Arab Americans in Film: From Hollywood and Egyptian Stereotypes to Self-Representation

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-335
Author(s):  
Viviane Saglier
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Arab Americans ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Political Sciences ◽  
World Cinema ◽  
Film And Media Studies ◽  
Middle East Studies

What can film studies bring to the study of Arab culture, politics, and history? The past ten years have seen an increase in historical, theoretical, and methodological exchanges between Middle East studies and film and media studies. The sub-field of “Arab film studies” (Ginsberg and Lippard 2020, viii) has emerged as one possible intersection of these two fields of inquiry. This is illustrated by two recent book series, the Cinema and Media Cultures in the Middle East series at Peter Lang Publishing (edited by Terri Ginsberg and Chris Lippard) and the Palgrave Studies in Arab Cinema series at Palgrave Macmillan (edited by Nezar Andary and Samirah Alkassim). Waleed Mahdi's Arab Americans in Film (2020) and Peter Limbrick's Arab Modernism as World Cinema: The Films of Moumen Smihi (2020) consolidate these exchanges across ethnic studies, area studies, political sciences, (art) history, and film and media studies. While Mahdi primarily positions himself from within ethnic studies and Limbrick is first a film scholar, both have published in reference journals in film studies, Middle East studies, and cultural studies.

Screen Stories: Emotion and the Ethics of Engagement

Projections ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 79-85
Author(s):  
Carl Plantinga
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Narrative Paradigm ◽  
Dominant Response ◽  
Engagement Theory ◽  
Long Form ◽  
Film And Media Studies ◽  
Ethical Thinking ◽  
Moral Persuasion

In this overview and discussion of my recent book, I outline its major topics and arguments and ruminate on its purpose, its implications, and possible objections to the very idea of an ethics of screen stories. Screen stories are narratives that appear on screens, and in this book I focus on long-form screen stories. The book has three parts. Part I develops a theory of the persuasive or rhetorical power of screen stories. Part 2 argues that while one dominant response to that power in film and media studies has been what I call “estrangement theory,” it is in fact an “engagement theory” that offers more promise for the development of an ethics of screen storytelling. Part 3 examines some of the contours of engagement, or, in other words, some of the means by which screen stories engage the viewer in ethical thinking and moral persuasion. There, I focus on character engagement, narrative structure (and especially endings), and narrative paradigm scenarios.

scholarly journals Introduction

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Castaldo Lunden
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Costume Design ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Film And Media Studies

This special issue belongs to a series of activities under the umbrella denomination “Studying and Exploring the Intersections of Fashion, Film, and Media Studies,” created in 2014 by film scholar Anne Bachmann and I. Our goal was to promote an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of fashion, film, and media. This venture was launched with two activities at the 2015 edition of the annual conference of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, in Montreal. The first activity consisted of a panel featuring the on-going projects of four Ph.D. students working with these combined fields.[1]  The second activity consisted of a workshop, in which presentations opened to discussions addressing how the use of archival material and film fan magazines, combined with film studies’ methodological approach to history, could benefit fashion research.[2] This workshop expanded into a Symposium at Stockholm University featuring established scholars who pioneered research in these fields of studies combined. This special issue of Networking Knowledge seeks to include early career researchers in such conversation, broadening the network of scholars and the combined field of expertise. Since its inception, a historical approach has been encouraged by the founders of this project. Yet, the semiotic roots used for textual analysis of costume design shall not be overlooked. In this sense, this special issue intends to present a panorama of the heterogeneous nature of studies in these interconnected fields.   [1] The panel was titled “Industry Crossovers: Key Women in Fashion, Film, and Media,” with Michelle Tolini Finamore as respondent, SCMS Conference, Montreal. [2] The workshop featured presentations by Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Jenny Romero, and Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén. Because Fashion Matters: Studying the Intersections of Fashion, Film, and Media, SCMS Conference, Montreal, 29th March 2015.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Plantinga
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Cultural Ecology ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Ethical Evaluation ◽  
Human Emotion ◽  
Personal Story ◽  
Film And Media Studies

The introduction to Screen Stories: Emotion and the Ethics of Engagement traces the main argument of the book and previews the book’s structure. The argument is that stories on screens—films, television, the Internet, and so on—contribute to the cultural ecology of a place and time and are thus subject to ethical evaluation. Screen stories are rhetorically powerful in large part because they engage and elicit human emotion. Academic film studies respond to this power by embracing “estrangement theory,” which largely rejects mainstream screen stories, immersion, and emotion. The personal story told in the Introduction relates the author’s experiences with screen stories and how he came to believe that ethics as practiced by academic film and media studies, at least in the form of estrangement theory, is unable to usefully address the experiences of most contemporary viewers and thus introduces the reader instead to an ethics of engagement.

Compte Rendu de Anna Caterina Dalmasso, Le Corps, c’est l’écran. La philosophie du visuel de Merleau-Ponty

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 379-388
Author(s):  
Charles Bobant ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Visual Studies ◽  
Compte Rendu ◽  
Film And Media Studies ◽  
Unpublished Manuscripts

Dans son livre Le corps, c’est l’écran. La philosophie du visuel de Merleau-Ponty, Anna Caterina Dalmasso met en évidence la présence de la pensée merleau-pontienne dans les réflexions contemporaines relevant des visual studies, de la médiologie et des études cinématographiques. Les analyses menées révèlent un Merleau-Ponty à l’origine d’un certain nombre de « tournants » majeurs dans le questionnement, touchant notamment à la conception de l’image (de l’image copie d’un modèle à l’image qui nous regarde) et du médium (du modèle de la transparence à celui de l’opacité). Enfin, l’une des ambitions – et l’une des réussites – de l’ouvrage est de restituer l’apport significatif de Merleau-Ponty pour les film studies. A.C. Dalmasso jette des lumières nouvelles sur une interrogation en constante évolution, en s’appuyant à la fois sur les textes bien connus (« Le cinéma et la nouvelle psychologie », L’OEil et l’esprit) et les « inédits » (Le Monde sensible et le monde de l’expression).In her book Le corps, c’est l’écran. La philosophie du visuel de Merleau-Ponty, Anna Caterina Dalmasso brings to light the presence of Merleau-pontian thought in contemporary reflections relevant to visual studies, as well as film and media studies. The analyses she carried out reveal a Merleau-Ponty at the origin of a certain number of major “turns” in the inquiry, touching notably on the conception of the image (from the image as copy of a model to the image that looks at us) and of the medium (from the model of transparency to that of opacity). Besides, one of the ambitions – and one of the successes – of the work is to demonstrate the significant contribution of Merleau-Ponty for film studies. A.C. Dalmasso throws new light on an interrogation in constant evolution, stressing both well-known texts (“Film and the New Psychology,” Eye and Mind) and unpublished manuscripts (Le monde sensible et le monde de l’expression).Nel volume Le corps, c’est l’écran. La philosophie du visuel de Merleau-Ponty, Anna Caterina Dalmasso mette in evidenza la presenza del pensiero merleau-pontyano nelle riflessioni contemporanee dei visual studies, della teoria del cinema e dei media. Le analisi che vi sono condotte rivelano un Merleau-Ponty all’origine di alcune importanti “svolte”, che riguardano in particolare la concezione dell’immagine (dall’immagine come copia di un modello ad un’immagine che ci guarda) e del medium (da un modello basato sulla trasparenza a uno che fa perno sulla sua opacità). Inoltre, una delle ambizioni – e uno degli aspetti più originali – dell’opera è quella di restituire il significativo apporto di Merleau-Ponty per l’ambito dei film studies. A.C. Dalmasso fa luce in modo innovativo su un tema di ricerca in costante evoluzione, appoggiandosi ad un tempo su scritti più noti (come “Il cinema e la nuova psicologia” e L’occhio e lo spirito) e su alcuni testi “inediti” (in particolare Le monde sensible et le monde de l’expression).

scholarly journals The Shudder of a Cinephiliac Idea? Videographic Film Studies Practice as Material Thinking

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Grant
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Digital Video ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Moving Image ◽  
Creative Practice ◽  
Film And Media Studies ◽  
Technology Grant ◽  
Audio Video

This chapter carefully considers the practice of the audio-video essayist, reflecting on the topics of subjectivity, textuality, and technology. Grant is a film scholar who, in the last ten years, has begun to produce, write about, and publish creative-critical digital-video essays on film and media studies subjects, essays that use footage from the films studied, as well as other moving image/sounds from existing media. Her chapter examines the critical and theoretical threads that surround the audiovisual essay as it belongs to the tradition of the essay film and as it belongs to the broader realm of creative practice. She also thinks through some of the spectatorial implications of her online practice as research.

Coda

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Musser
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
New Media ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Early Cinema ◽  
Media Archaeology ◽  
Film And Media Studies ◽  
William Mckinley

The first section characterizes the structure of feeling of US presidential elections during the long 1890s, making comparisons between that decade and the contemporary moment, noting similarities between the campaigns of William McKinley and Barack Obama. It briefly considers new media moments such as radio and television as well as recurrent structures of politicking in the twentieth century. The second section considers the shift from Film Studies to Film and Media Studies and the dialogic relations between the study of early cinema and the emerging field of media archaeology. Finally considers ways in which the illustrated lecture can be analyzed within the framework of Documentary Studies.

scholarly journals Reinvigorating Film Studies: An Immodest Proposal

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Murat Akser
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Film And Media Studies

CINEJ Cinema Journal is a newcomer to the field of film studies. It is committed to publishing fresh and original research in the fields of film and media studies. The need for such a journal is result of emergence of fresh perspectives in film studies and the absence of an outlet to incorporate such ideals.

Orientalist Speech-acts and Israeli Middle East Studies: Cautions and Criticisms of Edward Said Beyond the Battle of Ideas

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-237
Author(s):  
Eyal Clyne
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Edward Said ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Academic World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Middle East Studies

Drawing on speech acts theory, this article discusses the illocutionary and perlocutionary forces of discursive practices with which certain academic circles seek to discredit the Saidian ‘Orientalism’ framework. Identifying the unusual value attached to Said as object of attachment or detachment, desirability and exceptionality, this analysis turns away from deliberations about ‘orientalism’ as a party in a battle of ideas, and studies common cautionary statements and other responses by peers as actions in the social (academic) world, that enculture and police expectations. Cautioning subjects about this framework, or conditioning its employment to preceding extensive pre-emptive complicating mitigations, in effect constructs this framework as undesirable and ‘risky’. While strong discursive reactions are not uncommon in academia, comparing them to treatments of less-controversial social theories reveals formulations, meanings and attentions which are arguably reserved for this ‘theory’. Conclusively, common dismissals, warnings and criticisms of Said and ‘Orientalism’ often exemplify Saidian claims, as they deploy the powerful advantage of enforcing hegemonic, and indeed Orientalist, views.

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