Looks like the Tokyo crowd has been brought into the LA conference...if they so choose of course!
From the SCMS Website: http://www.cmstudies.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1136&Itemid=1
Dear SCMS members:
We are writing to you with important news about our 2010 Los Angeles conference and our plans to incorporate as much of the Tokyo conference program as possible into it.
Please be assured that there will be no shortage of space for new panels and workshops in Los Angeles. We have added a full day to the 2010 conference schedule as well as additional rooms and slots for each day of the five-day event, which will now take place on March 17-21 (Wednesday through Sunday). We typically schedule 220 panels and workshops at our annual conferences. In Los Angeles, we are anticipating having nearly twice that amount. The 2010 Los Angeles conference will not be compressed.
In order to facilitate conference planning, please carefully read the following information:
1. All papers, panels, and workshops listed in the official 2009 Tokyo conference program [http://www.cmstudies.org/documents/SCMS%202009%20INT-web%203.pdf] are automatically accepted for the 2010 Los Angeles conference, pending notification to the SCMS office by 1 August 2009.
2. We request the cooperation of panel and workshop Chairs--including Chairs assigned to panels assembled from the 2009 Open Call proposals--in determining whether their panel or workshop will be included in the 2010 Los Angeles conference and which participants will be presenting papers. Chairs must be in touch immediately with each participant of their panel or workshop to determine whether they will attend the 2010 Los Angeles conference.
3. Panel and workshop Chairs must communicate via email with the SCMS Office by 15 July to confirm whether or not their panels or workshops will be part of the 2010 Los Angeles conference. Please send this email to office@cmstudies.org. If the SCMS Office has not heard from a panel or workshop Chair by 15 July, the SCMS Office will directly contact participants on that panel or workshop to determine their interest in participating in the 2010 Los Angeles conference. The deadline for all Chairs and individuals to inform the SCMS Office of the status of their panel, paper or workshop is 1 August.
4. The SCMS Office will work with the 2010 Program Committee to facilitate the scheduling of the 2009 Tokyo panels and workshops within the 2010 Los Angeles conference. In order to accommodate as many participants as possible in the 2010 conference, the Program Committee may add participants to those 2009 Tokyo panels and workshops that have open slots, where appropriate, including originally pre-constituted panels and workshops.
5. For those individuals who had papers accepted for the Tokyo conference but did not register for it, and who are therefore not listed on the official Tokyo conference program, you will need to apply to the 2010 Los Angeles conference via the normal submission process. You may submit the same paper you submitted for the 2009 conference. There is no guarantee, however, that your previously accepted paper will be accepted for the 2010 conference.
6. Normal deadlines (September 1) and procedures will apply for new participants in the 2010 conference. The online proposal submission form is available at http://www.cmstudies.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=476&Itemid=87]
7. Individuals from the Tokyo conference who agree to participate in the Los Angeles conference are subject to the posted restrictions on SCMS conference participation, as are new applicants for 2010. Individuals can present only one paper and can serve in only two different capacities (e.g., present a paper and serve as a panel chair; present a paper and participate in a workshop; present a paper and serve as a respondent; serve as a panel chair and participate in a workshop, etc.). These policies are in place to assure the widest participation of all SCMS members in our annual conferences and can be accessed on the SCMS website: http://www.cmstudies.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=100
Thank you very much for your immediate attention to this matter. We appreciate your assistance and look forward to the celebration of our 50th year as a Society in Los Angeles in 2010.
Sincerely,
The SCMS Board of Directors
Patrice Petro, President
Stephen Prince, Past President
Chris Holmlund, President-Elect
Mary Celeste Kearney, Secretary
Paula Massood, Treasurer
Scott Curtis, Member of the Board
Hollis Griffin, Member of the Board
Michele Hilmes, Member of the Board
Victoria Johnson, Member of the Board
Diane Negra, Member of the Board
Jacqueline Stewart, Member of the Board
Michael Zryd, Member of the Board
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
CFP: Passions: Promises and Perils Conference
Call for Abstracts
Conference hosted by the Graduate Program in Communication
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Date: October 16-17, 2009
E-mail: passions_conference [at] googlegroups.com to contact organizers
Deadline to submit abstracts has been extended to Monday, June 30, 2009.
Abstracts need not explicitly engage "passions." The conference theme is used
to organize panel discussions of the scholarly investments that inform our work.
While this is the organizing theme, we use it to signify broadly the social,
cultural, and economic investments that organize the things we study, and how we
study them.
Concept
Commitments and investments in the world emerge from passions. These passions
form the basis for promise and peril, peace and violence, oppression and
liberation. Yet why is it that passions can contradict self-interest? How are
passions constructed and manipulated to various ends? How are they
both “natural” and naturalized? Where are passions enacted, to what ends, and
for whose benefit?
Passions inform and mediate communication in both limiting and enabling ways.
Passion(s) viewed as a cultural performance is/are bounded, identified, and
interpreted variously depending on locations of race, ethnicity, gender, and
sexuality. They influence patterns of consumer culture and behavior in both
material and virtual worlds. Passions mobilize policy decisions. They prevent
and promote intercultural dialogue. The communicative lives of fantasy,
imitation, play, sport, and representation begin and end in passions.
We invite submissions that examine and/or demonstrate such significant
commitments and investments from a variety of perspectives and areas of
communication study including but not limited to: film, media, and cultural
studies; critical theory and philosophy; social interaction; intercultural
communication and ethnography of communication; race, gender, and sexuality;
cultural policy and political economy; rhetorical studies; critical pedagogy;
and performance studies. As a conference we are concerned with the place of
passion(s) both inside and outside of the academy. That is, we focus on
passions not only “out there,” but “in here” as well, and the benefits and
limitations of our academic investments. With passions as our theme we hope to
foster fresh responses to concerns with theory, method, culture, and politics
facing communication scholars today.
Process
This conference treats Passions as an organizing theme. Small panels will be
structured with the objective of stimulating mutually informing dialogue.
The deadline to submit abstracts of 250 words maximum is Monday, June 29, 2009.
Submissions should be e-mailed to: passions_conference[at] googlegroups.com.
***The conference is open to BOTH STUDENTS AND FACULTY.
Invited participants will be asked to submit short position papers on an issue
related to the subject of their abstract. Position papers will be made
available to attendees on our conference website, requiring each participant to
present only a brief summary of their paper at the conference. Panel time will
be devoted to guided discussion among panel members and the audience.
We are also soliciting submissions of alternative format research presentations
and creative works, including but not limited to: performance, multimedia
installation, and film and video work dealing directly with social themes (such
as social documentary, ethnography and auto-ethnography, and experimental audio-
visual works which encode social, cultural, political, and economic issues).
Abstracts describing the presentations are due on Monday, June 29, 2009.
Submission Deadlines
• Abstracts due: Monday, June 29, 2009
• Notice of acceptance sent: Monday, July 2009
• Invited position papers due: Friday, September 18, 2009
Example Panel Topics
The following are examples of topics around which panels may be organized. But
submissions are not required to conform to any of these topics.
Dis/locating Passions: Spaces Where Passion is Expected, Assumed, or Not
Permitted
Discourses of Agency and Structure
Discourses of Social Movements & Social Justice
Discourses in Race, Racism, and Inequality
Future of the Field of Communication
Passion and Discourses of Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
Passion and Excess (of Body, Knowledge, etc.)
Passion in Film, Media, and Technology
Passions in Cultural Consumption
Pedagogy & Communication
Performing and Rethinking Communication
Conference hosted by the Graduate Program in Communication
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Date: October 16-17, 2009
E-mail: passions_conference [at] googlegroups.com to contact organizers
Deadline to submit abstracts has been extended to Monday, June 30, 2009.
Abstracts need not explicitly engage "passions." The conference theme is used
to organize panel discussions of the scholarly investments that inform our work.
While this is the organizing theme, we use it to signify broadly the social,
cultural, and economic investments that organize the things we study, and how we
study them.
Concept
Commitments and investments in the world emerge from passions. These passions
form the basis for promise and peril, peace and violence, oppression and
liberation. Yet why is it that passions can contradict self-interest? How are
passions constructed and manipulated to various ends? How are they
both “natural” and naturalized? Where are passions enacted, to what ends, and
for whose benefit?
Passions inform and mediate communication in both limiting and enabling ways.
Passion(s) viewed as a cultural performance is/are bounded, identified, and
interpreted variously depending on locations of race, ethnicity, gender, and
sexuality. They influence patterns of consumer culture and behavior in both
material and virtual worlds. Passions mobilize policy decisions. They prevent
and promote intercultural dialogue. The communicative lives of fantasy,
imitation, play, sport, and representation begin and end in passions.
We invite submissions that examine and/or demonstrate such significant
commitments and investments from a variety of perspectives and areas of
communication study including but not limited to: film, media, and cultural
studies; critical theory and philosophy; social interaction; intercultural
communication and ethnography of communication; race, gender, and sexuality;
cultural policy and political economy; rhetorical studies; critical pedagogy;
and performance studies. As a conference we are concerned with the place of
passion(s) both inside and outside of the academy. That is, we focus on
passions not only “out there,” but “in here” as well, and the benefits and
limitations of our academic investments. With passions as our theme we hope to
foster fresh responses to concerns with theory, method, culture, and politics
facing communication scholars today.
Process
This conference treats Passions as an organizing theme. Small panels will be
structured with the objective of stimulating mutually informing dialogue.
The deadline to submit abstracts of 250 words maximum is Monday, June 29, 2009.
Submissions should be e-mailed to: passions_conference[at] googlegroups.com.
***The conference is open to BOTH STUDENTS AND FACULTY.
Invited participants will be asked to submit short position papers on an issue
related to the subject of their abstract. Position papers will be made
available to attendees on our conference website, requiring each participant to
present only a brief summary of their paper at the conference. Panel time will
be devoted to guided discussion among panel members and the audience.
We are also soliciting submissions of alternative format research presentations
and creative works, including but not limited to: performance, multimedia
installation, and film and video work dealing directly with social themes (such
as social documentary, ethnography and auto-ethnography, and experimental audio-
visual works which encode social, cultural, political, and economic issues).
Abstracts describing the presentations are due on Monday, June 29, 2009.
Submission Deadlines
• Abstracts due: Monday, June 29, 2009
• Notice of acceptance sent: Monday, July 2009
• Invited position papers due: Friday, September 18, 2009
Example Panel Topics
The following are examples of topics around which panels may be organized. But
submissions are not required to conform to any of these topics.
Dis/locating Passions: Spaces Where Passion is Expected, Assumed, or Not
Permitted
Discourses of Agency and Structure
Discourses of Social Movements & Social Justice
Discourses in Race, Racism, and Inequality
Future of the Field of Communication
Passion and Discourses of Gender, Sex, and Sexuality
Passion and Excess (of Body, Knowledge, etc.)
Passion in Film, Media, and Technology
Passions in Cultural Consumption
Pedagogy & Communication
Performing and Rethinking Communication
Sunday, May 31, 2009
CFP: Popular Film Criticism in Media Culture
Society for Cinema & Media Studies Conference, March 17-21, 2010
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles, CA
Deadline for submissions to this panel: August 9, 2009 11:59 PM CST
Submissions sought for a panel that considers the relationship between film reviewing and media culture. Papers addressing film criticism in ways that relate to the overall conference theme (SCMS at 50: Archiving the Future/Mobilizing the Past) are particularly welcome.
Cinema scholars such as Robert Kapsis, Barbara Klinger, and Charles Maland have examined the role of reviews in discursively constructing popular genres and directorial reputations during the Classical Hollywood era. Over the past three years, however, more than 55 professional film critics have lost their jobs, a statistic reported by Sean P. Means of The Salt Lake Tribune, who attributes this plight to buyouts, layoffs, reassignment, retirement, or the death of their print publications. Meanwhile, online criticism continues to flourish, as evidenced by review aggregators such as Rotten Tomatoes, movie websites such as IMDB, and blogs dedicated to film analysis and evaluation. This panel aims to investigate not only the status of the film critic in the contemporary mediascape, but also the impact of print and Internet film reviewing on global cinema culture.
Potential topics may include, but are not limited to the following:
- Film reviews as historical evidence
- The future of film criticism
- Reviewing, academia, and cinephilia
- Popular opinion, moviegoing, and the DVD market
- Film criticism and film advertising
- The cultural presence of the public intellectual
- Canonicity, connoisseurship, and taste politics
- Print media vs. new media
- Coverage of international/independent films and film festivals
- Genre definitions (e.g. David Edelstein’s coinage of “torture porn”)
- The cult of the director
- The influence of the late Manny Farber
Send 300 word abstract and full academic CV (as separate e-mail attachments) to: Will Scheibel (willscheibel@gmail.com). Submitters will be notified as to the status of their proposal by August 15. Please visit the SCMS website for more details about the 2010 conference: http://www.cmstudies.org/
Will Scheibel
Indiana University
Department of Communication & Culture
800 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN 47404
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles, CA
Deadline for submissions to this panel: August 9, 2009 11:59 PM CST
Submissions sought for a panel that considers the relationship between film reviewing and media culture. Papers addressing film criticism in ways that relate to the overall conference theme (SCMS at 50: Archiving the Future/Mobilizing the Past) are particularly welcome.
Cinema scholars such as Robert Kapsis, Barbara Klinger, and Charles Maland have examined the role of reviews in discursively constructing popular genres and directorial reputations during the Classical Hollywood era. Over the past three years, however, more than 55 professional film critics have lost their jobs, a statistic reported by Sean P. Means of The Salt Lake Tribune, who attributes this plight to buyouts, layoffs, reassignment, retirement, or the death of their print publications. Meanwhile, online criticism continues to flourish, as evidenced by review aggregators such as Rotten Tomatoes, movie websites such as IMDB, and blogs dedicated to film analysis and evaluation. This panel aims to investigate not only the status of the film critic in the contemporary mediascape, but also the impact of print and Internet film reviewing on global cinema culture.
Potential topics may include, but are not limited to the following:
- Film reviews as historical evidence
- The future of film criticism
- Reviewing, academia, and cinephilia
- Popular opinion, moviegoing, and the DVD market
- Film criticism and film advertising
- The cultural presence of the public intellectual
- Canonicity, connoisseurship, and taste politics
- Print media vs. new media
- Coverage of international/independent films and film festivals
- Genre definitions (e.g. David Edelstein’s coinage of “torture porn”)
- The cult of the director
- The influence of the late Manny Farber
Send 300 word abstract and full academic CV (as separate e-mail attachments) to: Will Scheibel (willscheibel@gmail.com). Submitters will be notified as to the status of their proposal by August 15. Please visit the SCMS website for more details about the 2010 conference: http://www.cmstudies.org/
Will Scheibel
Indiana University
Department of Communication & Culture
800 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN 47404
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Ways of Watching: Tenth Annual Summer Symposium, July 24-25, 2009
Ways of Watching: Tenth Annual Summer Symposium, July 24-25, 2009
Northeast Historic Film, Bucksport, Maine USA
For two days this summer on the coast of Maine in the 1916 Alamo Theatre, scholars, filmmakers, archivists, students, and members of the public will gather to learn and discuss how and where art, educational, and amateur films have been shown. More than 90 presenters have shared their knowledge since the symposium was established in 2000. Our traditions include lively conversation, evening screenings, and a lobster dinner. The Northeast Historic Film annual symposium welcomes the following authors, archivists, teachers, and researchers who will bring forward the immensely varied practices of exhibition and viewing of non-commercial film. Please register by July 1.
Program details, registration, and lodging information at http://oldfilm.org/symp_2009 ; or contact jessica [at] oldfilm.org.
From Introspection to Convivial Participation: Departures from Black Box Topology in Contemporary Video Art Display
Cristina Albu, Ph.D. student, Department of History of Art and Architecture,
University of Pittsburgh
Western Ways Gone South: George Herbert as Failed Showman
Jennifer L. Jenkins, Ph.D., Division Head, Film and Television Studies,
School of Media Arts, University of Arizona
This Splendid Temple: Watching Films in the Wanamaker Department Stores
Caitlin McGrath, University of Chicago
Purposeful Pleasures: Social Awareness and Amateur Film Practic e in Britain, ca. 1927-1977
Heather Norris Nicholson, Ph.D., Department of History and Economic History, Manchester Metropolitan University, England
Watching Medical Films
Kirsten Ostherr, Associate Professor of English, Rice University
Spectatorship in the Classroom
Jennifer Peterson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Film Studies Program, University of Colorado
What You See is What You Get: Watching Swedish Private Film Collections
from the 1960s and the 1970s
Cecilia Mörner, Ph.D., School of Humanities and Media, Dalarna University,
Falun, Sweden
Through Trondheim in a Time Machine: Local Film History as Part of Contemporary Audiovisual Practices
Bjørn Sørenssen, Ph.D., Department of Art and Media Studies,
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
’Round the World and Back Again: An Examination of the Production and Exhibition of Adelaide Pearson Travel Films
Kimberly Tarr, NYU Moving Image Archives and Preservation Program
Our Cameras, Our Lives: Lesbian Home Movies, ca. 1935 – 1999
Sharon Thompson, author, Going All the Way: Teenage Girls’ Tales of Sex, Romance,
and Pregnancy, Hill & Wang/Farrar Straus Giroux
Watching on Cell Phones, Online and on Television
Bilge Yesil, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, CUNY-College of Staten Island
ORGANIZERS
Snowden Becker
School of Information
University of Texas, Austin
Janna Jones
School of Communication
Cinema and Visual Culture Program
Northern Arizona University
Mark Neumann
School of Communication
Northern Arizona University
Northeast Historic Film, Bucksport, Maine USA
For two days this summer on the coast of Maine in the 1916 Alamo Theatre, scholars, filmmakers, archivists, students, and members of the public will gather to learn and discuss how and where art, educational, and amateur films have been shown. More than 90 presenters have shared their knowledge since the symposium was established in 2000. Our traditions include lively conversation, evening screenings, and a lobster dinner. The Northeast Historic Film annual symposium welcomes the following authors, archivists, teachers, and researchers who will bring forward the immensely varied practices of exhibition and viewing of non-commercial film. Please register by July 1.
Program details, registration, and lodging information at http://oldfilm.org/symp_2009 ; or contact jessica [at] oldfilm.org.
From Introspection to Convivial Participation: Departures from Black Box Topology in Contemporary Video Art Display
Cristina Albu, Ph.D. student, Department of History of Art and Architecture,
University of Pittsburgh
Western Ways Gone South: George Herbert as Failed Showman
Jennifer L. Jenkins, Ph.D., Division Head, Film and Television Studies,
School of Media Arts, University of Arizona
This Splendid Temple: Watching Films in the Wanamaker Department Stores
Caitlin McGrath, University of Chicago
Purposeful Pleasures: Social Awareness and Amateur Film Practic e in Britain, ca. 1927-1977
Heather Norris Nicholson, Ph.D., Department of History and Economic History, Manchester Metropolitan University, England
Watching Medical Films
Kirsten Ostherr, Associate Professor of English, Rice University
Spectatorship in the Classroom
Jennifer Peterson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Film Studies Program, University of Colorado
What You See is What You Get: Watching Swedish Private Film Collections
from the 1960s and the 1970s
Cecilia Mörner, Ph.D., School of Humanities and Media, Dalarna University,
Falun, Sweden
Through Trondheim in a Time Machine: Local Film History as Part of Contemporary Audiovisual Practices
Bjørn Sørenssen, Ph.D., Department of Art and Media Studies,
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
’Round the World and Back Again: An Examination of the Production and Exhibition of Adelaide Pearson Travel Films
Kimberly Tarr, NYU Moving Image Archives and Preservation Program
Our Cameras, Our Lives: Lesbian Home Movies, ca. 1935 – 1999
Sharon Thompson, author, Going All the Way: Teenage Girls’ Tales of Sex, Romance,
and Pregnancy, Hill & Wang/Farrar Straus Giroux
Watching on Cell Phones, Online and on Television
Bilge Yesil, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, CUNY-College of Staten Island
ORGANIZERS
Snowden Becker
School of Information
University of Texas, Austin
Janna Jones
School of Communication
Cinema and Visual Culture Program
Northern Arizona University
Mark Neumann
School of Communication
Northern Arizona University
Monday, May 18, 2009
VAP Position in Digital Media and TV Studies at IU (09-10)
a great opportunity, if you're a fit. js
The Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University-Bloomington has been authorized to hire a Visiting Assistant Professor for the 2009-2010 academic year (August 2009-May 2010) to teach courses in digital media and television studies. We invite candidates from a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary backgrounds and encourage applicants whose teaching and research interests are grounded in critical humanities scholarship concerning the cultural, political, and communicative aspects of digital game studies. Ph.D. and teaching experience required. Applications will be reviewed starting May 21, 2009. Indiana University is an equal opportunity employer.
Send inquiries, CV, and names of three references to:
Gregory A. Waller
Chair, Department of Communication and Culture
gwaller [ at ] indiana.edu
The Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University-Bloomington has been authorized to hire a Visiting Assistant Professor for the 2009-2010 academic year (August 2009-May 2010) to teach courses in digital media and television studies. We invite candidates from a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary backgrounds and encourage applicants whose teaching and research interests are grounded in critical humanities scholarship concerning the cultural, political, and communicative aspects of digital game studies. Ph.D. and teaching experience required. Applications will be reviewed starting May 21, 2009. Indiana University is an equal opportunity employer.
Send inquiries, CV, and names of three references to:
Gregory A. Waller
Chair, Department of Communication and Culture
gwaller [ at ] indiana.edu
Brief Notes on Two Summer Indie Movies: The Girlfriend Experience and The Brothers Bloom
Brief Notes on Two Summer Indie Movies
While I kicked off the summer movie season proper with J.J. Abram's Star Trek and can tell you that I enjoyed it, having not seen the other films or any of the television series, I remain unsure of exactly what my analysis can entail that would be worthy of reading. The film is far from perfect, but my criticisms remain largely aesthetic such as the overuse of a glowing filter/lighting technique everyone seems to be talking about and handheld camera at unnecessary moments. Star Trek is this year's Iron Man...I just hope there is something on par with The Dark Knight. This noted, I feel like my notes on two other summer films, Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience and Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, while brief and far from complete, can offer more than my elementary review of Star Trek.
The Girlfriend Experience
Steven Soderbergh, as I have described elsewhere, is a master of what I have called "twin cinema." He is filmmaker who crosses the border between indie and mainstream rather easily and while some of these efforts undoubtedly fail (The Good German, Full Frontal) and others succeed (Out of Sight, Che), they always are intellectually engaging and worthy of viewing (even the low-bar of Ocean's 12). The Girlfriend Experience, Soderbergh's second low budget/day and date release film for Magnolia Pictures and 2929, does not match the intense experience of Bubble. The problem with The Girlfriend Experience is that Soderbergh seems to have once again over-relied on homage. Whereas his reliance on Casablanca and The Third Man crippled The Good German in many respects, Soderbergh's reliance on the "world's oldest profession" preoccupation of Jean-Luc Godard have taken much of the bite out of Girlfriend Experience.
Porn star Sasha Grey stars as Chelsea, a high-priced call girl who provides clients with the title of the movie: an experience in which sex almost always is present, but along side a night of extravagant dinners and trips to the local cinema. When she is off the clock, she spends her spare time keeping a journal (which are essentially characterless chronicles of the previous night's work, included a list of the clothing she wore) and going out with her boyfriend Chris (Christopher Santos). I should note that Chris is aware of Chelsea's occupation and is, for the most part, accepting. After all, he essentially performs the same services and makes the same compromises as Chelsea in his own occupation as a gym trainer. The film, a 77 minute non-linear narrative, finds its focal point in an analysis of the social obstacles that Chelsea must construct in order to engage in this line of work, which essentially cripples her attempts at a non-professional romantic relationship. Yet, after spending my last quarter in a Jean-Luc Godard class and revisiting Vivre Sa Vie and 2 ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais D'Elle, I could not help but wonder what is new about this approach. While Soderbergh tries to contextualize it differently by consistently alluding to the harsh economic climate of the United States in the days running up to the 2008 election, it does not differentiate itself enough to be engaging to a viewer already familiar with its line of engagement.
With regard to the performance by Sasha Grey, who undoubtedly has a presence, it remains difficult to evaluate. While she often comes off as wooden, it remains unclear to me whether she is a poor actress or quite a good one by utilizing this wooden characterization to highlight the mask she is forced to wear to be a prostitute. If I had to make a take one side or the other, I would tend to drift towards the good. A cameo of note comes from film critic Glenn Kenny as a escort reviewer simply known as "The Erotic Connoisseur" which climaxes (pun intended) with a street rendition of "Everyone's a Critic." To quote Juliette in "2 ou 3 Choses" with relation to my thoughts on the film, "To define myself, one word: indifference." Maybe a second viewing will change my opinions. After all, I still felt engaged by it and find myself thinking about it a great deal, so from that standpoint it is worth watching but, especially after Che and Bubble, I still feel a tinge of disappointment.
The Brothers Bloom
Director Rian Johnson's follow-up to his superb high school-noir Brick takes another genre and tilts it on its head: the con man flick. Johnson discussed in a post-screening Q&A how this genre can be traditionally distancing to a viewer due to its reliance on a hall of mirrors structure in which cons are favored over people. Watching films like David Mamet's House of Games or Christopher Nolan's The Prestige for the first time, I certainly felt a distance and only upon repeated viewings did I start to walk away with a greater appreciation. The con man genre is a tight rope to walk and Rian Johnson's film proved to be quite the feat.
My notes will be brief and vague, due to the nature of the genre and the film and my fear of showing too much of Johnson's hand. The film begins with the brothers Bloom, Bloom (Adrian Brody) and Stephen (Mark Ruffalo), two of the greatest con men in this Wes Anderson-esque world of 40s suits, delightful banter, and 60s rock. Stephen is the master of the con, writing and planning his brother into the consistent role of the brokenhearted bait. Bloom, as the years and cons progress, has become under whelmed with his role and intends to retire to an island alone before being talked into one last con. The mark? An epileptic photographer, millionaire, and hobby collector named Penelope (Rachel Weisz), whom Bloom must trick into falling in love with him in order for the swindle to progress.
While the first two-acts of the film follow the Mamet-esque emphasis on trickery, Johnson never completely loses sight of the characters and utilizes a third-act, which initially appears unnecessary, as a means of underlining his intent. The third-act is what differentiates itself from the genre and while I held initial fears upon its unveiling, it leads the film towards perfection. The cast here, of course, is incredibly solid. Ruffalo might have benefited from some additional screen time, particularly with Brody alone in order to sketch out their relationship a bit more, but this is a minor quibble. Brody plays his usual sap, much like his role in The Darjeeling Limited except this film should show Wes Anderson what it is like to make a good movie within his stylistic preoccupations again. Weisz is quite amazing in a role of a complete eccentric but, like Audrey Tautou in Amelie, the quirks never overwhelm the person and the audience cannot help but follow Bloom in falling in love with her. There are some lively supporting roles here as well by Robbie Coltrane and Maximilian Schell but the real highlight in this band of outsiders is Babel actress and Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi as the mute demolitions expert Bang Bang. My enthusiasm for this film cannot go understated and if these brief reflections do not make you want to see it, let me just say what else the film has to offer: a cat with a wooden leg and a roller skate.
While I kicked off the summer movie season proper with J.J. Abram's Star Trek and can tell you that I enjoyed it, having not seen the other films or any of the television series, I remain unsure of exactly what my analysis can entail that would be worthy of reading. The film is far from perfect, but my criticisms remain largely aesthetic such as the overuse of a glowing filter/lighting technique everyone seems to be talking about and handheld camera at unnecessary moments. Star Trek is this year's Iron Man...I just hope there is something on par with The Dark Knight. This noted, I feel like my notes on two other summer films, Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience and Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, while brief and far from complete, can offer more than my elementary review of Star Trek.
The Girlfriend Experience
Steven Soderbergh, as I have described elsewhere, is a master of what I have called "twin cinema." He is filmmaker who crosses the border between indie and mainstream rather easily and while some of these efforts undoubtedly fail (The Good German, Full Frontal) and others succeed (Out of Sight, Che), they always are intellectually engaging and worthy of viewing (even the low-bar of Ocean's 12). The Girlfriend Experience, Soderbergh's second low budget/day and date release film for Magnolia Pictures and 2929, does not match the intense experience of Bubble. The problem with The Girlfriend Experience is that Soderbergh seems to have once again over-relied on homage. Whereas his reliance on Casablanca and The Third Man crippled The Good German in many respects, Soderbergh's reliance on the "world's oldest profession" preoccupation of Jean-Luc Godard have taken much of the bite out of Girlfriend Experience.
Porn star Sasha Grey stars as Chelsea, a high-priced call girl who provides clients with the title of the movie: an experience in which sex almost always is present, but along side a night of extravagant dinners and trips to the local cinema. When she is off the clock, she spends her spare time keeping a journal (which are essentially characterless chronicles of the previous night's work, included a list of the clothing she wore) and going out with her boyfriend Chris (Christopher Santos). I should note that Chris is aware of Chelsea's occupation and is, for the most part, accepting. After all, he essentially performs the same services and makes the same compromises as Chelsea in his own occupation as a gym trainer. The film, a 77 minute non-linear narrative, finds its focal point in an analysis of the social obstacles that Chelsea must construct in order to engage in this line of work, which essentially cripples her attempts at a non-professional romantic relationship. Yet, after spending my last quarter in a Jean-Luc Godard class and revisiting Vivre Sa Vie and 2 ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais D'Elle, I could not help but wonder what is new about this approach. While Soderbergh tries to contextualize it differently by consistently alluding to the harsh economic climate of the United States in the days running up to the 2008 election, it does not differentiate itself enough to be engaging to a viewer already familiar with its line of engagement.
With regard to the performance by Sasha Grey, who undoubtedly has a presence, it remains difficult to evaluate. While she often comes off as wooden, it remains unclear to me whether she is a poor actress or quite a good one by utilizing this wooden characterization to highlight the mask she is forced to wear to be a prostitute. If I had to make a take one side or the other, I would tend to drift towards the good. A cameo of note comes from film critic Glenn Kenny as a escort reviewer simply known as "The Erotic Connoisseur" which climaxes (pun intended) with a street rendition of "Everyone's a Critic." To quote Juliette in "2 ou 3 Choses" with relation to my thoughts on the film, "To define myself, one word: indifference." Maybe a second viewing will change my opinions. After all, I still felt engaged by it and find myself thinking about it a great deal, so from that standpoint it is worth watching but, especially after Che and Bubble, I still feel a tinge of disappointment.
The Brothers Bloom
Director Rian Johnson's follow-up to his superb high school-noir Brick takes another genre and tilts it on its head: the con man flick. Johnson discussed in a post-screening Q&A how this genre can be traditionally distancing to a viewer due to its reliance on a hall of mirrors structure in which cons are favored over people. Watching films like David Mamet's House of Games or Christopher Nolan's The Prestige for the first time, I certainly felt a distance and only upon repeated viewings did I start to walk away with a greater appreciation. The con man genre is a tight rope to walk and Rian Johnson's film proved to be quite the feat.
My notes will be brief and vague, due to the nature of the genre and the film and my fear of showing too much of Johnson's hand. The film begins with the brothers Bloom, Bloom (Adrian Brody) and Stephen (Mark Ruffalo), two of the greatest con men in this Wes Anderson-esque world of 40s suits, delightful banter, and 60s rock. Stephen is the master of the con, writing and planning his brother into the consistent role of the brokenhearted bait. Bloom, as the years and cons progress, has become under whelmed with his role and intends to retire to an island alone before being talked into one last con. The mark? An epileptic photographer, millionaire, and hobby collector named Penelope (Rachel Weisz), whom Bloom must trick into falling in love with him in order for the swindle to progress.
While the first two-acts of the film follow the Mamet-esque emphasis on trickery, Johnson never completely loses sight of the characters and utilizes a third-act, which initially appears unnecessary, as a means of underlining his intent. The third-act is what differentiates itself from the genre and while I held initial fears upon its unveiling, it leads the film towards perfection. The cast here, of course, is incredibly solid. Ruffalo might have benefited from some additional screen time, particularly with Brody alone in order to sketch out their relationship a bit more, but this is a minor quibble. Brody plays his usual sap, much like his role in The Darjeeling Limited except this film should show Wes Anderson what it is like to make a good movie within his stylistic preoccupations again. Weisz is quite amazing in a role of a complete eccentric but, like Audrey Tautou in Amelie, the quirks never overwhelm the person and the audience cannot help but follow Bloom in falling in love with her. There are some lively supporting roles here as well by Robbie Coltrane and Maximilian Schell but the real highlight in this band of outsiders is Babel actress and Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi as the mute demolitions expert Bang Bang. My enthusiasm for this film cannot go understated and if these brief reflections do not make you want to see it, let me just say what else the film has to offer: a cat with a wooden leg and a roller skate.
Monday, May 11, 2009
UPDATED (May 12 2009): SCMS Cancelled
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to you with news about our upcoming Tokyo conference that requires your immediate attention. Please forward this announcement to anyone you know who is planning to attend the Tokyo conference.
With the advent of the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”), the Japanese government has issued a travel advisory and is aggressively monitoring the situation. Among the actions being taken are quarantines of anyone who appears to have symptoms of the flu. If a case were to emerge on your flight or among our membership at the conference, anyone who came into contact with an infected person may be quarantined. Quarantine can last up to ten days and you may be required to pay for medical attention if you show signs of being ill. Additional airline change fees may also apply if you were to become ill. On Saturday, three cases of the H1N1 flu were confirmed in Japan.
Both the National Government and the Chiyoda District Government, where the Josai University-Kioichô Campus is located, have asked Josai to cancel the conference. The Josai University administration has resisted this request and has kindly negotiated conditions under which the conference can take place. These include the following:
1) To monitor the situation and inform conference participants of any outbreak, the government requires information regarding each participant’s whereabouts, including hotel location and contact numbers during the conference and for ten days afterward.
2) Conference participants will have their temperatures taken when they enter the conference each day. Those registering a temperature above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit will be given an additional test to rule out the H1N1 virus. If the test is positive, there is a chance that conference participants, along with the infected individual, could be quarantined.
3) Participants will need to fill out a health declaration form each day of the conference. The declaration will ask about symptoms (including fever, nausea, dizziness, etc.) experienced during the past twenty-four hours.
4) Participants will be required to wear surgical masks during the conference.
5) If the World Health Organization raises the alert level to phase 6 (either before or during the conference), or if a conference participant is found to have the H1N1 virus, then we will be required to cancel the conference. This could happen anytime up to and including the conference dates. Any potential financial costs resulting from quarantine and associated delays are the responsibility of the traveler; the Society is not responsible for these costs, and members traveling agree to incur them.
Although the US Centers for Disease Control and various other health officials have determined that the H1N1 virus is much milder than was originally anticipated, we nevertheless need to alert you to the situation in Japan. We feel it is our responsibility to inform you to prepare for long airport delays and inconveniences, daily health screenings, and paperwork that travelers to Japan are currently experiencing. The cases of swine flu currently in Japan were brought in via air travel. All nonstop flights from the US and Canada will be boarded by health workers in bio-hazard suits and passengers on such flights will be monitored while on the plane for fever and other flu signs.
We ask that you let us know whether, under these conditions, you intend to attend the conference or not. Your response will enable us to determine whether or not the conference should take place. SCMS is unable to postpone or reschedule this event. Please let us know of your plans immediately and no later than 5:00 CST tomorrow, May 12, 2009 by clicking on the following link and responding to our survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Y5nh04W0KpjyzJ8mmEkkqQ_3d_3d.
If you decide to cancel your trip and inform us by 5:00pm CST tomorrow, SCMS will reimburse your registration fees. Those who choose not to attend the conference may wish to investigate their airline’s particular cancellation and postponement terms and conditions. Many airlines charge a change fee but will allow travelers to change the terms of their tickets for up to a year.
If you decide to attend the conference, you must provide us with your contact information in Tokyo (and for ten days after the conference), and you must agree to the terms which Josai University has arranged with the Health Ministries, outlined above.
We ask for your understanding of these difficult circumstances, which are beyond the Society’s control.
Sincerely,
Patrice Petro
SCMS President
UPDATE POSTED MAY 12th 2009:
A decision regarding the Tokyo conference has not been made. The Board of Directors will discuss the survey results this evening. We will post an announcement on the website and send an e-mail to everyone Wednesday morning with the decision. We have contacted Japan Travel Bureau regarding refunds for hotel reservations for individuals who can not attend the conference. As soon as we know what the outcome will be we will post another announcement and send an e-mail to everyone.
UPDATED:
Dear Colleagues:
It is with a very great regret that we are announcing the cancellation of the SCMS conference in Tokyo scheduled for May 21-24, 2009.
Late last week we learned that the Government of Japan and the Chiyoda District Government requested that Josai International University cancel the conference due to concerns about containing the H1N1 ("Swine Flu") virus. That request, and the conditions that were imposed under which the conference might occur, resulted in daily discussions among the officers of SCMS, members of the Board of Directors, the Society's legal counsel, and representatives of Josai.
We have determined that proceeding with the conference under the conditions ordered by the government present too many risks for our members and the Society. These include the personal risks to individual members (including possible quarantine, additional expense, and considerable stress), potential liability to SCMS, as well as pressures on the Society's small infrastructure. Moreover, the survey conducted yesterday (564 of 748 registrants replied) indicated that almost one-third of those responding chose to withdraw from the conference. Many of those who said that they would still attend indicated that they would do so out of a sense of obligation or said that they would spend minimal time at the conference. It was also clear that some registrants who did not respond to the survey, but who communicated in other ways, were waiting for more information before making a decision.
We are extremely grateful for the efforts of JIU, on behalf of SCMS, for negotiating with the national and local governments to create conditions under which the conference could move forward. But it is clear that members felt that those conditions would not be conducive to a satisfactory conference experience. The high cancellation rate - with more likely - presented us with a depleted program rather than the robust intellectual and social experience our members have come to expect of the SCMS conference.
You are urged to cancel your hotel reservations and flights immediately, unless you plan to travel to Japan for pleasure. You should contact your airline to arrange for credit on your airfare. We will be working with Japan Travel Bureau to reduce or eliminate hotel cancellation penalties.
Conference fees will be refunded, or individuals may request that their registration fee be used for the 2010 conference in Los Angeles. More details will follow.
We are working on plans to retain as much of the Tokyo conference as possible as a part of our Los Angeles conference. We will provide more information as soon as possible.
We will be creating a forum on the SCMS website for individuals to register their comments.
If you have already arrived in Japan and need assistance, please contact the SCMS office staff as soon as possible. Others can expect their e-mail messages and phone calls to be answered in the order that are received as soon as the staff can respond.
This has been a severe trial for the SCMS leadership, and we realize that the uncertainty caused by this global health situation has created great confusion and anxiety among our members.
We are extremely disappointed that we have had to make this decision, especially in light of the tremendous amount of planning and work that our members, the SCMS staff, and our exhibitors committed to this conference. Again, we offer our heartfelt gratitude to the Chancellor of Josai and Josai International Universities, Dean En Fukuyuki, Shinozaki Kayo and the rest of the staff at JIU who generously offered his or her services above and beyond any duties, responsibilities, or obligations and on top of their already considerable responsibilities at JIU.
We are saddened that we will not be able to meet in Tokyo, but we look forward to a combined Tokyo/Los Angeles conference at which we will be able to celebrate our 50th anniversary and to demonstrate our resilience.
Sincerely,
Patrice Petro, President
Anne Friedberg, President-Elect
Stephen Prince, Past-President
Eric Schaefer, Secretary
Paula Massood, Treasurer
Scott Curtis, Member of the Board
F. Hollis Griffin, Graduate Student Representative
Michele Hilmes, Member of the Board
Priya Jaikumar, Member of the Board
Victoria Johnson, Member of the Board
Charles Wolfe, Member of the Board
Michael Zryd, Member of the Board
I am writing to you with news about our upcoming Tokyo conference that requires your immediate attention. Please forward this announcement to anyone you know who is planning to attend the Tokyo conference.
With the advent of the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”), the Japanese government has issued a travel advisory and is aggressively monitoring the situation. Among the actions being taken are quarantines of anyone who appears to have symptoms of the flu. If a case were to emerge on your flight or among our membership at the conference, anyone who came into contact with an infected person may be quarantined. Quarantine can last up to ten days and you may be required to pay for medical attention if you show signs of being ill. Additional airline change fees may also apply if you were to become ill. On Saturday, three cases of the H1N1 flu were confirmed in Japan.
Both the National Government and the Chiyoda District Government, where the Josai University-Kioichô Campus is located, have asked Josai to cancel the conference. The Josai University administration has resisted this request and has kindly negotiated conditions under which the conference can take place. These include the following:
1) To monitor the situation and inform conference participants of any outbreak, the government requires information regarding each participant’s whereabouts, including hotel location and contact numbers during the conference and for ten days afterward.
2) Conference participants will have their temperatures taken when they enter the conference each day. Those registering a temperature above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit will be given an additional test to rule out the H1N1 virus. If the test is positive, there is a chance that conference participants, along with the infected individual, could be quarantined.
3) Participants will need to fill out a health declaration form each day of the conference. The declaration will ask about symptoms (including fever, nausea, dizziness, etc.) experienced during the past twenty-four hours.
4) Participants will be required to wear surgical masks during the conference.
5) If the World Health Organization raises the alert level to phase 6 (either before or during the conference), or if a conference participant is found to have the H1N1 virus, then we will be required to cancel the conference. This could happen anytime up to and including the conference dates. Any potential financial costs resulting from quarantine and associated delays are the responsibility of the traveler; the Society is not responsible for these costs, and members traveling agree to incur them.
Although the US Centers for Disease Control and various other health officials have determined that the H1N1 virus is much milder than was originally anticipated, we nevertheless need to alert you to the situation in Japan. We feel it is our responsibility to inform you to prepare for long airport delays and inconveniences, daily health screenings, and paperwork that travelers to Japan are currently experiencing. The cases of swine flu currently in Japan were brought in via air travel. All nonstop flights from the US and Canada will be boarded by health workers in bio-hazard suits and passengers on such flights will be monitored while on the plane for fever and other flu signs.
We ask that you let us know whether, under these conditions, you intend to attend the conference or not. Your response will enable us to determine whether or not the conference should take place. SCMS is unable to postpone or reschedule this event. Please let us know of your plans immediately and no later than 5:00 CST tomorrow, May 12, 2009 by clicking on the following link and responding to our survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Y5nh04W0KpjyzJ8mmEkkqQ_3d_3d.
If you decide to cancel your trip and inform us by 5:00pm CST tomorrow, SCMS will reimburse your registration fees. Those who choose not to attend the conference may wish to investigate their airline’s particular cancellation and postponement terms and conditions. Many airlines charge a change fee but will allow travelers to change the terms of their tickets for up to a year.
If you decide to attend the conference, you must provide us with your contact information in Tokyo (and for ten days after the conference), and you must agree to the terms which Josai University has arranged with the Health Ministries, outlined above.
We ask for your understanding of these difficult circumstances, which are beyond the Society’s control.
Sincerely,
Patrice Petro
SCMS President
UPDATE POSTED MAY 12th 2009:
A decision regarding the Tokyo conference has not been made. The Board of Directors will discuss the survey results this evening. We will post an announcement on the website and send an e-mail to everyone Wednesday morning with the decision. We have contacted Japan Travel Bureau regarding refunds for hotel reservations for individuals who can not attend the conference. As soon as we know what the outcome will be we will post another announcement and send an e-mail to everyone.
UPDATED:
Dear Colleagues:
It is with a very great regret that we are announcing the cancellation of the SCMS conference in Tokyo scheduled for May 21-24, 2009.
Late last week we learned that the Government of Japan and the Chiyoda District Government requested that Josai International University cancel the conference due to concerns about containing the H1N1 ("Swine Flu") virus. That request, and the conditions that were imposed under which the conference might occur, resulted in daily discussions among the officers of SCMS, members of the Board of Directors, the Society's legal counsel, and representatives of Josai.
We have determined that proceeding with the conference under the conditions ordered by the government present too many risks for our members and the Society. These include the personal risks to individual members (including possible quarantine, additional expense, and considerable stress), potential liability to SCMS, as well as pressures on the Society's small infrastructure. Moreover, the survey conducted yesterday (564 of 748 registrants replied) indicated that almost one-third of those responding chose to withdraw from the conference. Many of those who said that they would still attend indicated that they would do so out of a sense of obligation or said that they would spend minimal time at the conference. It was also clear that some registrants who did not respond to the survey, but who communicated in other ways, were waiting for more information before making a decision.
We are extremely grateful for the efforts of JIU, on behalf of SCMS, for negotiating with the national and local governments to create conditions under which the conference could move forward. But it is clear that members felt that those conditions would not be conducive to a satisfactory conference experience. The high cancellation rate - with more likely - presented us with a depleted program rather than the robust intellectual and social experience our members have come to expect of the SCMS conference.
You are urged to cancel your hotel reservations and flights immediately, unless you plan to travel to Japan for pleasure. You should contact your airline to arrange for credit on your airfare. We will be working with Japan Travel Bureau to reduce or eliminate hotel cancellation penalties.
Conference fees will be refunded, or individuals may request that their registration fee be used for the 2010 conference in Los Angeles. More details will follow.
We are working on plans to retain as much of the Tokyo conference as possible as a part of our Los Angeles conference. We will provide more information as soon as possible.
We will be creating a forum on the SCMS website for individuals to register their comments.
If you have already arrived in Japan and need assistance, please contact the SCMS office staff as soon as possible. Others can expect their e-mail messages and phone calls to be answered in the order that are received as soon as the staff can respond.
This has been a severe trial for the SCMS leadership, and we realize that the uncertainty caused by this global health situation has created great confusion and anxiety among our members.
We are extremely disappointed that we have had to make this decision, especially in light of the tremendous amount of planning and work that our members, the SCMS staff, and our exhibitors committed to this conference. Again, we offer our heartfelt gratitude to the Chancellor of Josai and Josai International Universities, Dean En Fukuyuki, Shinozaki Kayo and the rest of the staff at JIU who generously offered his or her services above and beyond any duties, responsibilities, or obligations and on top of their already considerable responsibilities at JIU.
We are saddened that we will not be able to meet in Tokyo, but we look forward to a combined Tokyo/Los Angeles conference at which we will be able to celebrate our 50th anniversary and to demonstrate our resilience.
Sincerely,
Patrice Petro, President
Anne Friedberg, President-Elect
Stephen Prince, Past-President
Eric Schaefer, Secretary
Paula Massood, Treasurer
Scott Curtis, Member of the Board
F. Hollis Griffin, Graduate Student Representative
Michele Hilmes, Member of the Board
Priya Jaikumar, Member of the Board
Victoria Johnson, Member of the Board
Charles Wolfe, Member of the Board
Michael Zryd, Member of the Board
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Mabuse at SCMS Tokyo 2009
Anyone interested in trying to set up a Mabuse night out in Tokyo? I'll be in town from Weds. 20th (when I fly in) to Monday the 25th. My cell will not be traveling with me, but I will be in the dorms at the conference site and you can probably reach me via e-mail. I've heard there is a French-style cinephile bar in town that is supposed to be quite the attraction...
Any thoughts?
Also, congrats to Jason and Scott on the book. Looking forward to reading it!
Any thoughts?
Also, congrats to Jason and Scott on the book. Looking forward to reading it!
Cinephilia in the Age of Digital Reproduction
To me, 2006 was a very good SCMS. It was my first trip to the conference. Vancouver was truly a fascinating city ... yet one that was relatively affordable for, at the time, a poor graduate student. It was here I met some particular scholars I now consider as dear friends.It was also here where my collaborator (and longtime friend) Jason Sperb and I began to explore the subject of cinephilia in the digital age with a well-received panel. Over coffee at a diner across from our hotel, we realized neither one of us were ready to abandon this subject after the week. 'Cinephilia' denotes a deep, even limitless passion for cinema including consuming, defining, sharing, discussing and writing about films. We wanted to consider the term in its current context within our interconnected digital world - as something truly expansive beyond (yet respectful) of the cine-club movements of the 20th century.
Three years later, I am pleased to write that the collection Cinephilia in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Film, Pleasure, and Digital Culture, Vol. 1, is going to press. If you don't mind a little self-promotion, here is a link to the page on the Wallflower Press website.
Focusing mainly on digital imagery and cinephilia, the original panel included the work of current contributors Jenna Ng and Tobey Crockett. Since that time, the project has evolved to consider the pleasures of cinema within digital imagery along with online communication and digitized home viewing. The project has grown to include the work of critics, scholars and bloggers from around the world, including Robert Burgoyne, Zach Campbell, Brian Darr, Kevin Fisher, Andy Horbal, Christian Keathley, Adrian Martin, Lisa Purse, Dan Sallitt, Girish Shambu, Jason, and myself. As this suggests, the expressed goal of the book is to include engaging work from the worlds of academia, journalism, and the blogosphere -- exploring 21st century cinephilia through a new form of collaboration between such worlds.
As such, I am proud to say we never set out to make a conventional academic collection. And thanks to our contributors (or should I write 'collaborators'?), I do believe we have created something original and worthwhile. With plans for a Volume 2 in the works, it makes me curious to see where cinephilia might take us next.
As I began, 2006 was a very good SCMS ...Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Is Donkey Kong Fun? Because I'm Feeling More Donkey and Less Kong
"You know, he's gonna have to play it perfectly, he's at the hardest part of Donkey Kong, and it's not gonna get any easier. So we may have an exciting moment here, or you know, the pressure may get to him, one of those random elements might happen. Sounds like he just cleared another board, but we could have a wild barrel, or some aggressive fireballs. I thought I was gonna be the first FunSpot kill screen, and then I had three fireballs trap me, I had the hammer in my hand, they still got me. So anything can happen in Donkey Kong. So for someone else to be mean to the kill screen would be a letdown, but lets see what happens, maybe he'll crack under the pressure and maybe I'll get my chance to do it first."-Avid Donkey Kong player Brian Kuh in The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007).
There's a kill screen in Nintendo's Donkey Kong (1981)? After playing the Game Boy Advance copy of the game on a Nintendo DS for several hours, I had yet to advance past the second stage and, frustrated by my lack of progress, I could not help but ask myself if I was having a good time. However, my ill will towards the game was not as simplistic as it would seem. After all, I did not hate Donkey Kong; I just felt it did not fulfill one point of ludologist Jesper Juul's definition of a game, namely that "the player feels attached to the outcome." My own attachment to the outcome of Donkey Kong had devolved from setting out to conquer that damn dirty ape and his barrels to livid frustration with the game over screen to apathy each time I lost my three lives. My shifting relationship to the game's outcome led me to ask myself "What makes Donkey Kong fun?" Why do players like Brian Kuh keep returning to the title? While I assume there is a certain degree of nostalgia inherent it such a consideration, I would to apply the formal characteristics of DK to Henry Jenkins' article "Games, the New Lively Art" to better understand what makes retro gaming rewarding to players.
In the essay, Jenkins, utilizing the work of Gilbert Seldes, outlines several aesthetic characteristics that can be used to describe games as an art form. The three I would like to focus on are memorable moments, play as performance, and expressive amplification. The first characteristic, memorable moments, is not to be equated with spectacle. Jenkins writes, "Spectacle refers to something that stops you dead in your tracks, forces you to stand and look. Game play becomes memorable when it creates the opposite effect-when it makes you want to move, when it convinces you that you really are in charge of what's happening in the game, when the computer seems to be totally responsive." While this category may seem to run contrary to the fact that I was engaging with a game that is nearly thirty years old and whose graphics are elementary when compared to a contemporary title like Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), I did experience what Jenkins describes as memorable moments in DK. These moments came upon the unveiling of each new level. My memory of the game was based around images of iron girding, ladders, and an ape and princess at the top, which turned out to be an apt description of the first level except for the fact that I had forgotten about the almighty hammer. Yet, when I reached the second stage, I was amazed to find platforms that went up and down. I wasted a few thousand bonus points trying to mentally map the space before setting out onto the first elevating platform.
While I experienced what Jenkins would describe as a memorable moment in a game, the luster of the sensation was temporary. As I attempted to map the space, I came to the realization that I did not want to move because I was not in charge of what was happening in the game. In Brian Kuh's epigraph, he speaks of "random elements" in DK and, as the game progressed, I quickly grew frustrated with them because the memorable moment did not reveal some sort of logic to the game. For instance, does a barrel rolling down the platforms descend the first ladder it encounters? Not necessarily. Despite this illogical behavior on behalf of the barrels, I noticed as I played (and watched others do so as well) that to win at DK is to essentially condition yourself to a set rhythm via the game's reliance on time to trigger events. This struck me as being a fundamentally different mode of interaction than the majority of contemporary games employs. For instance, in a game such as Resident Evil 5 (2009), a player's spatial location will trigger an obstacle. If a zombie can see you, he will attack you. The obstacles of Resident Evil 5 are not triggered by a set time but are motivated by the player's action. With this noted, DK only partially fulfilled the aesthetic characteristic of a memorable moment for me. I felt a burst of interactive inspiration upon the reveal of each new stage but, as I progressed, I began to doubt my own capacity to affect the outcome due to the game's random elements.
Jenkins' second characteristic, play as performance, has two facets. First, the player needs to "feel as if they are in control of the situation at all times, even though their gameplay and emotional experience are significantly sculpted by the designer." I've already addressed this to a degree, but it should be noted that Jenkins speaks explicitly about DK game designer Shigeru Miyamoto as being a designer who "designs his games around verbs, that is, around the actions the game enables players to perform...he designs a playing space that both facilitates and thwarts our ability to carry out that action and thus creates a dramatic context in which the action takes aesthetic shape and narrative significance." While Miyamoto's use of random elements no doubt creates a dramatic context, my game play experience made me begin to question if, perhaps, random elements were too often employed. In fact, over Miyamoto's career, I would argue that he began to find a more fruitful mix of random elements and patterns that the player can recognize in games such as Super Mario Brothers (1985) and Super Mario Brothers 3 (1988). Within these particular games, timing and patterns became the essence of the game's formal logic, hence many of the YouTube videos where players are able to complete these games without losing any lives whatsoever. Once you recognize the pattern and perfect your knowledge, you can perfect your playing of the game.
Jenkins continues to describe play as performance as a means of rendering domestic space or arcade space into a performance space. While he writes that this is a characteristic of many "contemporary games" and explicitly references Dance Dance Revolution (1998), I would argue that this would apply to a DK as well. While my experiences in arcades during the 1990s did not include DK, the arcade atmosphere is most nurturing to this type of performance and almost begs the question: is it the game or the environment that makes a game performance based? I would argue that it is both, although I would tend to emphasize the environment. For instance, DK is a completely different game space and interface than Wii Sports (2006). In fact, DK would appear to go directly against the performance or, what my colleagues and I have called "gestural play," a form of play in which a player re-enacts physical gestures with the help of a proper interface as key part of game play or perhaps even the core mechanic (which would firmly fall within Jenkin's category of "play as performance"). The game play and interface of DK does not encourage gestural play. Players do not jump up and down as they grab a hammer or leap over a flaming barrel nor do they mimic climbing a ladder. While DK does not encourage gestural play, playing it in a proper venue would have the potential to turn play into performance. This form of performance is it does encourage a space for performance that is perhaps magnified by the "random elements" of the game play. Watching Steve Wiebe break the world's highest score in King of Kong may not be a physically impressive feat, as a player conquering the Guns-N-Roses song "Shackler's Revenge" on a hard difficulty on the Rock Band (2007) drum set might be, but it would be an impressive feat of the intellect, of response time, and mastery of a text. After all, why do television stations in South Korea feature programs of professionals playing Starcraft (1998)? I assure you it is not for the game's reliance on gesture.
The final category of Jenkins' essay I would like to grapple with in relation to DK intersects with this notion of play as performance, "expressive amplification." Drawing off David Bordwell's work on Hong Kong action films, Jenkins describes expressive amplification as the "various aesthetic devices [that] can intensify and exaggerate the impact of such actions, making them both more legible and more intense than their real-world counterparts." Jenkins notes how camera angles, sound effects, and other devices can be utilized by the programmer to turn an action from just an executable outcome to an element of style. While expressive amplification can inspire a kinesthetic response and perhaps a form of gestural play, the definition Jenkins proposes ties this spectator response to the aesthetics of game play, not the interface. This category becomes difficult to relate to DK for the obvious reason of technological limitation. Due to the technology available at the time, there is only one camera angle in DK: a static establishing shot of the entire platform structure that only tilts upwards upon the completion of each level. The music is more advanced, with the tempo forecasting the speed of the level and sound effects responding to the player's actions (jumping over a barrel, hitting a barrel with a hammer, and reaching Princess Peach at the top of the platform). How many aesthetic characteristics or to what intensity do they need to be programmed to provide the player with this sense of expressive amplification or a kinesthetic reaction? Judging from this formal analysis, DK would appear to get the player halfway there. The music and sound effects, responding to their individual actions, no doubt provides expressive amplification, but the aesthetic experience of DK as a whole does not provide enough to evoke a kinesthetic reaction. Again, DK is not a game that produces a performance space from the player's gestures but from their more intellectual capabilities.
This brings us back to the question begged at the beginning of this venture: "What makes Donkey Kong fun today?" I have tabled the issue of nostalgia because while it no doubt plays a factor in the appeal of the game, it becomes incredibly difficult to analyze. I will admit that I was not drawn to the game by a particular longing as it was not one of the games I regularly played growing up (Sonic the Hedgehog fulfills that nostalgia). Yet, there are gamers both old and young who are drawn to DK for the game itself and not the cultural capital it carries and it is no doubt fun to them. After all, applying the form of the game to Jenkins' three aesthetic categories, DK does provide memorable moments, play as a means of performance, and even a rudimentary form of expressive amplification. This said DK seems unlike many contemporary titles, particularly on its strong reliance on random elements to provide a form of tension to the player. Most games today seem to make it easier and easier for a player to beat a game and feel fulfilled (via difficulty settings, saved games, continues, or even in the provision of more and more "health" items) whereas DK is much more of a one-size fits all type of game. What makes DK a miserable experience for me personally is this one-size fits all mentality. Perhaps the learning curve is too steep, perhaps contemporary design practices have softened my abilities, but more likely is the fact that I was unable to experience fully what Jenkins describes as a memorable moment from a form of game play that ties into what game designers Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman describe as "meaningful play." To Jenkins, Salen, and Zimmerman, a player will find a game rewarding when a player recognizes that "the relationships between actions and outcomes in a game are both discernable and integrated into the larger context of the game." The random elements of DK masked this relationship from me, kept the game from providing me with a feeling of meaningful play, and thus were not a fun or rewarding experience with regard to gaming, but my game play was fruitful as an intellectual pursuit.
There's a kill screen in Nintendo's Donkey Kong (1981)? After playing the Game Boy Advance copy of the game on a Nintendo DS for several hours, I had yet to advance past the second stage and, frustrated by my lack of progress, I could not help but ask myself if I was having a good time. However, my ill will towards the game was not as simplistic as it would seem. After all, I did not hate Donkey Kong; I just felt it did not fulfill one point of ludologist Jesper Juul's definition of a game, namely that "the player feels attached to the outcome." My own attachment to the outcome of Donkey Kong had devolved from setting out to conquer that damn dirty ape and his barrels to livid frustration with the game over screen to apathy each time I lost my three lives. My shifting relationship to the game's outcome led me to ask myself "What makes Donkey Kong fun?" Why do players like Brian Kuh keep returning to the title? While I assume there is a certain degree of nostalgia inherent it such a consideration, I would to apply the formal characteristics of DK to Henry Jenkins' article "Games, the New Lively Art" to better understand what makes retro gaming rewarding to players.
In the essay, Jenkins, utilizing the work of Gilbert Seldes, outlines several aesthetic characteristics that can be used to describe games as an art form. The three I would like to focus on are memorable moments, play as performance, and expressive amplification. The first characteristic, memorable moments, is not to be equated with spectacle. Jenkins writes, "Spectacle refers to something that stops you dead in your tracks, forces you to stand and look. Game play becomes memorable when it creates the opposite effect-when it makes you want to move, when it convinces you that you really are in charge of what's happening in the game, when the computer seems to be totally responsive." While this category may seem to run contrary to the fact that I was engaging with a game that is nearly thirty years old and whose graphics are elementary when compared to a contemporary title like Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), I did experience what Jenkins describes as memorable moments in DK. These moments came upon the unveiling of each new level. My memory of the game was based around images of iron girding, ladders, and an ape and princess at the top, which turned out to be an apt description of the first level except for the fact that I had forgotten about the almighty hammer. Yet, when I reached the second stage, I was amazed to find platforms that went up and down. I wasted a few thousand bonus points trying to mentally map the space before setting out onto the first elevating platform.
While I experienced what Jenkins would describe as a memorable moment in a game, the luster of the sensation was temporary. As I attempted to map the space, I came to the realization that I did not want to move because I was not in charge of what was happening in the game. In Brian Kuh's epigraph, he speaks of "random elements" in DK and, as the game progressed, I quickly grew frustrated with them because the memorable moment did not reveal some sort of logic to the game. For instance, does a barrel rolling down the platforms descend the first ladder it encounters? Not necessarily. Despite this illogical behavior on behalf of the barrels, I noticed as I played (and watched others do so as well) that to win at DK is to essentially condition yourself to a set rhythm via the game's reliance on time to trigger events. This struck me as being a fundamentally different mode of interaction than the majority of contemporary games employs. For instance, in a game such as Resident Evil 5 (2009), a player's spatial location will trigger an obstacle. If a zombie can see you, he will attack you. The obstacles of Resident Evil 5 are not triggered by a set time but are motivated by the player's action. With this noted, DK only partially fulfilled the aesthetic characteristic of a memorable moment for me. I felt a burst of interactive inspiration upon the reveal of each new stage but, as I progressed, I began to doubt my own capacity to affect the outcome due to the game's random elements.
Jenkins' second characteristic, play as performance, has two facets. First, the player needs to "feel as if they are in control of the situation at all times, even though their gameplay and emotional experience are significantly sculpted by the designer." I've already addressed this to a degree, but it should be noted that Jenkins speaks explicitly about DK game designer Shigeru Miyamoto as being a designer who "designs his games around verbs, that is, around the actions the game enables players to perform...he designs a playing space that both facilitates and thwarts our ability to carry out that action and thus creates a dramatic context in which the action takes aesthetic shape and narrative significance." While Miyamoto's use of random elements no doubt creates a dramatic context, my game play experience made me begin to question if, perhaps, random elements were too often employed. In fact, over Miyamoto's career, I would argue that he began to find a more fruitful mix of random elements and patterns that the player can recognize in games such as Super Mario Brothers (1985) and Super Mario Brothers 3 (1988). Within these particular games, timing and patterns became the essence of the game's formal logic, hence many of the YouTube videos where players are able to complete these games without losing any lives whatsoever. Once you recognize the pattern and perfect your knowledge, you can perfect your playing of the game.
Jenkins continues to describe play as performance as a means of rendering domestic space or arcade space into a performance space. While he writes that this is a characteristic of many "contemporary games" and explicitly references Dance Dance Revolution (1998), I would argue that this would apply to a DK as well. While my experiences in arcades during the 1990s did not include DK, the arcade atmosphere is most nurturing to this type of performance and almost begs the question: is it the game or the environment that makes a game performance based? I would argue that it is both, although I would tend to emphasize the environment. For instance, DK is a completely different game space and interface than Wii Sports (2006). In fact, DK would appear to go directly against the performance or, what my colleagues and I have called "gestural play," a form of play in which a player re-enacts physical gestures with the help of a proper interface as key part of game play or perhaps even the core mechanic (which would firmly fall within Jenkin's category of "play as performance"). The game play and interface of DK does not encourage gestural play. Players do not jump up and down as they grab a hammer or leap over a flaming barrel nor do they mimic climbing a ladder. While DK does not encourage gestural play, playing it in a proper venue would have the potential to turn play into performance. This form of performance is it does encourage a space for performance that is perhaps magnified by the "random elements" of the game play. Watching Steve Wiebe break the world's highest score in King of Kong may not be a physically impressive feat, as a player conquering the Guns-N-Roses song "Shackler's Revenge" on a hard difficulty on the Rock Band (2007) drum set might be, but it would be an impressive feat of the intellect, of response time, and mastery of a text. After all, why do television stations in South Korea feature programs of professionals playing Starcraft (1998)? I assure you it is not for the game's reliance on gesture.
The final category of Jenkins' essay I would like to grapple with in relation to DK intersects with this notion of play as performance, "expressive amplification." Drawing off David Bordwell's work on Hong Kong action films, Jenkins describes expressive amplification as the "various aesthetic devices [that] can intensify and exaggerate the impact of such actions, making them both more legible and more intense than their real-world counterparts." Jenkins notes how camera angles, sound effects, and other devices can be utilized by the programmer to turn an action from just an executable outcome to an element of style. While expressive amplification can inspire a kinesthetic response and perhaps a form of gestural play, the definition Jenkins proposes ties this spectator response to the aesthetics of game play, not the interface. This category becomes difficult to relate to DK for the obvious reason of technological limitation. Due to the technology available at the time, there is only one camera angle in DK: a static establishing shot of the entire platform structure that only tilts upwards upon the completion of each level. The music is more advanced, with the tempo forecasting the speed of the level and sound effects responding to the player's actions (jumping over a barrel, hitting a barrel with a hammer, and reaching Princess Peach at the top of the platform). How many aesthetic characteristics or to what intensity do they need to be programmed to provide the player with this sense of expressive amplification or a kinesthetic reaction? Judging from this formal analysis, DK would appear to get the player halfway there. The music and sound effects, responding to their individual actions, no doubt provides expressive amplification, but the aesthetic experience of DK as a whole does not provide enough to evoke a kinesthetic reaction. Again, DK is not a game that produces a performance space from the player's gestures but from their more intellectual capabilities.
This brings us back to the question begged at the beginning of this venture: "What makes Donkey Kong fun today?" I have tabled the issue of nostalgia because while it no doubt plays a factor in the appeal of the game, it becomes incredibly difficult to analyze. I will admit that I was not drawn to the game by a particular longing as it was not one of the games I regularly played growing up (Sonic the Hedgehog fulfills that nostalgia). Yet, there are gamers both old and young who are drawn to DK for the game itself and not the cultural capital it carries and it is no doubt fun to them. After all, applying the form of the game to Jenkins' three aesthetic categories, DK does provide memorable moments, play as a means of performance, and even a rudimentary form of expressive amplification. This said DK seems unlike many contemporary titles, particularly on its strong reliance on random elements to provide a form of tension to the player. Most games today seem to make it easier and easier for a player to beat a game and feel fulfilled (via difficulty settings, saved games, continues, or even in the provision of more and more "health" items) whereas DK is much more of a one-size fits all type of game. What makes DK a miserable experience for me personally is this one-size fits all mentality. Perhaps the learning curve is too steep, perhaps contemporary design practices have softened my abilities, but more likely is the fact that I was unable to experience fully what Jenkins describes as a memorable moment from a form of game play that ties into what game designers Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman describe as "meaningful play." To Jenkins, Salen, and Zimmerman, a player will find a game rewarding when a player recognizes that "the relationships between actions and outcomes in a game are both discernable and integrated into the larger context of the game." The random elements of DK masked this relationship from me, kept the game from providing me with a feeling of meaningful play, and thus were not a fun or rewarding experience with regard to gaming, but my game play was fruitful as an intellectual pursuit.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Disney's recycled scenes
Has anyone seen this? It is quite bizarre!
I first read about it today in an article on TimesOnline. It is quite short, so I thought I'd might as well copy and paste it here:
I had heard of rotoscoping, albeit not "video referencing", but in any case I think the relevance of these techniques as brought up in the article is a bit misguided. Techniques of tracing, such as rotoscoping, are used for specific purposes, such as added realism, cost savings etc, and I see nothing wrong with that. The article brings up these techniques with the implicit charge that it is dishonest to use them, with which I soundly disagree. The travesty of these recycled scenes is not of technique but of integrity: that Disney uses the same movements, the same choreography, the same composition, even the same gags and set-ups for disparate films from which, each being a new work, we expect original material. It is a bit like plagiarising oneself - technically it is not an offence (in the sense of copyright infringement; certainly under the auspices of academia it must and should be one), but it should be thought of very poorly and it compromises one's academic integrity. Ergo, this is an issue of honesty.
Anyway, kudos to this Swedish teenager for making the video - ah, the time and leisure of teenage-hood!
Best
Jenna
I first read about it today in an article on TimesOnline. It is quite short, so I thought I'd might as well copy and paste it here:
April 21, 2009
Disney fans surprised by recycled scenes
Veronica Schmidt
They might be considered classics but a web-savvy film buff has found another reason why hit Disney films look so familiar – recycled scenes.
The Swedish teenager, known only as Wetrox, has become a YouTube hit after he spliced together scenes from Disney classics, including Robin Hood and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to show that the movie giant often used the same scenes in different films.
The technique, known as “video referencing”, saves the studio money as a character’s animation can be traced from another film, skipping the phase of painstakingly copying human movement.
Marked similarities can be found between Winnie The Pooh and The Jungle Book and Robin Hood and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
A Disney spokeswoman refused to confirm that the movie giant used the technique today, telling Times Online that “it’s not something that we comment on”, but the company is thought to have used the tracing technique for decades.
Rotoscoping was invented in 1915 and originally used to trace real human movement to the screen, later being employed to trace existing films.
But the technique came as a surprise to most of the 60,000 Disney fans who rushed to view the YouTube clip.
“I feel so ripped off now. All the money I spend on this crap, they could at least come up with some original scenes,” wrote one viewer.
“Our childhoods were based on a lie,” said another.
But others were more understanding. “Considering the extreme amount of work needed to make those movies I'm not surprised if they cut some corners and work with existing templates to speed up the process.”
I had heard of rotoscoping, albeit not "video referencing", but in any case I think the relevance of these techniques as brought up in the article is a bit misguided. Techniques of tracing, such as rotoscoping, are used for specific purposes, such as added realism, cost savings etc, and I see nothing wrong with that. The article brings up these techniques with the implicit charge that it is dishonest to use them, with which I soundly disagree. The travesty of these recycled scenes is not of technique but of integrity: that Disney uses the same movements, the same choreography, the same composition, even the same gags and set-ups for disparate films from which, each being a new work, we expect original material. It is a bit like plagiarising oneself - technically it is not an offence (in the sense of copyright infringement; certainly under the auspices of academia it must and should be one), but it should be thought of very poorly and it compromises one's academic integrity. Ergo, this is an issue of honesty.
Anyway, kudos to this Swedish teenager for making the video - ah, the time and leisure of teenage-hood!
Best
Jenna
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Facebook Survey (A Real One!)
Dear all,
Bill McClain, now over in information science at USC, is collecting data on Facebook use for an assignment. If you feel like completing a brief survey on your Facebook experiences, please hit the link:
http://uscannenberg.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_3y2nzQRJiAEx36s&SVID=Prod
Thanks from both myself and Bill,
Drew
Bill McClain, now over in information science at USC, is collecting data on Facebook use for an assignment. If you feel like completing a brief survey on your Facebook experiences, please hit the link:
http://uscannenberg.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_3y2nzQRJiAEx36s&SVID=Prod
Thanks from both myself and Bill,
Drew
Friday, April 03, 2009
CFP: Midwest Popular Culture Association (10/30-11/1)
The Midwest Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association is a regional branch of the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association. The organization held its first conference in
MPCA/ACA usually holds its annual conference in a large Midwestern city in the
This year the conference will be:
Book Cadillac Westin
Adaptations
Robert T. Self, English,
African Studies
Jessica M. Brown-Velez, Theatre and Drama, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI 53706, brownvelez@wisc.edu
African-American Popular Culture
Angela M. Nelson, Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green OH 43403-0190, anelson@bgsu.edu
Art History and Visual Culture
Joy Sperling, Art History,
Asian Popular Culture
John W. Williams, Political Science and Asian Studies, Principia College, Elsah IL 62028, johnwwilliams@yahoo.com
Authorship and Auteurism
Dan Herbert, Screen Art & Cultures,
British Popular Culture
David Schimpf, Theology,
Celebrity and Stardom
Lindsey Arasmith, Communication Studies, California State University-Sacramento,
Comics
Paul R. Kohl, Communication Arts,
Documentary
Heather McIntosh,
Eastern European Popular Culture
Ioana Cionea, Communication,
Ethnography
Asim Ali, American Studies,
Fan Studies
Paul Booth; Language, Literature and Communication; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute;
Fat Studies
Sarah E. Boslaugh, Independent Scholar, seb5632@bjc.org
Festivals and Food
Ann Hetzel Gunkel, Columbia College Chicago,
Film
Gretchen Bisplinghoff, Communication,
Folklore and Popular Storytelling
Michael Marsden, Dean of the College and Academic Vice President,
Gender Studies
Janet Novak, Independent Scholar,
German Popular Culture
Corinna Kahnke, Modern Languages and Literatures, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, ckahnke@calpoly.edu
Girls' Culture/ Girls' Studies
Miriam Forman-Brunell, History, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City MO 64110, Forman-BrunellM@umkc.edu (e-mail address is case sensitive)
Globalization
Brian Ekdale, Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI 53706, brianekdale@gmail.com
Harry Potter
Kathleen Turner, English,
Heroes in Popular Culture
Terrence Wandtke, Communication Arts, Judson College, 1151 N. State St., Elgin IL 60123-1498, twandtke@judsoncollege.edu
Hip-Hop Culture James Braxton Peterson, English,
Horror and Science Fiction / Fantasy
John A. Dowell, Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures;
Humor
John A. Dowell, Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures;
Hypermedia
Paul Booth; Language, Literature, and Communication; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute;
Indian Popular Culture
Sarah Erickson, English,
Irish Studies
Kathleen Turner, English,
Jewish Studies
Linda Long-Van Brocklyn, Germanic Languages and Literatures,
Latin American Popular Culture
Jane Florine, Music/HWH 331,
Libraries, Museums, and Collecting
Tom Caw, Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison,, Madison, WI 53706-1324, mailto:tcaw@library.wisc.edu
Magazines and Newspapers
Ayanna Gaines, Independent Scholar,
Material Culture
Michael Kassel, History,
Music
MaryAnn Janosik, Provost/VPAA/Professor of History, Saint Joseph College, PO Box 850, Rensselaer IN 47978, janosik@saintjoe.edu
Mystery, Thrillers, and Detective and Crime Fiction
Brendan Riley, English, Columbia College Chicago,
New Media
David Gunkel, Communication,
Nineteenth-Century American Popular Culture
Patrick Prominski, English, 126
Photography
Amy Darnell, Humanities,
Plants and Animals in Popular Culture
Kathy Brady,
Political Economy
Heather McIntosh,
Politics
Janet Novak, Independent Scholar,
Pornography
Laura Vazquez, Communication,
Professional Development
Angela M. Nelson, Popular Culture,
Queer Studies
Kris Cannon, Communication,
Race and Ethnicity
John R. Fisher, Communication, Theatre and Languages;
Reality Television
Ann Andaloro, Communication and Theatre,
Relationships in Popular Culture
Jimmie Manning, Communication,
Religion and Popular Culture
David Schimpf, Theology,
Southern Literature and Culture
Anne M. Canavan, English,
Subculture
Shawn David Young,
Teaching Popular Culture
Angela M. Nelson, Popular Culture,
Television and Radio
William Anderson, Broadcast and Cinematic Arts, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant MI 48859, ander1ww@cmich.edu
Theatre
MaryAnn Janosik, Provost/VPAA/Professor of History, Saint Joseph College, PO Box 850, Rensselaer IN 47978, janosik@saintjoe.edu
Toys and Games
Mark Best, English,
Undergraduate Paper Competition
Tom Caw, Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison,, Madison, WI 53706-1324, mailto:tcaw@library.wisc.edu
Urban Studies
Brendan Kredell, Radio-TV-Film,
Virtual Environments
Pam Wicks, Educational Technology, Research and Assessment,
War
Kathleen German, Mass Communication, 152 Williams Hall,
Web 2.0
Molly Moran, Office of eDiplomacy, Department of State, Washington DC 20520-0099, molly@mollymoran.org
Westerns
Kent Anderson, American Culture Studies,
Working-Class Culture
Tom Discenna; Rhetoric, Communication, and Journalism;
All Other Areas
Angela M. Nelson, Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green OH 43403-0190, anelson@bgsu.edu
Friday, March 27, 2009
CFP: "Ways of Watching" Symposium
2009 Summer Symposium
24-25 JULY 2009
Ways of Watching
What happens to amateur, regional and non-commercial films after filmmakers finish crafting them? How do audiences watch them and why? While researchers, scholars and archivists have made great inroads into understanding the cultural significance of non-commercial films and filmmakers, less is understood about the habits of their audiences and their exhibition. The 2009 Northeast Historic Film Summer Symposium focuses on an investigation of how, where and why we watch amateur and noncommercial films in both the past and the present. We seek papers and presentations examining the varied practices of film viewing and exhibition, particularly as they pertain to amateur, regional and non-commercial film.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
Practices of viewing Home theaters Family viewing
Mobilized cinema Itinerant projection Non-commercial exhibition
Amateur film contests Community exhibition New & old distribution Networks
Social habits of audiences Amateur cinema clubs Amateur news & I-reports
Projection technologies surveillance practices Voyeurism
Screens--mini, mega, and mobile Amateur film as political witness Home 3-D
Organizations & film exhibition Amateur film as observation Visible evidence
The NHF Summer Symposium is a multi-disciplinary gathering devoted to the history, theory, and preservation of moving images. NHF is located in Bucksport, a town of 5,000 on the coast of Maine (for more info on NHF, please visit: http://www.oldfilm.org). Typically, presentations are 30 minutes, followed
by 30 minutes of discussion. The symposium is open to archivists, artists and scholars from all disciplines.
NHF houses a 125-seat cinema with 35mm, 16mm, videotape, and DVD projection. We encouragepresentations that include interesting moving images.
We prefer e-mail submissions. Please send 250-500 word abstracts outlining your paper ideas to the symposium organizers at the address below. We are happy to discuss your presentation ideas with you in advance of a formal submission. The Symposium Program Committee will begin reviewing proposals on April 1, 2009.
Please send proposals and inquiries to:
Mark Neumann
Mark.Neumann[at]nau.edu
School of Communication
Northern Arizona University
Janna Jones
Janna.Jones[at]NAU.EDU
School of Communication
Northern Arizona University
Snowden Becker
snowdenbecker[at]gmail.com
School of Information
Cinema and Visual Culture Program University of Texas, Austin
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Job talks and Film/Lit pairings
Since it’s never too early to be thinking about these things…
One of the things that occurred when
To further complicate this question... while most departments are aware that film is no longer relegated to mere issues of textual fidelity, so that we’re not limited to only doing the traditional fare, how willing would you be to adventure out with a list of only one traditional pick, so that the other pairings reflected more of a thematic or symbolic adaptation rather than direct adaptation?
CFP: CONNECTdeleuze: TRANSDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES
The Department for American Studies at the University of Cologne is pleased to announce that it will be holding The Second International Deleuze Studies Conference on Aug 10-12 2009:
The conference aims at building transdisciplinary assemblages that
involve Deleuze in a wider range of thought, i.e. at constructing, from different 'modules of thought,' innovative conceptual arrangements that integrate Deleuzian philosophy into the larger field of contemporary knowledge production and practices of living.
Speakers include:
Brent Adkins, Jeffrey Bell, Réda Bensmaia, Hanjo Berressem, Charlie Blake, Arno Böhler, Ronald Bogue, Mark Bonta, Rosi Braidotti, Ian Buchanan, Didier Debaise, Norbert Finzsch, Colin Gardner, Erika Gaudlitz, Johnny Golding, Paul Harris, Peter Hertz, Jean Hillier, David Holdsworth, Eugene Holland, Gillian Howie, Jan Jagodzinski, Shoshone Johnson, Christian Kerslake, Gregg Lambert, Patricia MacCormack, Erin Manning, David Martin-Jones, Brian Massumi, Philippe Mengue, Luciana Parisi, Patricia Pisters, Arkady Plotnitsky, Bryan Reynolds, Martin E. Rosenberg, Horst Ruthrof, Jac Saorsa, Mirjam Schaub, Henning Schmidgen, Inna Semetsky, Daniel W. Smith, Andreas Speer, Charles Stivale, Kenneth Surin, Laurent de Sutter, Janell Watson, Edward Willatt, Doro Wiese, James Williams
If you are interested in presenting at this conference, submit panel
proposals and/or individual abstracts [250 words] to
CONNECTdeleuze[at]web.de
The conference aims at building transdisciplinary assemblages that
involve Deleuze in a wider range of thought, i.e. at constructing, from different 'modules of thought,' innovative conceptual arrangements that integrate Deleuzian philosophy into the larger field of contemporary knowledge production and practices of living.
Speakers include:
Brent Adkins, Jeffrey Bell, Réda Bensmaia, Hanjo Berressem, Charlie Blake, Arno Böhler, Ronald Bogue, Mark Bonta, Rosi Braidotti, Ian Buchanan, Didier Debaise, Norbert Finzsch, Colin Gardner, Erika Gaudlitz, Johnny Golding, Paul Harris, Peter Hertz, Jean Hillier, David Holdsworth, Eugene Holland, Gillian Howie, Jan Jagodzinski, Shoshone Johnson, Christian Kerslake, Gregg Lambert, Patricia MacCormack, Erin Manning, David Martin-Jones, Brian Massumi, Philippe Mengue, Luciana Parisi, Patricia Pisters, Arkady Plotnitsky, Bryan Reynolds, Martin E. Rosenberg, Horst Ruthrof, Jac Saorsa, Mirjam Schaub, Henning Schmidgen, Inna Semetsky, Daniel W. Smith, Andreas Speer, Charles Stivale, Kenneth Surin, Laurent de Sutter, Janell Watson, Edward Willatt, Doro Wiese, James Williams
If you are interested in presenting at this conference, submit panel
proposals and/or individual abstracts [250 words] to
CONNECTdeleuze[at]web.de
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Warner Archives "on demand"
I may be the last person to find out about this, but a student directed me to Warners' new line of DVD-Rs available on demand of niche titles from their back catalog (and given the history of media library ownership, that means some MGM titles, too). The list of available is definitely quirky, but worth a look. Moreover, it's a great sign that studios may be willing to adopt different content-delivery models, which means readier text availability for those of us who study the history of Hollywood.
Monday, March 16, 2009
cineSEA: Independent Moving Images From Southeast Asia
Because this is from my part of the world. :-) If you are in the UK, do consider attending! - JN
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cineSEA: INDEPENDENT MOVING IMAGES FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA
London Birkbeck Cinema & University of Westminster
21-23 March 2009
The Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), University of Westminster, is pleased to present a special event showcasing independent moving images and new research directions in Southeast Asian cinema.
Many UK premieres have been selected for the six programmes of documentaries, shorts, and video art featured during cineSEA part I. Highlights include the recent video art of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (TROPICAL MALADY, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY). The one-day symposium, featuring international scholars and curators, explores the intersection between regionally grounded digital practices and global theorisations of 21st century cinema. cineSEA part II will take place this Autumn when Apichatpong will be conducting a special masterclass for CREAM based on his work-in-progress PRIMITIVE.
cineSEA is organised by CREAM in collaboration with History of Art, Film and Visual Media at Birkbeck College, BEFF5 and Criticine.
For detailed programme information please visit http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-2104#cineSEA
*****************************************
cineSEA: INDEPENDENT MOVING IMAGES FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA
London Birkbeck Cinema & University of Westminster
21-23 March 2009
The Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), University of Westminster, is pleased to present a special event showcasing independent moving images and new research directions in Southeast Asian cinema.
Many UK premieres have been selected for the six programmes of documentaries, shorts, and video art featured during cineSEA part I. Highlights include the recent video art of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul (TROPICAL MALADY, SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY). The one-day symposium, featuring international scholars and curators, explores the intersection between regionally grounded digital practices and global theorisations of 21st century cinema. cineSEA part II will take place this Autumn when Apichatpong will be conducting a special masterclass for CREAM based on his work-in-progress PRIMITIVE.
cineSEA is organised by CREAM in collaboration with History of Art, Film and Visual Media at Birkbeck College, BEFF5 and Criticine.
For detailed programme information please visit http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-2104#cineSEA
Thursday, March 12, 2009
New Translation of Bazin's "What is Cinema?"
Dear fellow Mabuseans,
Exciting news: Montreal-based publisher caboose is releasing a new English-language translation of André Bazin's "What is Cinema?," the first in nearly 40 years. I have a post with details at my blog.
In anticipation,
- Girish Shambu.
Exciting news: Montreal-based publisher caboose is releasing a new English-language translation of André Bazin's "What is Cinema?," the first in nearly 40 years. I have a post with details at my blog.
In anticipation,
- Girish Shambu.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Northern Illinois University - Fall 2009
Within what is possibly the harshest job search environment in decades, it just feels bizarre to post some news that is so wonderful. Though, I suppose once you sign the offer letter, it is time to announce.I am thrilled to write that I have accepted an offer to be Assistant Professor of English, specializing in Film and Literature, at Northern Illinois University for fall of 2009. Located in Dekalb, IL (about an hour west of Chicago), NIU is a comprehensive teaching and research university with over 18,000 undergraduates and nearly 4,000 graduate students.
The Department of English is one of the largest departments on campus, accommodating two undergraduate degree options and extensive graduate studies up to the PhD level. The university also houses active Women’s Studies, LGBT Studies, communications, and drama programs – all of which interest me greatly, as my research would probably suggest. During my campus visit, I met with much of the faculty, who impressed me with their commitment to active research and teaching as well as their friendliness.
As a member of the faculty, I will have the opportunity to work closely with both undergraduates and graduate students working in the area of film and literature. During a breakfast with Robert Self, the professor emeritus who founded the film and literature focus at NIU, I learned much about the history of the track. Also, I spoke with some of the graduate students in film and literature, whose research and enthusiasm were equally engaging. As such, I take on the responsibility of continuing the film and literature track at NIU with great respect of its history and high expectations for its future.
On a personal note, I love the idea of living an hour from Chicago and am fully ready to make the transition to much colder winters. As a fan of both The Simpsons and The Ice Storm, I am thrilled to teach at the university that produced both Dan Castellaneta and Joan Allen. In all seriousness, I want to thank everybody who helped me over the years, from family (my mother, in particular) to friends (my Claude Rains Appreciation Society co-founder leaps to mind) to mentors (certainly Maureen Turim, whose guidance was invaluable) to my students. I know this section sounds like an Oscar speech … sorry.
Also, in one of the most humbling realizations of my life, NIU is the university where film scholar Leonard Leff received his degree. Upon beginning my graduate studies at Oklahoma State University, Leff’s Hitchcock seminar was my first graduate film course. The experience was wonderful enough to make me continue with this academia racket for another seven years and, now, the remainder of my professional life. I am excited to be affiliated with a school that produces such talent. Perhaps, I’ll need to assign Rebecca (1940) next fall to have it all come full circle.
Finally, of course, GO HUSKIES!
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