Film and Media Studies Commons^™

"I Thought Perhaps The Reaper Was Going To Do Something To You": The Serpent's Kiss And The Issue Of Reverse-Objectification, Jason Mcentee

English Faculty Publications

In this discussion, I examine the continual problem of female representation in the movie narrative. Movie narratives often rely on female characters situated in roles that find them objectified by males, allowing us to hypothesize--as the body of feminist film criticism has done since at least the mid- I970s--that she also becomes objectified by her viewing audience. Then calling for a sweeping change in the mindsets of both male and female filmmakers, Sharon Smith precisely points out the problems of female representation:

"The role of the woman in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction and the mating …

Irish Journalist’S Attitudes Towards, And Use Of, Internet Technology, Edward Brennan

Conference Papers

This paper explores the effects of Internet technology on the occupational culture and work practices of Irish journalists. There is a common view that the Internet, as an alternative source for news is challenging professional journalists. Increasingly amateurs may produce and disseminate stories to a potentially global readership. This paper presents results from a qualitative pilot study exploring Irish journalist’s reactions to this perceived threat. It reveals that the economic, social and legal features of the Irish journalistic field greatly mitigate any potential threat from the Internet. The research did reveal, however, that the Internet may have some unforeseen and …

Plato. Spider-Man And The Meaning Of Life, Jeremy Barris

Humanities Faculty Research

Some versions of mysticism have taught that the ordinary world around us is sacred and wonderful, that the meaning of life is to be found not through some extraordinary knowledge or awareness, but in appreciating what already surrounds us. I believe that both Spider-Man comics and Plato’s dialogues offer exactly this deep vision, and that they introduce us to it in some remarkably similar ways. I cannot do any kind of justice here to the richness of either set of works, or to the variations of style and meaning within each of them. Instead I shall focus only on four …

The Cultural-Historical Origins Of The Literary Vampire In Germany, Heidi Crawford

Journal of Dracula Studies

Before British authors began writing vampire literature, culminating in 1897 with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, eighteenth-century German poets, most significantly Heinrich August Ossenfelder, Gottfried August Bürger, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, had begun to adapt the curious phenomenon of vampirism from Central Europe for the creative literature they were producing in the enlightened West. Possibly the most striking observation about the origins of the vampire figure in German poetry is that the German poets seem to have drawn more on Central European than German folklore. The reason for this is that the literary vampire was introduced into eighteenth-century German ballad poetry …

The People Of Bram Stoker's Transylvania, Duncan Light

Journal of Dracula Studies

One of the defining features of Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the “specific and detailed geographical context that sets this novel apart from other gothic novels” (Florescu & McNally 5). Indeed, although Stoker had not visited Transylvania, he is known to have read widely in preparing Dracula.1 While his historical research has come under particular scrutiny, little attention has been paid to his representation and understanding of the region’s geography.2 As a human geographer with research interests in Romania, I find that there is something not “quite right” about Stoker’s Transylvania. In particular, where are the Romanians? And why are there …

Echoes Of Dracula: Racial Politics And The Failure Of Segregated Spaces In Richard Matheson's I Am Legend., Kathy Davis Patterson

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

"Betwixt Sunset And Sunrise": Liminality In Dracula, Mark M. Hennelly Jr.

Journal of Dracula Studies

No abstract provided.

Dracula And The Afterlife: A Psychological Explanation, Jack D. Maser

Journal of Dracula Studies

Until relatively recently, the primary psychological approach to understanding Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the folklore of vampires has been psychoanalysis. Maurice Richardson asserted in 1956 that Dracula must be seen from a Freudian standpoint, since “from no other does the story really make any sense” (427). However, the psychoanalytic approach shares little with modern, scientifically based psychology. Fascinating though it may be, psychoanalytic theory has almost no measurable attributes and may itself be as mythical as vampires and an afterlife. Rather, psychoanalysis is a creative theory of human cognition and behavior that can be neither proven false, objectively replicated, nor …

Danger! Danger! Danger!, Or When Animals Might Attack: The Adventure Activist Genre, Mark L. Berrettini

School of Film Faculty Publications and Presentations

An analysis of the current state of the adventure activist genre in film, centering on The Crocodile Hunter and Project Grizzly.

Accent, Linguistic Discrimination, Stereotyping, And West Virginia In Film, Teresa L. O’Cassidy

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examines connections between accent, linguistic discrimination, and stereotyping in portrayals of West Virginia film characters. Ten films featuring West Virginia characters were examined for accent and stereotyping: The Right Stuff (Kaufman, 1983), Matewan (Sayles, 1987), Blaze (Shelton, 1989), The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991), October Sky (Johnston, 1999), Hannibal (Scott, 2001), A Beautiful Mind (Howard, 2001), The Mothman Prophecies (Pellington, 2002), Wrong Turn (Schmidt, 2003), and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (Luketic, 2004). Coders were employed to score character accents. Stereotyping data was gathered by comparing portrayals with stereotypical traits associated with Appalachian and/or hillbilly characters. …

Where The Past Comes Alive’: Television, History And Popular Memory, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

No abstract provided.

Review Of Masculin Feminin, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Jean-Luc Godard's Masculin feminin: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2005/09/masculin-feminin.html

War Memories, Violence And Social Pathology In Saura’S La Caza, Jesús Urda

Conference Papers

The paper analyses the metaphorical visual and philosophical depiction of Spanish Civil war and its aftermath in Carlos Saura's La Caza.

Women And Power In Hollywood: Comparing The Female Position Of Power In The Film Industry In The 1920s & 1970s, Caitlin Mcfarland

Whittier Scholars Program

This project is a research paper on the history of women in the film industry. The author begins by pointing out that women have established narrative film, started the first American studios and tried inventive new camera angles among other accomplishments that are not talked about. During the early 1990s, women were in the center of the film industry and well represented. The return of men from the war, socio-economic status, the creation of the Code of Decency, and more sophisticated technology were some of the theories as to why women became marginalized in the industry. The paper then discusses …

香港文學電影片目, Ping Kwan Leung, Shuk Han, Mary Wong

嶺南大學人文學科研究中心叢書 Centre for Humanities Research : Book Publications

《香港文學電影片目》收錄1913至2000年改編自文學作品的香港電影，及文人作家參與編製的電影。我們希望可以編一個齊全的片目，以方便日後的硏究者和有興趣的同學，但目前香港文學及電影的資料散佚仍多，我們盡力而為，工作了多年，但相信仍 有不少可以補充的地方。就算是拋磚引玉好了，希望前輩高明和有識讀者能給我們提供寶貴意見。片目雖説是涵蓋九十年的文學電影資料，但側重是在五、六〇年代的文藝電影資料。這兩個年代改編文學作品的電影較多，文人參與電影製作亦較活躍，香港文學跟香港電影的關係最密切，這個情況似乎不復見了。編出這片目，不知對今天的電影工作者會不會有一點參考作用?

Now You're A Man [Book Review], Marc A. Ouellette

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Interpreting Reality: ‘Los Olvidados’ And The Documentary Mode, Julie Jones

Foreign Languages Faculty Publications

The article presents a study on the documentary film "Los olvidados," by Louis Buñuel. The study is concerned with the elements in the film itself that align it with documentary practice. At the same time it gives equal weight to the presentation of the film and to contemporary reviews in the press. These elements stressed the film's serious social purpose and thereby reinforced an interpretation of the work as nonfiction. The author informs that this study is not concerned with any final classification of the film. It is concerned with an examination of those elements that make this documentary reading …

Shifting Representations Of Aboriginality In Australian Cinema : Re-Presenting From An Anti-Colonial Perspective, Kylie Solonec

Theses : Honours

Recently there has been a significant shift in the way that Aboriginal people are being represented in Australian cinema. Some would argue that the social and political movements that have occurred since the 1960s through until today have had a significant effect and in turn have produced a third wave of Australian cinema. Concurrently with this process, there have been a number of Indigenous politicians, academics and filmmakers who have actively been striving to gain better resources and opportunities for Indigenous filmmakers to be able to tell their stories. A combination of these two projects has seen a shift in …

Recognising The Screenwriter: Agency And Authorship In Adaptation, Michelle Mcmerrin

Theses : Honours

Throughout the history of film studies, the uniqueness of film as an art form has been acknowledged. It is a multi-sensory experience that continually develops and, in the process, reflects social and cultural progression as well. Notions of authorship have been applied to aspects of film throughout its history and although the auteur theory has maintained a significant and lasting influence within the discipline, the screenwriter as author (or auteur) has consistently been excised from film, and indeed literary, study. Why this is the case when the screenplay is such a necessary component of the majority of mainstream films, and …

History Of Clcweb: Comparative Literature And Culture, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Review Of Somewhere In The Night, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Somewhere in the Night: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2005/11/somewhere-in-the-night.html

Media Messages About Body Image And Food: Adolescent Perceptions Of Contradictory Messages In Television Commercials, Carrie Wise

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study had two primary purposes, the first of which was to examine contemporary television media messages and to ascertain whether there exists an ideological contradiction between messages associated with ideal body types and messages associated with obesity. The second purpose was to explore adolescents' perceptions of these messages and to understand their possible effects on adolescents. This study was conducted using a fallibilitic realism methodological approach. Two data collection methods were used in this study. A content analysis of current television commercials was conducted, from which three major findings emerged. First, there was a high frequency of commercials containing …

Review Of Whirlpool, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Otto Preminger's 1949 film: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2005/10/whirlpool.html

Cultural Studies At R.I.T./U.S.A: Of Visual Culture And Pedagogical Interventions, Amit Ray

Articles

Abstract:

This paper examines the role of Cultural Studies in addressing the limitations of American visual culture through pedagogical interventions at Rochester Institute of Technology. Ray argues that despite globalization's potential to enhance international understanding, American visual media remains largely ethnocentric and resistant to representing the complex realities of global interconnectedness. Using the recent Iraq War as an example, he demonstrates how media coverage systematically obscured cultural, historical, and linguistic contexts while promoting martial nationalism. The author proposes using popular animated television programs like The Simpsons and South Park as pedagogical tools to expose the contradictory nature of contemporary media …

文人武俠 : 張徹與胡金銓, Lan Xu

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

武俠電影在中國電影誕生之初便佔有一席之地， 二十世紀六十年代，由邵 氏電影公司開創的武俠新世紀，給武俠電影注入了新的活力，打開了新的局面。

胡金銓追求製作精良、藝術至上的優質電影。而張徹作品中的務實、娛樂大眾、堅韌求生和香港起飛的每一個時代的精神相吻合。後世香港導演繼承他們的優良特質，充滿活力動感的香港電影時至今日方成為對世界影壇的一大特殊貢獻。

本文立足 "文人武俠"，分別探討張徹、胡金銓武俠片的個人特色、思想內容、藝術表現手法，特別是中國人文傳統、文學藝術在其作品中的表現，並比較他們之間的異同， 以及各自對香港電影發展的貢獻。

Teaching French Film In A Christian Context: Cédric Klapisch’S Un Air De Famille, Jolene Vos-Camy

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Often, when viewing a foreign-language film, students are unable to pick up subtle cultural cues essential to the film’s message. If, however, students are well-prepared for a film, they become perceptive critics of the larger themes represented in the film. In this article I address pedagogical issues surrounding the use of Cédric Klapisch’s film, Un air de famille [Family Resemblances] based on my experience in teaching a new interdisciplinary course at Calvin College.

Reading Dario Argento's 'Inferno' (Italy), Alanna I. Sinclair

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Inferno (1980) is a cult classic film written and directed by Dario Argento that both extends and resists the giallo genre. In the film, Argento continues his tradition of building a dense network of allusions that refers to his own and others’ films, as well as to canonical and ‘popular’ works of literature, politics, music, and film theory. The poetic effect of these elements, in combination with the film’s lack of continuity mechanisms, bizarrely detailed mise en scenes, gore-filled death scenes, and unpredictable and unlikely camera angles, both attracts and resists critical interpretation. The film’s penumbral location between categories of …

Zines Straight From The Stacks: Self-Published Tracts From Library Workers, Alycia Sellie

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Review Of Sleepless Town, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Lee Chi Ngai's 1998 film: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2005/08/sleepless-town.html

Review Of The Innocents, Michael Adams

Publications and Research

Review of Jack Clayton's The Innocents: http://www.media-party.com/discland/2005/10/the-innocents.html