Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Between The Lens And The Gaze: Reflections Of Femininity In Film, Noureen Sakr

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the male gaze’s construction of femininity through the use of glass and reflective surfaces, particularly mirrors, windows, glasses, and cameras in film. Reflections and depictions of women are recurring motifs in cinema, often symbolizing dynamics of perception and power. This thesis mobilizes related psychoanalytic and feminist conceptions to examine and compare the recurring visual motifs in the following films: Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951) and Rear Window (1954), Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct (1992), & Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010). This thesis employs a qualitative, interdisciplinary methodology that integrates psychoanalytic theory, feminist film theory, literary criticism …

Faktor Keberhasilan Drama Korea Jealousy Menembus Keketatan Sensor Media Tiongkok Tahun 1993, Alifia Callista Nurqumaira, Rahadjeng Pulungsari Hadi

Multikultura

China's media regulatory and censorship system for imported television programs plays an important role in determining which foreign productions are granted permission for broadcast. In this context, the official broadcast of the South Korean television drama Jealousy in China in 1993, as the first South Korean drama officially aired in the country, provides a relevant case for examining the relationship between media regulation, censorship mechanisms, and cultural representation. This study aims to analyze the entry and broadcast of Jealousy in China, the media regulatory framework in place at the time, and the censorship criteria that enabled the drama to obtain …

Film Review: Queer Happiness And Family Myth In My Therapist Said, I Am Full Of Sadness, Ni Luh Ayu Sukmawati

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

The Social Reproduction Of Filipina Migrant Workers Represented In Ten Filipino Films, Elora Francisco, Precious Lois Layas, Karlena Ameina Saturnino, Leo Vicentino

Journal of International Women's Studies

The growing phenomenon of the Philippines’ high labor export has contributed not only to the country’s economy but also to that of countries all over the world who are receiving these migrants. With the demand for labor exports increasing, film narratives concerning overseas Filipino workers offer important insight into the experience of migrants. In particular, Filipina migrant workers (FMWs) face gendered socio-cultural constraints in their pursuit of financially supporting their families. While gender migration has been examined across various disciplines, the representation of the Filipina diaspora in mainstream contemporary Filipino films remains insufficiently explored. Thus, this study aims to determine …

The Making Of A Woman Superstar: An Analysis Of The Superstardom Of Malayalam Actor Manju Warrier, Sangeetha Ps, Jais Merlin P. Augustine

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines the construction and development of women’s superstardom in Malayalam cinema, drawing on the example of Manju Warrier, one of few Indian regional actresses to achieve sustained celebrity status that goes beyond youth and glamour. We draw upon Richard Dyer’s star theory, particularly his notion of the star as “structured polysemy,” a constellation of meanings that are produced by film roles, publicity, and audience reception (Dyer, 1998). This article examines how Manju Warrier’s star image is constructed through a productive interplay of film roles, mediated representations, public persona, and audience reception. The discussion also adopts a feminist film …

Alabama Film Commission Correspondence From Phil Cole, Executive Director, And Debra Smith Drew, Coordinator, 1981, Phil Cole, Debra Smith Drew

Correspondence

Correspondence from the Alabama Film Commission to William Lindsey McDonald regarding his assistance with the 1982 Film Commission Calendar and associated projects.

Scénographier La Mémoire : Le Costume Théâtral Comme Archive Vivante. Retour Sur L’Exposition « Tisser Le Temps », Mohammed Amin Boudrika

Regards

This article examines the role of theatre costume in constructing and transmitting the memory of the performing arts, drawing on the exhibition Tisser le Temps: Histoire et Création du Costume Théâtral Marocain (Weaving Time: History and Creation of Moroccan Theatre Costume), presented in 2024 as part of the National Theatre Festival of Tetouan. Given the ephemeral nature of theatrical performance, costume emerges as a material trace capable of preserving the memory of the production, of the actor's body and of the creative process. In this sense, it can be regarded as a genuine "living archive". The article also analyses the …

Archiver Le Théâtre Algérien : Itinéraire D’Un Chercheur, Ahmed Cheniki

Regards

Undertaking research on theatre in Algeria, the Arab world or sub-Saharan Africa is by no means an easy task; it is closer to an obstacle course. It is far from the simple "intellectual adventure" it is so often imagined to be. It is a gruelling experience, patiently built up over time: the outcome of a long and delicate process, a lengthy journey made up of rewarding moments, to be sure, and genuine discoveries, but also of trial and error, self-questioning, refusals, closed doors and, at times, decisive encounters.

Résumé
Entreprendre une recherche sur le théâtre en Algérie, dans le monde …

رحلة في أرشيفات المسرح العربي مقابلة مع أ.د سيد علي إسماعيل, Ons Trabelsi

Regards

This interview looks back on the career of theatre researcher and historian Sayed Ali Ismail and on his distinctive journey through the forgotten and marginalised documents of Arab theatre. The historian highlights the importance of archives in building a reinterpretation of the history of the performing arts in the Arab world, particularly in Egypt.

ملخّص
تتناول هذه المقابلة المسيرة المهنية للباحث والمؤرخ المسرحي سيد علي إسماعيل، بالإضافة إلى رحلته الفريدة مع الوثائق المنسية والمهمشة في مجال المسرح العربي. ويؤكد الباحث على أهمية الأرشيفات في إعادة قراءة تاريخ الفنون المسرحية في العالم العربي، ولاسيما في مصر

كلمات مفتاحية
الأرشيف، التوثيق، التاريخ، …

Palestinian Theatre Studies: The Emergence Of A Field, Noor Shihadeh

Regards

This article analyses the emergence of Palestinian theatre studies, a field of research bound to the modern history of Palestine and to the settler colonial violence that marks it. This violence strikes people, their cultural production and the very possibility of preserving it, shaping in turn how scholarship circulates and where it can be conducted. Studies on Palestinian theatre have nonetheless appeared since the 1960s. The article examines them through a multilingual literature review (Arabic, English, French, Italian, Hebrew) and identifies three main lines of research: a historical-documentary approach, a socio-political and anthropological approach, and a body of studies devoted …

Héritages, Mémoires Et Transmissions Dans « Augures (LaʿAllā Wa ʿAsā) » De Chrystèle Khodr, Najla Nakhlé-Cerruti

Regards

This article examines how Augures (Laʿallā wa ʿasā), a play created by Chrystèle Khodr in 2021 in Beirut and then presented in France, constructs an alternative historiography of the Lebanese civil war through theatre and its history. While the history of theatrical practice during this period remains largely unwritten in Lebanese historiography, the play draws on the intertwined memories of two iconic actresses, Hanane Hajj Ali and Randa Asmar had never converged before this production. Drawing on textual analysis, observation of the performance, and secondary sources, the article shows how Augures turns the stage into a space where history is …

L’Archive, Enjeu Et Miroir De La Structuration Du Mouvement Théâtral Indépendant En Égypte, Pauline Donizeau

Regards

This article examines the link between the archives of the independent theatre movement in Egypt and the movement’s difficult journey towards structuring itself, from its formation in the late 1980s to the present day. For the artists involved in this movement, who create outside the structures and funding of official institutions, the archives represent a major challenge in political, economic and aesthetic terms.

Résumé
L’article s’intéresse au lien entre les archives du mouvement théâtral indépendant en Égypte et sa difficile structuration, depuis sa formation à la fin des années 1980 jusqu’à maintenant. Pour les artistes de ce mouvement, qui créent …

نقد معاوية نور لمسرح أحمد شوقي (1929-1932): قراءة في أرشيف مجهول, Essam Abu Elgasim Abdel Wahid

Regards

Critiques of Ahmad Shawqi’s drama formed a prominent feature of the Sudanese critic Muawiya Muhammad Nur’s theatrical scholarship. Among the six articles he dedicated to analyzing theatrical works, Nur authored three pivotal essays on Shawqi’s theater published during the "Prince of Poets" life- time. The significance of these articles today lies in the fact that they remained "unknown" and absent from foundational references, leading to the omission of Nur’s contributions from studies documenting Arabic theatrical criticism in the pre-Mohamed Mandour era. This study serves as a call to re-read the history of Arabic theatrical criticism through a more precise and …

Introduction, Marianne Noujaim, Ons Trabelsi

Regards

L’histoire du théâtre arabe est une histoire traversée par des silences, des lacunes, et des discontinuités qui relèvent autant des conditions de préservation des spectacles que des modalités de la mise en place d’une historiographie rigoureuse. D’aucuns infèrent de ces lacunes la carence de production des arts du spectacle dans le monde arabe. Dans la préface de son ouvrage Al-Masraḥ al-munawwaʿ, Tawfīq Al- Ḥakīm (1966) déplorait ainsi le fait que « notre création théâtrale contemporaine surgît ainsi de rien ou de presque rien, de quelques rares expériences […], œuvrant par-delà un abîme vertigineux que les efforts fournis au fil …

Konstruksi Identitas Nasional Melalui Bahasa Visual Animasi Dalam Trailer Film Merah Putih: One For All, Deva Alviana, A. Syaifuddin Rohman

Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

This study aims to analyze the application of the 12 principles of animation, the construction of national identity, and audience interpretations of the animated film trailer Merah Putih: One for All. A qualitative approach was employed through scene-by-scene audiovisual analysis of the 2-minute, 2-second trailer published on the YouTube channel @perfikitv and reception analysis of 15 comments purposively selected from X. The analytical framework combines Thomas and Johnston’s 12 principles of animation with Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding theory. The evaluation indicates that one principle was applied effectively, two were partially applied, four were inadequately applied, and five were not adequately …

The Profitability Of Racial Diversity And Gender Balance In Modern Hollywood, M. Garrett Roth, William Mcandrew

The Journal of Economics and Politics

This paper investigates the effects of racial and gender diversity in modern Hollywood. The primary objective is to determine if an objectively measurable increase in diverse casting over the last two decades has had a positive or negative impact on profits, and a secondary objective to measure diversity’s impact on critic scores. The study utilizes data focusing on the fifty most expensive films from 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, and 2023. The findings indicate that profit is neither positively nor negatively affected by diversity, whether in ethnicity or gender. However, movie critic ratings are negatively affected by ethnic diversity when using …

Arab Media Summit 2026 - Film Forum, Razan Takash

Exemplars

How to Get Your Short Film to the Oscars – Arab Media Summit 2026

Presented at the Arab Media Summit 2026, the region’s largest gathering of media leaders, industry professionals, content creators, and innovators, this masterclass explored the journey of a short film from production to Oscar consideration. As part of the Summit’s wider discussions on the future of media and the creative industries, the session offered practical insights into international film festival strategies, Academy Award qualification, submission processes, and Oscar campaign planning. Drawing on real-world filmmaking experience, it highlighted the importance of marketing, publicity, and strategic distribution in expanding …

Darlene Love: I Know Where I’Ve Been, Ken Derry

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been (2026), directed by Barry Avrich.

Ancestors, Sherry Coman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Ancestors (2026), directed by David Turpin.

Closing Night, Sherry Coman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Closing Night (2026), directed by Cody Fern.

Man In Motion: The Rick Hansen Story, Sherry Coman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story (2026), directed by Adrian Buitenhuis.

Idda, Sherry Coman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Idda (2026), directed by Irene Dionisio.

What Film Is Good For: On The Values Of Spectatorship, Pablo Alzola

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Julian Hanich and Martin P. Rossouw, eds., What Film Is Good For: On the Values of Spectatorship (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2023).

Hollywood And The Nazis On The Eve Of War: The Case Of The Mortal Storm, Rachel Gordan

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Alexis Pogorelskin, Hollywood and the Nazis on the Eve of War: The Case of The Mortal Storm (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024).

Shoah: Bfi Film Classics, Matthew Page

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Sue Vice, Shoah: BFI Film Classics (BFI/Bloomsbury, 2026).

A Poetic History: Islamic And Japanese Parallels In Film, Joshua Polanski

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of David Sander, A Poetic History: Islamic and Japanese Parallels in Film (Bloomsbury, 2026).

Cloud: Between Paris And Tehran: Kiarostami/Corbin/Lacan, Heba Arafa Abdelfattah

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Joan Copjec, Cloud: Between Paris and Tehran: Kiarostami/Corbin/Lacan (MIT Press, 2025).

Eternity, Leah R. Sisk

Journal of Religion & Film

This film review of Eternity was developed from an essay on how the film demonstrates the nature of choice, including William James's notion of a leap of faith.  The original essay was submitted for an undergraduate Philosophy and Religion class on American Pragmatism at Western Carolina University.

Disclosure Day, Christian Wilken

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Disclosure Day (2026), directed by Steven Spielberg.

Nothing Is As It Should Be: Estrangement, Threshold-Crossings, And Cosmic Struggle In David Lynch’S Blue Velvet And Lost Highway, Susanne Wigorts Yngvesson

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines estrangement as a structuring existential and aesthetic principle in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) and Lost Highway (1997). Through close, plot-attentive readings intended to remain accessible to readers unfamiliar with Lynch, it argues that the films stage three interlocking dynamics: becoming a stranger to oneself, the fracturing of the ‘ground’ of ordinary existence, and life as a cosmic struggle in which human agency is partial and contested. Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be provides the main theological–philosophical lens, clarifying how anxiety, non-being and courage shape scenes of desire, violence and transformation. Film-theoretical work on thresholds and cinematic …