ReFocus: The Films of Michel Gondry

The acclaimed French auteur behind the mind-bending modern classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Michel Gondry has directed innovative, ground-breaking films and documentaries, episodes of the acclaimed television show Kidding and some of the most influential music videos in the history of the medium. In this book, a range of international scholars offers a comprehensive study of this significant and influential figure, covering his French and English-language films and videos, and framing Gondry as a transnational and transcultural auteur whose work provides insight into both French/European and American cinematic and cultural identity. With detailed case studies of films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Dave Chappelle’s Block Party (2005), The Science of Sleep (2006), Be Kind Rewind (2008), Mood Indigo (2013) and Microbe & Gasoline (2015), the book examines significant themes throughout Gondry’s filmography including surrealism, adaptation, memory, dreams, play and African-American identity. The book compares Gondry to other filmmakers including Wes Anderson and Jean Vigo, allowing for an understanding of how Gondry’s films might compare with both his global contemporaries and his predecessors in French and international cinema. Furthermore, the book demonstrates how Gondry’s work in narrative film, documentary and music video represents significant innovation in narrative, visual aesthetic, and genre.

Arts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Eszenyi

The article examines the Hungarian corona angelica tradition, according to which the Holy Crown of Hungary was delivered to the country by an angel. In order to embed Hungarian results into international scholarship, it provides an English language summary of previous research and combines in one study how St. Stephen I (997–1038), St. Ladislaus I (1074–1095), and King Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490) came to be associated with the tradition, examining both written and visual sources. The article moves forward previous research by posing the question whether the angel delivering the Crown to Hungary could have been identified as the Angelus Domini at some point throughout history. This possibility is suggested by Hungary’s Chronici Hungarici compositio saeculi XIV and an unusually popular Early Modern modification of the Hartvik Legend, both of which use this expression to denote the angel delivering the Crown. While the article leaves the question open until further research sheds more light on the history of early Hungarian spirituality; it also points out how this identification of the angel would harmonize the Byzantine and the Hungarian iconography of the corona angelica, and provides insight into the current state of the Angelus Domini debate in angelology.


1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Rothwell

AbstractThroughout the present century the nature of Anglo-Norman and its role in the history of both French and English has been misunderstood and misrepresented by the endless repetition at second hand of views that have their origin in the nineteenth–century ‘reconstructionist’ movement in French philology. Evidence readily available from original sources of many kinds shows that the French used in England between the Conquest and the end of the fourteenth century is at once a more complex and far more important phenomenon than current writing on the subject would suggest, especially as regards the history of the English language.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 77-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.W. Higman

Analysis of 119 English-language cookbooks (1890-1997) published in or having to do with the Caribbean. This study of the history of cookbooks indicates what it means to be Caribbean or to identify with some smaller territory or grouping and how this meaning has changed in response to social and political developments. Concludes that cookbook-writers have not been successful in creating a single account of the Caribbean past or a single, unitary definition of Caribbean cuisine or culture.


Μνήμων ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 211
Author(s):  
ΚΩΣΤΑΣ ΡΑΠΤΗΣ

<p>Kostas Raptis, Middle classes and middle class culture in Europe, 1789-1914: approaches in modern historiography</p><p>The history of the european middle classes from the late 18th to theearly 20th century is a very wide topic and relates to economic, social,political, gender and culture history. This essay gives a brief overviewof the main subjects regarding it. It draws mainly on (pioneer) germanspeaking,but also on english and french literature. Following the currentdebate, it points to the different social and economic groups making upthe so called ((Bürgertum», to their common characteristics, as well astheir specific culture, the ((Bürgerlichkeit)).More specifically this paper is concerned with the followin subjects:— the composition of the «Bürgertum» and the features of its maingroups (professionals, bourgeois of money and bourgeois of knowledge)— the relevant terminology in german, french and english language— the comparison between upper middle class and nobility— the social position and role of the lowermiddle classes— the relation of the bourgeoisie to liberalism and nationalism— the study of the history of the middle classes in the specific contextof a town or a city (as an urban phenomenon)— the position and role of middle class women in a bourgeois society— the middle class family— the bourgeois way of life and culture in general</p>


Author(s):  
Farshid Tayari Ashtiani

The goal of this study was to test the effect of typographical features of subtitles including size, color and position on nonnative English viewers’ retention and recall of lyrics in music videos. To do so, the researcher played a simple subtitled music video for the participants at the beginning of their classes, and administered a 31-blank cloze test from the lyrics at the end of the classes. In the second test, the control group went through the same procedure but experimental group watched the customized subtitled version of the music video. The results demonstrated no significant difference between the two groups in the first test but in the second, the scores remarkably increased in the experimental group and proved better retention and recall. This study has implications for English language teachers and material developers to benefit customized bimodal subtitles as a mnemonic tool for better comprehension, retention and recall of aural contents in videos via Computer Assisted Language Teaching approach.


This overview of the history of Canadian comics explores not only the few Canadian cartoonists who have received study, but many who have not. Contributors look at the myriad ways that English-language, Francophone, indigenous, and queer Canadian comics and cartoonists pose alternatives to American comics, to dominant perceptions, even to gender and racial categories. Specific works covered range from the earliest Canadian comic books to the work of contemporary creators. In contrast to the United States’ melting pot, Canada has been understood to comprise a social, cultural, and ethnic mosaic, with distinct cultural variation as part of its identity. This volume reveals differences that often reflect in highly regional and localized comics such as Paul MacKinnon’s Cape Breton-specific Old Trout Funnies, Michel Rabagliati’s Montreal-based Paul comics, and Kurt Martell and Christopher Merkley’s Thunder Bay-specific zombie apocalypse. The collection also considers some of the conventionally “alternative” cartoonists, such as Seth, Dave Sim, and Chester Brown. It offers alternate views of the diverse and engaging work of two very different Canadian cartoonists who bring their own alternatives into play: Jeff Lemire in his bridging of Canadian/US and mainstream / alternative sensibilities and Nina Bunjevac in her own blending of realism and fantasy as well as of insider / outsider status. Despite an upsurge in research on Canadian comics, there is still remarkably little written about most major and all minor Canadian cartoonists.This volume provides insight into some of the lesser-known Canadian alternatives still awaiting full exploration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 04002
Author(s):  
Nataliia Gach ◽  
Yuliia Trykashna ◽  
Artem Zahrebelnyi

The research addresses the issues of rendering culture specific information in amateur subtitling from the Ukrainian into the English language. The fansubbing of proper names, culture-bound common nouns, formulaic sequences, sociolects and songs by the non-professional translators for whom English is a foreign language is the main focus of this study. Thus, the comparative analysis of the Ukrainian films Chasing Two Hares (1961), Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) and Prayer for Hetman Mazepa (2001), and their English subtitles reveals the difficulties fansubbers may face, as well as discusses translations strategies and techniques employed. Moreover, the study delves into reasons underlying the choice of translation approaches by nonprofessional subtitlers, including the collaborative nature of the process, the lack of theoretical knowledge and practical skills, as well as the insufficient mastering of the target language. Therefore, being a comprehensive study of the ways to convey cultural connotations of the original text by means of a foreign language on the level of fansubs, the research gives insight into the interconnection between the translation techniques used to render cultural references and the effect a target text may have on the audience.


Author(s):  
Jean Allain

This Introduction by Jean Allain to the English-language translation of the 1803 first edition of Joseph-Mathias Gérard de Rayneval’s Institutions de droit de la nature and des gens places the text in context. The Introduction provides the reader with an understanding of the author and his motivations and situates the text within the annals of the history of international law. The Introduction details the evolution of the man who is effectively the last legal advisor to the French foreign office of the Ancien Régime, and speaks to a book which is drafted in the shadow of both the French Revolution and the coming to power of Napoleon Bonaparte. While the Institutions is Rayneval’s contemporary legacy, the Introduction shows a man at the centre of European diplomatic relations who was fundamental to the shaping the peace of Paris of 1783. To provide further insight into Rayneval and his perspective on the Law of Nations, the 1832 ‘Biographical Note of Mr. Rayneval’ which appeared in the third edition of Institutions de droit de la nature and des gens has also been translated and follows on from this Introduction.


Author(s):  
Shuge Wei

News under Fire: China’s Propaganda against Japan in the English-Language Press, 1928–1941 is the first comprehensive study of China’s efforts to establish an effective international propaganda system during the Sino-Japanese crisis. It challenges the notion of Chinese passivity in international propaganda and demonstrates how the fractured government was able to carry out an effective propaganda scheme in spite of Japan’s advanced international news network and the general Western bias against China’s nationalist foundations. By retrieving the long neglected history of English-language papers published in the treaty ports, Shuge Wei reviews a multilayered and often chaotic English-language media environment in China, and demonstrates its vital importance in defending China’s sovereignty. Chinese bilingual elites played an important role in linking the party-led propaganda system with the treaty-port press. Yet the development of propaganda institution did not foster the realization of individual ideals. As the Sino-Japanese crisis deepened, the war machine absorbed their hopes of maintaining a liberal information order.


Paideusis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Claudia Eppert

This paper addresses the primacy of reason over emotion in much of Western philosophy and education. It brings Theravadan Buddhist wisdom to bear upon Western philosophical and educational conceptions of emotion, empathy, and compassion. More specifically, it discusses the four Brahmavihāras, or Divine Abodes. These abodes are considered boundless states of heartmind awareness that dismantle the bifurcation of mind/emotion and embody ideals of social engagement and peace. If cultivated, or dwelled in, they can overturn negative and destructive impulses, freeing the mind from greed, hatred, and delusion. They include Mettā, or loving-kindness, Karunā, or compassion, Muditā or sympathetic joy, and Uppekā or equanimity. In some respects, these abodes reflect aspects of contemporary Western understandings of empathy and compassion. However, they also elaborate upon and differ significantly from these understandings. North American learning outcomes, particularly in such areas as English language arts and peace education, seek to support the cultivation of emotional literacy in students with the hopes that such cultivation will initiate and enhance responsive and responsible relations with self, other, and environment. Insight into these abodes can consequently shed light on possibilities for deepening ethical, emotional, and educational engagement in North America.


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