Campus Events

"By integrating star studies and film industry studies, Hollywood Stardom reveals the inextricable bonds between culture and commerce in contemporary notions of film stardom. Integrates the traditions of star studies and industry studies to establish an original and innovative mode of analysis whereby the 'star image' is replaced with the 'star brand' Offers the first extensive analysis of stardom in the 'post-studio' era; Combines genre, narrative, acting, and discourse analysis with aspects of marketing theory and the economic analysis of the film market; Draws on an extensive body of research data not previously deployed in film scholarship; A wide range of star examples are explored including George Clooney, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, and Julia Roberts "-- Provided by publisher.

"Unruly women have been making a spectacle of themselves in film and on television from Mae West to Roseanne Arnold. In this groundbreaking work, Kathleen Rowe explores how the unruly woman - often a voluptuous, noisy, joke-making rebel or "woman on top" - uses humor and excess to undermine patriarchal norms and authority." "At the heart of the book are detailed analyses of two highly successful unruly women - the comedian Roseanne Arnold and the Muppet Miss Piggy. Putting these two figures in a deeper cultural perspective, Rowe also examines the evolution of romantic film comedy from the classical Hollywood period to the present, showing how the comedic roles of actresses such as Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, and Marilyn Monroe offered an alternative, empowered image of women that differed sharply from the "suffering heroine" portrayed in classical melodramas." "This feminist study of comedy in film and television offers exciting new opportunities for understanding these media. Written with verve and humor, it will be important reading for a wide popular and scholarly audience in mass communications, gender studies, and popular culture."--BOOK JACKET.

Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.

In MEF's powerful new release, The Bro Code, filmmaker Thomas Keith takes aim at the forces in male culture that condition boys and men to dehumanize and disrespect women. Keith breaks down a range of contemporary media forms that are saturated with sexism -- movies and music videos that glamorize misogyny; pornography that trades in the brutalization of women; comedy routines that make fun of sexual assault; and a slate of men's magazines and cable TV shows whose sole purpose is to revel in reactionary myths of American manhood. The message he uncovers in virtually every corner of our entertainment culture is clear: It's not only normal -- but cool -- for boys and men to control and humiliate women. By showing how there's nothing natural or inevitable about this mentality, and by setting it against the terrible reality of men's violence against women in the real world, The Bro Code challenges young people to step up and fight back against the idea that being a real man means disrespecting women.

Alex opens the series with an overview of its content, then dives straight into a case study on visual style using the SNL 40th anniversary title sequence.