THE MAGAZINE FOR STUDENTS OF FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES DECEMBER 2017 ISSUE 62 MOONLIGHT RADIO 1 BREAKFAST SHOW BILLIE JEAN AUTEUR DIRECTORS LOVE ISLAND HOLLYWOOD CINEMA OF THE 1950s LATE NIGHT WOMAN’S HOUR Contents 16 The Tales and Tastes of Tarantino MediaMagazine is published Eduqas calls Pulp Fiction by the English and Media ‘the very epitome of Centre, a non-profit making postmodern film’; critics organisation. The Centre have described it as vacuous, publishes a wide range of and 'entirely stripped of classroom materials and any politics, metaphysics, runs courses for teachers. or moral interest’. Mark If you’re studying English 06 Ramey defends the film’s at A Level, look out for status as a set text. emagazine, also published 04 Making the Most by the Centre. of MediaMag 20 Billie Jean: Birth of an icon 06 The Radio 1 Thirty-five years since the Breakfast Show promo video for ‘Billie Jean’ Whether or not radio is helped propel Michael your medium of choice, it Jackson to super-stardom features on all the A Level Claire Pollard examines its specifications – there’s no legacy in a brilliant case 28 escape! Chris Harris provides study for OCR and AQA a really useful case study A Level Media Studies for those studying for the OCR Media industries 24 Ready Player One? and audiences unit. Virtual and augmented reality: How far will 10 Interview with Neill they revolutionise our Sullivan, Silver Bullet TV media consumption, Chris Harris interviews music, communication and radio and TV producer Neill The English and Media Centre creativity? Jenny 18 Compton Terrace Sullivan about his career McNulty investigates. London N1 2UN path and current work on Telephone: 020 7359 8080 Radio 1’s The School Run 28 Late Night Woman’s Fax: 020 7354 0133 Hour: Listening out Email for subscription enquiries: 12 Hollywood Films for the audience [email protected] in the studio era: Neil Paddison explores understanding the industry and audience context of Johnny Guitar issues in this new Editors: Roy Stafford explores set text for Eduqas A Jenny Grahame the social, cultural and Level Media Studies. Claire Pollard political context of a little- Copy-editing: known masterpiece of the Andrew McCallum 56 classic Hollywood era. Subscriptions manager: Bev St Hill Design: Sam Sullivan Newington Design This magazine is not photocopiable. Why not subscribe to our web package Print: which includes a downloadable and printable PDF of the current issue? S&G Group Tel 020 7359 8080 for details. Cover: Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes in Moonlight © Altitude Films 2 MMM62-nov-28.inddM62-nov-28.indd 2 229/11/20179/11/2017 12:5812:58 33 Curran and Seaton: is Rupert Murdoch ‘fit and proper’ to run Sky Television? Nick Lacey explores the work of James Curran and Jean Seaton, set theorists across all the Media Studies specifications, and applies their ideas to the ongoing empire of Rupert Murdoch. 38 42 36 David Gauntlett and theories of Identity: 50 A Woman’s Place Cartoon by Goom is in The Resistance Kirsty Worrow explores 38 Press X to Skip how Hulu’s TV adaptation Big-budget games of Margaret Atwood’s rarely become film The Handmaid’s Tale has blockbusters, but why? provided a timely and Nick Samsworth suggests powerful icon for feminist that misunderstanding protest in Trump’s America. of interactive storytelling and the need for profit 56 What Really Happened? have crafted the fail-state The Oscars 2017 that is the game-to-film 65 What was the significance of adaptation market. last year’s Oscars meltdown, and why does it matter? 42 Love Island: The Ultimate Event TV 62 From Curators to Sarah-Jane Hand explains Critics – Gatekeeping why Love Island is so 50 in the Digital Age much more than dumbed- Now we’re all streaming our down reality TV. music, how do we know what to choose? How are 46 Dunkirk, the tick musical careers made and and the Shepard Tone broken? Who are the gate- Giles Gough analyses 16 keepers, and whose views the power of sound have critical authority? in Christopher Nolan’s Ian Bland investigates. astonishing Dunkirk. 46 65 Auteur directors: doing it their own way Student Axel Metz explores the much-debated concept of the auteur. 3 MMM62-nov-28.inddM62-nov-28.indd 3 229/11/20179/11/2017 12:5812:58 Making the Most of MediaMag Radio 1 Breakfast Show: Understanding the Pitch presentation context of Johnny Guitar Radio 1 has announced To fully understand Johnny that its Breakfast Show Guitar, you’ll need to understand needs a face-lift, and its social and political context. wants your help. Nick Grimshaw’s It is a film with a political sub-text – a audiences are dropping, The narrative which draws metaphorically 12 School Run is dead and gone, on the contemporary events of the and Twitter comments indicate McCarthy Trials in early 1950s America, and culture, and a number of feature that the ‘spontaneous multi- when the House of Un-American films have been made which refer either presenter morning zoo format’ is Activities embarked upon a witch-hunt directly or obliquely to McCarthyism no longer pulling the listeners. to eradicate communism in American and the Hollywood Blacklist. In your The BBC is calling for pitches public life. This dark and paranoia-fuelled own time, look out for some of the from new young talent for an period of post-war American history had following movies, to understand the entirely different concept for the a massive impact on the film industry: context of paranoia of the time. Breakfast Show. Your proposal The Hollywood blacklist—as the The Crucible (1996, Nicholas Hytner, must include the following: broader entertainment industry written by Arthur Miller) uses real-life • Suggestions for a new blacklist is generally known—was the 16th century witch-hunts in Puritan New presentation format, with practice of denying employment to England as an allegory for McCarthyism. reasons for your choice screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, Other allegorical versions include: • A new 10-minute video feature and other American entertainment • High Noon (Zinneman, 1952) to replace the School Run, professionals during the mid-20th • The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers which must involve celebrities century because they were accused of (Don Siegel,1956 ) • A new feature for mums, having Communist ties or sympathies. • Rear Window (Hitchcock 1954) toddlers, and children who are Artists were barred from work on the • Goodnight and Good Luck ( directed off school because they’re ill basis of their alleged membership in or /featuring George Clooney2005) • Other links and features sympathy with the Communist Party • The Manchurian Candidate specifically designed for the USA or refusal to assist investigations (Frankenheimer, featuring time slot (6.33 – 10.00 am) into the party’s activities. Even during Frank Sinatra, 1962) • Plans for other the period of its strictest enforcement, • The Front (Woody Allen, 1976) branded visual content the late 1940s through the late 1950s, • Hail, Caesar! (Cohen Brothers, Prepare to present the blacklist was rarely made explicit or 2016) for a light-hearted look your pitch to the Radio 1 verifiable, but it directly damaged the at the studio system and commissioners, explaining careers of scores of individuals working communism within the industry. • how and why your new show in the film industry. (en.wikipedia. 3. Podcast it: In small groups, create will appeal to the established org/wiki/Hollywood_blacklist) the script for a short podcast about the Breakfast Show audience, 1. Research it: Use Wikipedia influence of McCarthyism and the HUAC • how your show will extend and Google to find out as much as on Hollywood cinema in the 50s and 60s the Radio 1 brand. you can about this era, particularly 4. Share it: Use your research the Hollywood Ten, other influential to create an illustrated slide-share, directors and artists whose careers were PowerPoint or document in the affected by the blacklist, and some of presentation tool of your choice those who ‘named names’ (i.e. gave which could be used to teach evidence to HUAC against colleagues another class about the importance – e.g. Walt Disney and Elia Kazan). of this period of US history. 2. Wider viewing: This period has 06 continued to impact on US arts, literature 4 MMM62-nov-28.inddM62-nov-28.indd 4 229/11/20179/11/2017 12:5812:58 It’s not too late to join the NFTS/BFI Film Academy Residential! KICKSTART YOUR CAREER IN THE FILM INDUSTRY For the last four years, MediaMag has sung the praises of a the NFTS/ 20 BFI Craft Residential which every Easter sees 66 young people from all over the UK experience the training programme of a lifetime. Billie Jean Both Jenny and Claire, your MediaMag editors, have been involved Two of the A level in the scheme, and we can honestly say that if you are passionate specifications includes about film-making it’s an opportunity not to be missed. Michael Jackson’s video The NFTS is one of the most prestigious film schools in the world, ‘Billie Jean’ as a set text – and the OCR with a huge slate of amazing and influential alumni – and many of GCSE also includes ‘Black or White’. the students who attend this residential move on up into the industry As Claire Pollard’s article suggests, and forge networks which will last them all their lives. The specialisms Michael Jackson’s career coincided covered include cinematography, direction, screenwriting, producing, with both huge technological sound recording, editing and production design – a wide variety of changes with the rise of MTV and roles and skills, tutored by outstanding professionals and accompanied improved special effects and with by master classes from some of the top names in the business.