Tag: cinema
Clint Eastwood and the Western: A Film Primer
There are few figures quite as representative of American ideals of masculinity as Clint Eastwood. Since starring in Sergio Leone’s genre-perforating Western classic, A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Eastwood’s career has largely been about the representation – and later the deconstruction – of what it means to be a man. This was, initially, a trajectory set…
Mythology and Hollywood: Gods, Legends and the Need for Better Movies
I have one thing to say to those who keep churning out movies along the lines of Thor (2011) and Wrath of the Titans (2012), and it takes a page out of Pink Floyd’s book: Hey! Directors! Leave those myths alone! The fact is, we do need an education – an education on how to…
Double Indemnity and The Politics of Gender
In 1943, the story of Double Indemnity had earned the label of “unfilmmable” in Hollywood due to its controversial and ‘immoral’ subject matter (Biltereyst 148). But despite objections and impositions from the Production Code Administration, through compromise and strategy, Billy Wilder managed to create and release the film in 1944. Somehow, what remains is still…
Film as thesis: 3 Depictions of the Nature of History
As a history graduate and a film lover I’ve long been aware of the complex relationship between cinema and the past. Films can reflect our history, the way we reconstruct a story of the past from the evidence around us. They can also shape popular understanding of history, as shown by both Hollywood blockbusters and…
Charlie Kaufman and the Art of Adaptation
Adapting a novel into a film is a sensitive and hazardous process, especially if the novel has already garnered a following of avid readers. When adapting an already existing work the screenwriter may have the leisure of not having to come up with everything from scratch, but they must endure the added stress of wanting…