Film Analysis Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This article considers The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012) in order to argue through Fredric Jameson that postmodern aspects of a text are capable of obfuscating, if not altogether obliterating, any Marxist polemics. The first... more

This article considers The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012) in order to argue through Fredric Jameson that postmodern aspects of a text are capable of obfuscating, if not altogether obliterating, any Marxist polemics. The first portion engages with Jameson's The Political Unconscious, particularly his emphasis on class struggle and identification of ideologemes which manifest in the text. The subsequent section considers The Dark Knight Rises as a postmodern text through Jameson's concepts of pastiche and nostalgia. Moreover, The Dark Knight Rises is contextualized within the recent spate of class-oriented cinema. Collectively, the goal is to identify a trend within such films of establishing a correlation between capitalism and inequality, ideologemes and postmodernism. The final result is an increasingly impressive group of genre-spanning films which address contemporary inequality in its multifarious forms, but which treat these issues more so as narrative devices than tenable critiques of the sites of oppression.

Jasmine French é uma mulher que era casada com um homem rico, mas desonesto que perdeu toda a sua riqueza, prestígio e reputação. Para ultrapassar a sua crise emocional após um casamento falhado e tentando encontrar a sua verdadeira... more

Jasmine French é uma mulher que era casada com um homem rico, mas desonesto que perdeu toda a sua riqueza, prestígio e reputação. Para ultrapassar a sua crise emocional após um casamento falhado e tentando encontrar a sua verdadeira identidade e vocação, decide passar algum tempo com a sua irmã adoptiva em São Francisco. Ainda que adoptadas pelos mesmos pais e educadas da mesma forma, as duas irmãs são personalidades completamente diferentes: Jasmine é sofisticada, tem muita cultura, estudou na universidade embora não se licenciando, tem muito estilo, conhece a moda, costumava levar uma rica vida social e ter amigos oriundos de alta sociedade. Ginger, porém, sempre se sentia em segundo plano em relação à irmã, o que se reflecte nas suas profissões (era empregada de mesa, vendedora de frutas no supermercado) e na escolha dos seus namorados (o primeiro marido, Augie era um homem ordinário e violento que lhe batia, Chilli, o segundo homem importante é machista, agressivo, bêbado e muito semelhante ao anterior).

The role of food in literature, art and film has been receiving a lot of critical attention lately. Food is not just a matter for the sustenance of life and its cultural and sociological significance is often discussed. Recently numerous... more

The role of food in literature, art and film has been receiving a lot of critical attention lately. Food is not just a matter for the sustenance of life and its cultural and sociological significance is often discussed. Recently numerous studies have scrutinized texts to read meaning into the instances of eating and drinking in art. In the creative circle, food is frequently laden with a symbolic role and has a rhetorical function to perform. So often has this been practiced that it has resulted in a film food genre. Chocolat directed by Lasse Hallstrom is a film belonging to this genre. Chocolate, here, is more than an item of food. It is the exotic 'other'. It is the consummation of sin. It mediates the struggle between conventions and forces of change. The richness of Vianne's chocolates lends the movie its sumptuous richness. This paper intends to examine how chocolate breaks down the Catholic fortress to bend to the winds of change.

Abstract It can be claimed that the representations of femininity and masculinity in the cinema reinforce the dominant masculine discourse. Not only representations of femininity and masculinity, but also another dimension of the... more

Poter accedere a qualsiasi immagine, in qualsiasi momento, in qualsiasi luogo. I nuovi media prospettano straordinarie vie di fruizione. Ma come orientarsi in questo scenario? La nostra cultura visuale è capace di tenere il passo della... more

Poter accedere a qualsiasi immagine, in qualsiasi momento, in qualsiasi luogo. I nuovi media prospettano straordinarie vie di fruizione. Ma come orientarsi in questo scenario? La nostra cultura visuale è capace di tenere il passo della tecnologia? Questo libro racconta come il cinema, ben prima dell'avvento della tecnologia digitale, abbia saputo accogliere immagini provenienti da archivi pubblici e privati: dai rapporti con la pittura al foundfootage, dalla pratica del remake all'intermedialità. Molte volte assegnato al compito di produrre un calco del "reale", il film costituisce piuttosto uno spazio del pensiero nel quale si rielaborano le immagini del passato e si rigenerano i materiali "usurati" della cultura. Se i nuovi media invitano lo spettatore a manipolare le immagini e non semplicemente a osservarle, è dunque a partire dalle lezioni di montaggio offerte da maestri come Godard e Herzog, Sokurov e Van Sant, Pasolini e Moretti, che diventa possibile assumere un ruolo attivo e consapevole nell'orizzonte estetico e mediatico contemporaneo.

The Blue Tiger is a fairy tale about two children and a blue tiger living in an ancient botanical garden – an environment incongruent with its urban surroundings. It thus includes the theme of protecting a piece of nature and the conflict... more

The Blue Tiger is a fairy tale about two children and a blue tiger living in an ancient botanical garden – an environment incongruent with its urban surroundings. It thus includes the theme of protecting a piece of nature and the conflict between old and new and conventional and non-conventional. The children’s struggle against developers and insensitive, corrupt local politicians is a universal metaphor for the
uncertainty that today’s world generates in both children and adults. At the same time, however, in thematic terms – albeit in simplified form for young viewers – it builds on the tradition of the subversive films made in from of and behind the Iron Curtain in the latter half of the 20th century. The world of children is depicted as a world of hope, while the adult world is marked by compromise and despotism.
The film combines live action and animation techniques. This approach, along with the nature of the original book and the genre of the fairy tale played out in the regular fictional world of a contemporary city, presented its makers with plenty of freedom to develop their own stylised design. The animated elements in The Blue Tiger are handled very sensitively but also inventively, combining classic 2D animation with modern digital methods.
Several film traditions come together in the film: It builds on Czech films for children and teenagers, which in the 1970s and 1980s were successful not only in Czechoslovakia but internationally. Also key, however, is the legacy of European (and beyond) authorial animated film of the post-war decades, when filmmakers acquired better conditions for the long-term, systematic development of indigenous,
artistically original films.
The Blue Tiger by Petr Oukropec, a debut director and experienced producer, is an important example of a feature-length film with artistic merit intended primarily for children of younger school age. This genre virtually disappeared from Czech cinema in the wake of the post-1989 collapse of the studio system. The director focuses on producing work for children and teens in a systematic manner, however. The Blue Tiger has enjoyed success not only in the Czech Republic but also in Germany, Switzerland, Poland and Slovakia.
CinEd is dedicated to the transmission of the Seventh Art as a cultural object and material to help conceive the world. To accomplish this, common teaching methods were developed based on a selection of films produced by the European partner countries. The approach is designed to be adapted to our time, characterized by fast, major and continuous change in the way we see, receive, broadcast and produce images.

The seeds of a culture of elite drug use that were sown in the first season of Rome blossom to full prominence in the show’s second series as male and female characters within the city and without are shown conspicuously consuming... more

The seeds of a culture of elite drug use that were sown in the first season of Rome blossom to full prominence in the show’s second series as male and female characters within the city and without are shown conspicuously consuming narcotics. What emerges from the haze of opium and hemp smoke is a swirl of inference as a decidedly modern habit is thrust into ancient hands, along with all of its connotations. Perhaps inspired as much by Shakespeare as by orientalist stereotypes, the prevalence of the vice is striking: the reimagined Cleopatra is often addled with opium and her paramour Antony succumbs to the vice all too quickly, while in Rome itself the parvenue Jocasta corrupts the well-to-do Octavia with her imported hemp whose potency is enough to attract the dabbling of Atia, whose later casual dismissal of the habit implies that it was neither scandalous nor out of the ordinary. Commonplace, seductive, and always aphrodisiac, drug use in the show nevertheless brings with it the dangers and associations of the modern habit. Notions of degeneracy, addiction, sexual impropriety and juvenile delinquency come with the vice and speak to the character of the users, while the foreign origins of the substances themselves bear political associations that play into dichotomy of Roman versus non-Roman in the series. And all of this emerges from what is essentially an historical embellishment of a drug culture that never was present. This chapter seeks to delve into what lies behind this retrojection of a modern vice onto the ancient elite by considering the ramifications of drug use within the world of the series, and the implied judgement of the characters involved. All the while drug use in Rome will be situated in relation to both historical context, and the increasing frequency with which this modern decadence is grafted onto the ancients in contemporary depictions of the Classical world.

In this book, Nariman Skakov explores the phenomenon of spatio-temporal lapse in Tarkovsky's cinema - from 'Ivan's Childhood' (1962) to 'Sacrifice' (1986). He argues that dreams, visions, mirages, memories, revelations, reveries, and... more

In this book, Nariman Skakov explores the phenomenon of spatio-temporal lapse in Tarkovsky's cinema - from 'Ivan's Childhood' (1962) to 'Sacrifice' (1986). He argues that dreams, visions, mirages, memories, revelations, reveries, and delusions are phenomena which present alternative spatio-temporal patterns; they disrupt the linear progression of events and create narrative discontinuity. Each chapter is dedicated to the discussion of one of Tarkovsky's seven feature films and, in each, one of these phenomena functions as a refrain. Skakov discusses the influence of the flow of and lapses in space and time on the viewer's perception of the Tarkovskian cinematic universe. He opens and closes his original and fascinating book on Tarkovsky's cinema by focusing on the phenomenon of time that was discussed extensively by the filmmaker in his main theoretical treatise 'Sculpting in Time,' as well as in a number of interviews and public lectures.

nlatmak istediği derdi olan bir film yönetmeni düşünelim. Her dert sahibinin derdini anlatmak istemesi gibi, film yönetmeni de doğal olarak derdini filmleriyle ifade edebilmenin yollarını arayacaktır. Yönetmen için filmden daha iyi bir... more

nlatmak istediği derdi olan bir film yönetmeni düşünelim. Her dert sahibinin derdini anlatmak istemesi gibi, film yönetmeni de doğal olarak derdini filmleriyle ifade edebilmenin yollarını arayacaktır. Yönetmen için filmden daha iyi bir derdini ifade etme yolunun olmayacağı söylenebilir. Yönetmen derdinin niteliğine ve ifade kabiliyetine bağlı olarak değişik türde filmler çekebilir. Temel derdi para kazanmak ya da izlenme rekorları kırmak olan bir yönetmenle hayatın anlamını sorgulamayı birincil dert haline getirmiş bir yönetmenin çekeceği filmlerin çok farklı olması mantıklı olacaktır. İlk grupta yer alan yönetmen, seyirciyi cezbedecek ve gişe yapacak bir filmin çekilmesine kafa yorarken, ikinci gruptaki yönet-men "hayatın anlamını bir filmle en iyi nasıl anlatabilirim" konusunu enine boyuna araştıracaktır. Hayatı anlamlandırmayla ilgili derdi olan yönetmen-lerin çekeceği filmlerin, derinlik bakımından birbirinden farklı olması beklenebilir. Nörotik yapılı bir yönetmenin derdini bir filmle anlatmaya çalışırken kullanacağı malzeme, borderline ya da psikotik yapılı bir yönetme-ninkinden çok farklı olacaktır. Burada nörotik, borderline ve psikotik kavramlarını bir akıl hastalığının belirtisi olarak değil, ruhsal yapının boyutları olarak görmek gerekiyor. Nörotik bir ifade daha yüzeysel, gerçekle bağlantısını büyük ölçüde korunmuş ve genel geçer mantık kural-larından fazla uzaklaşmamıştır. Oysa borderline bir A ifadenin stres durumlarında psikotik döneme gerilemesi, stres durumu ortadan kalktıktan sonra ise normale gerile-mesi, stres durumu ortadan kalktıktan sonra ise normale dönmesi söz konusu olacaktır. Psikotik ifade ise tama-men gerçeğin ötesinde, mantığın, lisan kurallarının dışın-da ve irrasyoneldir. Bu tanımlamaları gözümüzün önünde tutarsak, nörotik bir yönetmenin çekeceği filmle derdini seyirciye bulaştırıp onu huzursuz edeceğini, kendi açmazlarını sanki ciddi ve evrensel bir sorunmuş gibi anlatacağını, kendi doğrularını tek gerçekmiş gibi empoze etmeye kalkacağını, derdini ideolojisiyle harmanlayıp propaganda kaygısı güdeceğini ve deyim yerindeyse kabız bir film ortaya koyacağını söyleyebiliriz. Nörotik yönetmen tutumuna en iyi örnekleri bizdeki 12 Eylül filmlerinde bulabiliriz. Askeri cuntayla başı belaya girmiş ideolojili ya da bu ideolojiye mensupmuş havası yayan yönetmenlerin çektiği filmlerde tumturaklı bir dil kullanılarak, abartılı duygusal ve psikolojik şiddet sahneleri eşliğinde, cuntanın o ideolojide olanlara zulmettiği anlatılmaya çalışılır. Aslında kimsenin cuntanın yaptıklarını savun-duğu filan yoktur hatta cuntanın o ideolojidekilerle birlikte vatansever herkese zulmettiği aklı başındaki herkesin malumudur. Ancak nörotik yönetmenimiz bu gerçeği görmezden gelir, üstelik cuntacılarla doğrudan hesaplaşacak cesareti de olmadığı için onları hedef almaktan korkar ve tipik bir nörotiğin yapacağı gibi * Psikiyatrist, Prof.

The article examines three feature-length films produced in South Korea—director Hwang Dong-hyeok’s Silenced (2011), Song Il-gon’s Always (2011), and An Sang-hun’s Blind (2011)—that highlight a problem in contemporary disability rights... more

The article examines three feature-length films produced in South Korea—director Hwang Dong-hyeok’s Silenced (2011), Song Il-gon’s Always (2011), and An Sang-hun’s Blind (2011)—that highlight a problem in contemporary disability rights cinema. While privileging individuals and groups that challenge normative understandings of character-based drama or documentary filmmaking, these motion pictures reflect an infantilizing tendency in popular culture more generally. The representations align with the standard medical approach to the topic, which sees disability as a sickness, a childlike helplessness (regardless of the person’s age) that results from an inability, a marked deficit in one’s physical or mental performance. However, it is argued that Silenced, a film that provoked legislative changes strengthening the protection of minors in South Korea, at least gestures toward the social model of disability.

The embodied cognition thesis claims that cognitive functions cannot be understood without making reference to the interactions between the brain, the body, and the environment. The meaning of abstract concepts is grounded in concrete... more

The embodied cognition thesis claims that cognitive functions cannot be understood without making reference to the interactions between the brain, the body, and the environment. The meaning of abstract concepts is grounded in concrete experiences. This book is the first edited volume to explore the impact of the embodied cognition thesis on the scientific study of film. A team of scholars analyse the main aspects of film (narrative, style, music, sound, time, the viewer, emotion, perception, ethics, the frame, etc.) from an embodied perspective. By combining insights from various disciplines such as cognitive film theory, conceptual metaphor theory, and cognitive neuroscience, they show how the process of meaning-making in film is embodied and how empathy and embodied simulation play a role in understanding the way in which the viewer interacts with the film.

What makes a good movie? How can one analyse a film accordingly without primarily interpreting it? Dramaturgy can enrich film understanding, for those who make films, as well as for those who want to understand better why they are made... more

What makes a good movie? How can one analyse a film accordingly without primarily interpreting it? Dramaturgy can enrich film understanding, for those who make films, as well as for those who want to understand better why they are made how. Film Dramaturgy supports the creative process of filmmaking, especially the work of the authors, directors and producers. Students and professionals who are involved in the creation of a film also benefit from this knowledge. The understanding of dramaturgy supports film analysis and film criticism too. In some regions of the world, dramaturgy is well established; in other parts, it is less familiar.
This book provides a basic introduction to modern film dramaturgy. It emerges from academic research drawn from professional practice. It addresses students, scholars, colleagues, filmmakers and all professionals involved in making films, videos, audio-visual time-based media productions

In looking at these two tropes of horror we have exposed a few underlying tropes within the American psyche. It is clear that although American society has externally appeared to have moved away from the view that the white male is the... more

In looking at these two tropes of horror we have exposed a few underlying tropes within the American psyche. It is clear that although American society has externally appeared to have moved away from the view that the white male is the ideal state that internally it has not. By looking at it’s art, and we may call horror film art within the understanding that art is an expression of the self, we find a very different sentiment.

Hidden Figures is a 2016 film that is based on a true story about three women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who worked at NASA dealing with racial prejudice. This film was set in the 1960's when it was very rare... more

Hidden Figures is a 2016 film that is based on a true story about three women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who worked at NASA dealing with racial prejudice. This film was set in the 1960's when it was very rare to see non-white people in the roles these three women had; it was even more unlikely to see women in them. These women were working in segregated areas and it was very difficult for their talents to be seen by other people due to the barriers of their gender and race. Taraji P. Henson played the role of Katherine G. Johnson, who was the star of the film. Katherine's role was to create a new field of science for space with her group. The film also does a great job balancing the personal lives of these women while at the same time presenting their crucial roles in NASA. These women all played pivotal roles in taking down racism in the field of science. These women were all smart and had a lot to bring with the positions they held. Katherine proves to the chief how smart she was in a scene where she presented her findings of a formula and her knowledge of a classified piece of information. The chief's main concern was how she found out this important piece of information because he was certain that mathematics could not have resulted in her knowing; she told him she held the paper up to the light, when he did so he also saw the proof. His first question to this woman, due to her undeniable intelligence, was if she was a Russian spy; yes, he asked a Black Woman if she was Russian because of all that she knew. It was obvious that she was not Russian, but it was the only thing that this man could associate with her level of knowledge. To be woman during those times were hard, and to be Black was even harder. These women had to work twice as hard to be heard due to their gender, and even harder to be heard due to their color of skin. Dorothy Vaughan's role began working with computers in her position at NASA, then due to her knowledge was promoted to supervisor. Her role was pivotal because she, not only

Many of us have by now watched the new Netflix release, Outlaw King. And many on social media have had questions about the film, the period and its history. As I have written elsewhere “historical accuracy” is a problematic consideration,... more

Many of us have by now watched the new Netflix release, Outlaw King. And many on social media have had questions about the film, the period and its history. As I have written elsewhere “historical accuracy” is a problematic consideration, not least because medieval sources never provide a truly “accurate” portrayal of the past. All historical sources, upon which films like Outlaw King are based, were written with a specific purpose in mind, for a specific audience, and with the intention of telling one very specific version of history. This makes it no more accurate, then, than anything we see on the screen. Still, we historians work to interpret the history that has come down to us. As such, we can at least compare Outlaw King to the prevailing historical narrative to sort out what is likely from what is fantasy...

Directed by David Mackenzie and starring Hollywood’s Chris Pine, more usually found in blockbuster franchises such as Star Trek and Wonder Woman, Outlaw King is one of a number of medieval historical dramas soon to make their way to our... more

Directed by David Mackenzie and starring Hollywood’s Chris Pine, more usually found in blockbuster franchises such as Star Trek and Wonder Woman, Outlaw King is one of a number of medieval historical dramas soon to make their way to our screens. But, just as the trailer for the upcoming Mary Queen of Scots film prompted criticism across social media for apparent historical inaccuracy after it appeared to show Mary and Elizabeth meeting face to face (an event most historians agree never took place), so too will Outlaw King find itself under similar scrutiny...

Este libro nace con el propósito de realizar una aproximación al cine español realizado durante el periodo de la transición democrática, desde una perspectiva de género. Se trata de una etapa en la historia de nuestro país, repleta de... more

Taste of Cherry, 1997 - Abbas Kiarostami

Alternative worlds in classical Hollywood cinema are built from a variety of cinematic constructions. The credibility of such worlds depends on the extent to which the film’s creators wish to stray from the concept of reality. Abstract... more

Alternative worlds in classical Hollywood cinema are built from a variety of cinematic constructions. The credibility of such worlds depends on the extent to which the film’s creators wish to stray from the concept of reality. Abstract notions of colour, dimensionality, light and sound contrast more complex cinematic concepts such as narrative, character roles, credibility and geography. It is the specific combination of these elements chosen by filmmakers which determines whether audiences are able to become immersed into the world by perceiving it as a real and coherent entity.
This thesis is an exploration into how composers James Horner and Howard Shore use music to help build conceptualisations of place in their two fantasy film series’, Avatar and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It offers three hermeneutical levels of analysis which provide different insights into how the composers musically construct a sense of place: through establishing spatial identities, through music’s relation to the narrative, and from a more conceptual viewpoint relating to power struggles in the real world. It ultimately aims to evaluate the extents in which music’s contribution toward creating a sense of place not only influences the construction of the worlds themselves, but how it is capable in altering the way audiences perceive them as credible entities as a whole.

El Diccionario de conceptos y términos audiovisuales, tal y como reza el subtítulo, es una herramienta conceptual, docente y práctica, orientada a su uso como consulta y, en su caso, divulgativa. Si bien el objetivo esencial es que el... more

El Diccionario de conceptos y términos audiovisuales, tal y como reza el subtítulo, es una herramienta conceptual, docente y práctica, orientada a su uso como consulta y, en su caso, divulgativa. Si bien el objetivo esencial es que el lector pueda navegar con seguridad en el entorno de los innumerables términos necesarios para la ejecución del análisis fílmico, no queda ahí su validez. De hecho, cada término va acompañado de bibliografía (elemental, si se quiere, pero indispensable) que permitirá con facilidad ampliar las líneas de autoformación propias de cada individuo, con especial rentabilidad para los alumnos universitarios.
No se pretende una acumulación global de conocimientos ni tampoco una visión holística, sino un anclaje de punto de partida que permita dar el salto hacia mayores capas de comprensión del universo audiovisual, incluyendo las múltiples novedades aportadas por la era digital. Para ello, se sigue la estela de los 'Keywords Reference Books' y más concretamente del excelente texto de Jacques Aumont y Michel Marie, ?Dictionnaire théorique et critique du cinéma', más orientado hacia la teoría que hacia la divulgación de los recursos expresivos y narrativos, campos ambos que aquí sí se abarcan.
Este es un texto inédito en nuestro panorama editorial y a buen seguro se ampliará y crecerá con las aportaciones críticas de los lectores y, además, se refuerza mediante ejemplos gráficos en el sitio web construido al efecto, de libre acceso, http://www.analisisfilmico.uji.es.

With dragons, dogs, wolves, ravens, and so many more, animal symbolism is endlessly significant in Game of Thrones. Discover their meanings in heraldry, in Celtic myth, and other clever correspondences. What do red, green, black, and grey... more

With dragons, dogs, wolves, ravens, and so many more, animal symbolism is endlessly significant in Game of Thrones. Discover their meanings in heraldry, in Celtic myth, and other clever correspondences. What do red, green, black, and grey symbolize, in heraldry and fiction? Why does Daenerys wear so much blue? What about golden roses? As George R.R. Martin’s characters chomp on bloody beef, blood oranges, red wine, beets, and pomegranates, they foreshadow the inevitable bloodbaths. Thus the intricately crafted world of books and show has endless depth, revealed in this spoiler-free talk for fans of every flavor. (This is a free powerpoint of a presentation I've done--this is also a book, written by me, with this title).

Emerging between Documentary film and Fiction film, “Hybrid” film attempts to bridge the divide that has long separated the two. Mixing reality with fiction, noticeably or sometimes less so, these hybrid narratives use filmic techniques... more

Emerging between Documentary film and Fiction film, “Hybrid” film attempts
to bridge the divide that has long separated the two. Mixing reality with fiction,
noticeably or sometimes less so, these hybrid narratives use filmic techniques from both
sides of the divide to create a unique narrative that can serve quite varied storytelling
purposes. From works like the Canadian films Stories We Tell (Polley 2012) or My
Winnipeg (Maddin 2007), which apply fictional elements to personal stories
experienced first-hand by the filmmakers as a means to comment on the unreliability of
Memory or Sensation, to the films of several Iranian filmmakers, such as Abbas
Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, or Mohsen Makhmalbaf, to name just a few, which poetically
deconstruct the illusion of filmic narrative, through metacinematic devices that
obliquely allude to the political censorship and control exerted by the Iranian
authorities, to the magical realism of directors like Miguel Gomes or Apichatpong
Weerasethakul, the Hybrid form offers a wide range of creative solutions for a
filmmaker to address any subject matter.
This essay will attempt to propose a general delimitation of what “hybrid film”
is and is not. It will consist of a journey of sorts through some films which sit on what is
generally considered to be the border line between Documentary film and Fiction film.
By comparing and contrasting the stylistic elements in the chosen films, it is expectable
that tensions will emerge and, consequently, offer valuable ideas towards a delimitation
of the topic of the essay.
As I will further expose below, there is a lack of clear, decisive academic
knowledge about Hybrid films. This gap has spread to film criticism, journalism, and
programming, realms in with the term “hybrid” is used indiscriminately. A few of the
films analysed in this essay were taken directly from film reviews, film festival
programmes, and articles where they were defined as hybrids; as argued below, most
times wrongly so. Notwithstanding this, one must nevertheless recognize that these
more informal texts reflect a tension that is deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of
casual filmgoers when confronted with a film that defies characterization. Moreover, as
proposed below, the way the audience engages and perceives these films is an aspect
with an important contribution to the definition of “hybrid film”.
Despite the lack of any substantial academic framework surrounding Hybrids,
there is an outstanding number of authors working mostly from within the Documentary
field who have written about the issues of Reality, Reconstruction, Intervention, and so
on, in Documentary practice. One of these authors is Brian Winston, whose recap of the
spectrum between fact and fiction (2013) has been central to the analysis present in this
essay as a first step towards a taxonomy of documentary and fiction techniques that can
be used to attempt a definition of “Hybrid film”
At any rate, and due to the fact that, as I will begin by addressing in the next
chapter, the Hybrid form is ever-changing, highly adaptable, and generally elusive, this
essay cannot purport to be an exhaustive survey of the reach the Hybrid form has;
rather, my intention is that it can offer a general road map on the subject, identifying the
main questions that can, after further study, contribute to a definitive delimitation of the
form, while leaving the door open for whatever the evolution of this subject might
bring.

Otto and B.D.G., a black and desi gay couple in the film Loins of Punjab Presents (Manish Acharya, 2007), are an exceptional representation of interracial desire in South Asian diasporic cultural production. Beyond the novelty of their... more

Otto and B.D.G., a black and desi gay couple in the film Loins of Punjab Presents (Manish Acharya, 2007), are an exceptional representation of interracial desire in South Asian diasporic cultural production. Beyond the novelty of their representation, they use a variety of black and South Asian performance styles to critique normative and disciplinary systems that surround them. This essay explores the unconventional ways through which Otto and B.D.G.’s intimacies are depicted, and analyzes the performance styles they use to express critical perspectives on racism, homophobia, and Islamophobia. I argue that Otto and B.D.G.’s performances offer alternative ways to think through contemporary conversations around cultural appropriation and interracial desire in ways that decenter whiteness or a white desiring subject. However, I also observe how their critical deployments of hypermasculinity potentially skew public conversations about racialized violence.

Il progetto rappresenta uno strumento originale e realmente efficace nell’analisi del film e, in particolare, del suo funzionamento linguistico. Il volume ha infatti un doppio sviluppo, cartaceo e digitale: il volume cartaceo,... more

Il progetto rappresenta uno strumento originale e realmente efficace nell’analisi del film e, in particolare, del suo funzionamento linguistico. Il volume ha infatti un doppio sviluppo, cartaceo e digitale: il volume cartaceo, nell'introdurre i concetti chiave dell'analisi, insiste soprattutto su questioni teoriche e metodologiche, oltre a fornire approfondimenti di tipo storico in merito allo sviluppo della tecnologia e del linguaggio cinematografici. La piattaforma digitale, rispettando la suddivisione degli argomenti del volume cartaceo, si concentra invece sui singoli aspetti formali e linguistici, con analisi puntuali associate a un’immediata visualizzazione tramite scene e sequenze estratte da film (circa duecento in totale). La complementarietà tra volume e piattaforma è ulterioremente rafforzata da un sistema di rimandi interni (per parole chiave).

A meditation on loitering as praxis in Tarell McCraney + Barry Jenkins' Moonlight--and beyond.

Alfred Hitchcock'un sinemasını özgün kılan dinamikler incelendiğinde, öne çıkan motif hiç kuşkusuz uyandırdığı gerilim duygusu (suspense) olacaktır. Klasik kara film yapısında aydınlatma düzeyinde yaratılan, korku sinemasında anlatının... more

Alfred Hitchcock'un sinemasını özgün kılan dinamikler incelendiğinde, öne çıkan motif hiç kuşkusuz uyandırdığı gerilim duygusu (suspense) olacaktır. Klasik kara film yapısında aydınlatma düzeyinde yaratılan, korku sinemasında anlatının ilerleyişini mümkün kılan bu duygu her iki durumda da filmin bütünlüğü içerisinde dağınık bir biçimde işlenir, çoğu zaman ait oldukları türün diğer karakteristik özellikleri tarafından geri plana itilir. Hitchcock filmlerinde ise, gerilim duygusu sistematikleştirilir, anlatı ve mizansen bu motif etrafında birleşir. Matematiksel bir titizlikle işlenen gerilim, filmi her yönüyle kuşatır; dolayısıyla seyircinin anlamlandırma süreçlerini yönlendirir. Sinema dilinin tüm imkanlarını kullanmayı gerektiren bu yaklaşım, görsel-işitsel düzeyde metaforik, sembolik yenilikçi denemeleri mümkün kılar. Bunun yanında, anlam yaratma kaygısıyla kurgulanan film evreni, farklı yorumları bir arada bulunduracak anlam düzeylerini engelleyerek izleyici otonomluğunu sekteye uğratma potansiyeline sahiptir. Yine de, anlam tarafından kuşatılan, farklı izlenimlere kaçışın mümkün olmadığı bu estetik yapı, karakterlerin maruz kaldığı durumun yeniden üretimini amaç edinen bilinçli bir tercih olarak da yorumlanmaya müsaittir. Söz konusu yönelimin temelleri ise, gerekli anlatısal ve görsel-işitsel elemanların arasında ilişkilerin kurulduğu başlangıç sekanslarında atılır. Hitchcock, bu sekanslarda gerilim unsurunu meydana getiren kodları bir yapboz estetiği içerisinde, seyirciyi anlatının merkezine yönlendirecek bir biçimde kurgular. Başka bir deyişle gerilim düğümü, birbirinden bağımsız niteliklere sahip görünen mizansen öğelerinin montajlanmasıyla oluşturulur. Hitchcock'un bu metodu bağlamında, Strangers on a Train filminin başlangıç sekansı kusursuz bir örnek teşkil eder. Adından da anlaşılacağı üzere, Strangers on a Train (Trendeki Yabancılar) iki yabancının trende tanışması etrafında şekillenir. Dolayısıyla, birbirini tanımayan iki insanın karşılaşmasının, anlatı pusulasını kaçınılmaz bir şekilde psikolojik gerilim ve cinayete yönlendirmesini mizansen bağlamında incelemek doğru olacaktır.

This essay examines the stylistic and cultural aspects of what I call Hans Zimmer’s “Epic Style.” This powerful and understudied idiom has assumed a default status for a huge amount of musical multimedia in the new millennium. Zimmer’s... more

This essay examines the stylistic and cultural aspects of what I call Hans Zimmer’s “Epic Style.” This powerful and understudied idiom has assumed a default status for a huge amount of musical multimedia in the new millennium. Zimmer’s maximalized minimalisms infuse films ranging from Drop Zone to Inception. Through analyses of these and other scores, I identify a number of structural components of this style and comment on how they reflect broad trends in Hollywood scoring practice. I conclude with a consideration of the role that masculinity, heroism, and military entertainment play in this incredibly influential and pervasive musical style.