72 research outputs found
Response to Ideology Takes a Day Off: Althusser and Mass Culture
Chip Rhodes defends Althusser\u27s scientific belief that the subject is a bearer of structures and opposes the humanist claim that the subject functions independently of its contexts. However, recent work in cultural studies examines how identity is constructed and allows us to reconcile the scientific and the humanist view. Ideological interpellation may define our subject positions but we are still able to refuse them. For instance, Rhodes\u27 account of Ferris Bueller\u27s Day Off assumes that the subject is a fully interpellated, adolescent, Anglo, middle or upper class, heterosexual male. However, the film also offers various oppositional subject positions, including adolescent female or Hispanic, working class youth
Late 1920s film theory and criticism as a test-case for Benjaminâs generalizations on the experiential effects of editing
This article investigates Walter Benjaminâs influential generalization that the effects of cinema are akin to the hyper-stimulating experience of modernity. More specifically, I focus on his oft-cited 1935/36 claim that all editing elicits shock-like disruption. First, I propose a more detailed articulation of the experience of modernity understood as hyper-stimulation and call for distinguishing between at least two of its subsets: the experience of speed and dynamism, on the one hand, and the experience of shock/disruption, on the other. Then I turn to classical film theory of the late 1920s to demonstrate the existence of contemporary views on editing alternative to Benjaminâs. For instance, whereas classical Soviet and Weimar theorists relate the experience of speed and dynamism to both Soviet and classical Hollywood style editing, they reserve the experience of shock/disruption for Soviet montage. In order to resolve the conceptual disagreement between these theorists, on the one hand, and Benjamin, on the other, I turn to late 1920s Weimar film criticism. I demonstrate that, contrary to Benjaminâs generalizations about the disruptive and shock-like nature of all editing, and in line with other theoristsâ accounts, different editing practices were regularly distinguished by comparison to at least two distinct hyper-stimulation subsets: speed and dynamism, and shock-like disruption. In other words, contemporaries regularly distinguished between Soviet montage and classical Hollywood editing patterns on the basis of experiential effects alone. On the basis of contemporary reviews of city symphonies, I conclude with a proposal for distinguishing a third subset â confusion.
This is an original manuscript / preprint of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Early Popular Visual Culture on 02 Aug 2016 available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/17460654.2016.1199322
Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Disruption: Causes, Metabolic Consequences and Countermeasures.
Circadian (⌠24 hour) timing systems pervade all kingdoms of life, and temporally optimize behaviour and physiology in humans. Relatively recent changes to our environments, such as the introduction of artificial lighting, can disorganize the circadian system, from the level of the molecular clocks that regulate the timing of cellular activities to the level of synchronization between our daily cycles of behaviour and the solar day. Sleep/wake cycles are intertwined with the circadian system, and global trends indicate that these too are increasingly subject to disruption. A large proportion of the world's population is at increased risk of environmentally-driven circadian rhythm and sleep disruption, and a minority of individuals are also genetically predisposed to circadian misalignment and sleep disorders. The consequences of disruption to the circadian system and sleep are profound and include myriad metabolic ramifications, some of which may be compounded by adverse effects on dietary choices. If not addressed, the deleterious effects of such disruption will continue to cause widespread health problems; therefore, implementation of the numerous behavioural and pharmaceutical interventions that can help restore circadian system alignment and enhance sleep will be important
The Pleasures and Profits of a Postmodern Film Historiography
No longer can history writers believe themselves to be on the scene of the Real, writing Truth. Instead of regretting this, the article celebrates the freedom of the new situation. More issues than before are allowed historical treatment, and history can be written in numerous ways. But because histories create and have effect, the performers of history-writing are obliged to perform it ethically, and the article includes proposals on how this can be done
âBased on the True Story ofâ: Political Filmmaking and Analogical Thinking
âBased on the True Story ofâ considers how reception studies contributes to determining what constitutes effective political filmmaking and the lessons these films offer to encourage political allegiances. Prior work has indicated that filmmakers need to provide narrative frames to insure their preferred views are accessible to audiences, that excessive emotional appeals can backfire, that conspiracy narratives are more accepted if the narratives argue for complicated webs of power structure, and that markers of authorial subjectivity provide space for spectators to negotiate the material. Here analogical thinking â finding resemblances of one or more features between events in the text and the historical past â is studied for docudramas. Using the reception of Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), the essay argues two further hypotheses that also involve analogical thinking : (1) reviewers expect audiences to seek lessons and explicitly engage with a film's assumed message about contemporary politics, and (2) reviewers often reposition the lessons into other generic narrative formula which have heroes and villains.âBased on the True Story ofâ analyse la façon dont les Ă©tudes de rĂ©ception contribuent Ă dĂ©terminer en quoi consistent le cinĂ©ma politique et les leçons quâil donne dans le but dâassurer lâadhĂ©sion des spectateurs. Des travaux antĂ©rieurs ont montrĂ© que les cinĂ©astes sâassurent volontiers, au moyen de cadres narratifs, de la lisiblitĂ© de leur point de vue auprĂšs du public, tout en Ă©vitant de trop jouer la carte de lâĂ©motion, par crainte de provoquer lâinverse de lâeffet recherchĂ©. On sait Ă©galement que les marques dâĂ©nonciation subjective sont apprĂ©ciĂ©es en tant quâelles donnent un peu de jeu aux piĂšces de ce puzzle dĂ©monstratif quâest le film politique. Lâarticle, aprĂšs ce rappel, se concentre sur les traces Ă©crites de la rĂ©ception du docufiction Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), qui se divisent en deux types : (1) les critiques attendent du public quâil retienne la leçon du film et la transpose, par le biais de la pensĂ©e analogique, Ă la vie politique actuelle; (2) les critiques dĂ©placent les leçons Ă tirer du cĂŽtĂ© narratologique, comme sâil sâagissait dâabord de lâaffrontement entre les bons et les mĂ©chants
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