Saving Robert De Niro: Jean Reno as Francophone All-American Action Hero

This article examines the complexities of both French and American transnational identities as portrayed onscreen by Jean Reno. The significance of the particular elements of French and American culture and identity which feature at the heart of Reno’s roles in three films (Mission: Impossible, Godzilla, and Ronin) is analysed in an attempt to illustrate that, while feeding on national and cultural stereotype, the overall persona that emerges is one inescapably in dialogue with both Atlantic coasts, rather than one which engages with the somewhat simplistic binary backdrop of French anti-Americanism and American francophobia. This transcultural dialogue is further discussed through brief analysis of Reno’s onscreen relationship with the major American box office stars of these three films, namely Tom Cruise, Matthew Broderick, and Robert de Niro. What emerges from these two parallel strands of analysis is a multilayered, transnational screen persona, at once embedded in and breaking with transatlantic clichés

'Ta mere, ta race': filiation and the sacralisation and vilification of the mother in banlieue cinema

The absence of figures of paternal authority from the diegetic space of most banlieue films has been commented on by critics and scholars alike over the past decade. The relationship between this cast of predominantly male urban characters and their mothers has, however, less frequently been the focus of analysis. It is this mother-child (and primarily mother-son) relationship which will be examined in this paper, examining the simultaneous sacralisation and vilification of the maternal figure which emerges onscreen. This analysis is particularly relevant given the renewed focus on the concept of ‘filiation’ in contemporary French sociopolitical debate, highlighted by the work of sociologist Eric Fassin. Fassin sees this trend emerging initially from debates regarding the evolution of family structures in contemporary France, which have their origin in discussions surrounding same-sex unions. However, he also underlines the ways in which the centrality of filiation and filial relationships resonates across debates on ethnic, gendered, and sexual identities in the metropolitan French context. Taking banlieue cinema as a cultural site in which these three strands of identity come into contact – and often conflict – this paper will examine the depiction of the maternal figure and the filial relationship in a small selection of key banlieue films. The paper will demonstrate the ways in which these banlieue mothers often represent diverse spheres of cultural and national reference but will argue against the oft-presented reductive reading which sees them primarily as traditional figures confined to a domestic setting. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which the ‘nique ta mère’ insult – and others based on the same model – illustrates the complexity of the maternal role in banlieue film, at once vilifying and sacralising both the mother and the filial relationship

The use of the spoken word in contemporary French minority cinema, with specific reference to banlieue and gay cinema (1990-2000)

This thesis seeks to analyse the ways in which the spoken word is used in two French minority cinemas – cinema de banlieue and gay cinema – between 1990 and 2000, in order to express an engagement with the complex, layered, and fractured identities of France’s citizens in the late twentieth century. This analysis will be conducted through three prisms which correspond to the three central chapters of the thesis: ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. These three areas of analysis were chosen because the particular aspects of individual and collective identity with which they engage embody the three central challenges to contemporary republican values which have emerged in 1990s debates. Each chapter will present a detailed examination of a series of onscreen verbal exchanges drawn from four key films, with supplementary reference to other works from the two genres studied here. These examinations will be placed against the socio-political backdrop of 1990s France in order to highlight their specific relevance to broader ongoing debates regarding the nature of French republicanism as critically interpreted. The first chapter will focus on verbal exchanges through the prism of ethnicity, and specifically on conflictual verbal encounters, as illustrated, in particular, in Hexagone (Chibane, 1994), La Haine (Kassovitz, 1995), Raï (Gilou, 1995), and La Squale (Généstal, 2000). The second chapter will examine constructions of gendered identities in Gazon maudit (Balasko, 1995), Douce maudit (Balasko, 1995), Douce France (Chibane, 1995), Ma 6-T va crack-er (Richet, 1997), and Belle Maman (Aghion, 1999), concentrating on verbal exchanges around parent-child relationships. Analysis in the final central chapter will be conducted through the prism of sexuality, examining onscreen exchanges involving friends and lovers in Pédale douce (Aghion, 1996), Le Ciel, les oiseaux et.. ta mère! (Bensalah, 1999), Le Derrière (Lemercier, 1999), and Drôle de Félix (Ducastel and Martineau, 2000). These chapters will pave the way to an attempt to come to terms with the question: Does the use of the spoken word in gay and banlieue cinema merely reaffirm the identity of separate communities, or does it rather function as a site for construction and reconstruction

Evidence for magnetospheric effects on the radiation of radio pulsars

We have conducted the largest investigation to date into the origin of phase resolved, apparent RM variations in the polarized signals of radio pulsars. From a sample of 98 pulsars based on observations at 1.4 GHz with the Parkes radio telescope, we carefully quantified systematic and statistical errors on the measured RMs. A total of 42 pulsars showed significant phase resolved RM variations. We show that both magnetospheric and scattering effects can cause these apparent variations. There is a clear correlation between complex profiles and the degree of RM variability, in addition to deviations from the Faraday law. Therefore, we conclude that scattering cannot be the only cause of RM variations, and show clear examples where magnetospheric effects dominate. It is likely that, given sufficient signal-to-noise, such effects will be present in all radio pulsars. These signatures provide a tool to probe the propagation of the radio emission through the magnetosphere.Comment: 20 pages, 8 Figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The queer circulation of objects in the films of Céline Sciamma

The ground-breaking director Céline Sciamma observes that her films are often obsessed with the circulation of objects. This article analyses the forms this circulation takes across Sciamma’s first four films (Naissance des pieuvres, Tomboy, Bande de filles and Portrait de la jeune fille en feu), as well as the significance of the objects themselves. Building on insights offered by scholars who have examined Sciamma’s work as an example of a cinema of feminist embodiment and materiality, this article charts new territory by examining the queer ethics of Sciamma’s cinema not through analysis of bodies and embodiment but through the objects that enable, facilitate and nurture the ‘being-in-the-world’ of those bodies and embodiments. From apple cores to green dresses, chewing gum to necklaces, this article will centre on forms of circulation, transmission and exchange of objects, not as detached, inanimate, post-human things in the world but as objects whose presence and whose circulation between characters serve to bring together marginalised bodies in solidaristic relationships fostered through queer economies of exchange.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available Onlin

Characterisation and expression analysis of cathepsins and ubiquitin-proteasome genes in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) skeletal muscle

The proteolytic enzymes involved in normal protein turnover in fish muscle are also responsible for post-mortem softening of the flesh and are therefore potential determinants of product quality. The main enzyme systems involved are calpains, cathepsins, and the ubiquitin-proteasome (UbP). In this study on Sparus aurata (Sa), the coding sequences of cathepsins (SaCTSB and SaCTSDb) and UbP family members (SaN3 and SaUb) were cloned from fast skeletal muscle, and their expression patterns were examined during ontogeny and in a fasting/re-feeding experiment. The amino acid sequences identified shared 66-100% overall identity with their orthologues in other vertebrates, with well conserved characteristic functional domains and catalytic residues. SaCTSDb showed phylogenetic, sequence and tissue distribution differences with respect to its paralogue SaCTSDa, previously identified in the ovary. Expression of gilthead sea bream cathepsins (B, L, Da, Db) and UbP members (N3, Ub, MuRF1 and MAFbx) in fast skeletal muscle was determined at three different life-history stages and in response to fasting and re-feeding in juveniles. Most of the proteolytic genes analysed were significantly up-regulated during fasting, and down-regulated with re-feeding and, between the fingerling (15 g) and juvenile/adult stages (~50/500 g), consistent with a decrease in muscle proteolysis in both later contexts. In contrast, SaCTSDa and SaMuRF1 expression was relatively stable with ontogeny and SaUb had higher expression in fingerlings and adults than juveniles. The data obtained in the present study suggest that cathepsins and UbP genes in gilthead sea bream are co-ordinately regulated during ontogeny to control muscle growth, and indicate that feeding regimes can modulate their expression, providing a potential dietary method of influencing post-mortem fillet tenderisation, and hence, product quality

Setting upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134 using the first science data from the GEO 600 and LIGO detectors

Data collected by the GEO 600 and LIGO interferometric gravitational wave detectors during their first observational science run were searched for continuous gravitational waves from the pulsar J1939+2134 at twice its rotation frequency. Two independent analysis methods were used and are demonstrated in this paper: a frequency domain method and a time domain method. Both achieve consistent null results, placing new upper limits on the strength of the pulsar’s gravitational wave emission. A model emission mechanism is used to interpret the limits as a constraint on the pulsar’s equatorial ellipticity

First Upper Limits from LIGO on Gravitational Wave Bursts

We report on a search for gravitational wave bursts using data from the first science run of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors. Our search focuses on bursts with durations ranging from 4 to 100 ms, and with significant power in the LIGO sensitivity band of 150 to 3000 Hz. We bound the rate for such detected bursts at less than 1.6 events per day at a 90% confidence level. This result is interpreted in terms of the detection efficiency for ad hoc waveforms (Gaussians and sine Gaussians) as a function of their root-sum-square strain hrss; typical sensitivities lie in the range hrss∼10−19–10−17strain/√Hz, depending on the waveform. We discuss improvements in the search method that will be applied to future science data from LIGO and other gravitational wave detectors