8 years ago
Essential Reading (10 posts found)
Quintessential material
Black Faces, White Hoods: Blaxpoitation, Meta Narratives and the KKK
At first glance, the image is ironically funny. There’s a gun toting OJ Simpson, decked out in the robes of the Ku Klux Klan, taking aim at an anonymous redneck. Given OJ’s eventual fame, it’s impossible to separate the image from its context. It’s also the...
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The Male Gaze Has Outlived Its Usefulness
Mulvey may have been right about its existence, but she was wrong about the potential for change.
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Halftime Report: The Best Movies of 2014 So Far
The year has now half passed us by, which marks a good opportunity to take stock of what it's offered cinematically so far. Releasing a "best of" list for half a year may seem like clickbaiting, and perhaps it is, but it's no more so than any other kind of lis...
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Beyond Blaxpoitation: An Introduction
“He hated his family because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help them. He knew that the moment he allowed himself to feel to its fullness how they lived, the shame and misery of their lives, he would be swept out of himself with ...
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“I Call Them Dogs”: Lars von Trier Calls Out Rape Culture
Lars von Trier wants to hold us accountable. His films sear and contain a rawness that’s rare in cinema. He shows a small town community protecting people who abuse a fugitive, sexually and emotionally, and a religious culture that allows its elders to be disp...
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The Smart Dumb Films of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
If Phil Lord and Christopher Miller can be defined by any one thing, it is their ability to turn flimsy properties into unexpected hits. Their first feature-length directorial project, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, an adaptation of the eponymous children’...
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Putting Women in Their Place: Actresses Back in the Spotlight
When the average moviegoer is asked to name some of the greatest female characters, the first names that spring to mind are Ripley and Sarah Connor. Actresses were asked to do exciting things after the 1940s and 50s and films were littered with great female pe...
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Isolationism and Cinema
What does Obama’s commencement speech at West Point have in common with X-Men: Days of Future Past? More than you think. Despite his protestations, Obama’s speech has been cast by his critics as a push for isolationism. “[A]ccording to self-described realists,...
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The Dream of 92: Cincinnati, “Airborne,” and the Cinematic Capital that Never Was
Cincinnati, Ohio is smaller than Pittsburgh and bigger than Plano, Texas. It has no national landmarks, and its topography is lovely without being majestic. It will never host an Olympics, but still hosts lesser known international events like 2012’s World Cho...
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Criticism in the Youtube age: The Video Essay in Conversation
“Sometimes you have to look at the postmodern set of circumstances we live in and conclude that the way we review things hasn't changed nearly to the same degree that art has changed.”
Though this quote from Winston Rowntree's recent piece for Cracked isn...
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