Otherwise

2021 ◽  
pp. 152-183
Author(s):  
Akshaya Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Film History ◽  
Music Videos ◽  
Action Films ◽  
Film Distribution ◽  
Urban Settlements ◽  
Global Modernity ◽  
Data Transfers

This chapter shows that if seen from the film distribution-exhibition end, film history in India appears remarkably different from the iconic ‘family films’ which played in the premier theatres. It analyses the fringe exhibition sector, in which action, horror, sleaze genres flourished via dubbing, remakes, informal rehashing and insertion of pornographic ‘bits’. Situating the eruption of Bhojpuri cinema vis-a-vis these genres and their working-class patrons, the chapter establishes its continuity with the informal media economy of pirated disks, microSD data transfers and illegal settlements, all of which constitute the suboptimal transactions of Bhojpuri songs, music videos, films but also Hindi/Tamil/Telugu action films. Arguing that these transactions constitute the ‘meanwhile’ temporality of transitory urban settlements perpetually negotiating their legality with urban planners and administrators, the chapter situates a meanwhile subjectivity of the provincial migrants which remains sandwiched between the superhighways of global modernity and the crumbling infrastructures of provincial life.

scholarly journals Space, Place, and Realism

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-154
Author(s):  
Sue Thornham
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Film Theory ◽  
Film History ◽  
Space And Place ◽  
Feminist Philosophy ◽  
Women Directors ◽  
Feminist Film Theory ◽  
British Cinema ◽  
History Of ◽  
Feminist Film

John Hill has described the ways in which male-centered narratives of British “working-class films” of the 1980s and 1990s mobilize the idea of the working-class community as “a metaphor for the state of the nation.” Writing on films of the same era by women directors, Charlotte Brunsdon deems it more difficult to see these films as “representations of the nation.” There are, she writes, “real equivocations in the fit between being a woman and representing Britishness.” This article explores this issue, arguing that the history of British cinema to which Hill's chapter contributes is not only bound up with a particular sense of British national identity, but founded on a particular conception, and use, of space and place. Taking Andrea Arnold's Red Road (2006) as its case study, it asks what it is about this sense of space and place that excludes women as subjects, rendering their stories outside of and even disruptive of the tradition Hill describes. Finally, drawing on feminist philosophy and cultural geography, it suggests ways in which answering these questions might also help us think about the difficult questions raised by Jane Gaines, in a number of articles, around how we might think together feminist film theory and film history.

Beyond Bieber Fever

2021 ◽  
pp. 100-127
Author(s):  
Kai Arne Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Music Videos ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
The Social ◽  
Black Queer

The chapter inquires into Justin Bieber’s 2020 comeback, which followed a hiatus in his career in the late 2010s. After detailing some of the central themes and events in Bieber’s early career, it presents analyses of two music videos: Yummy (2020) and Holy (2020). Yummy is characterized by camp elements that fuel Bieber’s exhibition of a puerile playfulness, whereas Holy presents an earnest portrayal of a down-on-his-luck oil worker who finds solace in religious faith and romantic commitment. Addressing the flexibility with which Bieber adopts contrasting gender expressions in these videos, the author contemplates a number of questions related to the continual reinvention that characterizes the careers of many pop artists. The chapter also discusses how issues related to the sexualization of food, the gendering of work, and the social constraints associated with marriage are navigated within a pop context. If both Yummy and Holy seem to expand the boundaries of masculinity, they are simultaneously characterized by heteronormative elements that undermine such an effort. It is therefore concluded that Bieber’s strategic borrowing from the cultures and practices of black, queer, and working-class men increases his masculine capital without challenging existing relations of privilege and marginalization.

Viewing music videos: Emotion and viewer interpretation

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan M. Preston ◽  
Michael Eden
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Emotional Content ◽  
Music Videos ◽  
Music Video ◽  
Mediating Factors ◽  
Comparative Media

Abstract. Music video (MV) content is frequently measured using researcher descriptions. This study examines subjective or viewers’ notions of sex and violence. 168 university students watched 9 mainstream MVs. Incidence counts of sex and violence involve more mediating factors than ratings. High incidents are associated with older viewers, higher scores for Expressivity, lower scores for Instrumentality, and with video orders beginning with high sex and violence. Ratings of sex and violence are associated with older viewers and lower scores for Instrumentality. For sex MVs, inexperienced viewers reported higher incidents and ratings. Because MVs tend to be sexier but less violent than TV and film, viewers may also use comparative media standards to evaluate emotional content MVs.

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