The movie offers two forms of magic, since its conquest of the visible world extends in two opposite directions. The first, on which the realist theory concentrates, gives it the power to 'possess' the real world by capturing its appearance. The second, focus of the traditional aesthetic, permits the presentation of an ideal image, ordered … Continue reading #73. Cléo from 5 to 7, and #74. Vagabond. Dir., Agnes Varda
Bresson's style is not everyone's cup of tea, but a film like Au Hasard Balthazar is a quick path to understanding the depth of cinema's potential as an art form. Typically a film, even a really good one, is an industrial composite, a product from a system that is not always about putting the best … Continue reading #297. Au Hasard Balthazar. Dir., Robert Bresson
Abstract This paper investigates the timing of labour strikes in Hollywood. The occurrence of strikes, such as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, can make sense when we have the hindsight to piece together the historical details of what created rifts between labour and management. But was 2023 a particularly fragile year for contract … Continue reading SCMS Presentation: The Political Economic Roots of Hollywood Strikes, 1950-2023
In the middle of Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing there is a quick cultural reference that is easy to miss, or at least misinterpret as simply a joke. Da Mayor, an elderly drunk in the neighborhood, stops a boy on the street and asks, "What makes Sammy run?" The boy replies, "My name is … Continue reading #97. Do The Right Thing. Dir., Spike Lee
The River has the power to reveal the extent to which other Western films about Southeast Asia will rely on Orientalist tropes about poverty, spirituality, and naturalism. Whether out of a fear of reproducing visual stereotypes or from a keen awareness that he has a lot to learn about India, Jean Renoir decided to adopt … Continue reading #276. The River. Dir., Jean Renoir
[ Missed earlier parts of this series? Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here ] Around the time of this post, SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) produced a tentative agreement in their 2023 negotiations. The SAG-AFTRA National Board approved the tentative agreement, and recommends for the ratification of … Continue reading The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 3
Missed Part 1? You should start here. Around the time of this post, the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) produced a tentative agreement in their 2023 negotiations. The WGA Negotiating Committee, the WGAW Board and WGAE Council all voted unanimously to recommend the agreement on September 26, 2023. As … Continue reading The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 2
In the moment, many films with explicit politics can feel powerful. Impassioned character dialogue, visual imagery of resistance, or thematically-structured arguments will often strike the audience with the force of a heavyweight boxer. But afterward, the same audience stands and notices, more often than not, that none of the punches left even a mark. Nothing's … Continue reading #249. The Battle of Algiers. Dir., Gillo Pontecorvo
On May 2, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike after failing to reach an acceptable agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the trade association that negotiates for the film and television interests of the major Hollywood studios. While many of the disagreements between the parties – … Continue reading The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 1
Let's begin with the ending of Visconti's The Leopard. Having attended a ball that went all night and into the early hours of the next morning, Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, refuses a carriage ride back to his estate. He decided he would walk home alone. This ending is not the ending of … Continue reading #235. The Leopard. Dir., Luchino Visconti
notes on cinema 