Posits that the birth of the road film is linked to interrelated postwar phenomena: the advent of the automobile as an expression of individuality, and the emergence of a large strata of restless youth. Discusses road films from 1950 to the 1990s. Finds that the gradual depoliticization of road film rebellion must itself be understood finally as…

States that a Studies in Genre course essentially explores genre theory with the "hook" of a particular popular genre (in this case, horror) that serves as case study and exemplar for more general theories of genre. Describes the course's modular design so it can be expanded into other genres as time passes. Discusses each unit's…

Investigates the rhetorical implications of Sydney Pollack's translation of Isak Dinesen's autobiographical texts. Argues that Pollack's film uses strategies of transference, redefinition, antithesis, and displacement to renarrate Dinesen's writings, resulting in a depoliticized romantic adventure. Finds that these strategies misrepresent Dinesen,…

Postulates that, if genres serve as problem-solving constructs for the cultures they reflect and are fundamentally conservative structures committed to temporary resolutions of the hopeless contradictions that produce their dramas, then Brian DePalma's "Scarface" exemplifies the ways gangster films of the 1980s redefined generic…

Examines the classical paradigm in which both temporal and spatial cohesion constitute a popular and desirable characteristic in presentational story-telling. Argues that fragmentation's maneuvers are as effective as a configurating tool and as cohesion because they advance the ideological, psychoanalytic, aesthetic, essentialist, and story…

Proposes a revisionist account of the immediate conditions and consequences of the 1919 Soviet cinema nationalization decree. Argues that nationalization was the least successful of a set of stop-gap measures; that it dispersed and diluted control; and that it actually retarded the growth of the film industry. (KEH)

Argues that the rhetorical impact of "Agnes of God" stems from the unconventional treatment of dialectical conflict, and from the film's "dialectical disorientation." Discusses rhetorical implications of form, arguing that "Agnes of God" is representative of a class of highly configural films that function to jar…

Discusses how an assessment of "Le Livre de Marie" and "Je Vous Salue, Marie" risks reproducing the feminine/masculine dynamic by posing the films as male and female versions of the Marian myth. Acknowledges that evidence for this dichotomy exists, but both directors succeed in activating the Marian myth in ways that do not…

Argues that James Blue's complex documentaries had a limited effect on television viewers, but the films were a success nonetheless. States that it is vital to think of the complex documentary in terms of process, holding it accountable neither to the demands of the media's market economy nor to the stakes of political infighting. (PA)

Discusses Jim Klein's motivation and inspiration for the making of the film "Letter to the Next Generation." Chronicles the technical work needed to create and finish the film inside of a tight deadline. Describes the film shooting conditions at Kent State and the editing process used to make the final cut of the movie. (PA)

Describes the Hochschule fur Film und Fernsehen, an institution of higher education for the study of film and television production in Babelsberg, Germany (formerly the German Democratic Republic). Discusses the major reorientations in the school caused by Germany's reunification. (SR)

Addresses the career of Ed Pincus, a documentary filmmaker who began making films in the mid-1960s, headed the MIT Film/Video Section in the 1970s, and authored two books on film production. Examines the changes that occurred in the late 1960s in Pincus's documentary theory and practice. (PA)

From among the possible approaches to film study -- through the communicator, the medium, and the audience -- the process and motives involved in the communicator's manufacture of the film itself, is the strongest hook upon which to hang a methodology of film study. (JH)

A list of books and films which can be used in teaching history through the use of films. (CH)

Author attempted to present a reasonable description of the film, Easy Street, with major antics numbered, then analyzed those in terms of Duncker and Koestler, thereby extending the latter's theory of bisociation. (Author/RK)