DOCSLIB.ORG

Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Never Coming to a Theater Near You a Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie by Kenneth Turan Cookie Consent and Choices

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Never Coming to a Theater Near You a Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie by Kenneth Turan Cookie Consent and Choices Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Never Coming to a Theater Near You A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie by Kenneth Turan Cookie Consent and Choices. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. See details. You may click on “ Your Choices ” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. If you click “ Agree and Continue ” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. MOVIE THEATER NEAR ME. It is in the nature of today’s movie business that while Hollywood blockbusters invade every megaplex, smaller, quality films often don’t get screen time. Fans of finer films have to count on catching up with them on video and DVD, but even the most hard-core devotees have trouble remembering what sounded good when a film was originally released. Never Coming to a Theater Near You will remedy that situation. This selection of renowned film critic Kenneth Turan’s absorbing and illuminating reviews, now revised and updated to factor in the tests of time, point viewers toward the films they can’t quite remember, but should not miss. Moviegoers know they can trust Turan’s impeccable taste. His eclectic selection represents the kind of sophisticated, adult, and entertaining films intelligent viewers are hungry for. More importantly, Turan shows readers what makes these unusual films so great, revealing how talented filmmakers and actors have managed to create the wonderful highs we experience in front of the silver screen. Galaxy Drive-In Movie Theater south of Dallas, Texas (near the towns of Palmer and Ennis) Never Coming to a Theater Near You: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie by Kenneth Turan. It is in the nature of today's movie business that while Hollywood blockbusters invade every megaplex, smaller, quality films often don't get screen time. Fans of finer films have to count on catching up with them on video and DVD, but even the most hard-core devotees have trouble remembering what sounded good when a film was originally released. Never Coming to a Theater Near You will remedy that situation. This selection of renowned film critic Kenneth Turan's absorbing and illuminating reviews, now revised and updated to factor in the tests of time, point viewers toward the films they can't quite remember, but should not miss. Moviegoers know they can trust Turan's impeccable taste. His eclectic selection represents the kind of sophisticated, adult, and entertaining films intelligent viewers are hungry for. More importantly, Turan shows readers what makes these unusual films so great, revealing how talented filmmakers and actors have managed to create the wonderful highs we experience in front of the silver screen. It is in the nature of today's movie business that while Hollywood blockbusters invade every megaplex, smaller, quality films often don't get screen time. Fans of finer films have to count on catching up with them on video and DVD, but even the most hard-core devotees have trouble remembering what sounded good when a film was originally released. Never Coming to a Theater Near You will remedy that situation. This selection of renowned film critic Kenneth Turan's absorbing and illuminating reviews, now revised and updated to factor in the tests of time, point viewers toward the films they can't quite remember, but should not miss. Moviegoers know they can trust Turan's impeccable taste. His eclectic selection represents the kind of sophisticated, adult, and entertaining films intelligent viewers are hungry for. More importantly, Turan shows readers what makes these unusual films so great, revealing how talented filmmakers and actors have managed to create the wonderful highs we experience in front of the silver screen. Never Coming to a Theater Near You. It is in the nature of today’s movie business that while Hollywood blockbusters invade every megaplex, smaller, quality films often don’t get screen time. Fans of finer films have to count on catching up with them on video and DVD, but even the most hard-core devotees have trouble remembering what sounded good when a film was originally released. Never Coming to a Theater Near You will remedy that situation. This selection of renowned film critic Kenneth Turan’s absorbing and illuminating reviews, now revised and updated to factor in the tests of time, point viewers toward the films they can’t quite remember, but should not miss. Moviegoers know they can trust Turan’s impeccable taste. His eclectic selection represents the kind of sophisticated, adult, and entertaining films intelligent viewers are hungry for. More importantly, Turan shows readers what makes these unusual films so great, revealing how talented filmmakers and actors have managed to create the wonderful highs we experience in front of the silver screen. Don’t miss news from PublicAffairs. By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Never Coming to a Theater Near You: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie by Kenneth Turan. Alexander Payne is known for directing films that closely examine the culture of the United States and for his witty, incisive, character-driven screenplays. His first feature, Citizen Ruth (1996), with a screenplay conceived by Payne and frequent writing partner Jim Taylor, is a caustic satire of America’s abortion wars. Since then, his screenplays have received numerous accolades: Election (1999) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; his screenplay for About Schmidt (2002) won a Golden Globe; and Sideways (2004) won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Adapted Screenplay. Payne is joined by Kenneth Turan, an author and film critic for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio’s Morning Edition , for an insightful conversation about Payne’s body of work that features clips from his films. Recorded in 2005. Alexander Payne Dialogue with Kenneth Turan 2005 | 1:42:43. Writer-director Alexander Payne's filmography of dark comic satires is packed with punch—his projects chosen, written, and directed with care as intricate character studies incorporating intelligent and humorous social commentary. Accompanied by clips from his films, Payne discusses his creative process and reflects on his career with Los Angeles Times critic/National Public Radio commentator Kenneth Turan. Program. Where other people see darkness, Alexander Payne sees light. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say he sees both darkness and light. It is possible—starting with his admired 1989 UCLA thesis film The Passion of Martin and extending through the impeccable quartet of features cowritten with Jim Taylor ( Citizen Ruth , Election , About Schmidt , and last year’s Sideways )—to see Payne’s work as a series of cheerful nightmares at which we are laughing so hard that we’re unwilling or even unable to wake up. These films, characterized by the director’s ability to bring emotional reality to drop-dead funny character comedies, manage to be achingly true to life while dealing with seriously out-of-control situations. Even the setting for most of them—Payne’s quintessentially all-American hometown of Omaha, Nebraska—emphasizes the notion that the characters could be anyone’s friends or neighbors. Maybe even yours. These individuals, often as not, are morally sketchy characters, feckless and self-absorbed types such as Ruth Stoops, the substance-abusing mother-to-be in Citizen Ruth , or Miles Raymond, a grown man who is not above stealing from his mother in Sideways . Yet it is the nature of Payne’s gift that he can maneuver us onto the side of protagonists who initially seem far from likable. We witness self-centered behavior camouflaged and rationalized by conniving minds and we end up rooting for people we wouldn’t dream we could be made to care about. One of the great gifts of Payne’s films is their refusal to play obvious favorites. This extends further than the expert way in which Citizen Ruth , for instance, refuses to take sides in the explosive abortion debate, preferring to skewer everyone involved in the issue. It includes what may be more difficult—a balanced approach to human behavior, an ability to understand yet never whitewash the way people are. By revealing—and reveling in —its character’s vulnerabilities, insecurities, and not-so-occasional gigantic miscalculations, these films underline the absurdity of life as we know and share it. No one in Payne’s world is without flaws, and no greater sin exists there than smug earnestness on the part of people who take themselves far more seriously than they should. Payne succeeds so well in all of this because the scripts he and Taylor structure together are so exactly written, delicately mixing humor and poignancy while being grounded in an exceptional use of language. His films have an impeccable ear for the idiosyncrasies of the classic American vernacular, for the way the odd and the normal turn out to have more in common than anyone might suspect. The coup de grâce, so to speak, of Alexander Payne’s films is that he directs them with a surgeon’s precision.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Univerzita Palackého V Olomouci Filozofická Fakulta
    UNIVERZITA PALACKÉHO V OLOMOUCI FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA Katedra divadelních, filmových a mediálních studií Tragikomično a sarkasmus v režisérské tvorbě Alexandera Payna Magisterská diplomová práce Autor: Barbora Greplová (Filmová věda / Anglická filologie) Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Luboš Ptáček, Ph.D. Olomouc, 2012 Prohlášení autorky Předkládám svoji diplomovou práci na téma „Tragikomično a sarkasmus v režisérské tvorbě Alexandera Payna“ Univerzitě Palackého v Olomouci ke splnění požadavků pro titul Magistr věd. Prohlašuji, že jsem tuto práci napsala samostatně a dle mého nejlepšího vědomí neobsahuje žádný materiál, který by byl dříve někým jiným publikován nebo sepsán, kromě literatury a zdrojů v práci řádně uvedených. ............................................ Barbora Greplová, Olomouc, 20. června 2012 2 2 Poděkování Jsem vděčná panu Mgr. Luboši Ptáčkovi, Ph.D. za jeho podnětné připomínky, ochotu a asistenci při vedení mé diplomové práce. Zároveň bych chtěla poděkovat panu Alexanderu Paynovi za čas, který věnoval našemu rozhovoru, jenž posléze sloužil jako jeden ze zdrojů mé práce. V neposlední řadě mé díky jde knihovně na Hampshire College, Massachusetts, a jejímu personálu, který svou pomocí nemalou měrou přispěl výzkumu a zpracování tohoto komplikovaného tématu. 3 3 OBSAH 1. Úvod ....................................................................................... 6 1. 1 Vymezení pojmů ................................................................. 8 1. 2 Kritické vyhodnocení teoretické literatury .......................... 13 1. 3 Kritické
    [Show full text]
  • 2006 TRASH Regionals Round 12 Tossups
    2006 TRASH Regionals Round 12 Tossups 1. This occupation will once again become available in 2006 at The Palms in Las Vegas, the first time it has been available in the U.S. since 1988 in Lansing, Michigan. The first were hired in Chicago in 1960, and the job has been held by failed attorney general nominee Kimba Wood, actress Sherilyn Fenn, model Lauren Hutton, and musician Deborah Harry, while Gloria Steinem once took it to write a magazine expos´e.A collar, cuffs, corset, and ears were part of the uniform of, for ten points, what servers in clubs that were part of Hugh Hefner’s empire? Answer: Playboy Bunny 2. He created a Velcro-string contraption to teach his sons to shoot without using their left hand. A star at Archbishop Molloy High School and then Providence, he played pro ball in Belgium before becoming a head coach at American International and then as an assistant at Virginia. He led Bowling Green to three NIT appearances in 11 years before taking his current job in 1997. He has led his current school to three NCAA tournaments, including an improbable Final Four in 2006. For ten points, name the head coach at George Mason. Answer: Jim Larranaga 3. Luis Buuel’s son Juan has a cameo as a publisher in this film where two of the characters go to see the Buuel film Un chien andalou, while Gary Oldman has a bit part under the stage name Maurice Escargot. Kevin Spacey also has a bit part in this Philip Kauffman movie set in 1930s Paris which centers on a love triangle between Maria de Medeiros, Uma Thurman, and Fred Ward.
    [Show full text]
  • Todd Haynes Alexander Payne
    TODD HAYNES ALEXANDER PAYNE Born: Todd Haynes, January 2, 1961 (Los Angeles, California, U.S.). Born: Alexander Papadopoulos, February 10, 1961 (Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.). Directing style: Influential director of new queer cinema; maker of period Directing style: Witty writer and director of satirical comedies; Omaha, melodramas; examinations of environment as disease, and the repressive nature Nebraska locations; commentary on U.S. suburban life; uses non-actors of societal conventions. to play minor roles. A key figure in the new queer cinema of the 1990s, Todd Writer and director Alexander Payne is one of the brightest Haynes became infamous years before the movement was talents to emerge in Hollywood recently, with a distinctive named when he used Barbie dolls instead of actors in his short style of comedy. After some student films, he worked at Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), and the film was Universal Pictures and wrote unproduced screenplays. He then banned after the Carpenter family and the Mattel Corporation made contributions to two segments of the Inside Out (1992) objected. Haynes’s films reflect his background in art and portmanteau films, before completing his first feature, Citizen Top Takes… semiotics, and Superstar juxtaposed the squeaky-clean Ruth (1996). The film stars Laura Dern as an improvident drug Top Takes… plasticity of the singer’s public image against archival footage user and single mother, who can only be saved from jail if she I’m Not There 2007 Paris, je t’aime 2006 (Paris, I Love You) Far from Heaven 2002 of the invasion of Cambodia and the Watergate crisis, and terminates her latest pregnancy.
    [Show full text]
  • Alexander Payne Regis Dialogue Formatted
    Alexander Payne Dialogue with Kenneth Turan, 2005 Kenneth Turan: We're at the Walker Art Center for a Regis Dialogue with filmmaker Alexander Payne. We're going to be discussing his artistic vision, his sense of humor, and his love of film. Alexander Payne's films are characterized by his ability to bring emotional reality to drop dead funny character comedies managed to be achingly true to life while dealing with seriously out of control situations. Even the setting of most of them paints quintessentially all-American hometown of Omaha, Nebraska emphasizes the notion that these people could well be anyone's friends and neighbors. Maybe even yours. Kenneth Turan: I'm Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio. I'll be your host as we discuss Payne's work. Now, the Regis Dialogue with Alexander Payne is about to begin. Kenneth Turan: Well, I wanted to start at the beginning. I wanted to start with Omaha. You are famously born in Omaha. I had kind of a two-part question about that. I wonder, first of all, do you think people make too much of that? There's always every article that is written, it says, Omaha, films in Omaha. Do people make too much of it? On the flip side, what do you get from it? What do you think being born there, coming from there, has kind of done to the way you look at the world? Alexander Payne: It's so funny because you're commenting on the question and making too much of it at the same time.
    [Show full text]
  • Anna Anriana 40300115025 ENGLISH and LITERATURE DEPARTMENT ADAB AND
    PRESUPPOSITION IN “DOWNSIZING” MOVIE DIRECTED BY ALEXANDER PAYNE Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Humaniora in English and Literature Department of Adab and Humanities Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University of Makassar By: Anna Anriana 40300115025 ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT ADAB AND HUMANITIES FACULTY ALAUDDIN STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF MAKASSAR 2019 i Scanned by TapScanner ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alamin, all praises and thanks to the Almighty Allah SWT for His uncountable graces, faiths, and helps always stand behind the writer, show the writer the right way, and carry the writer out to the final step of this thesis writing. Shalawat and salam are addressed to our prophet Muhammad SAW, the greatest one who has shared inspiration, spirit, and power to the human. The writer realizes that this thesis could not be complete without getting assistance, guidance, understanding and encouragement from many people. Therefore the writer would like to express the deepest gratitude to the following: 1. The writer’s beloved parents, Mustafa and Rasia for their loves, cares, supports and prayers for the writer’s safety and successful. 2. The writer’s beloved brothers and sister, Rustam, Risnawati, Irwan Mustafa, Mawar Handayani and Kasmawati for their support and sincere prayer for the writer’s success. 3. The writer’s beloved big family for their support and sincere prayer for the writer’s success. Especially the writer’s aunty, Hayati. 4. The Rector of UIN Alauddin Makassar, Prof. H. Hamdan Juhannis, M.A., Ph.D. for his advice during the period when the writer studied at the university.
    [Show full text]
  • Election and Little Children
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The University of Sydney: Sydney eScholarship Journals... Abject Humanism in Tom Perrotta Adaptations: Election and Little Children WYATT MOSS-WELINGTON One of the key figures in the development of a suburban ensemble cinema over the past two decades has been author Tom Perrotta, whose novels typically feature multi-focalised structures, blended affect, and suburban scrutiny. Two of his books were translated to cinema, Election (1999) and Little Children (2006), directed by Alexander Payne and Todd Field respectively, and more recently The Leftovers has been adapted as an HBO serial. Election and Little Children are both high-profile examples of the suburban ensemble dramedy, a millennial American filmmaking mode similarly featuring multiple protagonists, usually half sentimental and half satirical, set in different iterations of the American suburbs; other popular titles include American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999), Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006) and The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010). These films have often been called ‘human dramas’ and are an example of what I call narrative humanism. In this paper I wish to extend the scope of literary and narrative humanisms, using the Perrotta adaptations to articulate the role abjection might play in suburban ensemble cinema. The paper also demonstrates how a humanist hermeneutic method that accounts for the abject can produce a new, complex ethical inquiry that is focussed on honouring the challenges we face in living up to the prosociality humanism espouses. Narrative humanism refers to attempts to understand and record versions of human social complexity in narrative, the remit of the human drama.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanist Narratology and the Suburban Ensemble Dramedy
    Humanist Narratology and the Suburban Ensemble Dramedy Wyatt Moss-Wellington A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University of Sydney 2017 DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources have been acknowledged. Wyatt Moss-Wellington 2 ABSTRACT What is a “humanistic drama”? Although we might describe narrative works as humanist, and references to the humanistic drama abound across a breadth of critical media, including film and literary theory, the parameters of these terms remain elliptical. My work attempts to clarify the narrative conditions of humanism. In particular, humanists ask how we use narrative texts to complicate our understanding of others, and question the ethics and efficacy of attempts to represent human social complexity in fiction. After historicising narrative humanism and situating it among related philosophies, I develop humanist hermeneutics as a method for reading fictive texts, and provide examples of such readings. I integrate literary Darwinism, anthropology, cognitive science and social psychology into a social narratology, which catalogues the social functions of narrative. This expansive study asks how we can unite the descriptive capabilities of social science with the more prescriptive ethical inquiry of traditional humanism, and aims to demonstrate their productive compatibility.
    [Show full text]
  • December 2013 at BFI Southbank with Sir Michael Parkinson, Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton, Christopher Hampton and Kevin Brownlow Onstage
    December 2013 at BFI Southbank With Sir Michael Parkinson, Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton, Christopher Hampton and Kevin Brownlow onstage GOTHIC continues with The Dark Arts and Haunted, plus re‐releases of Gone with the Wind and The Innocents and an Alexander Payne season The BFI blockbuster project GOTHIC: The Dark Heart of Film continues at BFI Southbank this December with Part 2: The Dark Arts and Part 3: Haunted As Alexander Payne’s latest film Nebraska (2013) arrives in UK cinemas BFI Southbank celebrates Payne’s career with a dedicated season featuring career highlights such as Election (1999) and Sideways (2004) Extended Runs this month feature the continuation of the 4K restoration of Gone with the Wind (1939) plus wintery thrills and chills in Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (1961) As global phenomenon Sherlock is set to return, BFI Southbank screens a preview of the first episode of series three on Sunday 15 December, followed by a Q&A with cast and crew (guests TBC) The BFI’s Doctor Who at 50 celebrations conclude with The Eleventh Hour and The Name of the Doctor, plus a panel discussion to celebrate Matt Smith’s tenure as the Doctor Family fun at BFI Southbank in December includes a preview of Disney’s Frozen (2013), plus a Mary Poppins (1964) Film Funday and screenings of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Discover Arab Cinema continues with a look at Family Life, and includes screenings of Tawfik Abu Wael’s Cannes prize winning Thirst (2004) Plus a talk from Kevin Brownlow on The Restoration of Abel Gance’s Napoleon and the 20th Anniversary of Missing Believed Wiped CHIRSTMAS AT BFI SOUTHBANK This Christmas come in from the cold and catch a festive treat on the big screen at BFI Southbank.
    [Show full text]
  • Election and Little Children
    Abject Humanism in Tom Perrotta Adaptations: Election and Little Children WYATT MOSS-WELINGTON One of the key figures in the development of a suburban ensemble cinema over the past two decades has been author Tom Perrotta, whose novels typically feature multi-focalised structures, blended affect, and suburban scrutiny. Two of his books were translated to cinema, Election (1999) and Little Children (2006), directed by Alexander Payne and Todd Field respectively, and more recently The Leftovers has been adapted as an HBO serial. Election and Little Children are both high-profile examples of the suburban ensemble dramedy, a millennial American filmmaking mode similarly featuring multiple protagonists, usually half sentimental and half satirical, set in different iterations of the American suburbs; other popular titles include American Beauty (Sam Mendes, 1999), Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006) and The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010). These films have often been called ‘human dramas’ and are an example of what I call narrative humanism. In this paper I wish to extend the scope of literary and narrative humanisms, using the Perrotta adaptations to articulate the role abjection might play in suburban ensemble cinema. The paper also demonstrates how a humanist hermeneutic method that accounts for the abject can produce a new, complex ethical inquiry that is focussed on honouring the challenges we face in living up to the prosociality humanism espouses. Narrative humanism refers to attempts to understand and record versions of human social complexity in narrative, the remit of the human drama. In a way, narrative humanism is the philosophy of kindness: it makes kindness central to theory, and how we achieve a more generous concept of one another through storytelling.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Nebraska at Omaha, December Commencement 2004 University of Nebraska at Omaha
    University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Commencement Programs UNO Commencement 12-17-2004 University of Nebraska at Omaha, December Commencement 2004 University of Nebraska at Omaha Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/ commencement_programs Recommended Citation University of Nebraska at Omaha, "University of Nebraska at Omaha, December Commencement 2004" (2004). Commencement Programs. Paper 43. http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/commencement_programs/43 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the UNO Commencement at DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Commencement Programs by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Nebraska at Omaha December Commencement 2004 UNOmaha Chimes And the chimes ring out for Omaha, bidding welcome to old and new, to our Alma Mater, Nebraska Omaha, this city's great Nebraska U. We will lift our voice, pledging loyalty, for our thoughts and memories are fond and true. Voices loud and strong, sing out praise and gratefulness to Omaha Nebraska U! Hail to you, Omaha Nebraska U! Commencement University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha Civic Auditorium December 17, 2004 2:00 p.m. ...to those who dedicate their lives to the high calling of instruction to all students who shall here learn to earn a living and to live a cultured life not as two processes but as one... PROGRAM PRELUDE MUSIC "Suite of Carols" air. R. R. McGregor PROCESSIONAL "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" E. Elgar Palladium Brass MASTER OF CEREMONIES Vice Chancellor John Christensen THE NATIONAL ANTHEM "The Star Spangled Banner" Key Please join in singing led by Nick Stoysich, UNO Music Major CHANCELLOR'S REMARKS Chancellor Nancy Belck PRESIDENT'S WELCOME James B.
    [Show full text]
  • Love's Labour's Lost – the Branagh Film
    SYDNEY STUDIES IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Volume 43, 2017 DAVID KELLY: Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window, 1 and American Romance KAMILA WALKER: Conceptual Metaphors of 32 Anger and Embodied Realism in Middlemarch ALEX JONES: Myth and the Limits of History in Nostromo. 57 RYAN TWOMEY AND DANIEL CARRIGY: Richard 73 Steele’s Female Readers and the Gender Politics of the Public Sphere in The Spectator WYATT MOSS-WELLINGTON: Abject Humanism in 90 Tom Perrotta Adaptations: Election and Little Children STEVE CRAMER: Neoliberal and Social Democratic 110 Versions of History in James Cameron’s Titanic and Roy Baker’s A Night to Remember Editors: David Kelly, Peter Marks and Mark Byron Sydney Studies in English is published annually, concentrating on criticism and scholarship in English literature, drama and cinema. It aims to provide a forum for critical, scholarly and applied theoretical analysis of text, and seeks to balance the complexities of the discipline with the need to remain accessible to the wide audience of teachers and students of English both inside and outside the university. Submissions of articles should be made online at: http://escholarship.library.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/SSE/about/sub missions#onlineSubmissions Each article will be read by at least two referees. Sydney Studies in English is published in association with the Department of English, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Visit the Department’s homepage at: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/english/ ISSN: 0156-5419 (print) ISSN: 1835-8071 (online) Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window and American Romance DAVID KELLY In 1954 Alfred Hitchcock released his adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story ‘It Had To Be Murder’, bringing it before the American public in the form of the claustrophobic and riveting thriller Rear Window.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright by Louis Black 2019
    Copyright by Louis Black 2019 The Dissertation Committee for Louis Black Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Dissertation: JONATHAN DEMME: CHAMPION OF THE SOUL Committee: Tom Schatz, Supervisor Horace Newcomb Paul Stekler Charles Ramírez-Berg JONATHAN DEMME: CHAMPION OF THE SOUL by Louis Black Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2019 Dedication For Joanne Howard, Ramona Demme, Brooklyn Demme, Jos Demme, Kristin Casey, and in the treasured memory of Jonathan Demme. Abstract JONATHAN DEMME: CHAMPION OF THE SOUL Louis Black, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2019 Supervisor: Tom Schatz This study offers chronologically organized essays that examine the individual films within the context of Jonathan Demme’s authorship. This is not going to be an argument for Demme as an auteur as a biographical or qualitative statement. At best, he does not fit easily into the categorized definitions of auteur. Instead, looking at his body of work and treating it as a whole, despite its inconsistencies, eccentricities, and insistent uniqueness, is absolutely the best way to understand and appreciate the entirety of his work. Rather than using the films to define the filmmaker, it is through the sensibility of the films that they best resonate and make the most meaning. Each film was created on its own terms, carefully crafted to be organic to the purpose, ambition, and intention of the project. Therefore, most of his productions are notably different from one another.
    [Show full text]