Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628462388
- eISBN:
- 9781626746831
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628462388.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Comics Studies
Along with Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman, the Joker is one of the most recognizable sequential art characters in popular culture. While there has been a great deal of scholarly attention on ...
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Along with Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman, the Joker is one of the most recognizable sequential art characters in popular culture. While there has been a great deal of scholarly attention on superheroes, very little has been done looking at the role of supervillains; The Joker: A Critical Study of the Clown Prince of Crime attempts to fill this gap. It is the first academic work to provide a comprehensive study of this character, asking the question, why, particularly today, is the Joker so relevant to audiences? Scholars from a wide array of disciplines look at the Joker through the lens of feature films, video games, comics, politics, magic and mysticism, psychology, animation, television, performance studies, and philosophy. This collection adds to our understanding of the role comic book and cinematic villains play in the world and the ways various media affect their interpretation. The Joker: A Critical Study of the Clown Prince of Crime will be useful for those scholars in Game Studies, Comic Studies, Graphic Narrative, Television and Film Studies.Less
Along with Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman, the Joker is one of the most recognizable sequential art characters in popular culture. While there has been a great deal of scholarly attention on superheroes, very little has been done looking at the role of supervillains; The Joker: A Critical Study of the Clown Prince of Crime attempts to fill this gap. It is the first academic work to provide a comprehensive study of this character, asking the question, why, particularly today, is the Joker so relevant to audiences? Scholars from a wide array of disciplines look at the Joker through the lens of feature films, video games, comics, politics, magic and mysticism, psychology, animation, television, performance studies, and philosophy. This collection adds to our understanding of the role comic book and cinematic villains play in the world and the ways various media affect their interpretation. The Joker: A Critical Study of the Clown Prince of Crime will be useful for those scholars in Game Studies, Comic Studies, Graphic Narrative, Television and Film Studies.
Peter Alilunas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520291706
- eISBN:
- 9780520965362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291706.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This introduction offers an overview of relevant literature, a brief trajectory of the history of pornography before the video era, and an analysis of why the topic has not received much attention. ...
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This introduction offers an overview of relevant literature, a brief trajectory of the history of pornography before the video era, and an analysis of why the topic has not received much attention. Additionally, it offers one of the central arguments in the book, that the industry’s quest for respectability by foregrounding quality (both aesthetically and narratively) had critical ramifications in terms of gender and sexuality—particularly for women—that have been previously overlooked.Less
This introduction offers an overview of relevant literature, a brief trajectory of the history of pornography before the video era, and an analysis of why the topic has not received much attention. Additionally, it offers one of the central arguments in the book, that the industry’s quest for respectability by foregrounding quality (both aesthetically and narratively) had critical ramifications in terms of gender and sexuality—particularly for women—that have been previously overlooked.
Peter Alilunas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520291706
- eISBN:
- 9780520965362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291706.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Chapter one examines the early history of adult video from a variety of technological, cultural, and industrial perspectives beginning with the Panoram, a device invented in the 1940s and completely ...
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Chapter one examines the early history of adult video from a variety of technological, cultural, and industrial perspectives beginning with the Panoram, a device invented in the 1940s and completely unintended for pornography. Following is an analysis of the adult motel landscape of Southern California, an early site of adult video distribution. The chapter concludes with a history of the early pioneers of adult video, including George Atkinson, who created the first video rental store in the United States.Less
Chapter one examines the early history of adult video from a variety of technological, cultural, and industrial perspectives beginning with the Panoram, a device invented in the 1940s and completely unintended for pornography. Following is an analysis of the adult motel landscape of Southern California, an early site of adult video distribution. The chapter concludes with a history of the early pioneers of adult video, including George Atkinson, who created the first video rental store in the United States.
Peter Alilunas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520291706
- eISBN:
- 9780520965362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291706.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Chapter two explores the creation in 1983 of Adult Video News (AVN), a newsletter initially aimed at the public but gradually transformed into an industry trade journal in the vein of Variety or ...
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Chapter two explores the creation in 1983 of Adult Video News (AVN), a newsletter initially aimed at the public but gradually transformed into an industry trade journal in the vein of Variety or Hollywood Reporter. In its attempts to provide a more sophisticated, nuanced, and professional set of discourses for adult video, AVN represents a major turning point in this history, focusing on the industry as an industry, rather than merely as content made by unseen, hidden forces. Additionally, AVN repeatedly emphasized and encouraged the creation of quality material as a strategy to gain the respectability that would lead to greater acceptability and profits, a stance it also replicated within its own pages and editorial practices. Ultimately, AVN crafted something new: a space in which to promote, sell, and celebrate adult video.Less
Chapter two explores the creation in 1983 of Adult Video News (AVN), a newsletter initially aimed at the public but gradually transformed into an industry trade journal in the vein of Variety or Hollywood Reporter. In its attempts to provide a more sophisticated, nuanced, and professional set of discourses for adult video, AVN represents a major turning point in this history, focusing on the industry as an industry, rather than merely as content made by unseen, hidden forces. Additionally, AVN repeatedly emphasized and encouraged the creation of quality material as a strategy to gain the respectability that would lead to greater acceptability and profits, a stance it also replicated within its own pages and editorial practices. Ultimately, AVN crafted something new: a space in which to promote, sell, and celebrate adult video.
Peter Alilunas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520291706
- eISBN:
- 9780520965362
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291706.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Smutty Little Movies traces the adult film industry’s transition from celluloid to home video beginning in the late 1970s alongside an examination of the cultural and legal efforts to regulate, ...
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Smutty Little Movies traces the adult film industry’s transition from celluloid to home video beginning in the late 1970s alongside an examination of the cultural and legal efforts to regulate, contain, limit, or eradicate pornography. Drawing on a wide variety of materials, Smutty Little Movies de-centers the film text in favor of industrial histories and contexts. In doing so, the book argues that the struggles to contain and regulate pleasure represent a primary entry point for situating adult video’s place in a larger history, not just of pornography, but media history as a whole.Less
Smutty Little Movies traces the adult film industry’s transition from celluloid to home video beginning in the late 1970s alongside an examination of the cultural and legal efforts to regulate, contain, limit, or eradicate pornography. Drawing on a wide variety of materials, Smutty Little Movies de-centers the film text in favor of industrial histories and contexts. In doing so, the book argues that the struggles to contain and regulate pleasure represent a primary entry point for situating adult video’s place in a larger history, not just of pornography, but media history as a whole.
James Wicks
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9789888208500
- eISBN:
- 9789888313204
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208500.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Transnational Representations focuses on a neglected period in Taiwan film scholarship: the golden age of the 1960s and 1970s, which saw innovations in plot, theme and genre as directors highlighted ...
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Transnational Representations focuses on a neglected period in Taiwan film scholarship: the golden age of the 1960s and 1970s, which saw innovations in plot, theme and genre as directors highlighted the complexities of Taiwan’s position in the world. Combining a concise overview of Taiwan film history with analysis of representative Taiwan films, the book reveals the internal and external struggles Taiwan experienced in its search for global identity. This cross-disciplinary study adopts a transnational approach which presents Taiwan’s film industry as one that is intertwined with that of mainland China, challenging previous accounts that present the two industries as parallel yet separate. The book also offers productive comparisons between Taiwan films and contemporary films elsewhere representing the politics of migration, and between the antecedents of new cinema movements and Taiwan New Cinema of the 1980s.Less
Transnational Representations focuses on a neglected period in Taiwan film scholarship: the golden age of the 1960s and 1970s, which saw innovations in plot, theme and genre as directors highlighted the complexities of Taiwan’s position in the world. Combining a concise overview of Taiwan film history with analysis of representative Taiwan films, the book reveals the internal and external struggles Taiwan experienced in its search for global identity. This cross-disciplinary study adopts a transnational approach which presents Taiwan’s film industry as one that is intertwined with that of mainland China, challenging previous accounts that present the two industries as parallel yet separate. The book also offers productive comparisons between Taiwan films and contemporary films elsewhere representing the politics of migration, and between the antecedents of new cinema movements and Taiwan New Cinema of the 1980s.
Rupert Cox, Andrew Irving, and Christopher Wright (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719085055
- eISBN:
- 9781526109958
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719085055.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Beyond text?: Critical practices and sensory anthropology addresses a series of questions concerning the relationship between anthropological understandings of the world, sensory perception and ...
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Beyond text?: Critical practices and sensory anthropology addresses a series of questions concerning the relationship between anthropological understandings of the world, sensory perception and aesthetic practices. The book suggests that if different sensory experiences embody and facilitate different kinds of knowledge, then we need to develop new methods and more appropriate forms of representation that are not based simply in text, writing or correspondence theories of truth. As such, Beyond Text: Critical Practices and Sensory Anthropology brings together leading figures in anthropology, visual, sound and film studies to explore how knowledge, sensation and embodied experiences can be researched and represented by combining different visual, aural, and textual forms—for example text and image, image and sound, body and voice. What—we ask—is the relationship between the interiority of a person’s experience and its exteriority that is present to the eye, the ear and other sense organs that make the experience ‘open’ to anthropological forms of documentation, theorisation and representation? We argue that there is a necessary, critical development in our ways of knowing that must take place not merely at the level of theory and representation but also through innovative fieldwork methods and media practices. The collected papers and audio-visual materials presented on a DVD, explore the potential for a more sensorially-grounded, critically aware and creative approach to cultural analysis, media production and field research.Less
Beyond text?: Critical practices and sensory anthropology addresses a series of questions concerning the relationship between anthropological understandings of the world, sensory perception and aesthetic practices. The book suggests that if different sensory experiences embody and facilitate different kinds of knowledge, then we need to develop new methods and more appropriate forms of representation that are not based simply in text, writing or correspondence theories of truth. As such, Beyond Text: Critical Practices and Sensory Anthropology brings together leading figures in anthropology, visual, sound and film studies to explore how knowledge, sensation and embodied experiences can be researched and represented by combining different visual, aural, and textual forms—for example text and image, image and sound, body and voice. What—we ask—is the relationship between the interiority of a person’s experience and its exteriority that is present to the eye, the ear and other sense organs that make the experience ‘open’ to anthropological forms of documentation, theorisation and representation? We argue that there is a necessary, critical development in our ways of knowing that must take place not merely at the level of theory and representation but also through innovative fieldwork methods and media practices. The collected papers and audio-visual materials presented on a DVD, explore the potential for a more sensorially-grounded, critically aware and creative approach to cultural analysis, media production and field research.
Peter Alilunas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520291706
- eISBN:
- 9780520965362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291706.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
In this prologue, I describe my own background in relation to this topic, particularly important given my religious family upbringing describe the book’s guiding questions, and set the stage for the ...
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In this prologue, I describe my own background in relation to this topic, particularly important given my religious family upbringing describe the book’s guiding questions, and set the stage for the rest of the book.Less
In this prologue, I describe my own background in relation to this topic, particularly important given my religious family upbringing describe the book’s guiding questions, and set the stage for the rest of the book.
Peter Alilunas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520291706
- eISBN:
- 9780520965362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291706.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Chapter three contrasts a pair of case studies involving the challenges faced by the women whose performances helped build the adult video industry, and particularly the significance of the means of ...
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Chapter three contrasts a pair of case studies involving the challenges faced by the women whose performances helped build the adult video industry, and particularly the significance of the means of production and control. First, Ginger Lynn and Vivid Video, the first company to recognize the potential of the shot-on-video format. Lynn was the centerpiece in a new, aggressive marketing strategy that sought widespread public acceptance but did not hold an ownership stake in the company, and thus represents the limitations of performance success. Second is Candida Royalle, a performer in the 1970s who founded Femme Productions in 1984 with the goal of creating adult films for women, which she did as writer, director, producer, and owner. While similar to Vivid in terms of the desire for economic success with particular demographics, Royalle’s overt politics, feminist strategies, marketing discourses, and narrative and visual content set Femme in radically different territory.Less
Chapter three contrasts a pair of case studies involving the challenges faced by the women whose performances helped build the adult video industry, and particularly the significance of the means of production and control. First, Ginger Lynn and Vivid Video, the first company to recognize the potential of the shot-on-video format. Lynn was the centerpiece in a new, aggressive marketing strategy that sought widespread public acceptance but did not hold an ownership stake in the company, and thus represents the limitations of performance success. Second is Candida Royalle, a performer in the 1970s who founded Femme Productions in 1984 with the goal of creating adult films for women, which she did as writer, director, producer, and owner. While similar to Vivid in terms of the desire for economic success with particular demographics, Royalle’s overt politics, feminist strategies, marketing discourses, and narrative and visual content set Femme in radically different territory.
Matthew Carter
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748685585
- eISBN:
- 9780748697038
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748685585.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
What is the nature of the relationship between the Hollywood Western and American frontier mythology? How have Western films helped develop cultural and historical perceptions, attitudes and beliefs ...
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What is the nature of the relationship between the Hollywood Western and American frontier mythology? How have Western films helped develop cultural and historical perceptions, attitudes and beliefs towards the frontier? Is there still a place for the genre in light of revisionist histories of the American West? Myth of the Western re-invigorates the debate surrounding the relationship between the Western and frontier mythology, arguing for the importance of the genre's socio-cultural, historical and political dimensions. A number of critical-theoretical and philosophical approaches are applied to prominent forms of frontier historiography. The book also considers the historiographic element of the Western by exploring the different ways in which the genre has responded to the issues raised by the frontier. Deconstructing the division of the genre into classical, revisionist, and post Westerns, this book argues that the genre has – and continues to reveal – the complexities and contradictions at the heart of US society. With its clear analyses of and intellectual challenges to the film scholarship that has developed around the Western over a 65-year period, Myth of the Western adds new depth to our understanding of specific film texts and of the genre as a whole – a welcome resource for students and scholars in both Film Studies and American Studies.Less
What is the nature of the relationship between the Hollywood Western and American frontier mythology? How have Western films helped develop cultural and historical perceptions, attitudes and beliefs towards the frontier? Is there still a place for the genre in light of revisionist histories of the American West? Myth of the Western re-invigorates the debate surrounding the relationship between the Western and frontier mythology, arguing for the importance of the genre's socio-cultural, historical and political dimensions. A number of critical-theoretical and philosophical approaches are applied to prominent forms of frontier historiography. The book also considers the historiographic element of the Western by exploring the different ways in which the genre has responded to the issues raised by the frontier. Deconstructing the division of the genre into classical, revisionist, and post Westerns, this book argues that the genre has – and continues to reveal – the complexities and contradictions at the heart of US society. With its clear analyses of and intellectual challenges to the film scholarship that has developed around the Western over a 65-year period, Myth of the Western adds new depth to our understanding of specific film texts and of the genre as a whole – a welcome resource for students and scholars in both Film Studies and American Studies.
