Date of Graduation

Spring 2026

Degree

Master of Arts in English

Department

English

Committee Chair

Leah Washburn

Abstract

The diegesis is the storyworld of a film, including all the characters, settings, events, and other elements. At certain times, though, that threshold is permeable, particularly when the fictional source material involves lived experiences. Two carceral films model an experimentation with adapted material and the palimpsestuous layering effect that is a result of real-life narratives being transposed into fictional ones. Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross (2024), and Sing Sing, directed by Greg Kwedar (2023), endeavor to humanize a stereotypically ostracized community: Black boys and men who are incarcerated. Through the screenwriting, casting, producing, filming, and sharing of their films with audiences, these filmmakers sought to embody what Tommy J. Curry calls, “Black vulnerability.” Together, these two texts are cultural utterances that speak to the potential love and healing our society can have.

Keywords

dialogism, diegesis, palimpsest, hypotext, hypertext, transposition, intertextuality, masculinities, Black vulnerability

Subject Categories

African American Studies | Film Production | Other Theatre and Performance Studies | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies | Screenwriting | Social Justice

Copyright

© Leslie D. Muench

Download

Open Access

Share

COinS