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Life, career, major roles & legacy of Amer. actress/sex symbol.

It is interesting to note the absurd places where the battle lines of freedom are sometimes drawn: the cost of tea in Boston, a funny-looking house p... more

It is interesting to note the absurd places where the battle lines of freedom are sometimes drawn: the cost of tea in Boston, a funny-looking house painter from Austria, a busty lusty "belle dame sans merci" named Mae West. Mae West, née Mae West (nobody ever had to invent an interesting bio for her), was the vaudeville comedienne who conquered Broadway in the 1920s, saved Paramount Pictures in the 1930s, and - almost single-handedly - took on the censors of artistic freedom with every movie she made. And to look at her legacy now: almost forgotten beyond nostalgia for a "camp queen," her pictures dated and denuded of their controversial context, remembered in the 1990s primarily as a warning of what Madonna threatens to become. Nevertheless, for a brief period in the 1930s Mae West was the line in the sand drawn between those supporting "decency in America" and those

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Examines animated characters created by brothers in silent era: Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Minnie the Moocher.

INTRODUCTION Max and Dave Fleischer started in animation in the silent era and continued into sound and through the heyday of short film animation. ... more

INTRODUCTION Max and Dave Fleischer started in animation in the silent era and continued into sound and through the heyday of short film animation. They were one of the few silent studios aside from that of Disney to last into the 1940s, continuing beyond studios like Van Buren or Ub Iwerks (though Iwerks did return to the Disney fold and work on animated films after his own studio folded). The Fleischer's created a number of characters of lasting value, two of the most notable being Betty Boop and Popeye, and form the silent era, Koko the Klown. Betty Boop was a character who epitomized a certain attitude in the Depression years, though in some ways she was out of her proper time and is more a flapper of the 1920s than the showgirl of the 1930s. She can be seen as evoking the sort of optimism needed in the years

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Five short essays on elements of popular culture. The first discusses popular culture generally. The second examines cultural conflict. The final three discuss aspects of the use of the reflexive mode in literature & film.

INTRODUCTION Popular culture appeals to the public on a basic level, offering images, character, and stories that fit with the prevailing mood and wh... more

INTRODUCTION Popular culture appeals to the public on a basic level, offering images, character, and stories that fit with the prevailing mood and which further reflect a nation's underlying values and predispositions. This process can be seen in a wide variety of popular culture artifacts. Most people would see movies, popular music, and television as elements of popular culture, while they might fail to note the equally important role of such things as advertising and even political discourse which borrows from popular culture for imagery and associations--George Bush saying "Go ahead--make my day," for instance. The power of popular culture can be seen in the concerns often raised about certain types of expression, notably that involving sexual material or violence, and the belief that repetition of such

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Life & work of film comedian/director. Comparison of his comedy with Chaplin; his methods as filmmaker; reputation.

Buster Keaton was one of the two great film comedians and comedy film directors of the silent era. His reputation has suffered by the greater accord ... more

Buster Keaton was one of the two great film comedians and comedy film directors of the silent era. His reputation has suffered by the greater accord given to the other silent film comic, Charlie Chaplin, and Chaplin's reputation remained greater because Chaplin continued to work as a leading player well into the 1950s and also remained a controversial figure at the same time. Keaton, on the other hand, was considered finished by Hollywood when sound came in, though he did continue to make films until the end of his life, more often as a supporting player than a star in later years. A myth developed that Keaton could not make the transition from silent to sound because of his voice or for some similar reason, but in fact, Keaton's problems derived first from an unhappy experience at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the end of the silent era and second from

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Indian commerical cinema; traditional role of women in Masala films; rape portrayals; Indian New Cinema. Indian model of feminism.

India has the largest film industry in the world and, since 1992, one of the fastest growing television audiences in history. Popular media in India,... more

India has the largest film industry in the world and, since 1992, one of the fastest growing television audiences in history. Popular media in India, as anywhere else, tend to reflect and shape -- or attempt to shape -- people's attitudes on many issues. In the mixture of cultures, languages and religions that make up the Indian nation the status of women is a question that is capable of generating immense, furious controversy. But the question of full female emancipation, or even relatively moderate change in women's status, is nearly taboo in the popular commercial media of film and television. Greater strides have been made since the 1980s in so-called "New" or "parallel" cinema, yet even in that arena filmmakers have strained to emphasize the nonradical, nonfeminist, tradition-oriented nature of their calls for change in women's status. Still more

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Reasons for the continuous showing of the 1975 film. Its huge fan base. Audience participation. The movie as a liberating experience. Its playful way with gender, sexual orientation and conventions of musicals, science fiction and horror films. The plot and characters. Use of traditional filmic constructs. Sexual games of the film.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with its twenty-year runs at midnight showings and its tradition of audience participation, has proved to be one of the... more

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with its twenty-year runs at midnight showings and its tradition of audience participation, has proved to be one of the most unusual phenomena in the history of the movies. At the time of its initial release, however, the film seemed destined to make its mark primarily through its gleefully parodic presentation of horror, science-fiction and movie musical modes and what was, at the time, a fairly shocking transgressiveness regarding sexual orientation. The film centers on the figure of a mad Frankenstein-like creator, Dr. Frank-n-Furter (Tim Curry), who brings to life a man of his own creation and on the audience surrogates Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) and Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick), the ordinary pair of people who become his alternately willing and unwilling victims. But this creator of monsters is also a transvestite whose vigorous

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Analysis of themes and style. Focuses on three films: THE GRAPES OF WRATH, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, RIO GRANDE. Common issue of family, personal and greater families. Similar use of traditional American music, stark black and white images, sparse dialogue and emphasis on feelings of characters. Emotional value of each film. Creation of American vision.

This paper analyzes John Ford's themes and styles in three of his most distinctive films, The Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, and Rio Grande. ... more

This paper analyzes John Ford's themes and styles in three of his most distinctive films, The Grapes of Wrath, My Darling Clementine, and Rio Grande. These three all focus on different aspects of one issue that reoccurs throughout his films, the issue of family. Family drives the Joads in Grapes of Wrath to seek survival in California, the Earps in My Darling Clementine to seek revenge, and the Yorkes (and the greater families they serve, the United States Army and the United States itself) in Rio Grande to seek reconciliation and reunion. All three use traditional American music, stark black and white images, and the deep-seated feelings of their characters, rather than extensive dialogue, to communicate the conflict between the losses of their pasts and the uncertain promises of their futures. Ford is the quintessential American moviemaker, and these three classic films clear

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Discusses Disney's adaptation of the Good Neighbor Policy of the 1940s. Disney's political beliefs. Concept of the "Disneyfication" of reality and popular culture. American involvement in Latin America. Production of films for South America and their relation to U.S. policy. Disney's methods. Stereotypical North American view of Latin America in Disney films.

WALT DISNEY AND THE LATIN AMERICAN GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY INTRODUCTION It is easy to argue that Disney is the most recognizable name in animation throu... more

WALT DISNEY AND THE LATIN AMERICAN GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY INTRODUCTION It is easy to argue that Disney is the most recognizable name in animation throughout the world. The company has maximized its appeal by careful production and marketing strategies that have developed in various stages throughout the past seventy years: from a small cottage industry in the 1920s and 1930s, through the development of Disneyland and television in the 1950s, to the global conglomerate that is Disney today (Eliot, 1993, p. 23). When Walt Disney created his masterpiece of entertainment, Disneyland, he said Disneyland will be based upon and dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have

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Compares and contrasts two films: Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and Little Vera (1988), both of which are stories of young women struggling against repressive family and societal expectations. Struggle of the female protagonists for identity and separation.

This paper compares and contrasts two films featuring a heroinetrying to break away from a repressive family and societal expectations Richard Brooks'... more

This paper compares and contrasts two films featuring a heroinetrying to break away from a repressive family and societal expectations Richard Brooks' adaptation of Judith Rossner's novel Looking for Mr Goodbar and Vasily Pichul's Russian drama Little Vera These twofilms provide quite different cultural backgrounds for a similar humanstruggle Both portray young women trying to find their own identities andrebelling against authority Both present a daunting and fairly bleaklife one ending in tragedy one slightly more hopeful The two films havesome intriguing

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This paper examines the reasons for Hollywood's unfavorable portrayals of women in film, looking at three films as examples of the evolution of women in film--Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Thelma and Louise, and Silence of the Lambs. The paper traces the evolution of women's roles through the three films, culminating with the role of Clarice in Silence of the Lambs, which is comparable to a male hero's role in similar movies.

Images of Women in Three Films The images of women in films reflect Hollywood's preoccupation withand fear of women as well as that of American societ... more

Images of Women in Three Films The images of women in films reflect Hollywood's preoccupation withand fear of women as well as that of American society at large Hollywoodhas portrayed women in the prescribed roles that it felt comfortable seeingthem in but has always maintained a veneer of the artificial thatconstrained women from expressing their real selves on the screen Fromthe femme fatale role depicted by Marlene Dietrich in which woman wasmysterious and profound never to be understood completely to the bimboplayed