Film Talk: Viewers Responses to a Film as a Socially Situated Event

Taken from Introduction: Thisstudyattemptstodescribepatternsofviewerinterpretive engagementwitha film.The film usedinthestudy,JonathanDemme\u27s CitizensBand(1977),wasselectedbecauseinmostrespectsit was like thefilmsviewerscouldseeatcommercial, first-runmovie theatres.Informantswereselectedaccordingtothefrequencywith whichtheyreportedattendingfilms.Thisselectionwasdoneinline witha modelofinterpretive behaviordevelopedby SolWorthand LarryGross.Thismodelsuggeststhat experiencewithasymbolic mode mightleadtodifferent waysofinterpreting articulations within a mode.Ithoughtthat thedegreetowhichinformantsusedthemedium mightprovideananalyticcontextforexaminingdifferent patternsof interpretive engagementwithafilm.Thus,themainpurposeofthis studywastodescribethekindsofinterpretive acts and verbal responsesactualviewersengagein(inself-selected groups)when discussinga film after a viewing. Thisstudyattemptstodescribepatternsofviewerinterpretive engagementwitha film.The film usedinthestudy,JonathanDemme\u27s CitizensBand(1977),wasselectedbecauseinmostrespectsit was like thefilmsviewerscouldseeatcommercial, first-runmovie theatres.Informantswereselectedaccordingtothefrequencywith whichtheyreportedattendingfilms.Thisselectionwasdoneinline witha modelofinterpretive behaviordevelopedby SolWorthand LarryGross.Thismodelsuggeststhat experiencewithasymbolic mode mightleadtodifferent waysofinterpreting articulations within a mode.Ithoughtthat thedegreetowhichinformantsusedthemedium mightprovideananalyticcontextforexaminingdifferent patternsof interpretive engagementwithafilm.Thus,themainpurposeofthis studywastodescribethekindsofinterpretive acts and verbal responsesactualviewersengagein(inself-selected groups)when discussinga film after a viewing

Fleming, adaptation, and the author biopic

The mini-series Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, which aired in the U.S. on BBC America and in the U.K. on Sky Atlantic in 2014, offered an entertaining and glamorised account of Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond. Focusing in particular on Fleming’s time during the Second World War, a period in which he served in British Naval Intelligence, successive episodes comprised embroidered accounts of his experiences, with a heavy emphasis on scenes and motifs that chimed with the doings of his most famous character. This approach to the author’s life-story foregrounded the same elements upon which previous small-screen biographies of Ian Fleming had focused, especially his creation of Bond. The TV film Goldeneye: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1989) addressed his wartime experiences and subsequent Bond writing, while Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990) doubled down on its Bond connections by casting Jason Connery (son of original film 007, Sean Connery) as Fleming in a Second World War adventure with numerous James Bond parallels. Likewise, Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005) and Ian Fleming: Where Bond Began (2008) both framed Fleming first and foremost in terms of his literary creation. With high production values, and a strong cast that included Dominic Cooper, Lara Pulver, and Samuel West, Fleming bore several of the hallmarks of what has come to be called “quality television” (Thompson, 1997) , and was heavily promoted in the weeks running up to its broadcast. However, a contemporary review in Wired by Graeme McMillan saw it as evidence of a problematic tendency in recent biopics. McMillan asserted that while such texts were previously “a mix of entertainment, education and guilt-free voyeurism,” they have become “a contradictory mix of hagiography and revisionism, lionizing their subjects while somehow managing to diminish them in comparison to the products of their imagination” (McMillan, 2014). In this chapter I will look to unpick this contention, and—in particular—to approach Fleming and the author biopic in terms of adaptation

Filmic sports history: Dawn Fraser, swimming and Australian national identity

Among a multitude of social memory representations of Australian swimming legend Dawn Fraser are several films, including a 1979 biopic, Dawn! This paper considers this feature film alongside other examples of filmic history, most particularly a 1964 documentary, The Dawn Fraser Story. While documentaries are generally valued more highly by historians than movies because of the perceived similarity of endeavour between documentary makers and written historians, in this case the biopic is more compelling because its narratives resonate more strongly with Fraser's role in swimming history, her connection with major national stereotypes and her position as a living sporting icon. In particular, Dawn! encapsulates a dominant, yet mythical, feature of Australian identity - the larrikin - through representations of Fraser as an anti-authoritarian, working-class 'battler'. Simultaneously, however, the movie disrupts this larrikin portrayal through its depiction of Fraser's sexuality, and in particular a lesbian relationship, a parallel but competing theme which is trumped by larrikinism not only in subsequent filmic histories of the swimmer but in wider cultural representations of Fraser

Caligula, History and the Erotic Imagination

A survey of the representation of Caligula in cinema and television