Graduation Year
2018
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Media Studies
Reader 1
Thomas Connelly
Reader 2
Carlin Wing
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2018 Samantha R Richards
Abstract
This paper explores the way that “truth” is constructed in a fictional sphere through visual and narrative references. I draw upon Caetlin Benson-Allott’s Paranormal Spectatorship, and Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin’s Remediation to inform my analysis of these constructions. I look specifically at Roanoke, the sixth season of American Horror Story, to provide examples of the way faux footage horror’s unique use of the subjective shot constructs the spectator as both a witness and an interrogator, and creates an aesthetic language of truth. While being immersed in the story, viewers are simultaneously invited to consider how the narrative is being constructed, and by whom. This parallactic viewing experience suggests a future for the unique challenge of serialized televisual horror.
Recommended Citation
Richards, Samantha, "The Construction of Truth in Fiction: An Analysis of the Faux Footage Genre in Television" (2018). Scripps Senior Theses. 1197.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1197
