Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Feminine Purity And Masculine Revenge-Seeking In Taken (2008), Casey Kelly

Casey R. Kelly

The 2008 film Taken depicts the murderous rampage of an ex-CIA agent seeking to recover his teenage daughter from foreign sex traffickers. I argue that Taken articulates a demand for a white male protector to serve as both guardian and avenger of white women's “purity” against the purportedly violent and sexual impulses of third world men. A neocolonial narrative retold through film, Taken infers that the protection of white feminine purity legitimates both male conquest abroad and overbearing protection of young women at home. I contend that popular films such as Taken are a part of the broader cultural system …

The Creation Of Chronicity: An Institutional Case Study Of Social Policy And Severe Retardation In The Progressive Era, Philip Ferguson

Philip M. Ferguson

The theme of this volume is emerging issues in disability studies. To the extent that disability studies is a relatively new field, new issues are constantly emerging and the discipline could hardly be characterized as in a state of "normal science," to borrow a phrase from Thomas Kuhn. Too, since the field of disability studies is interdisciplinary, new issues constantly emerge as researchers synthesize concepts and approaches from various more traditional disciplines (e.g., sociology, political science, psychology, law).

Getting Your Bloke On: Gender Issues In The Reality Competition 'I Will Survive', Frank Miller

Frank M Miller III

The Australian reality competition "I Will Survive" set out to find a cast replacement for the leading role in the Broadway production of "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." The stage version closed halfway through production the series, forcing a repositioning of the competition as the search to find "Australia's next triple threat." Even when the main prize was a role as a drag queen, however, the series presented a heterocentric approach to gender that treated drag less as a means of personal expression than as a part in a play that just happened to be about two gay men and …

The Aesthetic Of Revolution In The Film And Literature Of Naguib Mahfouz, Nathaniel Greenberg

Nathaniel Greenberg

In the wake of the 1952 Revolution, Egypt’s future Nobel laureate in literature devoted himself exclusively to writing for film. The Aesthetic of Revolution in the Film and Literature of Naguib Mahfouz is the first full-length study in English to examine this critical period in the author’s career and to contextualize it within the scope of post-revolutionary Egyptian politics and culture. Before returning to literature in 1959 with his post-revolutionary masterpiece Children of the Alley, Mahfouz wrote or co-wrote some twenty odd scripts, many of them among the most successful in Egyptian history. He did so at a time when …

“La Gramática De Las Flores: Michael Taussig, La Toya, Juan Echavarría Y Amador” (The Grammar Of The Flowers: Michael Taussig, La Toya, Juan Manuel Echavarría And Amador), Andrés Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

No abstract provided.

Australia And New Zealand Gamers Research Database, Jeffrey Brand

Jeffrey Brand

No abstract provided.

Figure/Ground Interviews With Professors Theo Van Leeuwen, Trevor Johnston, Aranye Fradenburg And Dawn Bennett, A/Professors Carmen Daniela Maier And Mehdi Riazi As Well As Artist, Paul Galy Oam, Judie Cross

Judith (Judie) L Cross

Figure/Ground Communication is an open-source, para-academic, inter-disciplinary collaboration who investigates central problems across academia through in-depth conversations with scholars, researchers, and university professors, artists, filmmakers, and creators of every stripe. Judie Cross interviewed Professors Theo van Leeuwen, Trevor Johnston, Aranye Fradenburg and Dawn Bennett, A/Professors Carmen Daniela Maier and Mehdi Riazi as well as artist Paul Galy OAM.

Silent Subversions, Derek Dubois

Derek M Dubois

Explores the concept of spectatorship in relation to gender in the earliest period of film history in the United States known as the silent era. Argues that a new mode of spectatorship emerges for women during the 1920s, which employs to advantage the extra-diegetic components of spectacle in theater design, new customized genres for female filmgoers, fandom, and exotic male film stars, such as Rudolph Valentino. Focuses primarily on feminist film theory and on cultural studies as methodological models.

The Ister: Between The Documentary And Heidegger’S Lecture Course Politics, Geographies, And Rivers, Babette Babich

Babette Babich

The Ister, the 2004 documentary by the Australian scholars and videographers, David Barison, a political theorist, and Daniel Ross, a philosopher, appeals to Martin Heidegger’s 1942 lecture course, Hölderlins Hymne «Der Ister»and the video takes us «backward» as the river flows: beginning from the Danube’s delta where it ends in the sea and «journeying» with it to its source in the Alps. the value of the Barison/Ross documentary for both political theory and philosophy is its illustration of the technological incursions or assaults on the river itself, that is to say: its representation of the ‘uses’ and hence of the …

Musical Modernism In Brian May's Australian Film Scores, Rebecca Coyle, Michael Hannan

Dr Rebecca Coyle

No abstract provided.

The Latino Immigrant Labor Experience As Depicted In Film, Duane Wright

Duane E Wright II

The author argues that traditional macro-level methods of gathering data on populations create an impersonal depiction of the group. A useful pedagogical tool for teachers to counter this is to use fictional accounts in film and literature to put a more human face on the subjects being studied. Two films, Bread and Roses and El Norte, are used in this way to enhance or add another dimension to studies of the labor experience of Latino immigrants in the United States. The films are looked at through various sociological theories, Assimilation, Competition, and Neo-Marxist. The author concludes that Neo-Marxist theory best …

Fishing For Animal Rights In "The Cove": A Holistic Approach To Animal Advocacy Documentaries, Carrie Freeman

Carrie P Freeman

The Oscar-winning 2009 documentary "The Cove" serves as a thrilling and poignant advocacy tool promoting activism to save free-roaming dolphins off the coast of Japan from kidnapping, enslavement in marine parks, and slaughter for meat. This essay evaluates the ethical and social justice implications of The Cove not just for dolphins but for the animal rights movement as a whole, particularly in terms of how it could challenge the ethicality of humans killing any nonhuman animals for food. Strategic media recommendations are made for how animal protection advocates could better deconstruct the human/animal dualism that is at the root of …

“El Resto, Los Insectos" (What Remains: The Insects), Andrés Henao Castro, Juan Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

No abstract provided.

Postcards From The Edge V: Film Studies [Presentation File], Nedda Ahmed

Nedda H Ahmed

No abstract provided.

Postcards From The Edge V: Film Studies [Handout File], Nedda Ahmed

Nedda H Ahmed

No abstract provided.

Bibliography For Work In Holocaust Studies, Agata Lisiak, Louise Vasvári, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

Tötösy de Zepetnek, Steven & Totosy de Zepetnek, Steven

No abstract provided.

Human Rights In Camera, Sharon Sliwinski

Sharon Sliwinski

Peak Oil And Transition [Producer/Writer/Director], John A. Duvall

John Duvall

Ethically Notable Videogames: Moral Dilemmas And Gameplay, Jose Zagal

Jose P Zagal

In what ways can we use games to make moral demands of players and encouraging them to reflect on ethical issues? In this article we propose an ethically notable game as one that provides opportunities for encouraging ethical reasoning and reflection. Our analysis of the videogames Ultima IV, Manhunt, and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn highlights the central role that moral dilemmas can play towards creating ethically notable games. We discuss the different ways that these are implemented, such as placing players in situations in which their understanding of an ethical system is challenged, or by creating moral tension between the …

Rounds, Levels, And Waves: The Early Evolution Of Gameplay Segmentation, Jose Zagal, Clara Fernandez-Vara, Michael Mateas

Jose P Zagal

This article explores the early evolution of the structure and management of gameplay in videogames. We introduce the notion of gameplay segmentation to capture the role that design elements like level, boss, and wave play in videogames, and identify three modes of segmentation. Temporal segmentation limits, synchronizes and/or coordinates player activity over time. Spatial segmentation breaks the game’s virtual space into sub-locations. Challenge segmentation presents the player with a sequence of self-contained challenges. We describe each mode, and additional sub-modes, by analyzing vintage arcade games. Our analyses illustrate how these games represent a “primordial soup” in which many current game …

Collaborative Games: Lessons Learned From Board Games, Jose Zagal, Rick Jochen, Hsi Idris

Jose P Zagal

Collaborative mechanisms are starting to become prominent in computer games, like massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs); however, by their nature, these games are difficult to investigate. Game play is often complex and the underlying mechanisms are frequently opaque. In contrast, board games are simple. Their game play is fairly constrained and their core mechanisms are transparent enough to analyze. In this article, the authors seek to understand collaborative games. Because of their simplicity, they focus on board games. The authors present an analysis of collaborative games. In particular, they focus on Reiner Knizia’s LORDOFTHERINGS, considered by many to be the …

Postcards From The Edge: Reference & Instruction For Film Studies [Presentation File], Nedda Ahmed

Nedda H Ahmed

No abstract provided.

Postcards From The Edge: Reference & Instruction For Film Studies [Resource List File], Nedda Ahmed

Nedda H Ahmed

No abstract provided.

Carlo Michelstaedter’S La Persuasione E La Rettorica: A Translation And Commentary, Carlo Michealstaedter, Russell Valentino, Cinzia Blum, David Depew

David J Depew

This translation of Carlo Michelstaedter’s Persuasion and Rhetoric brings the powerful and original work of a seminal cultural figure to English-language readers for the first time. Ostensibly a commentary on Plato’s and Aristotle’s relation to the pre-Socratic philosophers, Michelstaedter’s deeply personal book is an extraordinary rhetorical feat that reflects the author’s struggle to make sense of modern life. This edition includes an introduction discussing his life and work, an extensive bibliography, notes to introduce each chapter, and critical notes illuminating the text. Within hours of completing Persuasion and Rhetoric, his doctoral thesis, 23-year-old Michelstaedter shot himself to death. The text …