Neoliberal Loops - Neoliberal Loops [Zillow + Billionaires' Row] (work in progress)

 Screenshots from Zillow

Full playlist of Neoliberal Loops.

Neoliberal Loops - Sleeping Jutta (Lost in Translation) and Cherry Blossoms (work in progress)

I was inspired by Kacere and Coppola when creating Sleeping Jutta (Lost in Translation). However, I wanted to turn around the male gaze to confront the viewer.

Jutta, John Kacere, Oil on Canvas, 53 x 78.5in., 1973. Source: https://www.meiselgallery.com/artwork/jutta/

Lost in Translation (filmstill), Sofia Coppola, 2003. Source: https://michaelmoseryr2.wordpress.com/2015/10/18/260mc-coursework-1-lost-in-translation-analysis-cinematic-language/

Watch opening of Lost in Translation: https://vimeo.com/122514833

Emma Johnson, Sleeping Jutta (Lost in Translation), Digital Photography Print, 13 x 19 in., 2026.

Emma Johnson, Sleeping Jutta (Lost in Translation), Digital Video, 27 minutes 30 seconds, 2026: https://youtu.be/RA4cIjnXvHQ?si=Ks969nUuMcPNv-4m

Coppola's opening sequence reminded me of the French version of Beauty and the Beast, which I find creepy.

Illustration for Beauty and the Beast. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1874.

Additional photographs in the Sleeping Jutta (Lost in Translation) and Cherry Blossoms series:

Emma Johnson, Sleeping Jutta (Lost in Translation) [blurry], 2026. Digital C-Print, 13 x 19 in.

Emma Johnson, Sleeping Jutta (Lost in Translation) [with hand], 2026. Digital C-Print, 13 x 19 in.

Emma Johnson, Cherry Blossoms [window], 2026. Digital C-Print, 13 x 19 in.

Emma Johnson, Cherry Blossoms [Houghton, Michigan, USA], 2026. Digital C-Print, 13 x 19 in.

Emma Johnson, Cherry Blossoms [Jena, Germany], 2026. Digital C-Print, 13 x 19 in.

Full playlist of Neoliberal Loops.

Brown Bag Talk, March 2025

Beauty, Excess, and the Grotesque in the Late-Capitalism Critique of Lauren Greenfield" is a presentation by Emma Johnson at the RTC's March 28, 2025, Brown Bag Talk at the Petersen Library, Walker Arts & Humanities Center at Michigan Technological University in preparation for the SCMS 2025 Chicago presentation.

Filmed by Samantha Canevez for the Humanities Department at Michigan Technological University. Abstract: Embracing slow cinema and focusing on women are both underappreciated approaches to filmmaking when it comes to representing the financial crisis. One filmmaker who explores the financial crisis through these underused techniques is Lauren Greenfield. In this paper, I will explore three of Greenfield’s films through the lens of theorists Jill Godmilow and Nicholas Mirzoeff to show how alternative ways of looking provide a new critique of capitalism. Typically, films on financial crises are fast paced. Juliette Feyel and Clémence Fourton’s 2019 article “Post-2008 Films: The Financial Crisis in Fictions and Documentaries” argues that 2008-crisis films are represented in specific structures and patterns. Clichéd quick cuts show phone calls, graphs, and skyscrapers. These visual depictions are limiting, often excluding how crisis affects daily life and women. An alternative approach is found in the work of Greenfield, including the films The Queen of Versailles (2012), Generation Wealth (2018), and The Kingmaker (2019). I argue that Greenfield uses beauty, excess, and the grotesque to critique late capitalism. Greenfield favors mundane daily life with long shots of mansions with neglected pools, motivational posters in a vacated office, and dog poop left on the carpet after the nannies are laid off. She pays attention to women in a sub-genre where women are largely absent and uses slow-cinema techniques in a sub-genre that mostly embraces fast-paced narratives. Interviewees who would typically be depicted in quick clips are given screen time to humanize themselves. Greenfield juxtaposes excess with relatable reasons for its pursuit, drawing attention away from subjects and toward the system that creates it, coming close to accomplishing what Godmilow terms postreal filmmaking and Mirzoeff Visuality 2. Ultimately, Greenfield invites the audience to sit with her subjects, identify with them, and begin to imagine an alternative world.

"Normal Girl" by Emma Johnson

Performed 2/8/2026

https://youtu.be/JH9Z2edXjmk?si=4WO9ttCvmaIFR2UW

Emma sings Kanye's "Stronger"

https://youtu.be/x8UZv6V7wBQ?si=60uaSLOuHgOACVMD

Singing "Stronger" by Kanye West, which samples from Daft Punk, in the Memorial Union Building at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, for karaoke for Winter Carnival 2026, on February 4, 2026. A song also covered by Marnie in HBO's Girls. So, here is another iteration. Videography by Varsha V.K.

Article on KCP FFF Award

I am grateful for receiving the King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship.

https://blogs.mtu.edu/gradschool/2025/12/16/the-king-chavez-parks-future-faculty-fellowship-program-fall-2025-emma-johnson/

Emma C. Johnson, Academic Résumé

DEGREES

Doctor of Philosophy, Michigan Technological University, 2022-Present (expected 2028)

Rhetoric, Theory, & Culture

Master of Arts, Central Michigan University, 2022

History

Bachelor of Arts, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 2008

English

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2005

Painting, Photography

EDUCATION

Michigan Technological University, 2022-Present

Philosophy, Literature, Composition, Rhetoric, Globalization, Creative Non-Fiction Writing, Technology, Film Theory, Alterity, Aesthetics and Modernity

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany, Spring 2022

History, Sociology

Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, MI, 2022

Conversational German 

 

Central Michigan University, Master of Arts, 2020-2022

History

Michigan Technological University, MiCUP/MI-LSAMP, 2015

Statistics

Delta College, 2012-2015

French, physics, math, piano, biology, inorganic & organic chemistry

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Bachelor of Arts, English, 2006–2008

English, writing, German, film studies 
Fluent in German, U of M Language Proficiency Exam, 1/16/09

Rutgers University, New Brunswick, National Student Exchange, 2007-2008

English, German, interactive design

Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Photography, Painting, 2000–2005

Fine art, media arts, graphic design, art history

Macalester College, Macalester Exchange Program, 2003

Philosophy

Parsons Paris School of Art and Design / École Parsons à Paris (renamed Paris College of Art), Study Abroad, Fall 2002

Fine art, French

Michigan Technological University, Post-secondary option, 1999-2000

Art, writing, psychology, economics

ADDITIONAL EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT

HASTAC Scholar, cohort 2025-2027

https://hastac.hcommons.org/members/emmacjohnson/blogs/

Northwestern University

• 2024 Rhetoric, Media, and Publics Summer Institute. “Media Aesthetics VI: Shared Grounds of Media Aesthetics and Ecology.” Sponsored by the Center for Global Culture and Communication, Northwestern University. Evanston, IL. 15-19 July 2024.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

• Spent one week researching at LOC for the project “Monuments of the U.S.-Mexico Border: "What art objects reveal about power in the borderlands” funded by the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture (IPEC) at Michigan Technological University. Washington, D.C. 9-16 June 2024.

LANGUAGES

German, 5 semesters, University of MN & Rutgers (2006-2008), Self-study (2020-Present)

French, 2 semesters, Parsons Paris (2002), Delta College (2013), Self-study (2016 – Present)

Mandarin, 10 weeks, Chinese Cultural Ongoing Program (CCOP), Midland, MI (2011)

Spanish, 3.5 years, Houghton High School, Houghton, MI (1995-1998)

SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2025). “Coercive Algorithms: How asymmetries in power are revealed in Lauren Greenfield’s Social Studies.” Popular Culture Association. New Orleans, Louisiana. 16-19 Apr 2025.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2025). "Beauty, Excess, and the Grotesque in the Late-Capitalism Critique of Lauren Greenfield." Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Chicago, Illinois. 3-6 Apr 2025.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “The American Dream is thriving on reality TV: Examining Project Runway, success narratives, and a nation’s founding story.” Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Annual Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. 4-6 Oct 2024.

Poster Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Toward an Anti-Capitalist Self-Care: Self-care for students through work-life balance, community connection, and flexible time.” 2024 Upper Peninsula Teach and Learning Conference. “Embracing Change: Meeting the Needs of Modern Learners,” Bay College, Escanaba, MI, 13-14 May 2024.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Toward an Anti-Capitalist Self-Care: Self-care for students through work-life balance, community connection, and flexible time.” 2024 Upper Peninsula Teach and Learning Conference. “Embracing Change: Meeting the Needs of Modern Learners,” Bay College, Escanaba, MI, 13-14 May 2024.

Poster Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Bauhaus, Burning Man, and Bohemia: Interfacing with the world through technology, philosophy, and aesthetics.” Graduate Student Government, “Graduate Research Colloquium,” Michigan Technological University, 26 Mar 2024.

Oral Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Bauhaus, Burning Man, and Bohemia: Interfacing with the world through technology, philosophy, and aesthetics.” Graduate Student Government, “Graduate Research Colloquium,” Michigan Technological University, 26 Mar 2024.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2024). “Bauhaus, Burning Man, and Bohemia: Interfacing with the world through technology, philosophy, and aesthetics.” Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Virtual Graduate Student Mini-Conference, 22-23 Mar 2024. (Online)

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2023). "Bobo/ETF Hipsters: Embracing creativity over commerce in [HBO's] Girls." Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Annual Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. 6-8 Oct 2023.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2023). "Bourdieu's 'Distinction,' socio-economic class, and pop culture in first-year composition." Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Annual Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois. 6-8 Oct 2023.

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2023). “All Dressed Up With Everywhere To Go: Fashion as a reflection of identity in the Atlantic Anthropocene.” 10th International Conference on Language, Literature, and Culture. “Fashion As Material Culture.” Organized by Gümüşhane University, Ankara Science University, and University of Évora. Gümüşhane Üniversitesi, Turkey. 15-16 Sept 2023. (Online)

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2022). “The French Concession as Contested Space: What aesthetics reveal about globalization in Xīntiāndi.” Arch Dalrymple III Department of History Graduate History Conference, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi (Virtual).

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2022). “Representations of War: How the Vietnam War shifted art from abstraction to (public) intervention.” History Graduate Student Association Conference, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (Virtual).

Presenter. Johnson, E. (2021). “Performing Nationality: What the 1773 Boston Tea Party reveals about American identity,” Navigating Chaos. Arch Dalrymple III Department of History Graduate Student Association’s Conference. University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS. 10 Apr 2021. (Virtual)

Co-presenter. Johnson, E. (2015). "From Writing Center to WRIT: Adding Reading & Technology Services to Our Writing Center." International Writing Centers Association Conference "Writing Center (r)Evolutions," Pittsburgh, PA, 9 Oct 2015.

Poster Presenter. Johnson, E. (2015). "Determination of 25-hydroxy Vitamin D in Human Tears and Blood Plasma using ELISA Assay Kit." MiCUP Poster Presentation, Michigan Technological University. Houghton, Michigan.

SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS 

 

Book chapter in Bad Ideas about AI and Writing: Toward Generative Ideas for Teaching, Learning, and Communication. (2024 proposal accepted, in external review, forthcoming)

“Darkytown Rebellion Installation: Viewers become a Kara Walker live action film” Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota, 22 May 2013. Online. http://web.archive.org/web/20141015204932/http://voices.cla.umn.edu/essays/essays/DarkytownRebellion.html

“Kara Walker”
Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota, 20 May 2013. Online. http://web.archive.org/web/20150422015808/http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/karaWalker.html

SCHOLARSHIPS & AWARDS

*King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship, 2025-2027

*Graduate Research Assistantship, IPEC, 2025

*Michael Schoenecke Travel Grant for Graduate Students, Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA), 2025

*Gary Burns Graduate Student Travel Grant, Midwest Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (MPCA/ACA), 2024

*IPEC Graduate Student Small Grant Award, Michigan Technological University, 2024

*Travel Grant, Graduate Student Government, Michigan Technological University, 2023

*Spring 2022 Graduate Student Presentation Grant, Central Michigan University, 2022 

*Central Michigan University, Office of Study Abroad Scholarship, Spring 2022 

*American Association of University Women – Women in Transition Scholarship, 2021-2022

*Albert Thomas and Brenda Jones Quick Graduate Study Abroad Scholarship, 2021

*European Union’s Erasmus+ exchange program grant, Spring 2021 (Central Michigan University and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität)

*Semester Abroad Tuition Waiver, Spring 2021 (Central Michigan University, History Department for Friedrich-Schiller-Universität)

*Graduate Assistantship, Fall 2020 (Central Michigan University)

*Grow with Google Developer Scholarship, 2018 (Google/Udacity)

*Grow with Google Challenge Scholarship, 2018 (Google/Udacity)

*Scott Kennedy Memorial Scholarship, 2017 (Interfaith Peace-Builders)

*Helen M. Casey Center for Nonviolence, 2017 (for Interfaith Peace-Builders delegation)

*Coca-Cola Scholarship, 2015-16 (Delta College)

*Zonta Club of Midland Scholarship, 2014-15 (Midland Area Community Foundation for Delta College)

*Arthur J. and Bette L. Fisher Scholarship, 2014-15 (Delta College)

*M. Seth Babcock Scholarship, 2013-14 (Delta College)

*First United Methodist Church of Midland, MI, 2011 (funds for mission trip to Chiang Mai)

*Cari-DeWall Obst Uptown Association Scholarship, 2002-03, 2003-04 (Minneapolis College of Art and Design)

*Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Scholarship (Copper Country Suzuki Association private and group violin lessons)

*Houghton High School Music Boosters, Band Camp Scholarship, 1996-1999