American Film Studies Commons^™

The Exorcist, Julia Baumgart

Communication, Media & The Arts Undergraduate Publications

The Exorcist is a Warner Brothers film that was released in 1973 and directed by William Friedkin. It was produced and written by William Peter Blatty. The movie, rated R, was nominated for Best Cinematography, but won Best Picture, and Best Director. The movie also won Best Sound, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, and much more.

If The Exorcist was released today, it would still be scary, but not that big of a deal because many other horror films contain those vulgar and terrifying graphics. However, this came out in the early 1970s when this type of content was …

Scott, Ian. American Politics In Hollywood Film (Book Review), James Castonguay

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Book review by James Castonguay.

Scott, Ian. American Politics in Hollywood Film. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011. ISBN 9780748640249, ISBN 9780748640232 (pbk.)

The Hours – A Film To Enhance Teaching Psychology, Christina J. Taylor

Psychology Faculty Publications

Hollywood films provide a rich and engaging means for teaching students about psychological topics. The Hours is an especially noteworthy film because of the wide range of psychological issues touched upon, including mental illness, gender roles, families, chronic illness, bereavement, caregiving, sexuality, and sexual orientation. Analysis of the film in this paper provides instructors of courses in psychology, social work, nursing, medicine, women's studies, and related courses, with suggestions for how this compelling film can help students develop in their understanding of human psychology. Demonstrates the pedagogical value of using the feature film to learn about psychological topics, and its …

Dreadful Sorry: Spots Of Passion And The Memory Of Being Human In Kaufman’S “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind” And Pope’S ‘Eloisa To Abelard’, June-Ann Greeley

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Memory is a journey of infinite possibility, a continuous passage through time and sense that offers each person an opportunity not merely to recall and to reflect on former occasions and previous experiences, but to reconsider and to reexamine the past as a guide, as instruction, for healthy individuation. Memory, then, can be understood to be the aggregate of experiential and emotional recollection that frames the essential ground in forming and realizing individual identity. Both Alexander Pope in his poem “Eloisa to Abelard” and Michel Gondry/Charlie Kaufman in the film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” offer portraits of individuals …

Winning It All: The Cinematic Construction Of The Athletic American Dream, Andrew Miller

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Powered by a philosophy of self-determination and an ideology of a level playing field, the Athletic American Dream has become firmly entrenched in American culture. Following narrative pattterns influenced by both newspaper sports sections and juvenile sports fiction, it coalesces around underdog-to-champion, hard-work-leads-to-victory narratives that shape the sporting imagination and help to forge the masculine ideal that is the foundation of American self-image. The Athletic American Dream is produced, packaged and sold by mass media so successfully that one could argue that it becomes the most dominant vision of the American Dream by the end of the twentieth century.

Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ: Market Segmentation, Mass Marketing And Promotion, And The Internet, Peter A. Maresco

WCBT Faculty Publications

The pre-release publicity surrounding the Mel Gibson film, The Passion of the Christ, warrants an in-depth look at the role that market segmentation and marketing promotion, including use of the Internet, have played in the overall success of the film. As background, films commonly classified as biblical epics are referenced in order to construct a framework that will demonstrate how the promotion of this genre of film, with the exception of the Internet, has essentially changed very little over time. This paper is not a review of the film nor is it intended to be a brief course in marketing. …

Orson Welles: Interviews (Book Review), Sidney Gottlieb

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Book review by Sid Gottlieb.

Estrin, Mark W. "Orson Welles: Interviews." Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 2002. ISBN 9781578062089

The Political Economy Of The Indie Blockbuster: Fandom, Intermediality, And The Blair Witch Project, James Castonguay

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

The primary focus of this chapter is on what could be broadly described as The Blair Witch Project's political economy. This includes a consideration of the film's relationship to patterns of ownership and the economic structures of film production, distribution, and marketing within the structure of the entertainment industry and in the context of its critical and popular reception. The second half of the essay historicizes BWP in relation to film production and exhibition in the 1890s, and concludes with an examination of its mythic status as an independent film that threatened to undermine Hollywood's blockbuster paradigm. By placing …

'Good Little Bad Girls': Controversy And The Flapper Comedienne, Sara Ross

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

In the late 1910s and early 1920s, the American film industry experimented with variety of new and timely female types which in some way challenged the sexual status quo, including the bohemian feminist, the madcap, the baby vamp and the flapper. Whether drawn from the headlines, adapted from best-selling novels or hot Broadway plays, or created for the screen, these characters had the potential to generate both strong box office, and controversy and censorship.

Hollywood Goes To Washington: Scandal, Politics, And Contemporary Media Culture, James Castonguay

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Hollywood has long been associated with scandal--with covering it up, with managing its effects, and, in some cases, with creating and directing it. In putting together Headline Hollywood, Adrienne McLean and David Cook approach the relationship between Hollywood and scandal from a fresh perspective. The contributors consider some of the famous transgressions that shocked Hollywood and its audiences during the last century, and explore the changing meaning of scandal over time by zeroing in on issues of power: Who decides what crimes and misdemeanors should be circulated for public consumption and titillation? What makes a Hollywood scandal scandalous? What are …

Cowboy Wonderland, History, And Myth: 'It Ain't All That Different Than Real Life, William G. Simon, Louise Spence

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson was Robert Altman's bicentennial film. Released for the Fourth of July weekend in 1976, the film examines the western both as a national myth and as a commercial entertainment form; indeed, one might see the film's project as an expos? of the ideological functioning of the western, its white male hero, and the Native American in nearly 100 years of American popular culture.

Citizen Kane: American Heroes And Witnesses, Sidney Gottlieb

Communication, Media & The Arts Faculty Publications

Citizen Kane is in no danger of being dislodged from its place as one of the most respected films of all time, but it is in danger of losing its vitality as a film with meaning as well as impressive visual appeal. When we call Kane to mind, we no doubt remember stunning scenes and cinematic images: the close-up of Kane's lips filling the screen, whispering "Rosebud"; the breakfast-table montage sequence that in a few short minutes tells virtually all we need to know of the history of Kane's first marriage; the deep-focus shots of Susan and Kane dwarfed by …