The movie The Name of the Rose was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and released in the year 1986. It is based on a book of the same title by Umberto Eco. The film is co-produced by Bernd Eichinger, Franco Cristaldi and others; and its screenplay is handled by the quartet of Andrew Birkin, Gerard Brach,…
Category: Media Studies
A comparison between the Arts of the High Renaissance and that of the Eighteenth Century
The term High Renaissance is used to refer to the blooming of the visual arts during the period of the Italian Renaissance. High Renaissance, which flowered toward the end of the fifteenth century and lasted a few decades, was a period that witnessed the creation of great works of art and architecture. With Rome as…
Propaganda Studies: Invasion and occupation of Iraq since 2003
The invasion and occupation of Iraq since 2003 is a classic example of the power and effectiveness of propaganda campaigns. For some people, subsequent revelations about the lack of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) might have come as a surprise. But even before the invasion took place, many people across the world (including Americans) took…
Media and police response to football hooliganism have tended to be disproportionate to the nature and extent of the phenomenon
Football Hooliganism has been given plenty of attention in all forms of the media. One of the reasons why it has garnered such coverage is because it is apolitical and suits all political parties to condemn it. Furthermore, the violence and vitriol involved in acts of hooliganism are material that are easy to sell. In…
Symbolism in Waiting For Godot
Written by Samuel Beckett originally in French in 1948, the translated English version was first enacted on stage in 1953. One of the masterpieces of the absurdist tradition, the play is infused with psychological, political and philosophical symbolism. It is also rich in its layered themes and motifs. The plot is outwardly quite simple, involving…
Anglo-US invasion of Iraq (2003): A study of sociological and political economic theories of news production
The invasion and occupation of Iraq since 2003 is a classic example of the power and effectiveness of propaganda campaigns. For some people, subsequent revelations about the lack of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) might have come as a surprise. But even before the invasion took place, many people across the world (including Americans) took…
The slacker genre and post-modern condition in the films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset
Those movies categorized under the Slacker genre break away from conventional Hollywood style in many respects. The very term ‘Slacker’ is taken after a Richard Linklater movie of the same name released in 1991. Made as an experimental project, the film became a cult classic and impressed the critics as well. It is not often…
Media and Popular Culture in China
During his Southern Tour to the Special Economic Zones in South China in 1992 to accelerate market reforms in the aftermath of Tiananmen bloodshed, the paramount Chinese leader advised the party state, “Guard against the Right, but primarily against the Left.” How do you make sense of Deng’s warning against the leftist political thought and…
‘Freedom Writers’ and the Economics of Race and Gender
The movie Freedom Writers is one of the most touching to have come out of Hollywood in recent years. Starring Hilary Swank in a lead role, the movie takes up a subject that is at the heart of American culture, namely the economics of race and gender. On a cursory viewing the story looks deceptively…
Influence of television in our society
Media is very important in today’s world, especially television. We now live in the Information Age and it is through media that information is transmitted. In olden days, media was not developed properly and so transmitting information was difficult. Starting from newspapers and magazines, technology had improved steadily to give us radio and television. More…