Best known for powerful 1950s melodramas like All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, The Tarnished Angels, and Imitation of Life, Douglas Sirk (1897-1987) brought to all his work a distinctive style that led to his reputation as one of twentieth-century film's great directors. Sirk worked in Europe during the 1930s, mainly for Germany's UFA studios, and then in America in the 1940s and '50s. The Films of Douglas Sirk: Exquisite Ironies and Magnificent Obsessions provides an overview of his entire career, including Sirk's work on musicals, comedies, thrillers, war movies, and westerns. One of the great ironists of the cinema, Sirk believed rules were there to be broken. Whether defying the decrees of Nazi authorities trying to turn film into propaganda or arguing with studios that insisted characters' problems should always be solved and that endings should always restore order, what Sirk called "emergency exits" for audiences, Sirk always fought for his vision. Offering fresh insights into all of the director's films and situating them in the culture of their times, critic Tom Ryan also incorporates extensive interview material drawn from a variety of sources, including his own conversations with the director. Furthermore, his enlightening study undertakes a detailed reconsideration of the generally overlooked novels and plays that served as sources for Sirk's films, as well as providing a critical survey of previous Sirk commentary, from the time of the director's "rediscovery" in the late 1960s up to the present day.

Despite widespread consensus that China's digital revolution was sure to bring about massive democratic reforms, such changes have not come to pass. While scholars and policy makers alternate between predicting change and disparaging a stubbornly authoritarian regime, in this book Shaohua Guo demonstrates how this dichotomy misses the far more complex reality. The Evolution of the Chinese Internet traces the emergence and maturation of one of the most creative digital cultures in the world through four major technological platforms: the bulletin board system, the blog, the microblog, and WeChat. Guo transcends typical binaries of freedom and control, to argue that Chinese Internet culture displays a uniquely sophisticated interplay between multiple extremes, and that its vibrancy is dependent on these complex negotiations. In contrast to the flourishing of research findings on what is made invisible online, this book examines the driving mechanisms that grant visibility to particular kinds of user-generated content. Offering a systematic account of how and why an ingenious Internet culture has been able to thrive, Guo highlights the pivotal roles that media institutions, technological platforms, and creative practices of Chinese netizens have played in shaping culture on- and offline.

Perfect for fans of One Day You'll Thank Me and Capital Gaines, the star of Southern Charm and cofounder and CMO of Sewing Down South reveals how he turned his passion for sewing into a profitable enterprise and a fulfilling life, while also taking us behind-the-scenes of one of Bravo's most popular shows. As a young boy sitting at a sewing machine in home economics class, Craig Conover had no idea that this hobby would one day change his life for the better. Growing up in Delaware, Conover experienced cruel bullying and suffered from severe anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. But while law school in Charleston seemed to provide the direction he needed, Conover spent years searching for meaning and passion in life. The chance to become a cast member on Bravo's Southern Charm promised to provide that. Though the show gave Conover a shot at fame and fortune, it also offered destructive temptations that fed his insecurities. As the show increased in popularity, he sank deeper into self-doubt. Unable to take control of his life, Conover quickly lost his job, his girlfriend, and his motivation. Then, at his lowest point, Conover turned to his passion-sewing-and slowly pulled himself out of the spiral. A chance phone call from an old friend gave Conover the support he needed to turn his hobby into a business. Soon after, Sewing Down South was born and became an overnight success, with Conover launching a multi-state "Pillow Party Tour," being featured on HSN, and opening a retail store in downtown Charleston. Now, Conover reveals the full story of the drama that swirled around him on the show-both on screen and off-and how it led to the founding of Sewing Down South. He also talks about how he was able to turn his passion into his work and reclaim the direction of his life and what lessons we can learn from his experience.

Fashioning Italian youth examines popular media representations of Italian young people's style trends and bodily practices from 1958-75. By looking at visual and written representations of transnational youth trends - like urlatori, amici, beats and hippies - in Italian teen magazines, Musicarelli films and youth-oriented television programmes, it investigates changes in the social construction of Italian young people's political, generational, national, ethnic and gender identities. The monograph connects the emergence of youth-oriented transnational trends to the national and global history of young people, and explores the dynamics that contributed to the construction of a specifically Italian youth culture in this period. -- .

-assesses in SF media by women and LGBTQ+ artists across the world. -connects established topics in gender studies and science fiction studies with emergent ideas from researchers in different media. challenges conventional generic boundaries; providing new ways of approaching familiar texts; recovering lost artists and introducing new ones; -shows how SF stories about new kinds of gender relations inspire new models of artistic, technoscientific, and political practice. -engages with current political concenrs and connects the rise of hate-based politics to SF movements -a range of both emerging and established names in media, literature, and cultural studies engage with a huge diversity of topics

This book examines cinematic practices in Bollywood as narratives that assist in shaping the imagination of the age, especially in contemporary India. It examines historical films released in India since the new millennium and analyses cinema as a reflection of the changing socio-political and economic conditions at any given period. The chapters in Historicizing Myths in Contemporary India: Cinematic Representations and Nationalist Agendas in Hindi Cinemas also illuminate different perspectives on how cinematic historical representations follow political patterns and market compulsions, giving precedence to a certain past over the other, creating a narrative suited for the dominant narrative of the present. From Mughal-e-Azam to Padmaavat, and Bajirao Mastani to Raazi, the chapters show how creating history out of myths validate hegemonic identities in a rapidly evolving Indian society. The volume will be of interest to scholars of film and media studies, literature and culture studies, and South Asian studies.

This edited collection is the first book to offer a wide-ranging examination of the interface between American independent film and a converged television landscape that consists of terrestrial broadcasters, cable networks and streaming providers, in which independent film and television intersect in complex, multifaceted and creative ways. The book covers the long history of continuities and connections between the two sectors, as seen in the activities of PBS, HBO or Sundance. It considers the movement of filmmakers between indie film and TV such as Steven Soderberg, Rian Johnson, the Duplass brothers, Joe Swanberg, Lynn Shelton and Gregg Araki; details the confluence of aesthetic and thematic elements seen in shows such as Girls, Breaking Bad, Master of None, or Glow; points to a shared interest in regional sensibilities evident in shows like One Mississippi or Fargo; and makes the case for documentaries and web series as significant entities in this domain. Collectively, the book builds a compelling picture of indie TV as a significant feature of US screen entertainment in the twenty-first century. This interdisciplinary landmark volume will be a go-to reference for students and scholars of Television Studies, Film Studies and Media Studies.

This edited collection is the first book to offer a wide-ranging examination of the interface between American independent film and a converged television landscape that consists of terrestrial broadcasters, cable networks and streaming providers, in which independent film and television intersect in complex, multifaceted and creative ways. The book covers the long history of continuities and connections between the two sectors, as seen in the activities of PBS, HBO or Sundance. It considers the movement of filmmakers between indie film and TV such as Steven Soderberg, Rian Johnson, the Duplass brothers, Joe Swanberg, Lynn Shelton and Gregg Araki; details the confluence of aesthetic and thematic elements seen in shows such as Girls, Breaking Bad, Master of None, or Glow; points to a shared interest in regional sensibilities evident in shows like One Mississippi or Fargo; and makes the case for documentaries and web series as significant entities in this domain. Collectively, the book builds a compelling picture of indie TV as a significant feature of US screen entertainment in the twenty-first century. This interdisciplinary landmark volume will be a go-to reference for students and scholars of Television Studies, Film Studies and Media Studies.

Interrogating the intersections of food, journalism, and politics, this book offers a critical examination of food media and journalism, and its political potential against the backdrop of contemporary social challenges Contributors analyse current and historic examples such as Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, the environment, Brexit, and gender politics, highlighting how food media and journalism reach beyond the commercial imperatives of lifestyle journalism to negotiate nationalism, globalization, and social inequalities The volume challenges the idea that food media/journalism are trivial and apolitical by drawing attention to the complex ways through which storytelling about food has engaged public discourse in the past, and the innovative ways it is doing so today Bringing together international scholars from a variety of disciplines, the book will be of great interest to scholars and students of Journalism, Communication, Media Studies, Food Studies, Sociology and Anthropology

Robert Sheehan is one of Ireland's brightest stars of the screen, both at home and abroad. Best known for his roles in Love/Hate and The Umbrella Academy, Sheehan has received widespread critical acclaim for his acting talent. In his debut collection of short stories, he disappears into characters, challenging the complacencies of everyday experience, often from entirely unexpected angles. Surreal, intelligent, dark and provocative, the collection presents a multitude of observations that will stay with the reader long after the book is finished. Informed by the author's peripatetic life, Disappearing Act reflects on the absurdity of human behaviour. Sheehan delves deep into his characters' streams of self-talk and self-imposed delusions, and explores the dark impulses that lurk below the shiny surfaces of many outwardly normal lives. 'A whacked-out kaleidoscopic miasma of delightful abandon and fun ... Leaves the reader amused, exhilarated and really quite delighted ... you've seen Sheehan act - now watch him dazzle.' Patrick McCabe 'A dazzlingly eclectic collection of short stories' Ben Elton 'Lots of great stories and voices. Reminded me of Irvine Welsh's short stories' Frankie Boyle Warning: Contains Adult Content

"The Funk Era and Beyond" is the first scholarly collection to discuss funk music in America and delve into the intricate and complex nature of the word and its accompanying genre. While pleasure and performance are often presumed to be mutually exclusive of intellectuality, funk offers immense possibilities for a new critical rubric. As these writings demonstrate, funk is reflected in myriad forms and context and has been the catalyst for stylistic innovation. Contributors employ a multitude of methodologies to examine this unique musical field's relationship to African American culture and to music, literature, and visual art as a whole.

In a world of limitless technology, we are more connected than ever before but our hyper-connected lifestyles threaten our ability to know ourselves and interact with each other. By focusing on the four core values that allow us to become truly "connected" in tech-centric societies-empathy, patience, focus, and humility-Otto demonstrates that the power of technology is not in the tool, but in the intention of the person using it. Everyday Ambassadoroffers a unique solution to those who aspire to truly make a difference in the twenty-first century-revealing the secrets of how to unite people, even when technology keeps us at a distance from others-emotionally and physically. Otto helps us lift our heads up from our cell phones and tablets and take a look at the people standing right in front of us. In a time when good citizenship is the new currency of cool, Everyday Ambassadorgives us the tactics to connect in our disconnected world.

This complete guide provides lessons and insights from 100 professional artists! Imagine an art class taught by 100 professional Japanese manga and anime illustrators. In much the same way, this essential guide gathers the collective knowledge, tips and techniques from over 100 anime and manga artists. The lessons cover everything from the basics of figure drawing and posing to advanced cutting-edge digital illustration and coloration techniques. The 200 step-by-step lessons include: Anatomy and body structure Facial features and expressions Drawing clothing and accessories Digital painting and coloration techniques Composition and narrative structure And much more! Learn to Draw Exciting Anime & Manga Characters features full-color examples that focus on the fine details as well as the big-picture, broad-stroke basics. With over 600 sample illustrations to guide the reader, this book offers tips and techniques for traditional hand-drawing and digital design alike. This is the anime and manga drawing guide that all aspiring artists need!

The common admission that 'everything I know about religion I learned from the movies' is true for believers as much as for unbelievers. And at the movies, Catholicism is the American religion. As an intensely visual faith with a well-defined ritual and authority structure, Catholicism lends itself to the drama and pageantry of film. Beginning with the 1915 silent movie Regeneration and ending with Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, eleven prominent scholars explore how Catholic characters, spaces, and rituals are represented in cinema. Each of the contributors to Catholics in the Movies has chosen one movie from over one hundred years of moviemaking to discuss what happens when an organized religion - not just Bible stories or spiritual themes - enter into a film. Arranged chronologically, Catholics in the Movies sets the films within a wider historical narrative while providing close readings of critical themes and images that go beyond the conventional. Several chapters focus on the many directors and screenwriters who were raised in Catholic families, and who explore this faith in complex and compelling ways. Authors look at film classics like Going My Way and The Song of Bernadette to reveal how Catholic characters simultaneously reflect outsider status as well as the 'American way-of-life.' They consider the violence of The Godfather and the physicality of The Exorcist not simply as antonyms for religion but as tightly linked to Catholic sensibilities. Lesser known films like Seven Cities of Gold and Santitos are examined for their connection to historical movements like anti-communism and Mexican immigration. Tracing the story of American Catholic history through popular films, Catholics in the Movies should be a valuable resource for anyone interested in American Catholicism and religion and film.

Popular culture and new media are deeply interwoven, yet they are often thought of as separate spheres. This book explores the material and everyday intersections between popular culture and new media. Using a range of interdisciplinary resources the chapters open up a series of hidden dimensions - including objects and infrastructures, archives, algorithms, data play and the body - that force us to rethink our understanding of culture as it is today. Through an exploration of its intersections with new media, this book reveals the centrality of data circulations in the formation, organization and relations of popular culture. It shows how digital data accumulate as a result of our routine engagements with culture. It then examines the ways that these data fold-back into culture through algorithmic process, through play and through mediated bodily experiences. The book asks how we might conceptualize and understand culture as it continues to be reshaped by these recursive circulations of data.

- Delivers a unique and original perspective that explores how students navigate elite universities by focussing on their race and class backgrounds. - It provides an original, comparative account of how students are positioned as graduates in elite universities. It will specifically highlight how students' prior experiences have had a significant impact on their experiences at elite universities. - By using Bourdieu and CRT, the book will provide a unique theoretical perspective on how inequalities are reproduced and perpetuated for some groups and not others.

Social Media and Strategic Communications provides comprehensive and original scholarly research that exhibits the strategic implementation of social media in both advertising and public relations. Policies, codes of ethics, and recommendations set by business organizations for best practices are also examined. Various research methodologies are employed to analyze the communication strategies applied by advertisers and public relations practitioners who have embraced social media as an integral part of their operations in order to develop and maintain strong and lasting relationships with customers and the public.

The fifth edition of Marcel Danesi's Popular Culture is an accessible, engaging introduction for popular culture, media and society, and sociology of the media courses.The fifth edition features updated coverage on social media and digital cultures, including those surrounding memes, video games, virtual reality, and streaming services. Pop culture surrounds us. It infuses the movies we watch, the music we listen to, the books we read, the clothes we wear, and the food we eat. It comes to us on our televisions, phones, computers, radio, and in every storefront and billboard we pass on the street. Danesi delves into the social structures that create and promote pop culture, showing how it validates our common experiences. Offering a variety of perspectives on its many modes of creations and delivery, Danesi shows why pop culture will always be something we love to hate and hate to love.

The book is a biographical study establishing Ernie McClintock as a leading figure of the Black Theatre Movement In this contemporary moment in education and political consciousness, McClintock's biography and the impact on the Black Arts Movement will resonate with undergraduate students and serve as a powerful case study for theatre professors to integrate into their course curriculum. Contributes to the growing discourse of Black Arts Movement scholarship, Black acting theory, and queer studies.

Writing Australian History on Screen reveals the depths in Australian history from convict times to the present day. The essays in this book are thematically driven and take a rounded historical-cultural-sociological-psychological approach in analyzing the various selected productions. In their analyses and interpretations of the topic, the contributors interrogate the intricacies in Australian history as represented in Australian filmic period drama, taken from an Australian perspective. Individually, and together as a body of authors, they highlight past issues that, despite the society's changing attitudes over time, still have relevance for the Australia of today. In speaking to the subject, the contributing writers show a keen awareness that addressing new areas arising from the humanities is key to learning; and hence to developing an understanding of the Australian culture, the society, and sense of the ever-unfurling flag of an Australian something that is not yet a national identity.

Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls: Watch It! examines depictions of African-descended women and girls in twentieth and twenty-first century speculative filmmaking. Topics include a discursive analysis of stereotypes; roles garnered by Halle Berry, the only Black woman to receive an Oscar for Best Actress; the promise of characters, relationships and scripts found in works ranging from Altered Carbon, Lovecraft Country, and HBO's Watchmen series; anda closing chapter that considers the legacy of Black women in Horror. Jeffrey illustrates the ways in which recent texts link this Sci-Fi genre to the trauma endured by people of African descent in the United States of America. In doing so, this book provides a compelling interpretation of popular, prevalent, and recurring images of Black women and girls in American Popular Culture.

In this book, Cynthia A. Davidson argues that tweeting, especially political tweeting among Democratic women, is an inherently optimistic act. Davidson's analysis draws on Lauren Berlant's assertion in Cruel Optimism (2011) that what we most desire is also an impediment to our thriving, whether or not the subject of specific conversations is negative. Narratives created by members of the Democratic BlueWave Resistance either support the primary purpose of the group--to uphold support of liberal democratic conventions and the issues, policies, and personalities related to them--or take place more or less comfortably within the zone of the community that supports these things. Using specific examples, empirical data, and analysis framed by Berlant's theories as well as primary and secondary sources from current journalism and scholarship, Davidson explores Twitter as a problematic object of desire and attachment, examines the rhetorical underpinnings of its discourse, and shows how women of this group use storytelling via Twitter as a way to make connections, be heard, and stay afloat in a status quo that perpetuates un-ease and precarious existence. Scholars of media studies, gender studies, and political science will find this book of particular interest.