Paranoia, the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films

Paranoia, the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films PDF Author: Cynthia Hendershot
Publisher: Popular Press
ISBN: 9780879727994
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
The various monsters that people 1950s sf - giant insects, prehistoric creatures, mutants, uncanny doubles, to name a few - serve as metaphorical embodiments of a varied and complex cultural paranoia."--BOOK JACKET. "Hendershot provides both theoretical discussion of paranoia and close readings of sf films in order to construct her argument, elucidating the various metaphors used by these films to convey a paranoiac view of a society forever altered by the atomic bomb."--BOOK JACKET.

Paranoia, the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films

Paranoia, the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films PDF Author: Cynthia Hendershot
Publisher: Popular Press
ISBN: 9780879727994
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
The various monsters that people 1950s sf - giant insects, prehistoric creatures, mutants, uncanny doubles, to name a few - serve as metaphorical embodiments of a varied and complex cultural paranoia."--BOOK JACKET. "Hendershot provides both theoretical discussion of paranoia and close readings of sf films in order to construct her argument, elucidating the various metaphors used by these films to convey a paranoiac view of a society forever altered by the atomic bomb."--BOOK JACKET.

Anti-Communism and Popular Culture in Mid-Century America

Anti-Communism and Popular Culture in Mid-Century America PDF Author: Cyndy Hendershot
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786483695
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Not long after the Allied victories in Europe and Japan, America's attention turned from world war to cold war. The perceived threat of communism had a definite and significant impact on all levels of American popular culture, from government propaganda films like Red Nightmare in Time magazine to Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. This work examines representations of anti-communist sentiment in American popular culture from the early fifties through the mid-sixties. The discussion covers television programs, films, novels, journalism, maps, memoirs, and other works that presented anti-communist ideology to millions of Americans and influenced their thinking about these controversial issues. It also points out the different strands of anti-communist rhetoric, such as liberal and countersubversive ones, that dominated popular culture in different media, and tells a much more complicated story about producers' and consumers' ideas about communism through close study of the cultural artifacts of the Cold War. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

The Cinematography of Roger Corman

The Cinematography of Roger Corman PDF Author: Pawel Aleksandrowicz
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 144384361X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Roger Corman is an ambiguous artistic figure. On the one hand, he is notorious for shooting and producing his films quickly, cheaply and with blatant disregard for safety measures, which, together with his ability to issue a dozen new films every year and his impressive filmography, have earned him the titles of “shlockmeister” and “the King of the B’s” among film journalists. On the other hand, he became the youngest American director to be given a film retrospective at the prestigious Cinématèque Française in Paris, one of his directorial efforts – House of Usher – was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him with an Academy Honorary Award “for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers.” This book investigates this duality and explores whether Corman is indeed a shlockmeister or an artist whose works are worthy of the highest cinema awards. The scope of analysis is limited to his directorial efforts “only” – still encompassing 50 features – excluding the 400 films he produced. The methodology adopted here is based on the auteur theory in its structuralist version by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith and Peter Wollen, and focuses on three areas of interest: work ethic – personal elements in the films, personal control over and commitment to the production process outside direction; themes – topics and concerns common for many of the films regardless of the genre; and style – recurring stylistic motifs and elements in the camerawork, editing, and framing.

The Spark of Fear

The Spark of Fear PDF Author: Brian N. Duchaney
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786495111
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
The horror genre is continually being reinvented as societal fears evolve. As technology has developed and become ubiquitous in modern life, horror films have effectively played upon our increasing reliance on technology as a source of anxiety. Focusing on advancements from the advent of electricity to the Internet, this book explores how technology--ostensibly humanity's means of conquering fear and the unknown--has become a compelling and abundant source of dread in horror films.

Why We Fought

Why We Fought PDF Author: Peter C. Rollins
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813172977
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
Film moves audiences like no other medium; both documentaries and feature films are especially remarkable for their ability to influence viewers. Best-selling author James Brady remarked that he joined the Marines to fight in Korea after seeing a John Wayne film, demonstrating how a motion picture can change the course of a human life—in this case, launching the career of a major historian and novelist. In Why We Fought: America's Wars in Film and History, editors Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor explore the complexities of war films, describing the ways in which such productions interpret history and illuminate American values, politics, and culture. This comprehensive volume covers representations of war in film from the American Revolution in the 18th century to today's global War on Terror. The contributors examine iconic battle films such as The Big Parade (1925), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), From Here to Eternity (1953), and Platoon (1986), considering them as historical artifacts. The authors explain how film shapes our cultural understanding of military conflicts, analyzing how war is depicted on television programs, through news media outlets, and in fictional and factual texts. With several essays examining the events of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath, the book has a timely relevance concerning the country's current military conflicts. Jeff Chown examines controversial documentary films about the Iraq War, while Stacy Takacs considers Jessica Lynch and American gender issues in a post-9/11 world, and James Kendrick explores the political messages and aesthetic implications of United 93. From filmmakers who reshaped our understanding of the history of the Alamo, to Ken Burns's popular series on the Civil War, to the uses of film and media in understanding the Vietnam conflict, Why We Fought offers a balanced outlook— one of the book's editors was a combat officer in the United States Marines, the other an antiwar activist—on the conflicts that have become touchstones of American history. As Air Force veteran and film scholar Robert Fyne notes in the foreword, American war films mirror a nation's past and offer tangible evidence of the ways millions of Americans have become devoted, as was General MacArthur, to "Duty, honor, and country." Why We Fought chronicles how, for more than half a century, war films have shaped our nation's consciousness.

Cultural Studies and Environment, Revisited

Cultural Studies and Environment, Revisited PDF Author: Phaedra. C Pezzullo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317982576
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
The environment is perhaps most misunderstood as a static place, somewhere "out there," separated from the practices of our everyday lives. Given this assumption, environmental movements and concerns have remained mostly marginalized or denigrated in cultural studies publications, conferences, and presentations. Recent global developments have made changing this oversight and, at times, direct resistance to engaging environmental concerns a new priority. This edited collection illustrates an appreciation of the dynamic, palpable, and significant ways the environment permeates culture (and vice versa), as well as a collective commitment to the ways that cultural studies has more to offer—and to learn from—taking environmental matters to heart. Like foundational categories of identity, economics, and historical context, this collection reminds us why the environment is and should be considered relevant to any work done in the name of "cultural studies." Including research from four continents and across media, the authors offer insights on timely topics such as food, tourism, human/animal relations, forests, queer theory, indigenous rights, and water. This book was published as a special issue of Cultural Studies.

1950s Science Fiction Films and 9/11

1950s Science Fiction Films and 9/11 PDF Author: Melvin E. Matthews
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 0875864996
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
1950s Cold War-era monsters meet 21st century terrorists: this exploration of sci-fi movies examines the similarities and differences between the political environment and popular culture of two eras. This examination and appreciation of 1950s science fiction films includes behind-the-scenes tales about their production and many quotes from those who produced and starred in the films. The author draws parallels between the Cold War fears of the 1950s and 60s and the constant "terrorism alerts" of the September 11th era, exploring how the politics and the psychological climate of the times influences and is reflected in this vehicle of popular culture. This book is the first of its kind, studying the pop culture genre in the wake of the September 11th tragedy. It shows that, whatever the era and whatever the challenges and crises confronting America, many entertainment themes remain the same, reflecting their respective times and the relevant issues. For instance, Godzilla, the only Fifties-era monster to remain a "movie star" beyond that era, could be fashioned to reflect whatever issues dominate the times, be they nuclear war in the Fifties when Godzilla originated to a Seventies Godzilla film about environmental pollution. Conceivably a Godzilla for the age of terrorism is possible. "Them"! the 1954 atomic mutation classic, is the spiritual ancestor of the 2002 film "Eight Legged Freaks." The alien invaders of the Fifties signified a Russian invasion of America, while other films of the genre, such as "Invaders from Mars," depicted aliens utilizing mind control to manipulate humans to commit acts of sabotage, signifying Communist enslavement. If such a film were made now, such invaders could be seen as terrorist masterminds using human slaves to commit terrorist acts. Finally, several Fifties films depicted the end of the world at a time when Americans expected a nuclear war with Russia. The immediate pre-September 11th era witnessed films presenting galactic threats to mankind's existence ("Independence Day," "Deep Impact," "Armageddon"), while the early 2000s witnessed the popularity of the "Left Behind" Christian films dramatizing the Tribulation period in the Book of Revelation.

Neuroscience in Science Fiction Films

Neuroscience in Science Fiction Films PDF Author: Sharon Packer, M.D.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786472340
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
As the gap between science fiction and science fact has narrowed, films that were intended as pure fantasy at the time of their premier have taken on deeper meaning. This volume explores neuroscience in science fiction films, focusing on neuroscience and psychiatry as running themes in SF and finding correlations between turning points in "neuroscience fiction" and advances in the scientific field. The films covered include The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Robocop, The Stepford Wives, The Mind Snatchers and iconic franchises like Terminator, Ironman and Planet of the Apes. Examining the parallel histories of psychiatry, neuroscience and cinema, this book shows how science fiction films offer insightful commentary on the scientific and philosophical developments of their times.

Cinematic Flashes

Cinematic Flashes PDF Author: Rashna Wadia Richards
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253006880
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
Cinematic Flashes challenges popular notions of a uniform Hollywood style by disclosing uncanny networks of incongruities, coincidences, and contingencies at the margins of the cinematic frame. In an agile demonstration of "cinephiliac" historiography, Rashna Wadia Richards extracts intriguing film fragments from their seemingly ordinary narratives in order to explore what these unexpected moments reveal about the studio era. Inspired by Walter Benjamin's preference for studying cultural fragments rather than composing grand narratives, this unorthodox history of the films of the studio system reveals how classical Hollywood emerges as a disjointed network of accidents, excesses, and coincidences.

3D and Animated Lenticular Photography

3D and Animated Lenticular Photography PDF Author: Kim Timby
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110448068
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Scholars are increasingly investigating photography’s broad cultural role, expanding our understanding of the diversity of photographic practices. Kim Timby contributes to this new history of photography by examining the multifaceted story of images that animate with a flick of the wrist or appear vividly three-dimensional without the use of special devices—both made possible by the lenticular process. Using French case studies, this volume broadly weaves 3D and animated lenticular imagery into scientific and popular culture, from early cinema and color reproduction to the birth of modern advertising and the market for studio portraits, postcards, and religious imagery. The motivations behind the invention and reinvention of this pervasive form of imagery, from the turn of the twentieth century through the end of the pre-digital era, shed new light on our relationship to photographic realism and on the forceful interplay in photography between technological innovation and the desire to be entertained. 3D and Animated Lenticular Photography: Between Utopia and Entertainment is a profusely illustrated and engaging interdisciplinary study of a wide-ranging body of images that have fascinated viewers for generations.