The term 'kink' evokes a variety of cultural responses ranging from curiosity and arousal to disgust and fear. Many of these responses are based on assumptions about its practices and participants, due to often inaccurate and ever-more-frequent representations in popular culture. These selected authors challenge those assumptions and emphasize how a number of non-normative sexual activities and ways of being can be empowering and liberating rather than deleterious or 'deviant', helping to bring the world of kink out of the shadows. They illuminate past and present kinky phenomena by exploring BDSM, experimentation, fetishism, gender bending, performativity, and sexual role-playing, as experienced in a variety of domains and represented in literature, film, and television. Contributing to revised notions of inclusivity and acceptance, this interdisciplinary work deftly identifies both historical and current approaches to understanding and analyzing kink, and pinpoints avenues for future research. It is an important addition to the emergent areas of BDSM and kink studies.

Are people with HIV/AIDS treated fairly in films?Here is a compelling book that provides you with a thorough examination of how HIV/AIDS is characterized and portrayed in film and how this portrayal affects American culture. The AIDS Movie: Representing a Pandemic in Film and Television uncovers the primary ways that films about HIV/AIDS influence American ideology and contribute to society's view of the disease. In The AIDS Movie, professors and scholars in the areas of popular culture, film, sociology, and gay and lesbian studies will discover cross-cultural approaches that can be used to analyze the representation of AIDS in American films made in the first two decades of the pandemic. Giving you insight into the production and circulation of social meanings pertaining to HIV/AIDS, this study explores the social ramifications of such representations for gay men in American society, as well as for the rest of the population. Interesting and informative, The AIDS Movie: Representing a Pandemic in Film and Television examines the ways that AIDS has been represented in American movies over the past two decades, defines and proposes criteria for identifying an "AIDS movie" and explores how these images shape social opinions about AIDS and gay men. The AIDS Movie discusses several character types such as "innocent victims" and "guilty villains" and the process of victim-blaming that occurs in AIDS movies. Defining an "AIDS movie" as a film with at least one character who either has been infected with HIV, has developed AIDS, or is grieving the recent death of a loved one from AIDS, this guide bases standards for these movies on several works, including: Chocolate Babies It's My Party Jeffrey The Living End Grief An Early Frost Men in Love A Place for Annie Philadelphia The Ryan White Story Gia Boys on the SideThe AIDS Movie: Representing a Pandemic in Film and Television is compelling and insightful as it cleverly reveals how AIDS is portrayed in cinema and television, and how that portrayal affects American culture.

Are people with HIV/AIDS treated fairly in films?Here is a compelling book that provides you with a thorough examination of how HIV/AIDS is characterized and portrayed in film and how this portrayal affects American culture. The AIDS Movie: Representing a Pandemic in Film and Television uncovers the primary ways that films about HIV/AIDS influence American ideology and contribute to society's view of the disease. In The AIDS Movie, professors and scholars in the areas of popular culture, film, sociology, and gay and lesbian studies will discover cross-cultural approaches that can be used to analyze the representation of AIDS in American films made in the first two decades of the pandemic. Giving you insight into the production and circulation of social meanings pertaining to HIV/AIDS, this study explores the social ramifications of such representations for gay men in American society, as well as for the rest of the population. Interesting and informative, The AIDS Movie: Representing a Pandemic in Film and Television examines the ways that AIDS has been represented in American movies over the past two decades, defines and proposes criteria for identifying an "AIDS movie" and explores how these images shape social opinions about AIDS and gay men. The AIDS Movie discusses several character types such as "innocent victims" and "guilty villains" and the process of victim-blaming that occurs in AIDS movies. Defining an "AIDS movie" as a film with at least one character who either has been infected with HIV, has developed AIDS, or is grieving the recent death of a loved one from AIDS, this guide bases standards for these movies on several works, including: Chocolate Babies It's My Party Jeffrey The Living End Grief An Early Frost Men in Love A Place for Annie Philadelphia The Ryan White Story Gia Boys on the SideThe AIDS Movie: Representing a Pandemic in Film and Television is compelling and insightful as it cleverly reveals how AIDS is portrayed in cinema and television, and how that portrayal affects American culture.

Arctic cinemas represent a noteworthy new subfield of film studies, and in the current era of unprecedented global warming, interest in the Arctic region and its cinematic portrayals has never been greater. Individually and collectively, films pertaining to Arctic inhabitants and experiences have substantially influenced viewer perceptions of the region throughout the world, often serving as blank slates for the fantasies and projections of individuals elsewhere with regard to its challenging landscape and perceived "otherworldliness." Written by a blend of academic scholars, artists, and filmmakers, this collection of essays provides a transnational overview of the variety of works--ranging from art films and documentaries to horror and road movies-that fall under the conceptual rubric of "Arctic cinemas," and examines their contributions to past and present perceptions of the Arctic. Theoretical and analytical approaches represented here include critical theory, cultural studies, ecocriticism, ethnography, gender studies, genre theory, historiography, and indigenous studies.

Television has historically been largely ineffective at representing queerness in its various forms. In the 21st century, however, as same-sex couples have seen increasing mainstream acceptance, and a broader range of queer characters has appeared in the media, it seems natural to assume TV portrayals of queerness have become more enlightened. But have they? This collection of fresh essays analyzes queerness as depicted on TV from 2000 to the present. Examining Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The L Word, Modern Family, The New Normal, Queer as Folk, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, RuPaul's Drag Race, Spartacus and Will & Grace, among others, the contributors demonstrate that queer characters in general have achieved visibility at the expense of minimizing much of their queerness-with a few eye-opening exceptions.

Over the past several decades, mainstream films have gradually featured queer content and characters. Depicted covertly at first, these characterizations have become much more prominent in recent years, most notably in such films as Philadelphia, Boys Don't Cry, and Brokeback Mountain. In Queer Males in Contemporary Cinema: Becoming Visible, Kylo-Patrick R. Hart explores both latent and manifest representations of queer males in noteworthy cinema from the mid-20th to the early 21st century. Hart examines films pertaining to bisexual, gay, and transgender men, as well as transsexuals, transvestites, queer people with HIV/AIDS, queer teens, and others. Throughout, this book continually reminds readers that both mainstream and independent films communicate, reinforce, and perpetuate culturally pervasive notions of normalcy, deviance, and social otherness, in ways that frequently have real-and sometimes detrimental-effects on actual people.Covering a range of films, including From Here to Eternity, The Boys in the Band, Saturday Night Fever, Cruising, Point Break, The Doom Generation, Boys Don't Cry, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Kinsey, Brokeback Mountain, Transamerica, and Shortbus, this book shows not only how much has changed since the mid-20th century, but also how much has (problematically) remained the same. Queer Males in Contemporary Cinema provides perceptive insights for students and academics interested in film history, cultural studies, gender studies, media studies, popular culture, and LGBT studies.

Over the past two decades, independent director Gregg Araki has emerged as one of the most intriguing auteurs of contemporary U.S. cinema. A leading figure of the New Queer Cinema movement of the early 1990s, Araki is known for his innovative, eye-opening, and at-times-controversial films aimed primarily at queer audiences. Images for a Generation Doomed: The Films and Career of Gregg Araki explores the films and career trajectory to date of this New Queer Cinema pioneer. Offering in-depth analyses of films such as The Living End, Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, Nowhere, and Splendor, Kylo-Patrick R. Hart demonstrates how, over the course of the 1990s, the director's cinematic offerings became increasingly devoid of their early subversive potential. Hart goes on to argue that as the 1990s progressed, Araki's films were largely irrelevant to the cultural project of providing groundbreaking on-screen representations of non-heterosexual individuals living in the age of AIDS. However, Hart sees Mysterious Skin as evidence of Araki's successful attempt at reestablishing his cinematic and cultural relevancy in relation to the approaches and subject matter of contemporary queer cinema in the new millennium.

Over the past two decades, independent director Gregg Araki has emerged as one of the most intriguing auteurs of contemporary U.S. cinema. A leading figure of the New Queer Cinema movement of the early 1990s, Araki is known for his innovative, eye-opening, and at-times-controversial films aimed primarily at queer audiences. Images for a Generation Doomed: The Films and Career of Gregg Araki explores the films and career trajectory to date of this New Queer Cinema pioneer. Offering in-depth analyses of films such as The Living End, Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, Nowhere, and Splendor, Kylo-Patrick R. Hart demonstrates how, over the course of the 1990s, the director's cinematic offerings became increasingly devoid of their early subversive potential. Hart goes on to argue that as the 1990s progressed, Araki's films were largely irrelevant to the cultural project of providing groundbreaking on-screen representations of non-heterosexual individuals living in the age of AIDS. However, Hart sees Mysterious Skin as evidence of Araki's successful attempt at reestablishing his cinematic and cultural relevancy in relation to the approaches and subject matter of contemporary queer cinema in the new millennium.

This anthology examines the constructions of intelligence and intellectuality in popular television and the socio-cultural implications of those constructions. It considers the complexity of popular television images, the influences of these images as they both verify and vilify intelligence, and explores a range of representations of intelligence on television by looking at a variety of TV genres and through a variety of theoretical perspectives and methods. Topics range from broad explorations of patterned representations on television to examinations of particular genres, including science-fiction and reality programming, to in-depth analyses of specific programs such as The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Six Feet Under. This book is grounded in the assumption that knowledge and intelligence are currency in the economics of power and that, given that the proliferation of certain images and the relative absence of others in fictional, reality, and fact-based media play an important role in social-order maintenance, a critical examination of how intelligence is demonstrated, portrayed, and evaluated in the public sphere is crucial.

This anthology examines the constructions of intelligence and intellectuality in popular television and the socio-cultural implications of those constructions. It considers the complexity of popular television images, the influences of these images as they both verify and vilify intelligence, and explores a range of representations of intelligence on television by looking at a variety of TV genres and through a variety of theoretical perspectives and methods. Topics range from broad explorations of patterned representations on television to examinations of particular genres, including science-fiction and reality programming, to in-depth analyses of specific programs such as The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Six Feet Under. This book is grounded in the assumption that knowledge and intelligence are currency in the economics of power and that, given that the proliferation of certain images and the relative absence of others in fictional, reality, and fact-based media play an important role in social-order maintenance, a critical examination of how intelligence is demonstrated, portrayed, and evaluated in the public sphere is crucial.

Over the past several decades, mainstream films have gradually featured queer content and characters. Depicted covertly at first, these characterizations have become much more prominent in recent years, most notably in such films as Philadelphia, Boys Don't Cry, and Brokeback Mountain. In Queer Males in Contemporary Cinema: Becoming Visible, Kylo-Patrick R. Hart explores both latent and manifest representations of queer males in noteworthy cinema from the mid-20th to the early 21st century. Hart examines films pertaining to bisexual, gay, and transgender men, as well as transsexuals, transvestites, queer people with HIV/AIDS, queer teens, and others. Throughout, this book continually reminds readers that both mainstream and independent films communicate, reinforce, and perpetuate culturally pervasive notions of normalcy, deviance, and social otherness, in ways that frequently have real-and sometimes detrimental-effects on actual people.Covering a range of films, including From Here to Eternity, The Boys in the Band, Saturday Night Fever, Cruising, Point Break, The Doom Generation, Boys Don't Cry, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Kinsey, Brokeback Mountain, Transamerica, and Shortbus, this book shows not only how much has changed since the mid-20th century, but also how much has (problematically) remained the same. Queer Males in Contemporary Cinema provides perceptive insights for students and academics interested in film history, cultural studies, gender studies, media studies, popular culture, and LGBT studies.

Film and Television Stardom examines film and television stars as a collectively complex, intriguing social phenomenon from the early twentieth century to the present day. Its range of topics includes (but is certainly not limited to) the emergence and historical development of the star system, silent-film stardom, stardom and media spectatorship, stardom and consumption, stardom and the paparazzi, reality-television "stars," stars in the news, and studies of individual stars. In addition to providing numerous new insights and approaches to exploring the phenomenon of film stardom (past and present), its various chapters significantly expand the comparatively nascent body of academic writing that has been devoted to investigating the historical and theoretical aspects of television stardom by focusing on both traditional television programming genres and the more recent phenomenon of reality-television programming. The numerous stars addressed in this book (including Roseanne Barr, Gertrude Berg, Ingrid Bergman, Cher, Sacha Baron Cohen, Bette Davis, Jodie Foster, Jerry Lewis, Carmen Miranda, Anita Page, Jessica Simpson, and James Stewart) are analyzed in relation to noteworthy performances in a variety of well-known films (including The Accused, The Broadway Melody, Cinderfella, Citizen Kane, Dark Victory, The Man from Laramie, Persona, and Singin' in the Rain) and television programs (including Da Ali G Show, The Apprentice, The Goldbergs, Roseanne, and Survivor).