Douglas Keesey
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628466973
- eISBN:
- 9781628467024
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628466973.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Over the last five decades, the films of director Brian De Palma (b. 1940) have been among the biggest successes (The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible) and the most high-profile failures (The ...
More
Over the last five decades, the films of director Brian De Palma (b. 1940) have been among the biggest successes (The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible) and the most high-profile failures (The Bonfire of the Vanities) in Hollywood history. De Palma helped launch the careers of such prominent actors as Robert De Niro, John Travolta, and Sissy Spacek. Picketed by feminists protesting its depictions of violence against women, Dressed to Kill helped to create the erotic thriller genre. Scarface, with its over-the-top performance by Al Pacino, remains a cult favorite. In the twenty-first century, De Palma has continued to experiment, incorporating elements from videogames (Femme Fatale), tabloid journalism (The Black Dahlia), YouTube, and Skype (Redacted and Passion) into his latest works. What makes De Palma such a maverick even when he is making Hollywood genre films? Why do his movies often feature megalomaniacs and failed heroes? Is he merely a misogynist and an imitator of Alfred Hitchcock? To answer these questions, the book takes a biographical approach to De Palma's cinema, showing how De Palma reworks events from his own life into his films.Less
Over the last five decades, the films of director Brian De Palma (b. 1940) have been among the biggest successes (The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible) and the most high-profile failures (The Bonfire of the Vanities) in Hollywood history. De Palma helped launch the careers of such prominent actors as Robert De Niro, John Travolta, and Sissy Spacek. Picketed by feminists protesting its depictions of violence against women, Dressed to Kill helped to create the erotic thriller genre. Scarface, with its over-the-top performance by Al Pacino, remains a cult favorite. In the twenty-first century, De Palma has continued to experiment, incorporating elements from videogames (Femme Fatale), tabloid journalism (The Black Dahlia), YouTube, and Skype (Redacted and Passion) into his latest works. What makes De Palma such a maverick even when he is making Hollywood genre films? Why do his movies often feature megalomaniacs and failed heroes? Is he merely a misogynist and an imitator of Alfred Hitchcock? To answer these questions, the book takes a biographical approach to De Palma's cinema, showing how De Palma reworks events from his own life into his films.
Colin Eimer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781906764401
- eISBN:
- 9781800340848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781906764401.003.0033
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter discusses a sermon based on the Falkland Islands War. Like many of his colleagues, Colin Eimer felt the need to address issues arising from the war in one of his sabbath sermons. Several ...
More
This chapter discusses a sermon based on the Falkland Islands War. Like many of his colleagues, Colin Eimer felt the need to address issues arising from the war in one of his sabbath sermons. Several themes emerge from the text, but its central point is the condemnation of the jingoistic sentiments stoked by tabloid journalism. The preacher identifies a ‘brutalising process’ that tends to dehumanize the enemy and expose every presentation of a viewpoint that diverges from the government position to vituperative attack — as revealed by the firestorm of protest in the media and the House of Commons that followed the statement by a high BBC official that the grief felt by Argentine widows of sailors killed in action was no less painful and tragic than the grief felt by British widows. The preacher takes his stand in defence of this statement, insisting that despite the abhorrent policies of the Argentine government, the enemy soldiers and their loved ones are as fully human as one's own.Less
This chapter discusses a sermon based on the Falkland Islands War. Like many of his colleagues, Colin Eimer felt the need to address issues arising from the war in one of his sabbath sermons. Several themes emerge from the text, but its central point is the condemnation of the jingoistic sentiments stoked by tabloid journalism. The preacher identifies a ‘brutalising process’ that tends to dehumanize the enemy and expose every presentation of a viewpoint that diverges from the government position to vituperative attack — as revealed by the firestorm of protest in the media and the House of Commons that followed the statement by a high BBC official that the grief felt by Argentine widows of sailors killed in action was no less painful and tragic than the grief felt by British widows. The preacher takes his stand in defence of this statement, insisting that despite the abhorrent policies of the Argentine government, the enemy soldiers and their loved ones are as fully human as one's own.
Howard Pollack
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520248649
- eISBN:
- 9780520933149
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520248649.003.0024
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
In the spring of 1929, Florenz Ziegfeld persuaded George and Ira to work on Show Girl. In the tradition of J.P. McEvoy's theatrical work, the novel satirizes American culture from greeting-card ...
More
In the spring of 1929, Florenz Ziegfeld persuaded George and Ira to work on Show Girl. In the tradition of J.P. McEvoy's theatrical work, the novel satirizes American culture from greeting-card platitudes to congressional politics, here with an emphasis on the self-serving ties between tabloid journalism and the entertainment industry. Most critics thought the show rambling and incoherent, even if good entertainment in spots. By this time, Ziegfeld and the Gershwins had had a falling-out. On September 30, 1929, Gershwin signed a contract with the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, to write an opera based on The Dybbuk, a play by Szymon Ansky. However, with The Dybbuk detained over copyright issues, Gershwin considered other possibilities.Less
In the spring of 1929, Florenz Ziegfeld persuaded George and Ira to work on Show Girl. In the tradition of J.P. McEvoy's theatrical work, the novel satirizes American culture from greeting-card platitudes to congressional politics, here with an emphasis on the self-serving ties between tabloid journalism and the entertainment industry. Most critics thought the show rambling and incoherent, even if good entertainment in spots. By this time, Ziegfeld and the Gershwins had had a falling-out. On September 30, 1929, Gershwin signed a contract with the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Giulio Gatti-Casazza, to write an opera based on The Dybbuk, a play by Szymon Ansky. However, with The Dybbuk detained over copyright issues, Gershwin considered other possibilities.
