Corona cinephilia : a qualitative audience study on cinephile places, spaces and the impact of COVID-19 on urban cinephilia in the city of Ghent, Belgium

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Belgium was among the world’s worst-affected countries in terms of the number of deaths per capita. As a result, a national lockdown was imposed, prohibiting any kinds of social activities as a means to prevent a further spread of the virus. One of the cultural industries most deeply affected by this restriction was cinema. This essay aims to obtain a better understanding of the ways COVID-19 has impacted cinemagoing and the film experiences of young urban cinephiles, particularly reflecting on the shifts in the cinephile’s experiences of the places where they consume movies. This contribution is based on a mixed-method approach, consisting of semi-structured online interviews with cinephiles aged twenty-one to thirty in the city of Ghent, Belgium. We start off by discussing three different perspectives on cinephilia’s evolution within the academic cinephilia debates. Subsequently, we look into how our cinephile respondents’ film and cinema experiences have been impacted by COVID-19 safety measures, focusing on ‘quarantine’ film consumption habits and experiences in a domestic and online environment. Lastly, we also discuss new forms of cinephilia and technology, community building and experiences

‘I’m just not gay-gay’: Exploring same-sex desire and sexual minority identity formation in <i>SKAM</i> and its Western European remakes

SKAM (NRK, 2015–2017), a popular Norwegian teen drama series, was praised for its season revolving around a nonheterosexual cis-male teenager coming to terms with his sexual desires and identity. Broadcasting companies from predominantly Western European countries bought the format and created local versions. The essay explores how SKAM and three Western European remakes represent same-sex desire and sexual identity formation. We found that the remakes were rather faithful to the politics of representation of the Norwegian source text. Emphasizing authenticity and everyday realism, they situate the teenagers in a Western context that may feature less blatant heterosexism and homophobia but where heteronormativity still co-constructs the process of sexual identity formation and general attitudes towards same-sex desire and LGBTQ culture. We postulate that SKAM and its remakes encourage LGBTQ and heterosexual teens to deconstruct their homonegative prejudices and become aware of the pervasiveness of heteronormativity. </jats:p

Waar blijven de Vlaamse rectoren met hun 'krachtige verklaring' over Isra\uebl?

Abstract: Vinden de besturen van de Vlaamse universiteiten mensenrechtenschendingen tegen Oekra\uefners erger dan die tegen Palestijnen, vragen tientallen academici zich af