Greg Dolgopolov - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Greg Dolgopolov

Intellect Books, Feb 20, 2015

Intellect Books, Apr 1, 2015

Short Film Studies

This article is an investigation into how short film ideas are conceived. It examines Ant Plant a... more This article is an investigation into how short film ideas are conceived. It examines Ant Plant as a case study of inspiration based in bio-art, the Australian bushfires of 2020 and critical plant studies. The Ant Plant is set in an apocalyptic near future, in a burnt environment. The Guardian seeking to regenerate near-extinct species summons her brethren to deliver rare plants to her at the Greenhouse. A young woman hears the call and sets off on an arduous journey to deliver the key to a conserved plant kingdom – symbiotic Ant Plant.

Coolabah, 2021

Who was the ‘jolly swagman’ in Waltzing Matilda, Australia’s unofficial national anthem? In this ... more Who was the ‘jolly swagman’ in Waltzing Matilda, Australia’s unofficial national anthem? In this essay I argue that the ghost of the swagman can be heard in a number of recent de-colonising crime narratives. Outback Noir is a relatively recent genre category that describes a new wave of Australian crime films that highlight Indigenous and white relations and take a revisionist approach to traditional history. These films often feature redemption stories that highlight effective collaborations between Indigenous and white policing practices. Uncovering a rural communities’ dark, repressed secrets in order to solve a current problem is a common trend in Outback Noir cinema. I examine Patrick Hughes’ 2010 film Red Hill as an early provocative example of Outback Noir and as modern reimaging of the Waltzing Matilda narrative with the swagman’s avenging ghost exposing the social fractures and corruption that are destroying rural communities. I argue that the Outback Noir genre with its fo...

The child has existed in cinema since the Lumière Brothers filmed their babies having messy meals... more The child has existed in cinema since the Lumière Brothers filmed their babies having messy meals in Lyons, but it is only quite recently that scholars have paid serious attention to her/his presence on screen. Scholarly discussion is now of the highest quality and of interest to anyone concerned not only with the extent to which adult cultural conversations invoke the figure of the child, but also to those interested in exploring how film cultures can shift questions of agency and experience in relation to subjectivity. Childhood and Nation in World Cinema recognizes that the range of films and scholarship is now sufficiently extensive to invoke the world cinema mantra of pluri-vocal and pluri-central attention and interpretation. At the same time, the importance of the child in figuring ideas of nationhood is an undiminished tic in adult cultural and social consciousness. Either the child on film provokes claims on the nation or the nation claims the child. Given the waning star of national film studies, and the widely held and serious concerns over the status of the nation as a meaningful cultural unit, the point here is not to assume some extraordinary pre-social geopolitical empathy of child and political entity. Rather, the present collection observes how and why and whether the cinematic child is indeed aligned to concepts of modern nationhood, to concerns of the State, and to geo-political organizational themes and precepts.

Australian Genre Film, 2021

This book will be a cornerstone work for the burgeoning field of Australian film genre studies an... more This book will be a cornerstone work for the burgeoning field of Australian film genre studies and a must-read for academics; researchers; undergraduate students; postgraduate students; and general readers interested in film studies, media ..

This inspirational comedy-drama, based on the real-life story of Broken Hill taxi driver Max Bell... more This inspirational comedy-drama, based on the real-life story of Broken Hill taxi driver Max Bell, tackles the tricky territory surrounding terminal illness and euthanasia. According to Greg Dolgopolov, it is also a quintessential road movie, with a protagonist who learns about life and love during the journey, as well as a shrewd cinematic text that critiques Australian mateship and emotional reservedness.

David Michod's follow-up to the acclaimed animal kingdom tackles similarly bleak territory - ... more David Michod's follow-up to the acclaimed animal kingdom tackles similarly bleak territory - the world has fallen apart, and society struggles to survive amid the wreckage. But instead of giving viewers a glimmer of hope, writes Greg Dolgopolov, the rover revels in its depictions of disconnect and despair.

Must hidden truths always come to light, despite adverse consequences, and what should our role b... more Must hidden truths always come to light, despite adverse consequences, and what should our role be in their unearthing? This question underpins Simon Stone's rendition of the wild duck, which recounts the conflict between two families and its effects on the teenage girl caught in the crossfire. Greg Dolgopolov evaluates the adaptation in terms of its adherence to the source text, its treatment of the original's themes, and its place within the 'secret family history' film subgenre.

In the backwater town of Port Monro, it's not just the landscape that is broken - so, too, ar... more In the backwater town of Port Monro, it's not just the landscape that is broken - so, too, are the members of the local community afflicted by ongoing crime and corruption. Despite some problematic production decisions, this Peter Temple adaption is worthwhile viewing for its insights into resilience and reparation.

Recent films about and by Indigenous Australians have enjoyed not only critical acclaim on the fi... more Recent films about and by Indigenous Australians have enjoyed not only critical acclaim on the film-festival circuit, but also box-office success. Greg Dolgopolov explores the aesthetics, production processes and thematic concerns shared by these films, and evaluates whether their increasing interaction with the mainstream is heralding a 'new wave' in Indigenous cinema.

There was a contradictory relationship to popular culture and the notion of stage and screen star... more There was a contradictory relationship to popular culture and the notion of stage and screen stars in the Soviet era. On the one hand individualism was eschewed but on the other the regime needed its heroes and its model citizens. What did it mean to be a star under a regime of such contradictions? According to Richard Stites, the most popular stars in the USSR were Western actors: Chaplin, Pickford and Fairbanks. Soviet stars were different to these Western popular film stars. They were not just beautiful and glamorous, they needed to represent the ideal Soviet citizen. Innokenty Smoktunovsky was different to both the Western and the Soviet ideals. He was neither beautiful nor glamorous, nor the ideal Soviet citizen. But he did capture the mood of the epoch to become the most celebrated actor of the post War period, from the Thaw to the post-Soviet times. While Smoktunovsky’s fame initially came to him after his outstanding performance as Prince Myshkin in the production of The Idiot by Tovstonogov in the Leningrad’s Big Dramatic Theater (the current home of Lev Dodin), he became an international film star for his performance of Hamlet in Grigori Kozintsev's famed 1964 screen version of Shakespeare's play. The performance won him praise from Laurence Olivier as well as the Lenin Prize. Shakespeare experts Sir John Gielgud and Kenneth Branagh consider this work the definitive rendition of the Bard's tragic tale ranking it above Laurence Olivier’s. Smoktunovsky created a complex and unusual hero, that just like his Prince Myshkin, captured the mood of the Thaw of the 1960s with its restrained force, bitter nuance. Smoktunovsky "blended together what seemed incompatible before: manly simplicity and exquisite aristocratism, kindness and caustic sarcasm, a derisive mindset and self-sacrifice" (Wiki). His later cinematic roles additionally revealed his outstanding talent as a comic actor (Beware of Automobiles). The examination of Smoktunovsky’s rise to stardom and experience raise the question whether the western star theory is applicable to the Soviet and Russian context, and if so, what aspects of the Soviet phenomenon are different. It will be the first study of its kind to examine a Soviet start rather than a director of the authors’ cinema (Tarkovsky, Sokurov). This chapter seeks to examine Smoktunovsky as a Soviet star of stage and screen with particular focus on his performances in Hamlet, Beware of Automobiles and The Idiot. We examine what factors made him into a star and what this status entailed. Analysing Smoktunovsky’s status in the Soviet and post-Soviet period; the reception and rewards by the government, critics, audiences this chapter will investigate the contradictory meanings of being a film star in the Soviet era.

Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe, 2021

Mehr als ein Dutzend Serien wurden in Russland wahrend der Quarantane-Zeit von Streaming-Diensten... more Mehr als ein Dutzend Serien wurden in Russland wahrend der Quarantane-Zeit von Streaming-Diensten produziert und vertrieben. In diesem Aufsatz werden vier verschiedene Serien besprochen, die unter Quarantane-Bedingungen gedreht wurden und konkurrierende Modelle darstellen, wie man durch Vergnugungsangebote und Padagogik um die Gunst der Zuschauer buhlt. Diese Low-budget-Produktionen nehmen das Corona-Virus als Hintergrund zur Kenntnis, ersetzen aber die Angst, Panik und Verunsicherung gangiger Pandemie-Ausbruchsnarrative mit komischen Darstellungen von menschlichen Schwachen unter hauslichen Quarantanebedingungen. Sie verkorpern das „ Das Fest wahrend der Pest “-Syndrom, das die todlichen Konsequenzen der Krankheit ignoriert, die Pandemie mit Galgenhumor feiernd. Die hier behandelten Werke gehoren zu den ersten “screenlife”-Serien, die eine methodische Losung der verschiedenen Probleme bieten, die infolge der Kontaktbeschrankungen bei Dreharbeiten auftreten, und folglich ist ihre As...

'Leviathan' depicts the imbalance of political power in the world's largest nation, d... more 'Leviathan' depicts the imbalance of political power in the world's largest nation, dramatising the conflict between downtrodden individuals and the despotic state. Greg Dolgopolov unravels the universal 'battler story' underpinning Andrey Zvyagintsev's fourth feature, and disentangles the film's controversial reception at home from its accolades abroad.

In Greg McLean's terrifying sequel, we see how the land is neither complicit in the killings ... more In Greg McLean's terrifying sequel, we see how the land is neither complicit in the killings nor a source of salvation. Instead, it is a playing field that Mick Taylor and his victims have to navigate and negotiate amid neck-and-neck struggles.

Ivan Sen has created an 'indigenous cowboy superman' as the driving character in his new ... more Ivan Sen has created an 'indigenous cowboy superman' as the driving character in his new feature, mystery road.

The Contemporary Russian Cinema Reader, 2019

Sydney Journal, 2008

From the beginning of the twentieth century, Sydney defined cosmopolitanism and modernity in the ... more From the beginning of the twentieth century, Sydney defined cosmopolitanism and modernity in the national imagination, and central to this image was the cinema: its technology, its architecture, its stars, its marketing and the stories it circulated to its audiences about Australia and the world. Though it is difficult to define a genre of Sydney film, Sydney provided the backdrop for a host of ideas about the city, and later suburbia. Sydney came to be seen as a ‘tinsel town’ of cultural bankruptcy and hedonism. But distinctive stories about the city itself are rare, except perhaps in the 1930s and 1940s films made by the Commonwealth government for marketing the nation. Migrant film emerged as an important category of cinema from the 1970s, making Sydney central to the understanding and construction of Australian multiculturalism. This essay explores the historic beginnings of cinema in Sydney, the experience of going to the pictures, and a broad spectrum of films. We also examine...