playable character and starring in her own games. On the other hand, the inconsistent translations of game text about Birdo across different languages makes their gender illegible to players. Vivian, too, is translated variously across languages and time due to cultural differences, which shows how societal and cultural norms around gender shift.


Creative Projects


Stairs to Stardom (Spring 2023)

·         Stairs to Stardom is a board game that me and three other students created for our final project in Game Design Fundamentals. We were taught the process of creating a game design document and were put to the task of creating a fully functional prototype and GDD.

·         My task in the group was to create the theme and story of the game. For this game, I gave it the theme of music and popularity. I was tasked with creating ideas that related to the music industry and finding ways for it to connect with the goal of the game.

·         The goal of the game is to collect as many “stars” to progress more “steps” for that week. You earn “stars” by playing cards in your hand that can either earn you “stars” or take them away. At the end of each round, players count how many stars they have and whoever has the most progresses four steps. It goes on to three, then two, then one. Whoever makes it to the center stage is the winner.

·         I currently still own the prototype.


Stairs to Stardom GDD.pdf

Translating and Performing Chico Buarque’s Chapeuzinho Amarelo (Spring 2022)

·         My first semester on campus, I took Portuguese Translation Workshop with Professor Tal Goldfajn. For the final assignment, we took o Chapeuzinho Amarelo and translated it from Brazilian Portuguese to English. We would then create a performance of it and perform it at the Eric Carle Museum to kids in the area. I assisted in the translation and played the Lobo or wolf in the performance. I would then go on to assist in photoshopping and editing for the PIPA Project at UMass.



TTTB_Documentary_2.mp4

Recorded and Interviewed Radical Play Game Design Team

·         For my first semester on campus, Professor TreaAndrea Russworm gave me the opprotunity to be her intern and one of my tasks was to interview her team of students who were creating a game.


Welcome to HFA video. (Spring 2022)

·         Under the guidance of Professor TreaAndrea Russworm, I assisted in videography for the Welcome to HFA video that was shown to the new cohort of students. I went around with a camera and gathered footage of important sites and asked professors if I could record them very quickly and briefly. I went far and wide to capture my footage.


Welcome to HFA.mp4

Critical and Analytical Projects


Portugal Civ Final Introduction (1).mp4

Portuguese Civilization Final Video Essay/ Powerpoint (Fall 2022)

·         For my final assignment for Portuguese Civilization with Professor Patricia Ferreira, I decided I wanted to have a little fun and look at games that have Portuguese representation in them. The task was to make a five-minute-long video looking at a few examples. I wanted to have fun with it, but also make it informative. I attempted to put visual gags to make Professor Ferreira smile while also making the video go along with what I was saying. I wanted the video to be dense but smooth. This project would be a continuation of a PowerPoint I created showcasing Portugal and the Lisbon Earthquake represented in Assassin’s Creed Rogue and how there is a lack of representation in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet when the region is based off the Iberian Peninsula.


A Way Out Video Essay (Spring 2022)

·         This would be my first video essay analytically looking at a video game. This was the final assignment for Introduction to Video Game Studies with Professor TreaAndrea Russworm and the task was to take a game we were familiar with and choose a subject to look at them critically analyze the mechanics. I chose to look at Josef Fares’s A Way Out released in 2018. The main mechanic of the game is that it is a two-player narrative adventure. I wanted to discuss the agency of the player since one character is seen as the moral compass and the other is reckless. The plot twist at the end is that the moral compass, Vincent, was an undercover police officer crossing the other player, Leo. I discussed how the player plays a more active role in this game because the players must decide unanimously on certain actions. This conversation makes them really think about the choices then just mindlessly deciding and going with typically a game wants a player to do.

A Way Out Final Video Essay.mp4

Relevant Training


Courses