Archive for March, 2008
Cream butter? Where’s the milk?!
Matt Mariner, University of Florida — March 28th, 2008|
The years surrounding the end of the Second World War saw a great flood of instructional films geared toward mostly young, white men and women. These films were typically shown in schools and attempted to relay various lessons to their audiences. It might be unfair to criticize the standards of the era from whence these films came, and to employ anachronistic terms, but to modern eyes they are sexist, racist, and wholly devoid of political and social correctness.
"Cooking Terms and What They [...]
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Bug vs. Book: The Eternal Struggle
Dina Benson, University of Florida — March 27th, 2008|
“Book Care,” a video showcasing the pitfalls of mishandling library books, is the product of a partnership that includes the University of Florida’s Entomology and Nematology Department, George A. Smathers Libraries’ Preservation Department, and the Office of Academic Technology employees as part of an initiative to create relevant student programming to be broadcast via the campus cable system. Although the full twenty minute clip is standard educational viewing, “Books vs. American [...]
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The Power of the Cliché in Televisionland
Randall Renner, University of Florida — March 26th, 2008|
“The Cliché Family in Television-land” posted to YouTube on February 8th 2008 is a commercial television industry satire of television commercial characters and common clichés used in advertising. Shot in the early 1960’s it presents both a unique historical perspective of TV commercial clichés, as well as a unique perspective, that of its creator, a TV commercial production company of the late 50’s and early 60’s. It is here that MPO productions internally parodies its own product [...]
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The Public Good and Corporate Goodies: A Genealogical Snapshot
Joel Adams, University Library Associate, Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, University of Michigan — March 25th, 2008|
In "Higher Education is More Than a Corporate Logo," Henry Giroux takes a startled look at the current state of academia, noting that:
"Anyone who spends anytime on a college campus these days cannot miss how higher education is changing. Strapped for money and increasingly defined in the language of corporate culture, many universities seem less interested in higher learning than in becoming licensed storefronts for brand name corporations--selling off space, buildings, and endowed chairs t [...]
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Re-contextualizing Archives
Laurie Taylor, University of Florida — March 24th, 2008|
“A Message from Unilever,” posted to YouTube on October 19, 2007 responds to the Dove video “Onslaught” from the Dove real beauty campaign, posted on October 1, 2007. The comments for “A Message from Unilever” state that Rye Clifton is the creator, inspired by Chris Wodja, who blogged on Dove’s marketing prior to and after Clifton posted the response video to YouTube. Many commentaries and additional response videos are available online, but Clifton’s video is especially interes [...]
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Hulk Smash Wimpy White Man Who is Also Hulk: Reasserting Masculine Authority through Masochism
Avi Santo, Old Dominion University — March 21st, 2008|
The Incredible Hulk debuted on CBS November 4, 1977 and would run for 87 episodes until 1982, followed by three made for TV movies, which appeared in the late 1980s. Adapting the Marvel Comics superhero/monster series to the cultural and televisual landscape of the 1970s involved several key revisions to the character’s origins. The original Hulk character was born in 1962 when scientist Bruce Banner, working on a Gamma bomb for the US military, exposes himself to radiation while saving the li [...]
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Righteous Anger and the Fear of a Black Planet in Taxi Driver
Greg Oguss, University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts — March 20th, 2008|
“Did you ever see what a .44 magnum could do to a woman’s pussy?” Martin Scorsese asks Travis Bickle in a cameo as a racially paranoid passenger, midway through the 1970s neo-noir Taxi Driver. The two men gaze up at an apartment where the passenger’s wife awaits a rendezvous with her black lover. It occurs to me the scene is logically read as a commentary on the “Black is Beautiful” era, which dates back to James Brown’s 1968 hit “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud),” a s [...]
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Luke Spencer: General Hospital’s Repentant Rapist
Elana Levine, University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee — March 19th, 2008|
As the 1970s drew to a close, the most popular character on US daytime television soap operas was Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, erstwhile mob hit man, disco manager, and rapist. In October 1979, Luke raped the woman who was the object of his then-unrequited affections. Laura Baldwin was a waitress at the disco Luke managed, she was married to do-gooder law student Scotty, and she was clearly drawn to unconventional bad boy Luke. One night after hours, a drunken Luke, convinced he would be forced to [...]
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Family Affairs: Gay Visibility and Hegemonic Masculinity in ’70s TV
Joe Wlodarz, University of Western Ontario — March 18th, 2008|
The above clip is from a 1978 episode of the ABC dramatic series Family, entitled "Rites of Friendship." Created by Jay Presson Allen and produced by Mike Nichols and Aaron Spelling, Family was a prime time "quality" drama that grappled with contemporary political and social tensions through the representation of an American nuclear family. Influenced by both the sitcom All in the Family and documentary series An American Family, Family used the dramatic serial format to stage an often dark and [...]
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Where it Belongs: Positioning US dramas on Australian TV
Joshua Green, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Comparative Media Studies — March 30th, 2008