Emotional Identity of Movies

4noIn the field of multimedia analysis, attempts that lead to an emotional characterization of content have been proposed. In this work we aim at defining the emotional identity of a feature movie by positioning it into an emotional space, as if it was a piece of art. The multimedia content is mapped into a trajectory whose coordinates are connected to filming and cinematographic techniques used by directors to convey emotions. The trajectory evolution over time provides a strong characterization of the movie, by locating different movies into different regions of the emotional space. The ability of this tool in characterizing content has been tested by retrieving emotionally similar movies from a large database, using IMDb genre classification for the evaluation of results.partially_openpartially_openL. CANINI; S. BENINI; P. MIGLIORATI; R. LEONARDICanini, Luca; Benini, Sergio; Migliorati, Pierangelo; Leonardi, Riccard

Cinematherapy in Gifted Education Identity Development: Integrating the Arts Through STEM-themed Movies

Gifted students, because of their advanced development compared to peers, have emotional needs that require differentiated education programs. Asynchronous social and emotional development of gifted students often leads to identity issues. Cinematherapy can be used to help gifted students explore their identities through analysis of the actions of gifted characters in films. This practical article suggests STEM-themed movies with characters facing challenges useful for gifted student identity development. The Autonomous Learners Model is used to classify gifted learners in the movies to assist teachers in matching movies to the needs of gifted learners. Tables of STEM-themed movies with gifted characters and a general list of discussion questions are provided. Finally, example Andy Warhol-inspired digital art projects related to iconic NASA space images that fit with space-themed movies are provided to allow gifted students to express the identity issues with which they wrestle and their insights about their personal character strengths

Interactive Video Mashup Based on Emotional Identity

The growth of new multimedia technologies has provided the user with the ability to become a videomaker, instead of being merely part of a passive audience. In such a scenario, a new generation of audiovisual content, referred to as video mashup, is gaining consideration and popularity. A mashup is created by editing and remixing pre-existing material to obtain a product which has its own identity and, in some cases, an artistic value itself. In this work we propose an emotional-driven interactive framework for the creation of video mashup. Given a set of feature movies as primary material, during the mixing task the user is supported by a selection of sequences belonging to different movies which share a similar emotional identity, defined through the investigation of cinematographic techniques used by directors to convey emotions

Looking like a hero: constructions of the female gun-fighter in Hollywood cinema.

This paper addresses the aesthetic and semiotic issues of dress, agency and desire as they are articulated around the figure of the female gun-slinger in action-driven genres. It explores the problems that this complex figure presents for feminist critics, in relation to the fetishisation of the female action figure, the potential for readings of cooption or resistance embodied in the transvestite heroine, and the celebration of cinematic violence. It also explores a number of strategies whereby film-makers and narratives contrive to contain the transgressive potential of the female gun-slinger. With particular reference to Salt (Phillip Noyce 2010), it highlights issues of transformation, performance and identity, focusing on the operation of costume as an ‘alternative discourse’ within the text. It considers the limitations and potential of the contemporary action heroine as an empowering female figure within popular culture

Music and nationalism

Unpublished manuscript book chapter related to the book Culture and Authenticity (2007), Oxford: Basil Blackwell

The Predicament of Nature: Keiko the Whale and The Cultural Politics of Whaling in Iceland

This cultural analysis reconsiders the modernist narrative about the politics of whales and whale hunting in order to explore Icelandic responses to the return of the killer whale Keiko (star of the Free Willy movies) to Icelandic waters in 1998. Ambivalence about Keiko’s plight required cultural creativity to block identification with the whale since in Icelandic hegemonic discourse such feelings have been associated with the supposed irrationality of foreign protests against whale hunting. This essay draws on Bruno Latour’s writings about the politics of nature to argue for abandoning nature in a step toward the ethnographic study of human-nonhuman relations

Malayali young men and their movie heroes

Here we bring together masculinities and popular culture to think about how they are configured within the arena of cinema, focusing in on Kerala's two major male movie stars and the relationship they have with their young male fans. In their relative lack of interest in female stars and turn towards male stars young men are playing out an approach towards gendering which does not take as its foundation hierarchic or compulsory heterosexuality. Young men's tentative (and illicit, difficult) relationships with young women lack the substance of their relationships with each other and with their male movie heroes. We consider cinema as a forum for collective fantasy which acts as a source of helpful orientations, stars being particular nodes within this arena, dense points of transfer of desire, belief, self-affirmation or transformation and so on. Film audiences receive or subvert cinematic messages and form relationships with stars - whether in fantasy or actually - and with each other, mediated through cinematic modes of being or styles of doing. Another effect of cinema-related activities is to provide adolescent and post-adolescent boys with a safe segregated social space in which they can socialise, share information, try out fledgling masculine identities and grapple with the demands of emerging sexualities. The star makes possible identifications with the self- (for Mohan Lal, one who is working class and in solidarity with the poor, in Mammootty's case a solidly bourgeoios self); transformations of the self - opportunities through fan association work to distribute largesse like a high-caste wealthy patron; and an extended sense of self - the possiblity that through the fan association one might participate in the star's power and reach. In Kerala, unlike other states, fandom is not a matter of rivalry, political partisanship or even life and death. While there is a 'hard-core' central group who remain partisan and always committed to 'their' star, in general young men frequently shift associations and change allegiances. Yet the two heroes seem to embody different styles of hero and to have different types of appeal to audiences; sociologically, their fan bases trace slightly different social groupings. Mammootty has an affinity with roles implying powerful and high-status men in control, strong in family drama; Mohan Lal is admired for his abilities in romance, song, dance and fighting. One might wish to be like Mammootty but often feels that one already is in some way like Mohan Lal. Despite considerable overlap and dispute, Mammootty and Mohan Lal embody and perform different styles of manliness, none of which one could dispense with in one's potential repertiore. Both Mammootty and Mohan Lal are necessary in a full fantasy life and a necessarily internally fragmented and shifting gendered identity. Cinema also relates to ethnicity. Mammotty allows young non-Muslim men to experience a fantasy relationship with a powerful mature Muslim man, a community coded 'other' in Kerala. A twist to this is that (similar to analyses of white anglo masculinities and work on the 'blackness' of Elvis) we find working class Hindu masculinity, while explicitly defined in opposition to the Muslim other, at another level actually relies upon an incorporation of aspects of masculinity especially associated in the cultural landscape with Muslimness. In a more mediated and disguised manner, Mohan Lal also plays with elements of fantasy identity culturally coded by young Hindus as 'Muslim'

Emotional contagion and the infectious service smile: A response using parody

This short essay, with accompanying script, provides an example of using parody to critically engage with common management concepts. The target of the parody is the much researched phenomenon of emotional contagion, and the genre used in the parody is horror movies. The theoretical material used is a critique of capitalism and its relationship to cannabilsm by M. Lefebvre. The paper is provided in the May 2007 issue of Noteworks, and the link to this publication of the SCOS community is given above

«The Karma of Chicken Curry». Tibetan Masala films and youth narratives of exile

This essay offers a preliminary study of the cultural translation practices by young Tibetan exilic filmmakers in India, whose films, rather than rejecting the masala formula offered by Bollywood, have tentatively adapted it to the expectations of a Tibetan diasporic audience looking for a cinema capable of attending to the escapist needs of their minds while simultaneously catering to the intimate dreams of their hearts. I contend that Tashi Wangchuk and Tsultrim Dorjee’s first long feature Phun Anu Thanu (Two Exiled Brothers, 2006) is as an original film that presents a new offer on the menu of Tibetan diasporic films, a kind of spicy curry that has been advocated as a timely necessity and a yet-to-be-fulfilled desire