DOCSLIB.ORG

Analyzing the Roles and Representation of Women in the City

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Analyzing the Roles and Representation of Women in the City Analyzing the Roles and Representation of Women in The City by Amanda Demers A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of B.A. Honours in Urban Systems Department of Geography McGill University Montréal (Québec) Canada December 2018 © 2018 Amanda Demers ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first and foremost like to thank my thesis supervisor, Professor Benjamin Forest. My research would have been impossible without the guidance and support of Professor Forest, who ultimately let me take the lead on this project while providing me with encouragement and help when I needed. I appreciate his trust in me to take on a topic that has interested him over the years. I would also like to extend my thanks to Professor Sarah Moser, who kindly accepted to be my thesis reader, and to the 2018 Honours Coordinators, Professor Natalie Oswin and Professor Sarah Turner, who have provided their wonderful and insightful guidance along this process as well. Additionally, I would like to thank my friends and family for their support, and the GIC for its availability and convenient hours, as it served as my primary writing spot for this thesis. i TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………….……….…iv LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………………iv ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………....v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………….…1 1.1: Research Aim and Questions……………………………………………………….1 1.2: Significance of Research……………………………………………………………2 1.3: Thesis Structure……………………………………………………………………..2 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK……………………………….………….…4 2.1: Feminist Geography………………………………………………………………...4 2.1.1: “Separate Spheres”: Women in Private Space, Men in Public Space……..4 2.1.2: Women and Consumption in 19th and 20th Century America………………5 2.1.3: Girls in Public Space and Gendered Play………………………………….6 2.1.4: Feminist Geography: Concluding Remarks………………………………..7 2.2: Geography and Film………………………………………………………………...7 2.2.1: Rural and Urban Portrayals in Early 20th Century Film…………………..8 2.2.2: Film Documentaries, Identity Formation, and Place-Making……………..9 2.2.3: Geography and Film: Concluding Remarks………………………………10 2.3: Theoretical Framework Conclusion……………………………………………...10 CHAPTER 3: CONTEXTUALIZATION OF THE CITY…………………………………...12 3.1: Lewis Mumford…………………………………………………………….……...12 3.1.1: The “Dead City” …………………………………………………..……..12 3.1.2: Mumford’s Solution……………………………………………………….13 3.1.3: Lewis Mumford: Concluding Remarks………………………………..…..14 3.2: New York World’s Fair (1939) ………………………………………….………..14 3.3: Greenbelt, Maryland………………………………………………………………16 3.3.1: The History of Greenbelt Cities…………………………………………...16 3.3.2: The Exclusive Community of Greenbelt, Maryland……………………….16 3.3.3: The Place for Women in Greenbelt, Maryland…………………………...18 3.3.4: Greenbelt, Maryland: Concluding Remarks……………………………...19 3.4: The City……………………………………………………………………………..19 3.4.1: The City and Historical Context…………………………………………. 19 3.4.2: The City and Urban Social Reform……………………………………….20 3.4.3: The City: Concluding Remarks……………………………………………21 3.5: Contextualization of The City Conclusion………………………………………..22 CHAPTER 4: QUANTITATIVE STOP-FRAME ANALYSIS…………………………...…23 4.1: Methodology……………………………………………………………………..…23 4.1.1: Coding the Frames………………………………………………………..23 4.1.2: Statistical Analysis………………………………………………………...26 4.2: Data and Analysis………………………………………………………………….27 ii 4.3: Discussion & Conclusion………………………………………………………......31 CHAPTER 5: QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS……………………………….…...32 5.1: Methodology………………………………………………………………………..32 5.2: Retrospective Frames……………………………………………………………...32 5.3: Prospective Frames………………………………………………………………...35 5.4: Discussion & Conclusion…………………………………………………………..36 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION……………………………………………..38 Reference List……………………………………………………………………………………40 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Frame #357………………………………………………………………………….24 Figure 5.1: Frame #54 and #56…………..………………………………………………….…..33 Figure 5.2: Frame #144 and #150…………..…………………………………………...………34 Figure 5.3: Frame #184 and #230…………..………………………………………………..….35 Figure 5.4: Frame #417 and #460………......…………………………………………………...36 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: The City Coding Format……………………………………………………………..24 Table 4.2…………………………..……………………………………………………………..27 Table 4.3: …………………………………………………………………………………………..27 Table 4.4: ……………………………….…………………………………………………………..28 Table 4.5: ……………………………….…………………………………………………………..29 Table 4.6: …………………………………………………………………………………………..29 Table 4.7: ……………………………….…………………………………………………………..30 Table 4.8: ……………………………….…………………………………………………………..30 iv ABSTRACT Lewis Mumford, a 20th century urban visionary, stood out from the public of his time by refusing to blindly praise rapid technological innovation and urbanization. Rather, he professed that a small, democratic, and green community in the form of a “greenbelt town” would be the ultimate living space for humankind to avoid the foreseeable downfalls of urban growth and unstoppable technological progress. Mumford showcased this vision in The City (1939) to millions at the New York World’s Fair. We must be critical as to how truly “democratic” and inclusive these communities were portrayed as on screen, as to see if this film subtly perpetrated social inequalities to a wide audience, despite Mumford’s claims to having conceived of a nearly utopian democratic community. Thus, the aim of my research is to examine specifically the roles and representation of women in Lewis Mumford’s vision in The City. v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION “The town was us and we were part of it,” declares the narrator, describing an idyllic, democratic living environment in the form of a greenbelt town. Lewis Mumford, a leading 20th century intellect on urban studies and design, shows a planned suburban community in his 1939 film, The City, as a solution to existing and foreseeable urban problems of his time. Urban areas can be easily confounded with negative imagery of crime, pollution, overcrowding, poor sanitation, and lack of green space. On the surface, a small, green suburb may seem like a safe- haven from these urban plights. However, it is important to examine Mumford’s greenbelt fantasy under a critical lens. Did Mumford truly intend for everyone to be part of this town in the same manner? Specifically, I wish to explore how gendered, “separate spheres” of space exist between women and men within this film, and even within the greenbelt town itself. I will focus on the quantitative differences between men and women as shown in the film through a stop-frame analysis and then I will apply statistical analyses to further examine these quantitative relationships. In addition, I will use a qualitative content analysis to assess women’s roles and primary activities within the film, of which are too complex and nuanced to be captured by the quantitative data alone. These analyses will be conducted to test my overall hypothesis that The City, and ultimately Mumford’s greenbelt vision, is plagued with gender inequalities, despite its overall claim as a democratic “safe-haven” from urban issues of the time. More specifically, I hypothesize that: 1) there will be less women than men quantitatively shown in the film; 2) women will be shown in more often in “domestic” roles and activities than men are in the film; and 3) women will be more confined to the private sphere and occupy a more domestic role within “The Green City”, as compared to the other scenes of the film, due to the expected spatial entrapment of women corresponding with suburbanization. These hypotheses are ultimately based on a theoretical framework of feminist geography and geography and film literatures that I will set up in Chapter 2 of my thesis, and they set out to test whether women were envisioned to be a part of greenbelt communities in the same manner as men as showed by Lewis Mumford. 1.1: Research Aim and Questions Lewis Mumford, a 20th century urban visionary, stood out from the public of his time by refusing to blindly praise rapid technological innovation and urbanization. Rather, he professed 1 that a small, democratic, and green community in the form of a “greenbelt town” would be the ultimate living space for humankind to avoid the foreseeable downfalls of urban growth and unstoppable technological progress. Mumford showcased this vision in The City (1939) to millions at the New York World’s Fair. We must be critical as to how truly “democratic” and inclusive these communities were portrayed as on screen, as to see if this film subtly perpetrated social inequalities to a wide audience, despite Mumford’s idyllic portrayal of a seemingly nearly utopian democratic community. My research aim is to examine the roles and representation of women within Lewis Mumford’s greenbelt vision in The City by focusing on the following three research questions: 1. Are women quantitatively represented as much as men in The City? 2. In what roles are women portrayed within The City, as compared to men? 3. Are women found more in the private sphere, occupying domestic roles, in Mumford’s greenbelt vision as compared to the prior scenes of the film? 1.2: Significance of Research Due to the very public nature of The City’s showing during the era of its release, this film was seen by many during the post-Great Depression era, including women. I believe this film helped shape women’s identities and perpetuated the notion that women should remain in the private, domestic sphere to those who have viewed this film, as well as to women who have moved to greenbelt towns in which these societal
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Motion Picture Posters, 1924-1996 (Bulk 1952-1996)
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt187034n6 No online items Finding Aid for the Collection of Motion picture posters, 1924-1996 (bulk 1952-1996) Processed Arts Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Elizabeth Graney and Julie Graham. UCLA Library Special Collections Performing Arts Special Collections Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575 [email protected] URL: http://www2.library.ucla.edu/specialcollections/performingarts/index.cfm The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Finding Aid for the Collection of 200 1 Motion picture posters, 1924-1996 (bulk 1952-1996) Descriptive Summary Title: Motion picture posters, Date (inclusive): 1924-1996 Date (bulk): (bulk 1952-1996) Collection number: 200 Extent: 58 map folders Abstract: Motion picture posters have been used to publicize movies almost since the beginning of the film industry. The collection consists of primarily American film posters for films produced by various studios including Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, MGM, Paramount, Universal, United Artists, and Warner Brothers, among others. Language: Finding aid is written in English. Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Performing Arts Special Collections. Los Angeles, California 90095-1575 Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information. Restrictions on Access COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information. Restrictions on Use and Reproduction Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections.
    [Show full text]
  • Feminist Geographies of Difference, Relation, And
    FEMINIST GEOGRAPHIES OF DIFFERENCE, 4 RELATION, AND CONSTRUCTION Deborah P. Dixon and John Paul Jones III Introduction and their associated methodologies: hence the plural ‘geographies’ in the title of this Feminist geography is concerned first and chapter. To facilitate our survey of feminist foremost with improving women’s lives by geography, we draw out three main lines of understanding the sources, dynamics, and research. Each of these holds the concept of spatiality of women’s oppression, and with gender to be central to the analysis, but they documenting strategies of resistance. In differ in their understanding of the term. accomplishing this objective, feminist geo- Under the heading of gender as difference, graphy has proven itself time and again as a we first consider those forms of feminist source for innovative thought and practice geographic analysis that address the spatial across all of human geography.The work of dimensions of the different life experiences feminist geographers has transformed research of men and women across a host of cultural, into everyday social activities such as wage economic, political, and environmental arenas. earning, commuting, maintaining a family Second, we point to those analyses that (however defined), and recreation, as well as understand gender as a social relation. Here, major life events, such as migration, procre- the emphasis shifts from studying men and ation, and illness. It has propelled changes in women per se to understanding the social debates over which basic human needs such relations that link men and women in com- as shelter, education, food, and health care are plex ways. In its most hierarchical form, these discussed, and it has fostered new insights relations are realized as patriarchy – a spatially into global and regional economic transfor- and historically specific social structure that mations, government policies, and settlement works to dominate women and children.
    [Show full text]
  • Complicated Views: Mainstream Cinema's Representation of Non
    University of Southampton Research Repository Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis and, where applicable, any accompanying data are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis and the accompanying data cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content of the thesis and accompanying research data (where applicable) must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder/s. When referring to this thesis and any accompanying data, full bibliographic details must be given, e.g. Thesis: Author (Year of Submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University Faculty or School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Data: Author (Year) Title. URI [dataset] University of Southampton Faculty of Arts and Humanities Film Studies Complicated Views: Mainstream Cinema’s Representation of Non-Cinematic Audio/Visual Technologies after Television. DOI: by Eliot W. Blades Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2020 University of Southampton Abstract Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of Film Studies Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Complicated Views: Mainstream Cinema’s Representation of Non-Cinematic Audio/Visual Technologies after Television. by Eliot W. Blades This thesis examines a number of mainstream fiction feature films which incorporate imagery from non-cinematic moving image technologies. The period examined ranges from the era of the widespread success of television (i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Feature Films
    Libraries FEATURE FILMS The Media and Reserve Library, located in the lower level of the west wing, has over 9,000 videotapes, DVDs and audiobooks covering a multitude of subjects. For more information on these titles, consult the Libraries' online catalog. 10 Things I Hate About You DVD-0812 27 Dresses DVD-8204 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse DVD-0048 28 Days Later DVD-4333 10th Victim DVD-5591 DVD-6187 12 DVD-1200 28 Weeks Later c.2 DVD-4805 c.2 12 and Holding DVD-5110 3 Women DVD-4850 12 Angry Men DVD-0850 3 Worlds of Gulliver DVD-4239 12 Monkeys DVD-3375 3:10 to Yuma DVD-4340 12 Years a Slave DVD-7691 30 Days of Night DVD-4812 1776 DVD-0397 300 DVD-6064 1900 DVD-4443 35 Shots of Rum DVD-4729 1984 (Hurt) DVD-4640 39 Steps DVD-0337 DVD-6795 4 Little Girls DVD-0051 1984 (Obrien) DVD-6971 400 Blows DVD-0336 2 Autumns, 3 Summers DVD-7930 42 DVD-5254 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her DVD-6091 50 First Dates DVD-4486 20 Million Miles to Earth DVD-3608 500 Years Later DVD-5438 2001: A Space Odyssey DVD-0260 61 DVD-4523 2010: The Year We Make Contact DVD-3418 70's DVD-0418 2012 DVD-4759 7th Voyage of Sinbad DVD-4166 2012 (Blu-Ray) DVD-7622 8 1/2 DVD-3832 21 Up South Africa DVD-3691 8 Mile DVD-1639 24 Season 1 (Discs 1-3) DVD-2780 Discs 9 to 5 DVD-2063 25th Hour DVD-2291 9.99 DVD-5662 9/1/2015 9th Company DVD-1383 Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet DVD-0831 A.I.
    [Show full text]
  • Quantitative Methods and Feminist Geographic Research
    Quantitative Methods and Feminist Geographic Research In Feminist Geography in Practice: Research and Methods, edited by Pamela Moss (2001). Oxford: Blackwell. (In press) Mei-Po Kwan Department of Geography The Ohio State University Columbus, OH 43210. Introduction: Quantitative Geographical Methods Quantitative methods not only involve the use of numbers such as official statistics. They include the entire process in which data are collected, assembled, turned into numbers (coded), and analyzed using mathematical or statistical means. In research relying mainly on quantitative methods, the focus of the data collection effort is to gather quantitative data or qualitative information that can be quantified in some way (as in attitudinal studies). Once coded, these data are then explored using various methods, ranging from simple measures such as frequency counts and percentages, to complex techniques such as log- linear models. Results of quantitative analysis can be presented in the form of summary statistics, test statistics, statistical tables, and graphs. They can also be represented in complex cartographic or three-dimensional forms with the assistance of GIS, or Geographical Information Systems. Since spatial data violate many assumptions of conventional statistical methods, such as independence of each individual observation and constant variance, quantitative analysis of geographic data calls for spatial statistical methods that were developed to overcome the problems of applying conventional statistical methods to geographic data. This is a specialized collection of techniques required when dealing with data that describe the spatial distribution of social or economic phenomena, many of which are of interest to feminist geographers. Without applying the appropriate geostatistical methods, analysis of geographical data may lead to erroneous results and conclusions.
    [Show full text]
  • South Korean Cinema and the Conditions of Capitalist Individuation
    The Intimacy of Distance: South Korean Cinema and the Conditions of Capitalist Individuation By Jisung Catherine Kim A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Media in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Kristen Whissel, Chair Professor Mark Sandberg Professor Elaine Kim Fall 2013 The Intimacy of Distance: South Korean Cinema and the Conditions of Capitalist Individuation © 2013 by Jisung Catherine Kim Abstract The Intimacy of Distance: South Korean Cinema and the Conditions of Capitalist Individuation by Jisung Catherine Kim Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Media University of California, Berkeley Professor Kristen Whissel, Chair In The Intimacy of Distance, I reconceive the historical experience of capitalism’s globalization through the vantage point of South Korean cinema. According to world leaders’ discursive construction of South Korea, South Korea is a site of “progress” that proves the superiority of the free market capitalist system for “developing” the so-called “Third World.” Challenging this contention, my dissertation demonstrates how recent South Korean cinema made between 1998 and the first decade of the twenty-first century rearticulates South Korea as a site of economic disaster, ongoing historical trauma and what I call impassible “transmodernity” (compulsory capitalist restructuring alongside, and in conflict with, deep-seated tradition). Made during the first years after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the films under consideration here visualize the various dystopian social and economic changes attendant upon epidemic capitalist restructuring: social alienation, familial fragmentation, and widening economic division.
    [Show full text]
  • Feature Films
    Libraries FEATURE FILMS The Media and Reserve Library, located in the lower level of the west wing, has over 9,000 videotapes, DVDs and audiobooks covering a multitude of subjects. For more information on these titles, consult the Libraries' online catalog. 0.5mm DVD-8746 2012 DVD-4759 10 Things I Hate About You DVD-0812 21 Grams DVD-8358 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse DVD-0048 21 Up South Africa DVD-3691 10th Victim DVD-5591 24 Hour Party People DVD-8359 12 DVD-1200 24 Season 1 (Discs 1-3) DVD-2780 Discs 12 and Holding DVD-5110 25th Hour DVD-2291 12 Angry Men DVD-0850 25th Hour c.2 DVD-2291 c.2 12 Monkeys DVD-8358 25th Hour c.3 DVD-2291 c.3 DVD-3375 27 Dresses DVD-8204 12 Years a Slave DVD-7691 28 Days Later DVD-4333 13 Going on 30 DVD-8704 28 Days Later c.2 DVD-4333 c.2 1776 DVD-0397 28 Days Later c.3 DVD-4333 c.3 1900 DVD-4443 28 Weeks Later c.2 DVD-4805 c.2 1984 (Hurt) DVD-6795 3 Days of the Condor DVD-8360 DVD-4640 3 Women DVD-4850 1984 (O'Brien) DVD-6971 3 Worlds of Gulliver DVD-4239 2 Autumns, 3 Summers DVD-7930 3:10 to Yuma DVD-4340 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her DVD-6091 30 Days of Night DVD-4812 20 Million Miles to Earth DVD-3608 300 DVD-9078 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea DVD-8356 DVD-6064 2001: A Space Odyssey DVD-8357 300: Rise of the Empire DVD-9092 DVD-0260 35 Shots of Rum DVD-4729 2010: The Year We Make Contact DVD-3418 36th Chamber of Shaolin DVD-9181 1/25/2018 39 Steps DVD-0337 About Last Night DVD-0928 39 Steps c.2 DVD-0337 c.2 Abraham (Bible Collection) DVD-0602 4 Films by Virgil Wildrich DVD-8361 Absence of Malice DVD-8243
    [Show full text]
  • Metatron, Inc
    HARDCOPY BEFORE THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. In the Matter of the Application of Metatron, Inc. For Review of Denial of Company-Related Action by FINRA Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-18567 FINRA'S RESPONSE TO THE ORDER REQUESTING ADDITIONAL BRIEFING FINRA denied Metatron's request to process and announce a reverse stock split because Metatron is not current in its reportingobligations under Section 13(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). In its application seeking Commission review of FINRA's decision, Metatron argues that its termination of the registration of its common stock in 2009 cured its failureto filerequired reportswith the SEC between 2006 and 2008. Metatron, however, also had reportingobligations under Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act, and was not current in those reporting requirements when FINRA denied its request. As explained below, unless Metatron identifiesan applicable exception, this reporting deficiencyprovides an additional and independent basis forFINRA's denial ofMetatron's request. I. PROCEDURALHISTORY In February 2018, Metatron submitted a request to FINRA'sDepartment of Operations (the "Department") to process and announce a 1-for-57reverse stock split. Record ("R.") at 143- 48. 1 The Department deemed Metatron's request deficientand denied it. R. at 4603-05. The Department's denial was based on FINRA Rule 6490(d)(3)(2), which authorizes FINRAto decline an issuer's request to process and announce a "Company-Related Action," including a stock split, if "the issuer is not currentin its reportingrequirements ...to the SEC or other regulatory authority[.]" R. at 4603-04; FINRA Rule 6490(d)(3)(2).
    [Show full text]
  • Feminist Geography in the UK: the Dialectics of Women-Gender-Feminism- Intersectionality and Praxis
    Feminist geography in the UK: the dialectics of women-gender-feminism- intersectionality and praxis Article Accepted Version Evans, S. L. and Maddrell, A. (2019) Feminist geography in the UK: the dialectics of women-gender-feminism- intersectionality and praxis. Gender, Place & Culture, 26 (7-9). pp. 1304-1313. ISSN 1360-0524 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2019.1567475 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/85062/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . To link to this article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2019.1567475 Publisher: Taylor & Francis All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online Sarah Evans and Avril Maddrell [email protected]; [email protected] Feminist geography in the UK: the dialectics of women-gender-feminism-intersectionality and praxis ‘Feminist political theory draws on particular spatial imaginations in elaborating a politics of transformation’ (Robinson 2000: 285) Introduction Feminist praxis has always been about both the individual and the collective; one of the revolutionary and utopian promises of feminism is that of being, bringing, and working together. This piece provides a brief account of some of the scholarship and collective activities within British feminist geography over the last twenty five years; it is inevitably selective and partial, shaped in part by our experiences and perspectives, one of us having joined the ranks of feminist geography as a doctoral student in the early 1990s when the modes and themes of feminist theory and praxis on offer were presented as closely defined camps (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Remixing Generalized Symbolic Media in the New Scientific Novel Søren Brier
    Ficta: remixing generalized symbolic media in the new scientific novel Søren Brier To cite this version: Søren Brier. Ficta: remixing generalized symbolic media in the new scientific novel. Public Un- derstanding of Science, SAGE Publications, 2006, 15 (2), pp.153-174. 10.1177/0963662506059441. hal-00571086 HAL Id: hal-00571086 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00571086 Submitted on 1 Mar 2011 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. SAGE PUBLICATIONS (www.sagepublications.com) PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE Public Understand. Sci. 15 (2006) 153–174 Ficta: remixing generalized symbolic media in the new scientific novel1 Søren Brier This article analyzes the use of fictionalization in popular science commu- nication as an answer to changing demands for science communication in the mass media. It concludes that a new genre—Ficta—arose especially with the work of Michael Crichton. The Ficta novel is a fiction novel based on a real scientific problem, often one that can have or already does have serious consequences for our culture or civilization. The Ficta novel is a new way for the entertainment society to reflect on scientific theories, their consequences and meaning.
    [Show full text]
  • CGI Training for the Entertainment Film Industry
    Computer Graphics in Entertainment CGI Training for the Entertainment Jacquelyn Ford Morie Film Industry Blue Sky|VIFX onsider a snapshot from 1996: A bright technology. The company’s animation division isn’t inter- Cyoung woman has just earned a degree ested in computer animation and the exchange does not from a prestigious art college, majoring in computer work out. The graduate student—Ed Catmull—goes on animation (a program her school started four years to found a premier computer animation company.1 ago). She is looking for her first job. An excellent stu- dent artist, top in her class, she does not know how to A bit of history program. She is being courted by all the major West The above scenarios illustrate actual examples of peo- Coast studios and has retained an attorney to get her ple trying to get computer graphics jobs in the enter- the best possible deal (among other things, a starting tainment industry. You may recognize yourself among salary in the $60,000 range). them, depending on when you started in computer Cut back to 1990, just six years graphics. Barely three decades old, the computer graph- earlier: A recent graduate is trying to ics field has been through enormous changes. As the digital film industry find a job. He studied computer Possibilities and experimentation have evolved into graphics as an art student and creat- commonly used and widely accepted tools to create matures, the education ed some respectable short anima- effects, images, and characters for films. The education tions. He took a class in general needed to succeed in the digital entertainment indus- needed to become part of it programming but not graphics pro- try has also changed.
    [Show full text]
  • Realistic Presentation of Virtual Characters in Motion Pictures
    The Online Journal of Communication and Media – April 2016 Volume 2, Issue 2 REALISTIC PRESENTATION OF VIRTUAL CHARACTERS IN MOTION PICTURES Asst. Prof. Yüksel BALABAN Beykent University, Graphic Design. [email protected] Abstract: Reality concept has a crucial significance in the movies as well as in the other fields of art. In the movies, the identification of the audiences with the characters, and their believing what they watched are some of the reasons underlying this reality. On the one hand, the incidents happening in the imaginary world might take its audiences to the place where wanted and on the other hand they might convey the message that is desired. In the creation of reality with the development of technology, what is watched for an audience is getting more and more believable. Both the development of the technology in the movie theatres such as the use of the anaglyph spectacles and the improvements of the film production techniques support the creation of the reality in the movies. In this study, the contribution of virtual characters used in the movies to the reality of the film is going to be examined. Even though audiences do not live in real terms, they perceive the characters within the integrity of the film with the other characters in the real life. Thanks to the developing technology, virtual characters have become inseparable from real performers. In order to the realistic appearance of these characters, some technical specifications need to be gathered. At the end of some stages having different kinds of difficulties, the characters reach their final appearances.
    [Show full text]