Tag: film
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…
Subjectivity and Objectivity in Film: Kagemusha, Booze and the Boundaries of Cinema
There’s a great scene in the Kurosawa movie Kagemusha (1980) where two of the three unifiers of Japan, Oda Nobunaga and Ieyasu Tokugawa, meet to discuss business. Nobunaga, who has been Westernised all the way down to his armour, offers Tokugawa a glass of European wine. His comrade takes it and has a sip ……
‘They Came Together’ and the Death of the Indie
There was a time when teenage boys wore jackets and ties to go to birthday parties. There was a time when what we now call a Happy Meal cost under a dollar. And there was a time when the term “Indie Film” meant something. Of course, all those things are ancient history by now. You’ll…