Film and Media Studies Commons^™

Settler Colonial Disease And Dis-Ease In August: Osage County, M. Elise Marubbio

Faculty Authored Articles

Tracy Letts’s screenplay, August: Osage County (2013), and John Wells’s film adaptation (2013) offer a compelling critique of American racism towards Native Americans which demands that viewers consider their own inculcation into ongoing settler-nation colonialism. The film layers the history of place (Oklahoma) with the Cheyenne character Johnna, whose Indigenous heritage is negotiated throughout by liberal academics, conservative rural matriarchs, and Johnna herself. The role is small but essential to the film’s allegorical analysis of settler-colonialism and racism. The Weston family’s secrets, addictions, and dysfunction starkly contrast with Johnna’s health and stability. Through Johnna, the film questions the toll colonialism …

Degeneration Of Settler Colonialism In Contemporary Cinematic Depictions Of The U.S. West: Introduction, M. Elise Marubbio, Marek Paryż, Matthew Carter

Faculty Authored Articles

The settler’s situation is underpinned by the fear of having been caught in a process of endless transition, hence the determination to define the parameters of collective sovereignty and to establish a satisfactory existential basis. The sense of uncertainty that underlies the settler’s situation accounts for the necessity of developing power structures that sustain the settler collective’s striving to complete its design, and this triggers a range of conflicts. Repeatedly addressing the eponymous region’s legacy of settler colonialism, film depictions of the American West re-inscribe oppression of racial minorities, sexual abuse, and class exploitation in order to validate the foundational …

Transcendental Style In Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (2nd Edition), Michael Gibson

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Paul Schrader's Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer, 2nd edition (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2018).

Enduring The Unendurable: Examining Cultural Trauma In Postwar Japanese Film, Joseph Worstall

Capstone Showcase

WWII and its aftermath fundamentally changed the collective consciousness of the Japanese people. For the first time in history, and at a tremendous cost, the country was vanquished. By the end of the war, sixty-seven cities had been firebombed, three million people had been killed, and millions more found themselves suffering from poverty, hunger, and homelessness. Most controversially, the USAAF dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—two acts which have been so universally condemned that they’ve never been repeated. For the next seven years, the U.S. armed forces occupied the country and charted its course, effectively operating …

Latin American Cinema, Mirna Vohnsen

Articles

Although studies of Argentine, Mexican and Cuban cinema continue to dominate the Latin American film scholarship, in the past two years, there has been increasing interest in examining the minor cinemas of the region. The expanding local film industries, the new technical trends and the increase in cinematic productions across all Latin America have captured the attention of academics and critics who have devoted their research to explore the lesser-known films of, for example, Uruguay, Colombia and Central America

Whatever Happened To The Movie Theme Song?, Luka Vasic

Capstones

Film music is as important as it’s ever been and a good theme song can absorb you into the world of a movie. Despite this, our idea of the theme song has changed a lot, and the kinds of themes that have traditionally been memorable parts of classic cinema have now lost their importance and role in modern filmmaking.

http://lukavasic.com/capstone/

Beyrouth Vagabond, Pascale Feghali

Regards

Starting from the filmed narrative of three characters — Abou Youssef, a homeless person found during the day at the Sanayeh public garden; a security person in charge of a crumbling building in the Grand Hotels’ sector; and Fatmeh, who squats in an abandoned property in the same sector — this article introduces us into the heartland of Beirut through the eyes of tramps and vagabonds. It is made up of narratives and counter-narratives built on elements of reality but that, in fact, speak of another dimension of reality where truth is no longer an issue. The stories are set …

Finding Fīlmfārsī: Reevaluations Of Pre-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema, William E. B. Sherman

Journal of Religion & Film

This article reviews two books: Pedram Partovi's Popular Iranian Cinema before the Revolution: Family and Nation in Filmfārsī, and Golbar Rekabtalaei, Iranian Cosmopolitanism: A Cinematic History.

Foreign Films In The Context Of Hollywood: A Look Into Adaptations And Remakes From Foreign Cinema, Christina Schrage

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Adaptations of novels are not an uncommon thing in the global cinema market, but what is it that Hollywood wishes to accomplish by adapting foreign films into their own language and context? This paper takes a look at the differences in Swedish, French, Argentine, and Korean cultural codes through the lenses of film narrative and how those codes are translated, or in some cases eradicated, from their Hollywood counterparts. This paper analyzes the films narrative, themes, and aesthetics, as well as the audience’s reception, to question whether Hollywood’s remake has added any new meaning to the film’s world, or if …

Diversity And Democracy At War: Analyzing Race And Ethnicity In Squad Films From 1940-1960, Lara K. Jacobson

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

Both the Second World War and the Korean War presented Hollywood with the opportunity to produce combat films that roused patriotic spirit amongst the American people. The obvious choice was to continue making the popular squad films that portrayed a group of soldiers working together to overcome a common challenge posed by the war. However, in the wake of various racial and ethnic tensions consistently unfolding in the United States from 1940 to 1960, it became apparent to Hollywood that the nation needed pictures of unity more than ever, especially if America was going to win its wars. Using combat …

İbne, Gey, Lubunya: A Queer Critique Of Lgbti+ Discourses In The New Cinema Of Turkey, Azmi Mert Erdem

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In my thesis, I examine the intersections between liberalism, neoliberal globalism, and LGBTI+ visibility and identity politics, through films that present “openly” non-normative sexualities through cis/transgender male, female, or non-binary characters in the new cinema of Turkey. First, I survey existing scholarship on how liberal capitalism impacts the formation of LGBTI+ subjectivities and identity politics. Furthermore, I trace how non-normative sexualities, practices, and discourses evolved along with socioeconomic and political shifts in the Turkish Republic following the Ottoman Empire. Accordingly, I review Turkey’s adoption of neoliberal ideologies in the 1980s and how these ideologies engage with its local, heterogenous gender …

Advancing Film Through Art & Design: A Study Of The Influence That Film And Fine Art Have On The Independent Film Market, Jamall Rashaud Mcmillan

Masters Theses

The Influence of Graphic Design and Fine Art in Film is a exploration into the impact that an investment of the arts has on film and more specifically the independent film market. Most independent filmmakers have to develop their productions with little to no budget. In doing so they must work to create a marketable film to the best of their ability. There in-lies the issue; they are doing it to the best of “their” ability. The issue that is in focus with the notion of ability is that a major component that is left out of the equation to …

Filming Against The System In North Africa: Pioneering Women Documentary Makers And Their Common Aesthetics, Stefanie Van De Peer

Regards

This article draws attention to the pioneering women of North African documentary making, and specifically their work in addressing the image of women on screen in rapidly changing societies. Highlighting the creativity of the filmmakers in defying the contemporary censor or addressing taboo topics such as women’s rights, the history of women contributing to politics, or women’s roles in the wars for independence, this article uncovers neglected “feminist” histories and the ways in which women documentary makers tackle audio-visually challenging topics. The films under discussion show their creative potential to address difficult themes through a poetics of permissibility. This is …

Objectification Of Women In Bollywood Item Numbers, Zahabia Z. Slatewala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although sexual objectification is commonplace in media culture, music videos provide the most potent examples of it. The current investigation makes an important contribution to the relevant literature regarding the objectification of women in song lyrics while simultaneously broadening the content used to assess objectification. It reflects the ways of objectification of women in India by analyzing Bollywood rap and item songs. Based on objectification theory, one of the primary goals in the present study was to measure differences between visual and behavioral sexual objectification, drawing on theoretically derived indicators of sexual objectification. It also concentrated on measuring the change …

(And I Can't Stress This Enough) In My Mouth: Extradiegetic Affect As Material, C. Klockner

Theses and Dissertations

(and i can’t stress this enough) in my mouth: Extradiegetic Affect as Material is a non-linear exploration into the structures of feeling that exist in relation to cinema in its role as a technology for generating subjectivity. In the development of this research, a proposal of cinema’s likeness to the ecological circulation of microplastics is drawn in order to illustrate cinema’s materiality and nearly invisible ubiquity. The notion of extradiegetic affect is outlined as a post-cinematic condition in which lived experience becomes secondary to cinematic representation and which, simultaneously, becomes directly shaped by engaging with these representations.

Evolution Of The Final Girl: Exploring Feminism And Femininity In Halloween (1978-2018), Maya Zhou, Maya Zhou

Scripps Senior Theses

Decades of horror film research and theorizations have shown us that there is a reason why this particular genre has been an important part of film history from the beginning: namely, the idea that horror both reflects and shapes our historically and culturally specific anxieties.

By examining the Final Girl trope in Halloween (the 1978 original versus 2018 version), this paper traces the evolution of female protagonists and whether a more modern film accurately reflects the increasing role of feminism in society, or sticks to traditional conventions of misogyny and male-dominated visual pleasure. Placing the newer film in the context …

Coming Soon To A Chinese Theater Near You: Why China Matters Even To Hollywood, James N. Udden

Friday Forum

In recent years, China has engaged in infrastructure projects on a scale and scope without historical precedent. Cinema in China is no exception. For roughly a century Hollywood has managed to dominate the world largely through the control of the largest exhibition market in the developed world, meaning the USA and Canada. Just a couple years ago, however, the Chinese exhibition sector surpassed North America as the world’s largest linguistically unified and developed film exhibition market. Find out why screenwriting classes in the USA now include courses on how to write for the Chinese market. Find out why even you …

Taiwanese Comedies Under The Shadow Of The Chinese Market, James N. Udden

Cinema & Media Studies Faculty Publications

Comedy is arguably the most local of genres. Tropical Fish (1995) is a Taiwanese comedy that made no effort to disguise its local flavour, and was largely unseen outside of Taiwan. Recent Taiwanese comedies such as You Are the Apple of My Eye (2011), The Wonderful Wedding (2015) and Our Times (2015) have achieved not only success in Taiwan, but also unprecedented box office in the mainland Chinese market. Compared to Tropical Fish, all three films also seemingly tone down the local flavour to varying degrees. This is due to the irresistible pull of recent opportunities posed by the …

La Fermeture Des Salles De Cinéma En Afrique De L'Ouest Et Ses Impacts Sur L'Internet Et La Télévision, Mouhamadou Cissé

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article analyzes the importance of the film industry in West Africa by posing the problem of the closure of cinemas in recent decades in three countries: Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. The disappearance of movie theatres jeopardizes reception and drives the use of the Internet and television as broadcasting outlets for movies. This issue occupies little space in film criticism that privileges, according to Claude Forest, the "creative and cultural aspects" and therefore the aesthetics of African film.

Editorial, Linda Haverty Rugg, Salma Monani

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

The editorial frames a special issue that introduces Scandinavian cinema and media scholars to ecomedia studies and its potentials.

Private Rainbows, Mikey F. Estes

Theses and Dissertations

I make art that refers to how the self is mediated through structures, objects, and images — a kind of self-portraiture that circles around its subject, reflecting a state of simultaneous formation and disintegration. Over the past few years, I have used my iPhone as a tool to make images of everyday life. As the user of this device, I am defined by both my presence and absence. I am interested in the process of locating the self within the scattered yet ordered space of the screen.

New Zealand Film Industry: Building Culture And Identity, Victoria Swart

The Kabod

Below Australia, as close to the bottom of the populated world as one can go, lies the small country of New Zealand, the true “land down-under.” New Zealand offers close to 103,500 square miles of picturesque and varied landscape, along with a population of less than 5 million, as of the 2016 census. Despite its isolated geography and small population, the country has made a large international presence, especially in the film industry. The development of the New Zealand film industry is unique, beginning soon after the birth of film itself but refraining from substantial growth until recent years. The …

A Bollywood Commercial For Ireland: Filming Ek Tha Tiger In Dublin, Giovanna Rampazzo

Books/Book chapters

The spectacular representation of overseas locations has traditionally been a generic trope of Hindi cinema (AKA Bollywood). Notably, stunning places unfamiliar to Indian audiences are constantly featured in commercial Indian films, mostly for their visual qualities, in order to add a further element of entertainment to the story.

Work/Death, Of Each In Their Own, Micah H. Weber

Theses and Dissertations

Writings in support of my visual thesis, including some background, and bibliographic information: Oregon/Death/Animation/Vocation and the artist as an agent of potential.

The Horse's Ass: A Survey Of Comediology, William M. Fisk

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

What is comedy? Can someone learn to be funny? Are there rules or guidelines for the production of laughter, the universal language? This paper, which outlines an investigation of successful comedians and the production of a short film, determines to aggregate as many of the relevant prerequisites of inducing giggles as possible, especially as they relate to the audiovisual medium of cinema.

The Lyons Den - Creative Honors Thesis, Alex Bartz

Senior Honors Theses

Daniel is walking to Luke’s house as Luke's mom gives the keys to her 1980s pink

Cadillac to Luke. Luke is opposed to driving the Cadillac; however, Daniel is completely

for it. Luke reluctantly takes the keys, drives away, hides the car, and walks to school.

Rusty, the bully, approaches the boys, and banter starts. Angered, Luke starts to throw a

punch. The duo ends up in the principal’s office. Mrs. Francois lightly scolds the boys,

but they all leave with smiles. Logan, running for class president, smooth-talks students

into voting for him. However, Luke thinks he's up to something. …

Impressive Failures: Mavericks Of Film Authorship And The Impossibility Of Success In Hollywood, Tom S. Davies

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation directly challenges the critical and commercial primacy of success attached to Hollywood films and their filmmakers, especially when one argues for or against their quality and/or importance within cinematic history. Through a process of shifting and multiplying perspectives within a broader narrative that is critical of what separates success and failure, certain films and filmmakers that were judged as failures or disappointments under impossible prerequisites of creating a successful film––commercially, aesthetically, or both–– are, instead, reconsidered as constructive counterpoints to the expectations of the Hollywood economic field of production as well as to the inevitable disappointment of the …

The Big World – Reha Erdem And The Magic Of Cinema, Andreas Treske

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Reha Erdem’s latest film Big Big World (Koca Dünya) was selected for the “Horizons” (“Orizzonti”) section at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival in 2016 and won a prestigious special jury award. The Venice selection is standing for a tendency to hold on, and celebrate the so-called “World Cinema” along with Hollywood blockbusters and new experimental arthouse films in a festival programming mix, insisting to stop for a moment in time a cinema that is already on the move.

On Variety: The Avant-Garde Between Pornography And Narrative, Kevin L. Ferguson

Publications and Research

This article analyzes Bette Gordon’s first feature film Variety (1983), reassessing how experimental novelist Kathy Acker’s contributions to the screenplay awkwardly positioned the film within contemporary cultural debates over pornography and the future of avant-garde filmmaking. While centered on an erotic thriller narrative concerning a woman’s entrée into the scuzzy world of New York City porno theaters, Gordon and Acker also take up in the film a series of three related representational problems for the 1980s: feminist approaches to pornography, narrative in an avant-garde tradition, and the role of speech and writing in film.

From The Margins To The Frame: Social Identities And A “Pan-Pacific” Moana, Keara Sternberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper investigates the implications of Pacific representation and regional identity in Disney’s film, Moana. It evaluates if the film successfully represented a broad range of Pacific cultures and peoples. It weaves together 20 secondary sources, 8 interviews and 56 surveys. The sample population involved college-aged students from universities throughout the Pacific along with academic professionals and involved members of the Oceanic Story Trust. Overall, the study found that Moana successfully captured a pan-Pacific identity on several indicators, while it also found dissenting reactions toward the film by some respondents on measures of cultural representation. To Pacific students, Moana appears …