My FYP is an American Studies FYP because.....

My choice of FYP sets it solely in the realm of an American Studies dissertation. I have chosen to write it on American crime fiction movies, centered around Quentin Tarantino and his emergence into the business with the potential creation of a new genre 'Ironic Crime Comedy'. I'm going to examine the portrayal of gender and masculinity in America as portrayed in these types of films. I am looking to extend this, to study in depth whether it is simply textual reality and masculinity or a portrayal of existing cultural issues. This leads into an argument of postmodernism looking at Kill Bill and fantasy versions of femeninity. My FYP is is quite focussed so doesn't span a wide range of past modules but does cover a few areas of the course previously studied. American Culture plays a large part in my study, looking at consumerist culture (Red Apple ciggarettes) and the distorted version of the American Dream portrayed in many crime films, most notably having roots in gangster films (Scarface) with immigrants finding their own dream. America is a nation of multiple cultures and that comes accross in these types of films, not only with multi-racial characters but also the cinematography can be seen as having roots outside the U.S., Tarantino uses some definitively European styles in his work. This mix to create something new is a large part of the mosaic that is American Cuture.