Academic Work & Publications

The Trans* Fantasy in Harry Langdon’s The Chaser - pop junctions (HenryJenkins.org)

After taking a comedy studies class with Professor Henry Jenkins, I wrote and published a paper on trans* themes in a Harry Langdon film called The Chaser. It can be read here.

late stage capitalism monopoly - first forum usc 2021, virtual exhibition

An adaptation of Monopoly that literally falls apart as you play it. A dwindling candle imposes a time limit on property ownership while money spent goes up in flames. Meanwhile, ice tokens melt and depreciate property values and candied cards provide temporary rewards, all as the tissue paper game board acts as a fragile foundation for questionable fun. With a mix of rules that make playing the game within its classic win conditions impossible, and sparks of joy from the game’s new sensory pieces, the experience seeks to playfully provide a space in which players navigate collapsing capitalist structures and find moments of pleasure in working against them. Here’s a link to the conference publication video: https://youtu.be/ZGRTGuZKNcA.

Media literate - guest

In a podcast with other members of USC’s Cinema and Media Studies class of 2022, I discussed ideas related to game studies including episodes on empathy and marginalization in Until Dawn (episode 13), the implicit values in structures of Dungeons and Dragons (episode 5), and themes of revolution in Tales of Vesperia and Detroit: Become Human (episode 26). You can listen to the podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/media-literate/id1551487889.

Other Research Topics

Other research topics include:

  • Resistance and Agency in Detroit: Become Human, Life is Strange 2, and Tales of Vesperia

  • Communal Play and Choices in Tabletop Roleplaying Games

  • A Practical Study of Worldbuilding, Narrative Design, and Design Visualization 

  • Space, Distraction, and Community: The Effect of New Interactive Technology on Sociality within the Home

  • Empathy and Identification in Until Dawn

  • The Merging of Fantasy and Reality in Pan’s Labyrinth

  • Forms of Femininity in Cléo from 5 to 7

  • The Liminality of Water in Happy Together and The Host

  • Trans* Play Spaces in Tabletop Roleplaying Games

  • Humanizing the Other: Normativity and Queerness in Guillermo Del Toro’s Monsters

The Latest Call

Sabrina currently acts as the Lead Editor of The Latest Call, Last Call Theatre’s publication on immersive entertainment. Their writings can be read here: https://www.lastcalltheatre.com/latestcall.