Film and Media Studies | Open Access Articles

From 1914 to 2006, 396 feature films with titles containing New York place names were released. This pattern emerged during the silent era, peaked from the late 1920s to the early 1940s, and then dropped off steadily before rebounding in the 1970s. This article discusses the cinematic representation of cities and urban life in the movies and the special place of New York as an “imagined city” and a cultural icon. New York’s associations in the popular imagination help explain the frequent occurrence of themes of negativity, violence, nightlife, and grandiosity (royalty or divinity) in these titles. The use of …

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"Whether Beast Or Human": The Cultural Legacies Of Dread, Locks, And Dystopia., Kevin Frank Jun 2007

"Whether Beast Or Human": The Cultural Legacies Of Dread, Locks, And Dystopia., Kevin Frank

Publications and Research

Analyzing the ongoing problem of Caribbean racial exploitation, particularly fear signified through one of the most potent Caribbean symbols, dreadlocks, Kevin Frank offers a paradigm shift in arguing that Medusa's alterity is altered by Rastafarians' snake-like hair, but the transformative power of Rasta dreadlocks is contested through certain cinematic depictions of dread.

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Female Agency And Oppression In Caribbean Bacchanalian Culture: Soca, Carnival, And Dancehall, Kevin Frank Apr 2007

Female Agency And Oppression In Caribbean Bacchanalian Culture: Soca, Carnival, And Dancehall, Kevin Frank

Publications and Research

In this essay Kevin Frank discerningly analyzes agency and gender in public sexual performances emanating out of what Paul Gilroy identifies as part of the compensatory politics of the subordinated within Black Atlantic culture, Jamaican dancehall (dancehall reggae/ dancehall queens).

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From The Scenes Of Queens: Genre, Aids And Queer Love, Alexandra Juhasz Jan 2007

From The Scenes Of Queens: Genre, Aids And Queer Love, Alexandra Juhasz

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

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Review Of Help!, Michael Adams Jan 2007

Review Of Help!, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Richard Lester's Help!: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2008/01/help.html

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Review Of The Page Turner, Michael Adams Jan 2007

Review Of The Page Turner, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Denis Dercourt's 2006 film: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2007/07/the-page-turner.html

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Review Of Hamlet, Michael Adams Jan 2007

Review Of Hamlet, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2007/09/hamlet-1996.html

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Engaging The Eighties: Ethics, Objects, Periods, Kevin L. Ferguson Jan 2007

Engaging The Eighties: Ethics, Objects, Periods, Kevin L. Ferguson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines a recent decade in American history whose unique notion of self-periodization generated important questions of ethical engagement and withdrawal. Situated during a time of an increasingly complex relationship between literature and theory, thinkers in the 80s self-consciously shifted towards making claims about their present moment which were based on the logic of rupture, and which thus created an either-or logic of pessimism or optimism in response to this rupture. These kinds of self-periodizing notions generally are collected under the rubric "postmodernism" and the first chapter deals with a transatlantic movement between theorists such as Fredric Jameson and …

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Review Of Pretty Things, Michael Adams Jan 2007

Review Of Pretty Things, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Gilles Paquet-Brenner's Pretty Things: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2007/12/pretty-things.html

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Video Remains: Nostalgia, Technology, And Queer Archive Activism, Alexandra Juhasz Jan 2006

Video Remains: Nostalgia, Technology, And Queer Archive Activism, Alexandra Juhasz

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

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Review Of Yellow Sky, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of Yellow Sky, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of William Wellman's 1948 Western, inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest.

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Review Of I Wake Up Screaming, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of I Wake Up Screaming, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of H. Bruce Humberstone's I Wake Up Screaming: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2006/07/i-wake-up-screaming.html

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Review Of The Conformist, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of The Conformist, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2007/01/the-conformist.html

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Review Of Pretty Poison, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of Pretty Poison, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Noel Black's Pretty Poison: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2006/11/pretty-poison.html

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Review Of Elevator To The Gallows, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of Elevator To The Gallows, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2006/06/elevator-to-the-gallows.html

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Review Of Macbeth, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of Macbeth, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Geoffrey Wright's Macbeth: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2007/12/macbeth-2006.html

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Review Of Petulia, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of Petulia, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Richard Lester's Petulia: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2006/06/petulia.html

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Review Of The River's Edge, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of The River's Edge, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Allan Dwan's The River's Edge: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2006/07/the-rivers-edge-1957.html

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Review Of Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll, Michael Adams Jan 2006

Review Of Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Taylor Hackford's Chuck Berry documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n'Roll: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2006/08/chuck-berry-hail-hail-rock-n-roll.html

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Out Of The Blue: Re-Evaluating Electra-Glide In Blue, William Blick Oct 2005

Out Of The Blue: Re-Evaluating Electra-Glide In Blue, William Blick

Publications and Research

The 1970s was a time of moral ambiguity for the cinema. The cult- favorite, Electra Glide in Blue demonstrates the polarization of ideologies in America at the time. In this film, there are several conflicting views of the Vietnam War, "Hippies", drugs, conservatism, communes, and the mistrust of authority that made up a zeitgeist of the time. This short article defines the film as a examination of the ambiguity of the 1970s.

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Review Of Boudu Saved From Drowning, Michael Adams Aug 2005