Maria Mutka, Author of FM 12.1 (2021) Article “’To Begin on Again’: A Study of Early Cinema’s Unique Influence on Modernist Literature”

Posted on December 13, 2021 by admin
A small memorial plaque on the location of James Joyce’s Volta Cinematograph theater. MKSeery on Wikitour (protected by Creative Commons license).

Film Matters: Please tell us about your article that is being published in Film Matters.

Maria Mutka: My article is a brief study and overview of an emerging field of cinema-literature cross sectional studies. The article argues that famous modernist writers of the early twentieth century, like James Joyce, were influenced partially both by cinema and the horrors of the First World War. These events affected how they approached their literary masterpieces, principally how they played with new notions of time and space conceptualization through the use of cinematic-like methods in their writing styles.

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FM 12.1 (2021) Now Out!

Posted on November 29, 2021 by admin

Film Matters is pleased to announce the release of FM 12.1, the first issue of 2021.

In this issue, you will find the following peer-reviewed feature articles:

These featurettes:

These book reviews:

These film reviews:

And these DVD/Blu-ray reviews:

Contributor copies should be mailed soon! In the meantime, for more about this issue, please visit: 

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/fm/2021/00000012/00000001

Are you an undergraduate author who wants to be published in Film Matters? Then we want to work with you! Please check out all the different ways you can publish with us.

Happy holidays!

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Introducing Our 2021 Masoud Yazdani Award Judges

Posted on November 15, 2021 by admin

Judging has begun for the 2021 Masoud Yazdani Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Film Scholarship. Articles under consideration are from the following fine institutions:

  • North Carolina State University
  • Queen Mary University of London
  • Rhode Island College
  • Stanford University
  • University of California, Los Angeles
  • University of Exeter
  • University of Kent
  • University of North Carolina Wilmington
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • University of Southern California (3)
  • University of Toronto (2)
  • Washington University in St. Louis (4)
  • Wilfrid Laurier University (2)
  • Yale University

This award wouldn’t be possible if not for the service work of our judges:

Eleanor Gratz is a graduate student in the Film Studies Department at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Stephen Lambros is a graduate student born and raised in Wilmington, NC. He double majored in creative writing and film studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in the university’s film studies program. Beyond his studies, he enjoys writing books and screenplays.

Saifey Maynor is a graduate student in the Film Studies Department at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Rachel Pittman is a graduate student in the Film Studies Department at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Kate Wise Kate Wise is an MA student in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her current thesis explores the popularity of the K-pop group BTS and the importance of heightened parasocial relationships for fans during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to her research, Kate served as co-editor-in-chief for UBC’s film journal Cinephile and was recently published in the Vancouver-based arts magazine SAD Mag.

We look forward to announcing the results late 2021/early 2022.

In the meantime, happy holidays! And, as always, stay healthy!

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Sam Lawson, Author of FM 11.3 (2020) Article “‘Deviant’ Psychosis: An Exploration of the Production and Consumption of Queer and Transgender Women in the Films of Brian De Palma”

Posted on October 18, 2021 by admin
The Black Dahlia (Universal Pictures, 2006).

Film Matters: Please tell us about your article that is being published in Film Matters.

Sam Lawson: I have consistently found myself drawn to the analysis of LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream media; as such, my article was a result of my frequent consumption of films geared toward heterosexual audiences which feature queer characters and themes. My focus on De Palma was somewhat coincidental; I had compiled several neo-noir films which dealt thematically with LGBTQ+ topics and realized, based on the sheer number of his films which “fit the bill,” it would be in my best interest to focus on De Palma as an auteur.

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Stephen King – Dollar Baby: The Book (BearManor Media). Reviewed by Constantine Frangos

Posted on October 11, 2021 by admin
Book cover

One evening after a full day of work, with four tables pushed together at a café in 2013, I first heard of the Stephen King Dollar Babies program during a precursory meeting which would lead to a film festival that friends and I would put together. One of the local filmmakers in the group simply asked if we had heard of Dollar Babies. They would go on to become my favorite programming block for our short-lived festival. At the same time, over a thousand miles away at the Crypticon Horror Con in Minnesota, Anthony Northrup was hosting his First Annual Stephen King Dollar Baby Film Fest (15). For the uninitiated, “Dollar Babies” are short films where King officially grants adaptation rights to student and promising young filmmakers for a single dollar. 

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Ron Ma, Author of FM 11.3 (2020) Article “In Defense of What? The Battle Between Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival”

Posted on October 11, 2021 by admin
Roma (Netflix, 2018) won the Golden Lion at Venice and is distributed on Netflix, but are people watching the film due to ease of access or due to something else?

Film Matters: Please tell us about your article that is being published in Film Matters.

RM: My article examines the controversy between Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival. In 2017, Cannes announced that it would ban films not released in French theaters, such as Netflix films, from competing at the festival. My article situates Cannes’s decision in the context of French politics, the death of cinema, and film festival studies. Ultimately, I try to understand what compelled Cannes to make this decision and what its implications are.

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Red Balloon Motif Analysis. By Logan Wells

Posted on October 4, 2021 by admin
Tag (Broken Road Production/New Line Cinema, 2018).

The red balloon has found its way into films of different styles, genres, and eras. It is an image that evokes feelings of hope, imagination, and childlike wonder. Innocent and free from concern, it has been notably present ever since Albert Lamorisse’s The Red Balloon (1956), in which a young Parisian boy finds and befriends a sentient balloon. Royce Marcus addresses the symbolism in the film: “The balloon as well as the children embody all that is pure and free; while the suburbs and the adults represent the harshness of reality, the prison and authority of the everyday – that which limits freedom and creativity” (15). The balloon is a fantastical yet simple symbol that is inevitably opposed by the realism of the world around it. The image has reappeared several times in varying degrees of relevance. It appears in major roles, such as in It (2017), or simple moments that pass by in a moment’s notice, such as Tag (2018) or Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). Despite the obvious differences between these films, the balloon’s role remains the same: to remind the characters and the audience of the profound impact that hope, wonder, and imagination has had on all children.

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The Rock (1996). Reviewed by Yaakov “Jacob” Smith

Posted on September 27, 2021 by admin
The Rock (Buena Vista Pictures, 1996).

It would be an understatement to call Michael Bay a punching bag for film critics around the world. Mention of his name has become code, even among the casual moviegoing public, for “bad movie.” This reputation, however, is unfounded. In point of fact, Michael Bay is one of the most visually interesting directors working in the industry, and constantly creates incredible sequences no other filmmaker can replicate. For the best example of his gleefully manic, beautifully destructive style one needs only to see the director’s second film, The Rock (Bay, 1996).

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ALERT: Call for Video Essays

Posted on September 27, 2021 by admin

To all our video essay authors submitting to our recent call for video essays that closed on August 15, 2021: A major miscommunication — compounded by the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic — has led to a misprint in the submission email address for video essays. VideographicFM@gmail.com, unfortunately, is a dead, inaccessible email account. We take our submission process very seriously and sincerely apologize for the attendant confusion, delays, and frustration. We do, very much, still want to receive your submissions, however. For those of you still seeking a publication opportunity with Film Matters, please forward any submissions to our new email account — video.filmmatters@gmail.com — which we assure you is now active. Please see below for updated guidelines in English. And we thank you for your patience, grace, and attention in this matter. We promise to work harder to deserve them!

*****

Eligibility: submissions are accepted from scholars worldwide who are either (1) currently enrolled in an undergraduate program (regardless of discipline) or (2) recent graduates from one. Recent graduates must have received their bachelor’s degrees no earlier than a year from the deadline and must not be currently enrolled in a graduate program.

What to submit: submissions must include three items. (1) An original and unpublished piece of videographic scholarship, authored solely by undergraduates/recent graduates. Video essays must be between 5 and 20 minutes and feature English subtitles (hard-coded), regardless of what languages are spoken in the video. To be considered for publication, video essays must make an identifiable argument and substantially transform the original audiovisual material (i.e., through editing, commentary, etc.). Resources regarding videographic criticism, including information on Fair Use, may be found at: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/intransition/resources. Video essays must be uploaded to Vimeo in private mode; link and password must be provided in the accompanying written statement. (2) A written statement of no less than 300 and no more than 600 words. These statements should not be a transcript of the video, but rather an explanation of the author’s intentions. Statements must be written in English, and bilingual statements are especially welcome. (3) A 150-word, English-language bio of the author.

How to submit: please direct your submission and eventual questions to Film Matters Magazine’s Video Essays Editor Pedro Branco (University of Brasília) at VideographicFM@gmail.com video.filmmatters@gmail.com. Feel free to write in English, Portuguese, Spanish, or French.

Deadline: submissions must be received by August 15, 2021 November 1, 2021, to be considered for publication in issue 13.1 13.2 (2022) of Film Matters Magazine.

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Mise-en-Scene Scrapbook: But I’m a Cheerleader. By Tessa Throneburg

Posted on September 13, 2021 by admin
Figure 1. Cast in Edward Scissorhands (20th Century Fox, 1990).

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) is a satirical rom-com directed by Jamie Babbit and starring Natasha Lyonne as the film’s protagonist Megan, a closeted cheerleader. Megan is sent to a conversion therapy camp by her friends, family, and boyfriend after they suspect her of being a lesbian due to feminine and vulva-esque motifs in her decorations — all of the posters in her room and locker are of women — and the fact that she does not enjoy kissing her boyfriend. After her family, friends, and boyfriend suspect her of being a homosexual, Megan is sent to a conversion therapy camp run by Mary Brown (Cathy Moriarty), who is in charge of the girls at the camp, and Mike (RuPaul), who is in charge of the boys. Megan and the other youth at the camp have to perform and pass a series of exercises and tests throughout the film in order to “correct” their sexual desires, including cooking, cleaning, and dressing feminine for the girls, and yard work and learning how to fix cars for the boys. At first, Megan is open to changing herself and her sexuality through the program, but as she gains more confidence in her sexuality and falls for one of her peers, Graham (Clea DuVall), she rejects the camp and strives for the freedom to be herself.

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