Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Review Of How A Film Theory Got Lost And Other Mysteries In Cultural Studies, By Robert B. Ray, Alan Clinton

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

No abstract provided.

Telling Tales Of The Future: Science Fiction And Star Trek's Exemplary Narratives, Lincoln Geraghty

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Due to its very nature as a science fiction series set in the future one would assume that Star Trek's stories have no connection with contemporary storytelling; that its narrative is as futuristic as its ethos. However, by highlighting how Star Trek uses traditional literary methods to communicate with its audience it can be shown that only a minimum number of exemplary narratives are used to build and develop its ever increasing future narrative of human endeavor in space. Scholars such as Jon Wagner and Jan Lundeen (1998) have examined in close detail Star Trek's mythical …

Spaces Of Motherhood, Deirdre Conlon, Marcus Carvalho

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In this paper our aim is to critically evaluate motherhood, as a social production that is deeply imbricated with the ideologies of patriarchy, technology and capitalism. We ground our analysis in Henri Lefebvre's (1994) theory on the social production of space and Barbara Katz-Rothman's (2000) examination of motherhood as it is constituted through ideology. Further, we draw on Smith's (1997) observation that it is possible to examine the production of space and materialization of capitalism at different scales; in this paper we focus specifically on the scale of the body and of the house in order to consider …

Have Lamb Will Martyr: Samson As A Rustic Christ-Figure In Cecil B. Demille's Samson And Delilah (1949), Anton Karl Kozlovic

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Cecil B. DeMille [1] (1881-1959) was a seminal founder of Hollywood who helped turn a Californian orange grove into a world class centre that became the synonym for film making (DeMille & Hayne, 1960; Edwards, 1988; Essoe & Lee, 1970; Higashi, 1994; Higham, 1973; Koury, 1959; Ringgold & Bodeen, 1969). Not only was the affectionately known C. B. an important film pioneer, producer and director, but he also became known as the master of the American Biblical Epic, and was variously tagged King of the epic Biblical spectacular (Finler, 1985, p. 32), the high priest of the religious …

Making Sense Of Matter In Deleuze's Conception Of Cinema Language, Roger Dawkins

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Writing in the 1960s and early 1970s, Christian Metz's work on the cinema favoured systematic exactitude, and was concerned with uprooting film theory from what he saw as the generalized approach of the early twentieth century (Andrews 213). Metz thought that a more scientific approach to the cinema was to be found with the question of language, and although this question was metaphorically present since the 1920s [1], Metz was the first to apply modern linguistic models to this problem (Guzzetti 292). What resulted was a methodology of analysis based on the formalism inherent to …

On Alan Moore And Eddie Campbell's From Hell (1996) And The Hughes Brothers' From Hell, Rodney Sharkey

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Allen and Albert Hughes' film version of From Hell is visually striking and strong on memorable images. For those who enjoy attending films based on graphic novels they have read, the first framed shot of a London skyline beneath a scarlet sky is superbly reminiscent of the menacing and yet enticing comic world of the novel. Moreover, the film develops its theme visually as well as narratively; the impulse behind the ripper murders is chillingly realized in some ensemble scenes at the Royal College of Physicians and police barracks where single female victims are counter-pointed against a metaphorical …

Breaking The Mimetic Contract: Notes On Ideology, Intersubjectivity, And Film Theory, Giorgio Bertellini, C. Paul Sellors

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

In this essay we would like to sketch out a few notes outlining historical and theoretical trajectories of the confusing, and often confused, relationships between ideology, history and subjectivity in Marx, Marxism and post-Marxism. Marx and Engels' approach to ideology in The German Ideology (1845-46), spawned and influenced a variety of interpretations and philosophical positions from not only the numerous schools of Marxism proper, but also structuralism, semiotics and psychoanalysis up to the very raison d'être of discourse theory and new historicism. This reaching influence occurs only at the cost of contradiction, however, between Marxist factions -- disagreements …

Bolshevism And The Avant-Garde: Marxist Ideology And The Aesthetics Of Soviet Film, 1923-28, Garrett H. Booker

History Theses & Dissertations

When Eisenstein's Strike burst onto the cultural scene in 1925, Soviet cinema began a creative odyssey that left to posterity a brilliant collection of films that redefined the manner in which audiences viewed them. Not only was the form of these films dynamic and innovative, but their content captured the heroic actions of a new historical subject, the revolutionary proletariat. As the Soviet State assumed control over the production of films, politics imprinted its indelible mark on the content of these films, especially as Stalin tightened his grip over all aspects of artistic life. The author of this project will …

Ironic Discourse In Film Noir, D. Kirk Richardson

English Theses & Dissertations

Flourishing in America between 1941-58, film noir became a major cinematic movement prophetically focusing on urban crime, corruption, and an unraveling social fabric. Film noir became so major, in fact, that the genre defied definition and reached an all encompassing ambiguity; continually, some critics refuse to accept it as a genre, or a fad, or a cycle, or even as simply existing. To include here any specific delineation of the genre would be impossible because there are so many possible choices; what is generally regarded to be true of all the motion pictures so haphazardly grouped under the heading ''film …

Against A Politics Of Desire: Lesbians Romance And Film, Angela Anelalani Cantrell

English Theses & Dissertations

Within much of feminist theory, the lesbian has become much more than a woman-who-loves-other-women-sexually: the lesbian has become a metaphor for female creativity and a female autonomy freed from heterosexual aesthetics, gender model constraints, indeed, anything deemed patriarchal, i.e., misogyny, racism, capitalism, etc. Throughout my analysis of four films, I will argue that lesbian, when used as a metaphor, is a Romantic metaphor; in other words, feminist strategies that employ lesbian-as-metaphor are subscribing to a Romantic vision of lesbian sexuality. Although this is not saying anything new--feminists since the early seventies have questioned the romanticization of femaleness and lesbianism--I hope …

Dok: An Original Screenplay, Duncan Campbell

Institute for the Humanities Theses

DOK is an original screenplay in which DOK blames his brother, Jim, for the death of his wife and son. Jim accepts that blame. DOK handles his grief by wandering from place to place, whereas Jim finds solace through alcohol. They meet up two years later in the town of Ayre. Jim, a reporter, is there to cover DOK's arrest by Special Agent Bill Withers. Jim is unaware that DOK, real name Daniel, is his brother. In quick succession: DOK is released from jail, Withers runs a drunken Jim off the road, and DOK finds and treats Jim. Jim, while …

Yellow Ribbons, D. Scott Drake

English Theses & Dissertations

Yellow Ribbons is a feature-film screenplay that dramatizes various aspects of the Persian Gulf War. The hero of the story, Lieutenant Jason Hart, a talented but quixotic naval fighter pilot, participates in one of the last allied offensive military actions: the bombing of the retreating Iraqi army. Jake suffers a crisis of conscience in the climactic moment of the bombing and decides that he cannot continue to serve the navy as a fighter pilot. The story then shifts from the Persian Gulf to the United States. There Jake encounters a new set of obstacles as he struggles with his experience …

Stand And Run, Andrea Gaye Evans

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Stand and Run is an original screenplay about a woman who has run from her troubled past all her life. Since she was a teenager, Adel Wallis wanted to be a reporter. Although in her thirties and working for a newspaper, she still hasn't reached her goal. Adel decides to use whatever necessary to advance her career including sex with the boss. After a brief romance, she realizes the Managing Editor, Mack Daniels, is obsessive and abusive. She ends the affair but he continues the innuendos and sexual advances implying the affair 1s on-going. When she confronts Mack about his …

Looking For Literary Metaphor On Film: A Structuralist Study Of East Of Eden, Doctor Zhivago, And To Kill A Mockingbird, Charles D. Weaver

English Theses & Dissertations

A system based on existing research in semiotics and metaphor is developed and used to compare three novels with their film adaptations: East of Eden, Doctor Zhivago, and To Kill a Mockingbird. By grouping literary metaphors together in the novels, a subtext of meaning is revealed that can both aid in the understanding of the novel and serve as a tool for evaluating the faithfulness of the film adaptation. While none of the films studied completely followed this subtext, there were different levels of similarity between the novel and the visual metaphors used in the film. One reason for this …

Kingdom By The Sea: A Screenplay, John C. Jarvis Jr.

Institute for the Humanities Theses

"Kingdom by the Sea" is a feature-length, theatrical screenplay, modeled on the surrealistic works of Bergman and Fellini. In this country the concepts of experimental theater have seldom been put into a full-length film. This work is intended to help fill that void.

Specifically, this is a love story set in a mythical place called Atlantic Beach. There, the protagonist is seeking the ideal, but when he finds it, he cannot free himself of materialistic desires or needs. In this sense he destroys his utopia and descends into a place called Mog, where the dark side of the ideal dwells. …