DOCSLIB.ORG

Week 4 – Apocalypse Now

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Week 4 – Apocalypse Now Week 4 – Apocalypse Now Introduction Bill: Hi again, welcome to week four of the course. Jon and I decided to be outdoorsy for this week’s lesson, and once you see Apocalypse Now, you might understand why. We’re on the Oregon State campus today, and we’re going to be talking about Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film, Apocalypse Now, and we’ll just jump right into the questions we have today. Apocalypse Now and the Auteur Renaissance Bill: So Apocalypse Now is sort of seen as the film that ends the great 70’s auteurist Hollywood experiment in the same way that The Godfather, another Coppola film, is thought to have begun it. Can you speak about why Apocalypse Now is important to the auteur renaissance? Jon: Yeah, we’re getting to the end of the 70’s and the studios are collectively getting impatient about dealing with these directors who have all this power and all this money at their disposal and making movies sort of their own way, and studios resent the fact that they don’t have the kind of control that they’d like to have over the movies. And along comes Coppola, making Apocalypse Now, and he goes off to the Philippines and it seems like he’s spending an outrageous amount of money, things go wrong as you’ll all see when you see Hearts of Darkness, the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. But there’s this sort of collective fear in Hollywood that it isn’t that a director is going to make a small personal film that’s going to fail, but they’re going to make a big personal film that’s going to fail, and Apocalypse Now looks like it’s going to be that kind of movie. The irony is that it’s not. The film is a huge, hundred million dollar success, huge box office film. And, in a way, doesn’t cost any more than the James Bond film, Moonraker, released the same year, which is a terrible film. So, I mean, in a way what they were worried about was never really justified. But at the same time, it was sort of symbolic. That Apocalypse Now could have been terrible, so it really is the last time the studios are willing to invest this kind of money in a film, except for one other and that’s Heaven’s Gate, and Heaven’s Gate, which comes out two years later, is a film they invest in on the very day that they decide to pull back on their investment in Apocalypse Now. So they pull back on their investment on Apocalypse Now and let Coppola control the film after that in exchange for a loan that he couldn’t possibly repay. It’s one of the dumbest moments in Hollywood history. And they throw all this money at a western made by the recent academy award winning director Michael Cimino, a western that eventually becomes known as Heaven’s Gate, and that film is a total disaster and is exactly what they were afraid of – a big personal film. In a way, that’s the film that sort of breaks the back of auteurism, but it’s really Apocalypse Now that is the first film that suggests that this could go terribly wrong. Bill: Right, right; there was only production concerns with Apocalypse Now, but there was probably the sense that one wrong move in any direction and the whole thing would have collapsed. Jon: Yeah, you know, you’ve got an actor having a heart attack, which kind of screws things up; you have terrible weather, the monsoons hit way before anyone expected them to, so you have terrible weather; and the terrible weather leads to all these cost-overages; at one point, one of the sets that they had constructed from scratch gets wiped out in a monsoon. So it’s kind of everything that could possibly go wrong, goes wrong. Plus, you’re shooting on water, it’s always very difficult to shoot on water. They’re shooting on a river. You’re dealing with helicopters owned by the government, and the government is busy taking them away to fight rebels. It’s the worst-case scenario, in a way. And when you see this movie, it is so brilliant, and so accomplished, and so visionary. Well, he actually finished something this good, given the situation, actually shows that the auteur theory wasn’t a bad idea. But the studios wanted out because they wanted another formula, they wanted a formula where they didn’t have to trust anyone to make these movies. They wanted a formula where they could go out and throw a bunch of money at special effects, which is what they get in the 80’s, and get the kind of blockbuster they want. Apocalypse Now just never looks like that kind of movie. Heart of Darkness => Apocalypse Now Bill: It’s based off of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Can you talk about the relationship between those two texts? Jon: Yeah, I mean, Heart of Darkness is something a lot of high school seniors read, or used to read. I hope they still read in literature classes. And it’s this sort of classic anti-colonialist story. Marlow travels up river and he sort of narrates the story of going to find Kurtz, who is this trader who has gone native. And what “gone native” means is that he’s no longer “European,” that he’s gone over to the dark side, literally. So they travel up river and they find him, and Marlow finds him, and he’s talking about the “horror” and he’s really gone, well, he’s really gone native. He’s gone spiritual in a way that western culture can’t handle. And in the end, Marlow sees this and then Kurtz dies, speaking of the horror, which you get in Apocalypse Now. And then Marlow goes back to Europe. And it’s interesting, because the novel doesn’t end with this sort of moment with Kurtz, which is how Apocalypse Now ends, and we can talk about that in a little bit because there’s lots of endings to Apocalypse Now, but Marlow goes all the way back to Europe to talk to Kurtz’s wife, and Kurtz’s wife says, “Well, what were his last words?” and Marlow lies and says, “Your name.” You know, “He said your name.” which is kind of fascinating, because the novel ends with a lie, which sort of restores the imagination of Europe, the family values of Europe; whereas that’s absolutely not where Kurtz was at the end of his life. And so, what John Milius, who wrote the original screenplay and then Coppola who adapted it and made the movie – what they saw was that Heart of Darkness was, you know, number one a trip up rivers, so that’s repeated in the film, but it was also a journey into the heart of darkness inside of yourself, and the heart of darkness that’s in your soul. And it was also this anti-colonialist argument that, you know, the problem with colonialism was this assumption that the “primitives” were less spiritual than Christians, and the argument is that our arrogance in Vietnam was that we thought that we were the superior civilization and they could only learn from us, only benefit from our involvement; and certainly the film argues against that. Bill: Right, right. And for a primer on the Vietnam War, kind of history, please do check out the links posted in the weekly assignments to kind of fill in maybe some memory gaps about what that war actually meant. Jon: Yeah, and you can’t understate or underestimate the importance of Vietnam to directors of this generation. You know, they either went to Vietnam, or when we see Oliver Stone, I mean, Stone’s shot a series of films about the Vietnam experience, beginning with JFK, which is a film we’ll see. You know, he actually went to Vietnam. Others did their best to not go to Vietnam. So Vietnam is this sort of central – you know, when I was a freshman in college, it was the last draft year and they did the draft lottery on television. We didn’t have TVs in all our rooms, we didn’t have computers – it was pre-computers- but we did have a kind of central TV room and everyone went to the TV room to see when their draft number came up, and then, you know, your draft number came up and you left the room; and the longer you were in the room, the safer you were, because the less likely you’d be to be drafted. So, you know, Vietnam even in my life, you know, I didn’t get drafted; that was the last draft year and they didn’t end up taking anybody, but, you know, it was certainly part of my life. Apocalypse Now is examining an experience common to young men of that generation. The Fall of Coppola’s Career Bill: A collective consciousness. So, Coppola’s really in many ways the premier director of the 1970’s; he has The Godfather, he has The Godfather part 2, he has The Conversation starring Gene Hackman, and Apocalypse Now in ’79. But then his career kind of falls and stalls a little bit in the 80’s and subsequently. Can you explain why that is? Jon: Yes.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • East-West Film Journal, Volume 3, No. 2
    EAST-WEST FILM JOURNAL VOLUME 3 . NUMBER 2 Kurosawa's Ran: Reception and Interpretation I ANN THOMPSON Kagemusha and the Chushingura Motif JOSEPH S. CHANG Inspiring Images: The Influence of the Japanese Cinema on the Writings of Kazuo Ishiguro 39 GREGORY MASON Video Mom: Reflections on a Cultural Obsession 53 MARGARET MORSE Questions of Female Subjectivity, Patriarchy, and Family: Perceptions of Three Indian Women Film Directors 74 WIMAL DISSANAYAKE One Single Blend: A Conversation with Satyajit Ray SURANJAN GANGULY Hollywood and the Rise of Suburbia WILLIAM ROTHMAN JUNE 1989 The East- West Center is a public, nonprofit educational institution with an international board of governors. Some 2,000 research fellows, grad­ uate students, and professionals in business and government each year work with the Center's international staff in cooperative study, training, and research. They examine major issues related to population, resources and development, the environment, culture, and communication in Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center was established in 1960 by the United States Congress, which provides principal funding. Support also comes from more than twenty Asian and Pacific governments, as well as private agencies and corporations. Kurosawa's Ran: Reception and Interpretation ANN THOMPSON AKIRA KUROSAWA'S Ran (literally, war, riot, or chaos) was chosen as the first film to be shown at the First Tokyo International Film Festival in June 1985, and it opened commercially in Japan to record-breaking busi­ ness the next day. The director did not attend the festivities associated with the premiere, however, and the reception given to the film by Japa­ nese critics and reporters, though positive, was described by a French critic who had been deeply involved in the project as having "something of the air of an official embalming" (Raison 1985, 9).
    [Show full text]
  • Summer Classic Film Series, Now in Its 43Rd Year
    Austin has changed a lot over the past decade, but one tradition you can always count on is the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series, now in its 43rd year. We are presenting more than 110 films this summer, so look forward to more well-preserved film prints and dazzling digital restorations, romance and laughs and thrills and more. Escape the unbearable heat (another Austin tradition that isn’t going anywhere) and join us for a three-month-long celebration of the movies! Films screening at SUMMER CLASSIC FILM SERIES the Paramount will be marked with a , while films screening at Stateside will be marked with an . Presented by: A Weekend to Remember – Thurs, May 24 – Sun, May 27 We’re DEFINITELY Not in Kansas Anymore – Sun, June 3 We get the summer started with a weekend of characters and performers you’ll never forget These characters are stepping very far outside their comfort zones OPENING NIGHT FILM! Peter Sellers turns in not one but three incomparably Back to the Future 50TH ANNIVERSARY! hilarious performances, and director Stanley Kubrick Casablanca delivers pitch-dark comedy in this riotous satire of (1985, 116min/color, 35mm) Michael J. Fox, Planet of the Apes (1942, 102min/b&w, 35mm) Humphrey Bogart, Cold War paranoia that suggests we shouldn’t be as Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Crispin (1968, 112min/color, 35mm) Charlton Heston, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad worried about the bomb as we are about the inept Glover . Directed by Robert Zemeckis . Time travel- Roddy McDowell, and Kim Hunter. Directed by Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre.
    [Show full text]
  • Cablelabs Studio Code List 05/01/2006
    CableLabs Studio Code List 05/01/2006 Studio Name Code Last Update 05/05/2006 1 120 Degree Films 120D 2 1st National FSN 3 2 Silks Releasing 2SR 4 20th Century Fox FOX 5 21st Century 21ST 6 2nd Generation 2GN 7 4th & Broadway 4TH 8 50th Street 50TH 9 7th Planet Prods 7PP 10 8X Entertainment 8X 11 A.D.G. ADG 12 A.I.P. Studios AIPS 13 Abramorama Entertainment ABR 14 Academy ACD 15 Access Motion Picture Group ACM 16 ADV Films ADV 17 AFD Theatrical AFDT 18 Alive ALV 19 Alliance Atlantis Communications AA 20 Alliance International Pictures AIP 21 Almi ALM 22 American International Pictures AINT 23 American Vacation Production AVP 24 American World Pictures AWP 25 American Zoetrope AZO 26 Amoon AMO 27 Andora Pictures AND 28 Angelika ANG 29 A-Pix APIX 30 Apollo APO 31 Apple and Honey Film Corp. AHFC 32 Arab Films ARAB 33 Arcangelo Entertainment ARC 34 Arenaplex ARN 35 Arenas Entertainment ARNS 36 Aries ARI 37 Ariztical Entertainment ARIZ 38 Arrival Pictures ARR 39 Arrow Releasing ARW 40 Arthouse Films AHF 41 Artificial Eye ARTI 42 Artisan ARTS 43 Artist View Ent. ARV 44 Artistic License ARTL 45 Artists Releasing Corp ARP 46 ArtMattan Productions AMP 47 Artrution Productions ART 48 ASA Communications ASA 49 Ascot ASC 50 Associated Film Distribution AFD 51 Astor Pictures AST 1 CableLabs Studio Code List 05/01/2006 Studio Name Code Last Update 05/05/2006 52 Astral Films ASRL 53 At An Angle ANGL 54 Atlantic ATL 55 Atopia ATP 56 Attitude Films ATT 57 Avalanche Films AVF 58 Avatar Films AVA 59 Avco Embassy AEM 60 Avenue AVE 61 B&W Prods.
    [Show full text]
  • 7 1Stephen A
    SLIPSTREAM A DATA RICH PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT by Alan Lasky Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production New York University 1985 Submitted to the Media Arts & Sciences Section, School of Architecture & Planning in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology September, 1990 c Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990 All Rights Reserved I Signature of Author Media Arts & Sciences Section Certified by '4 A Professor Glorianna Davenport Assistant Professor of Media Technology, MIT Media Laboratory Thesis Supervisor Accepted by I~ I ~ - -- 7 1Stephen A. Benton Chairperso,'h t fCommittee on Graduate Students OCT 0 4 1990 LIBRARIES iznteh Room 14-0551 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Ph: 617.253.2800 MITLibraries Email: [email protected] Document Services http://libraries.mit.edu/docs DISCLAIMER OF QUALITY Due to the condition of the original material, there are unavoidable flaws in this reproduction. We have made every effort possible to provide you with the best copy available. If you are dissatisfied with this product and find it unusable, please contact Document Services as soon as possible. Thank you. Best copy available. SLIPSTREAM A DATA RICH PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT by Alan Lasky Submitted to the Media Arts & Sciences Section, School of Architecture and Planning on August 10, 1990 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science ABSTRACT Film Production has always been a complex and costly endeavour. Since the early days of cinema, methodologies for planning and tracking production information have been constantly evolving, yet no single system exists that integrates the many forms of production data.
    [Show full text]
  • Apocalypse Now, Vietnam and the Rhetoric of Influence Autor(Es): Childs, Jeffrey Publicado Por: Centro De Literatura Portuguesa
    Apocalypse now, Vietnam and the rhetoric of influence Autor(es): Childs, Jeffrey Publicado por: Centro de Literatura Portuguesa URL persistente: URI:http://hdl.handle.net/10316.2/30048 DOI: DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/2182-8830_1-2_1 Accessed : 30-Sep-2021 22:18:52 A navegação consulta e descarregamento dos títulos inseridos nas Bibliotecas Digitais UC Digitalis, UC Pombalina e UC Impactum, pressupõem a aceitação plena e sem reservas dos Termos e Condições de Uso destas Bibliotecas Digitais, disponíveis em https://digitalis.uc.pt/pt-pt/termos. Conforme exposto nos referidos Termos e Condições de Uso, o descarregamento de títulos de acesso restrito requer uma licença válida de autorização devendo o utilizador aceder ao(s) documento(s) a partir de um endereço de IP da instituição detentora da supramencionada licença. Ao utilizador é apenas permitido o descarregamento para uso pessoal, pelo que o emprego do(s) título(s) descarregado(s) para outro fim, designadamente comercial, carece de autorização do respetivo autor ou editor da obra. Na medida em que todas as obras da UC Digitalis se encontram protegidas pelo Código do Direito de Autor e Direitos Conexos e demais legislação aplicável, toda a cópia, parcial ou total, deste documento, nos casos em que é legalmente admitida, deverá conter ou fazer-se acompanhar por este aviso. impactum.uc.pt digitalis.uc.pt Apocalypse Now, Vietnam and the Rhetoric of Influence JEFFREY CHILDS Universidade Aberta | Centro de Estudos Comparatistas, Univ. de Lisboa Abstract Readings of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) often confront the difficulty of having to privilege either its aesthetic context (considering, for instance, its relation to Conrad's Heart of Darkness [1899] or to the history of cinema) or its value as a representation of the Vietnam War.
    [Show full text]
  • 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]
  • Roger Ebert's
    The College of Media at Illinois presents Roger19thAnnual Ebert’s Film Festival2017 April 19-23, 2017 The Virginia Theatre Chaz Ebert: Co-Founder and Producer 203 W. Park, Champaign, IL Nate Kohn: Festival Director 2017 Roger Ebert’s Film Festival The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The College of Media at Illinois Presents... Roger Ebert’s Film Festival 2017 April 19–23, 2017 Chaz Ebert, Co-Founder, Producer, and Host Nate Kohn, Festival Director Casey Ludwig, Assistant Director More information about the festival can be found at www.ebertfest.com Mission Founded by the late Roger Ebert, University of Illinois Journalism graduate and a Pulitzer Prize- winning film critic, Roger Ebert’s Film Festival takes place in Urbana-Champaign each April for a week, hosted by Chaz Ebert. The festival presents 12 films representing a cross-section of important cinematic works overlooked by audiences, critics and distributors. The films are screened in the 1,500-seat Virginia Theatre, a restored movie palace built in the 1920s. A portion of the festival’s income goes toward on-going renovations at the theatre. The festival brings together the films’ producers, writers, actors and directors to help showcase their work. A film- maker or scholar introduces each film, and each screening is followed by a substantive on-stage Q&A discussion among filmmakers, critics and the audience. In addition to the screenings, the festival hosts a number of academic panel discussions featuring filmmaker guests, scholars and students. The mission of Roger Ebert’s Film Festival is to praise films, genres and formats that have been overlooked.
    [Show full text]
  • Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film (2002) and Behind the Seen by Charles Koppelman (2005)
    Born in 1943 to Canadian parents in New York City, Murch graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in Liberal Arts; and subsequently the Graduate Program of USC’s School of Cinema-Television. His 50-year career in cinema stretches back to 1969 (Francis Coppola’s The Rain People) and includes work on THX-1138, The Godfather I, II, and III, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, and many other films with directors such as George Lucas, Fred Zinnemann, Philip Kaufman, Anthony Minghella, Kathryn Bigelow, Sam Mendes and Brad Bird. Murch's pioneering achievements in sound were acknowledged by Coppola in his 1979 Palme d'Or winner Apocalypse Now, for which Murch was granted, in a film-history first, the screen credit of Sound Designer. Murch has been nominated for nine Academy Awards (six for editing and three for sound) and has won three Oscars: for best sound on Apocalypse Now (for which he and his collaborators devised the now-standard 5.1 sound format), and for Best Film Editing and Best Sound for his work on The English Patient. Although this double win in 1997 was unprecedented in the history of Oscars, Murch had previously won a double BAFTA for best sound and best picture editing for The Conversation in 1974. The English Patient was, co-incidentally, the first digitally-edited film to win an editing Oscar. Murch has also edited documentaries: Particle Fever (2013) on the search for the Higgs Boson (winner of the Grierson Award, and the Steven Hawking Medal for Science Communication) and his most recent work is the recently-completed Coup 53 (2019) an independently-financed feature-length documentary on western interference in the politics of Iran which had its world premiere at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival.
    [Show full text]
  • Film Appreciation Wednesdays 6-10Pm in the Carole L
    Mike Traina, professor Petaluma office #674, (707) 778-3687 Hours: Tues 3-5pm, Wed 2-5pm [email protected] Additional days by appointment Media 10: Film Appreciation Wednesdays 6-10pm in the Carole L. Ellis Auditorium Course Syllabus, Spring 2017 READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY! Welcome to the Spring Cinema Series… a unique opportunity to learn about cinema in an interdisciplinary, cinematheque-style environment open to the general public! Throughout the term we will invite a variety of special guests to enrich your understanding of the films in the series. The films will be preceded by formal introductions and followed by public discussions. You are welcome and encouraged to bring guests throughout the term! This is not a traditional class, therefore it is important for you to review the course assignments and due dates carefully to ensure that you fulfill all the requirements to earn the grade you desire. We want the Cinema Series to be both entertaining and enlightening for students and community alike. Welcome to our college film club! COURSE DESCRIPTION This course will introduce students to one of the most powerful cultural and social communications media of our time: cinema. The successful student will become more aware of the complexity of film art, more sensitive to its nuances, textures, and rhythms, and more perceptive in “reading” its multilayered blend of image, sound, and motion. The films, texts, and classroom materials will cover a broad range of domestic, independent, and international cinema, making students aware of the culture, politics, and social history of the periods in which the films were produced.
    [Show full text]
  • Inmedia, 3 | 2013, « Cinema and Marketing » [Online], Online Since 22 April 2013, Connection on 22 September 2020
    InMedia The French Journal of Media Studies 3 | 2013 Cinema and Marketing Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/inmedia/524 DOI: 10.4000/inmedia.524 ISSN: 2259-4728 Publisher Center for Research on the English-Speaking World (CREW) Electronic reference InMedia, 3 | 2013, « Cinema and Marketing » [Online], Online since 22 April 2013, connection on 22 September 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/inmedia/524 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ inmedia.524 This text was automatically generated on 22 September 2020. © InMedia 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Cinema and Marketing When Cultural Demands Meet Industrial Practices Cinema and Marketing: When Cultural Demands Meet Industrial Practices Nathalie Dupont and Joël Augros Jerry Pickman: “The Picture Worked.” Reminiscences of a Hollywood publicist Sheldon Hall “To prevent the present heat from dissipating”: Stanley Kubrick and the Marketing of Dr. Strangelove (1964) Peter Krämer Targeting American Women: Movie Marketing, Genre History, and the Hollywood Women- in-Danger Film Richard Nowell Marketing Films to the American Conservative Christians: The Case of The Chronicles of Narnia Nathalie Dupont “Paris . As You’ve Never Seen It Before!!!”: The Promotion of Hollywood Foreign Productions in the Postwar Era Daniel Steinhart The Multiple Facets of Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973) Pierre-François Peirano Woody Allen’s French Marketing: Everyone Says Je l’aime, Or Do They? Frédérique Brisset Varia Images of the Protestants in Northern Ireland: A Cinematic Deficit or an Exclusive
    [Show full text]
  • © 2018 Donata Panizza ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
    © 2018 Donata Panizza ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OVEREXPOSING FLORENCE: JOURNEYS THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY, CINEMA, TOURISM, AND URBAN SPACE by DONATA PANIZZA A dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Italian Written under the direction of Professor Rhiannon Noel Welch And approved by ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey OCTOBER, 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Overexposing Florence: Journeys through Photography, Cinema, Tourism, and Urban Space by DONATA PANIZZA Dissertation Director Rhiannon Noel Welch This dissertation examines the many ways in which urban form and visual media interact in 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-centuries Florence. More in detail, this work analyzes photographs of Florence’s medieval and Renaissance heritage by the Alinari Brothers atelier (1852- 1890), and then retraces these photographs’ relationship to contemporary visual culture – namely through representations of Florence in international cinema, art photography, and the guidebook – as well as to the city’s actual structure. Unlike previous scholarship, my research places the Alinari Brothers’ photographs in the context of the enigmatic processes of urban modernization that took place in Florence throughout the 19th century, changing its medieval structure into that of a modern city and the capital of newly unified Italy from 1865 to 1871. The Alinari photographs’ tension between the establishment of the myth of Florence as the cradle of the Renaissance and an uneasy attitude towards modernization, both cherished and feared, produced a multi-layered city portrait, which raises questions about crucial issues such as urban heritage preservation, mass tourism, (de)industrialization, social segregation, and real estate speculation.
    [Show full text]
  • Ordinary Heroes: Depictions of Masculinity in World War II Film a Thesis Submitted to the Miami University Honors Program in Pa
    Ordinary Heroes: Depictions of Masculinity in World War II Film A thesis submitted to the Miami University Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the requirements for University Honors with Distinction by Robert M. Dunlap May 2007 Oxford, Ohio Abstract Much work has been done investigating the historical accuracy of World War II film, but no work has been done using these films to explore social values. From a mixed film studies and historical perspective, this essay investigates movie images of American soldiers in the European Theater of Operations to analyze changing perceptions of masculinity. An examination of ten films chronologically shows a distinct change from the post-war period to the present in the depiction of American soldiers. Masculinity undergoes a marked change from the film Battleground (1949) to Band of Brothers (2001). These changes coincide with monumental shifts in American culture. Events such as the loss of the Vietnam War dramatically changed perceptions of the Second World War and the men who fought during that time period. The United States had to deal with a loss of masculinity that came with their defeat in Vietnam and that shift is reflected in these films. The soldiers depicted become more skeptical of their leadership and become more uncertain of themselves while simultaneously appearing more emotional. Over time, realistic images became acceptable and, in fact, celebrated as truthful while no less masculine. In more recent years, there is a return to the heroism of the World War II generation, with an added emotionality and dimensionality. Films reveal not only the popular opinions of the men who fought and reflect on the validity of the war, but also show contemporary views of masculinity and warfare.
    [Show full text]