Race, Violence, and the City: Chicago’s Black Urbanity in Contemporary American Film and Literature

In this article we look at three recent films–Native Son (2019, dir. Rashid Johnson, based on Richard Wright’s 1940 novel), Widows (2018, dir. Steve McQueen, based on a 1983 TV series), and The Hate U Give (2018, dir. George Tillman Jr., based on a book by Angie Thomas)–by Black directors that showcase the interactions between Blacks and whites in an American urban milieu. We argue that the setting of two of these films–Native Son and Widows–in Chicago, with The Hate U Give being set in a fictional urban setting bearing a strong resemblance to the Windy City, serves to articulate the continuing racial divisions of American cities in the twenty-first century. The three films show that the fossilization of the divide between Black and white districts inevitably leads to outbreaks of racial violence.

Controlling Anti-Gay Hate Speech in New Zealand: The Living Word Case from beginning to end

<p>This thesis explores the two attempts to control hate speech against the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities in New Zealand. It argues that freedom of speech is not absolute and there are methods to control it for the good of society. The thesis examined the primary documents, regarding Living Word, tracing the history of that attempt to control the hatred generated by these videos. It examines what happened during that period and how discourse developed, and provides recommendations for future consideration. I argue the videos in question form part of the continuum of discourse surrounding sexual orientation, and inform, and are informed by, the discourse surrounding homosexuality in wider society. Seen as being at one end of the spectrum of that discourse, they encourage discrimination and hatred against members of the non-heterosexual communities, and may therefore be regarded as hate speech. There is little in New Zealand that addresses hate speech against these communities. There have been two attempts to control this type of hate speech. The first was regarding Paul Cameron's Exposing the AIDS Scandal (1988) before the Indecent Publications Tribunal, seeking to have the publication ruled indecent as it held gay men and people living with AIDS as inherently inferior to other people, and it demeaned and degraded them. This attempt failed as the Tribunal held that the invective was not concentrated enough to be classed as hate speech. It did, however, provide a definition of hate speech that can be developed in New Zealand law. The second was the case known as the Living Word case, after the appellant. This complaint to the Office of Film and Literature Classification was laid by the Human Rights Action Group (Wellington) against AIDS: What you haven't been told (1989) and Gay Rights/Special Rights: Inside the homosexual agenda (1993). The videos represent lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people, and people living with HIV/AIDS, as inferior to other people by reason of their sexuality or HIV status, and degrades, demeans and dehumanises them. Therefore, a classification of objectionable was sought. The Office held the videos to be hateful, but felt that those communities were strong enough to withstand the assault these videos made. On appeal to the Film and Literature Board of Review, the Board concluded the video did treat members of those communities as lesser people, and did degrade, demean and dehumanise them and classified the videos as objectionable. The New Zealand distributors of the videos, Living Word Distributors, appealed to the High Court, which dismissed the appeal. Living Word then appealed to the Court of Appeal, seeking to narrow the gateway of material that could be censored and on the grounds the classification interfered with their freedom of speech. The Court of Appeal overturned the earlier decisions, narrowed the gateway of material that could be censored, and remitted the videos back to the Film and Literature Board of Review. The study concluded that hate speech is, in terms of the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act, injurious to the public good, and ought to be able to be classified.</p>

Controlling Anti-Gay Hate Speech in New Zealand: The Living Word Case from beginning to end

<p>This thesis explores the two attempts to control hate speech against the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities in New Zealand. It argues that freedom of speech is not absolute and there are methods to control it for the good of society. The thesis examined the primary documents, regarding Living Word, tracing the history of that attempt to control the hatred generated by these videos. It examines what happened during that period and how discourse developed, and provides recommendations for future consideration. I argue the videos in question form part of the continuum of discourse surrounding sexual orientation, and inform, and are informed by, the discourse surrounding homosexuality in wider society. Seen as being at one end of the spectrum of that discourse, they encourage discrimination and hatred against members of the non-heterosexual communities, and may therefore be regarded as hate speech. There is little in New Zealand that addresses hate speech against these communities. There have been two attempts to control this type of hate speech. The first was regarding Paul Cameron's Exposing the AIDS Scandal (1988) before the Indecent Publications Tribunal, seeking to have the publication ruled indecent as it held gay men and people living with AIDS as inherently inferior to other people, and it demeaned and degraded them. This attempt failed as the Tribunal held that the invective was not concentrated enough to be classed as hate speech. It did, however, provide a definition of hate speech that can be developed in New Zealand law. The second was the case known as the Living Word case, after the appellant. This complaint to the Office of Film and Literature Classification was laid by the Human Rights Action Group (Wellington) against AIDS: What you haven't been told (1989) and Gay Rights/Special Rights: Inside the homosexual agenda (1993). The videos represent lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people, and people living with HIV/AIDS, as inferior to other people by reason of their sexuality or HIV status, and degrades, demeans and dehumanises them. Therefore, a classification of objectionable was sought. The Office held the videos to be hateful, but felt that those communities were strong enough to withstand the assault these videos made. On appeal to the Film and Literature Board of Review, the Board concluded the video did treat members of those communities as lesser people, and did degrade, demean and dehumanise them and classified the videos as objectionable. The New Zealand distributors of the videos, Living Word Distributors, appealed to the High Court, which dismissed the appeal. Living Word then appealed to the Court of Appeal, seeking to narrow the gateway of material that could be censored and on the grounds the classification interfered with their freedom of speech. The Court of Appeal overturned the earlier decisions, narrowed the gateway of material that could be censored, and remitted the videos back to the Film and Literature Board of Review. The study concluded that hate speech is, in terms of the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act, injurious to the public good, and ought to be able to be classified.</p>

Juarez and Maximilian. Stories and interpretations in film and literature

This paper approaches the relations between history and fiction through analysis of two works: the Franz Werfel drama’s Juarez und Maximilian (1924), and the Miguel Contreras Torres movie’s, Juárez y Maximiliano (1934). Both works intend to tell us the happened during the Second Mexican Empire, Werfel with the Austrian gaze and Contreras with the Mexican gaze. We go inside to biography and context of authors, as well as the reception of the drama and movie in the local press, to understanding the political implications of the representations of the past. Finally, we analyze the philosophy of history implied in both Werfel and Contreras, and your relations with creation’s context.

Loop Structures in Film (and Literature): Experiments with Time Between the Poles of Classical and Complex Narration

Among the many innovations complex or “puzzle” films have brought about in the last three decades, experiments with narrative time feature prominently. And within the category of nonlinear plots, the loop structure – exemplified by films such as Repeaters (Canada 2010), Source Code (USA/France 2011), Looper (USA/China 2012) or the TV-Series Day Break (USA 2006) – has established itself as an interesting variant defying certain norms of storytelling while at the same time conforming in most cases to the needs of genre and mass audience comprehension. In the first part of my paper, I will map out different kinds of repeated action plots, paying special attention to constraints and potentialities pertaining to this particular form. In the second part, I will address the issue of narrative complexity, showing that loop films cover a wide range from “excessively obvious” mainstream (e.g. Groundhog Day, USA 1992; 12:01, USA 1993; Edge of Tomorrow, USA/Canada 2014) to disturbing narrative experiments such as Los Cronocrimenes (Spain 2007) or Triangle (Great Britain/Australia 2009). Finally, a look at two early examples (Repeat Performance, USA 1947 and Twilight Zone: Judgement Day, USA 1959) will raise the question how singular the recent wave of loop films are from a historical perspective.

The Ascetic Ideal

This book develops a reading of Nietzsche’s concept of ‘the ascetic ideal’, through which he tracks the evolution, mutation, and expansion of the system of slave moral values that he associates primarily with Judaeo-Christian religious belief through diverse fields of Western European culture—not just religion and morality, but aesthetics, science, and philosophy. The work of Stanley Cavell and Michael Fried, and its impact in the philosophy of film and literature, is central here, as is J. M.Coetzee’s on the philosophy of autobiography; Martin Heidegger’s critique of science and technology is also addressed. In so doing it also offers an interpretation of his genealogical method that aims to rebut standard criticisms of its nature, and to emphasize its potential for enhancing philosophical understanding more generally. The focus throughout is on developments in those fields which occurred after the end of Nietzsche’s intellectual career, and in particular on influential modes of thought and practice that have a contemporary significance. However, the goal is not simply to argue that Nietzsche’s diagnosis and critique retain considerable merit. It is also to show that Nietzsche is himself significantly indebted to the ideals he criticizes; and that this opens up a possibility of synthesizing elements of his approach with those drawn from its target. Hence, the book also tracks various ways in which the object of Nietzsche’s criticism has further mutated (just as his genealogical method would suggest), and in doing so has generated ways of pursuing the values central to asceticism that avoid Nietzsche’s criticisms.

Burning Woman: Sexualized Robots and the Vilification of Women in Metropolis and its Precursors

The vilification and subsequent destruction of feminine robots is a surprisingly common trope in film and literature. This essay draws connections between three very different works—Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Villier’s Tomorrow’s Eve, and E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Sandman—and posits a shared narrative reason for the deaths of the three artificial women: male projection. Comparing and contrasting the three death scenes with each other as well as other texts on feminine literature and projection demonstrates how little substance there is to these “out of control” women/technologies beyond the faults of the men who create them. Furthermore, this essay brings up a prudent question: could these artificial women have become something more if it were not for the displaced guilt and projected egos of the men around them?