The film Nanook of the North is a pioneering effort by film-maker Robert Flaherty. Released in 1922 and filmed in the immediately preceding years, the film was a tentative experimentation in two genres – ethnography and documentary. At a time when the written word was the primary mode of information dissemination, Nanook of the North…
Category: Media Studies
How is ‘genre’ questioned in ‘If On A Winter’s Night A Traveler’ by Italo Calvino?
One of the hallmarks of good literature is its incompatibility with any of the recognized genres. In pulp fiction, commonly identified genres are horror, romance, mystery, adventure, etc. But these genres do not qualify for serious literary discourse. Being one of the pre-eminent writers of the twentieth century, Italo Calvino’s works generally defy being classified…
Movie Analysis: George A Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead
The Night of the Living Dead rightly remains as one of the horror classics. The movie stands out from others of its genre for it contains scenes explicitly showing dead people coming back to haunt those who are alive. Directed by George A Romero in 1968, the movie was not a product of any of…
Shakespeare’s Personal Life and the Writing of Hamlet
It is a well-established fact that an author’s material for fiction is largely derived from his/her own personal experiences. And the greatest of English literary artists in the form of William Shakespeare is not an exception to this rule. The underlying thematic current in the play is tragedy. And based on what scholars have documented…
How are women portrayed in Television today?
Television has been a leading medium of communication since the middle of last century. And portrayal of women in Television has been consistent with the broader agenda of patriarchal social order. Day-time programming such as soap-operas are exclusively produced with a female audience in mind and they show the trials and triumphs of women (mostly…
Is the rape simulator video game good or bad for democracy?
Throughout human history violent forms of entertainment have existed alongside refined ones. In Ancient Rome, for example, when modern mediums of entertainment such as Television, video games, etc did not exist, gladiator fights were a popular pass-time. This prompted Saint Augustine to note that not only did people liked violence as passive spectators, but it…
Movie Review: Grown Ups (2010)
As with other Adam Sandler starrers, the 2010 released Grown Ups too excels in that special brand of American humor. Sandler and his co-stars, including Kevin James, David Spade, Rob Schneider and Chris Rock were first part of a successful basketball team in school. The ocassion of the funeral of their coach brings them together…
‘Building Germany’s Holocaust Memorial’ by Peter Eisenman
Without doubt, the Holocaust is the biggest human tragedy of the twentieth century. A combination of circumstances had led to the systematic slaughter of 6 million Jews from all across Europe. The importune rise of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party and the flood of propaganda under the Third Reich banner had driven the German population to…
Response to Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed
Wild Seed is a novel written by Octavia Butler. It belongs to the science fiction genre and was published in 1980. The book belongs to what the author calls the Patternmaster series – a sequence of novels that expand or continue a common storyline. The book is set at a period when the peoples of…
Like Men of War: Black Troops in the Civil War, 1862-1865, by Noah Andre Trudeau
The book titled Like Men of War: Black Troops in the Civil War, written by Noah Andre Trudeau is an important historical book, for it exclusively deals with the experience of African American combatants during the Civil War. While there is copious scholarly literature on the Civil War, this book offers a unique apolitical perspective…