Labour in Wonder Woman: A Marxist Feminist Reading

An Amazonian Goddess who was raised a warrior set in World War I, screams the impact of Marxism. Wonder Women (2017), produced by DC, has a nominal heroine who seems like an icon of Feminism but is instead the opposite in close observation. Though the character seems vigorously empowered, she is reduced to a commodity in the clutches of capitalism. Wonder Woman’s labour was tried to fit into the domestic sphere. This paper would explore the film from the focal lenses of Marxist Feminism. The investigative questions revolve around ‘cheap labour,’ ‘reserve labour,’ and ‘reproduction.’ Also, the marginalized status of other proletariats is examined. How the character becomes a target of capitalism by pushing her into the domestic sphere and objectification is the paper’s primary concern. The paper would use a qualitative approach to achieve the desired result. The analysis will be a subjective judgment based on the film text. The characters’ cognitive behavior and the surrounding are a central element that will be explored through the narrative analysis. The research methodology will employ conceptualization and qualitative design and methodology.

Playing human

While Indian cinema has a rich tradition of ‘creature features‘, these films have traditionally drawn from Indigenous myth and folklore, rather than engaging with the environmentalist themes that are a staple in Western creature features. S. Shankar’s 2.0 (2018) marked an important moment in Indian cinema as the first true example of a mainstream Indian film that is unequivocally categorisable as ecohorror. However, the emergence of such a film text is not devoid of a historical context, nor is the near-absence of environmentalism in previous Indian ‘creature features’ devoid of reason. This essay is an attempt to trace how a film like 2.0 emerges within the Indian cultural context, how it assimilates prefigured Indigenous ideas as well as culturally translocated and subsequently Indianised ideas, and what new meaning is created in the process. My discussion primarily revolves around the theme of anthromorphism, which is commonly used in the visual and narrative portrayal of monsters in ‘creature features’. My arguments, while inter-linked, are divisible into four broad parts. Firstly, I locate the differences in Indian and Western ‘creature features’ in the differing cultural perceptions of anthropomorphism and anthropomorphised beings. For this, I draw on Paul Ricoeur’s theory of threefold mimesis, which links narratives to particular cultural repositories, and James Clifford’s notion of ‘traveling cultures’, which describes the modification of those repositories through cultural exchange. I locate the Indian economic liberalisation in the 1990s as an important historical juncture for the modification of the cultural repository. To make my case, I refer to existing criticism of Indian sf, marking the shifts from the post-colonial era through the post-1990s era. Secondly, I engage with the visual form of 2.0’s monster, focusing on the incorporation of both nature and technology in its design, and how it is significant. I draw from Western posthumanist theory, especially Donna Haraway’s concept of the ‘humanimal‘, and compare it with the Indigenous ecocentric imagination of the world where humans and nonhumans are kindred figures. Thirdly, I argue that the film, both at the narrative and visual level, constructs a vision of the Anthropocene that is not anthropocentric. It accomplishes this by consciously de-centring human characters, shifting the focus to everything that is of humans. Fourthly, I consolidate the previous argument by analysing how the film makes use of humour, especially dark humour, in order to accentuate its decentring of humans by the anthropomorphised, or human-like. Looking ahead, I propose the likelihood of 2.0 being the first of many Indian ‘creature features’ that mark a cultural shift from the mythological paradigm to the environmentalist paradigm. As such, a close analysis of the film as text and its corresponding context, focused on how it draws from and modifies its cultural repository, is significant in terms of laying the groundwork for future discussion.

‘I am not particularly despondent yet’: The Political Tone of Jill Craigie's Equal Pay Film To Be a Woman

To Be a Woman is a short campaigning film made in 1950–1 by documentary film-maker Jill Craigie. This article offers an account of the film which aims to recover the affective life of both the film text and the archival correspondence between Craigie and the General Secretary of the National Union of Women Teachers, which refers to its production history. The article analyses the ‘feeling tones’ of the letters that describe both Craigie's attempts to get the film made and her difficulties in distributing it. It is argued that paying attention to these affective aspects of the archive and the film together enables a recalibration of (in a variant of Raymond Williams's formulation) the structure of feminist feeling in both the film and, to an extent, the wider public realm in the immediate post-war period. Paying attention to the film's affective dynamics in this way is also revealing, it is suggested, of its class and race positionality, enabling a more nuanced critical account of its politics.

HISTORICAL MOVIE IN MEDIA LINGUISTICS: STYLISTICS, TRANSLATION

A notion of a film text is currently an object of scientific research, which is caused by a rapid development of cinematic art within the last century and an increasing attention of scientists to a linguistic constituent of this phenomenon. The film text is one of the most important displays of a media text. In a film text, two semiotic systems are present, linguistic and non-linguistic ones, which operate signs of different kinds. The linguistic system of the film text is serviced by sign-symbols, created from an establishment of a connection between something, which is being explained, and something, which is explained based on a conditional agreement. It is represented by two components: written one (credits, captions which constitute a part of a movie universe) and oral one (an actor’s speech, a voice-over, a song, etc.), which are expressed with the help of symbolic signs – words of a natural everyday language. An investigation of a political fiction movie text belongs to modern explorations of text stylistics in the direction of description and standardization of the system of speech genres in the field of linguistics and literature studies. Also, this investigation describes stylistic and translation aspects of a linguistic part of a political fiction movie text. The article considers stylistic indications of a political fiction movie text and ways of their translation. A political fiction movie communicates to the audience a political stance and a worldview, or makes it aware of political problems. During the translation of a political fiction movie, the author of the translation takes into consideration the stylistic tonality of the text, which, contrary to the phonetic one, represents in itself the concentrate of expressive means of the original text. In the case of a political movie, this is about stylistic dramatic-epic tonality. The main task for the translator of a political movie is to skillfully carry out translation transformations, for the translation text to convey all the information contained in the original text with the maximum possible accuracy. The most effective transformations in the Ukrainian translation of the analyzed fiction movie are: contextual lexical-semantic substitution, concretization, word-for-word translation, synonymic translation, syntactic omission of a part of a sentence, syntactic replacement in a word combination structure, grammatical replacement.

Filmgoing or cinemagoing? The role of the film text within cinema memory

Drawing upon original ethnographic research of rural Welsh audiences, this article meets a burgeoning trend within cinema history studies of reconsidering the importance that film texts can have in benefitting our understanding of social or cultural past. Arguing a perceived separation between the approaches of the New Film History and New Cinema History, the author highlights the benefits of incorporating text-based foci into his research, prompted by a notable separation between those that recalled the social environment of the cinema and those who discussed films, with little crossover between the two. With a dataset that largely recollects the late-1950s and 60s, these fresh textual considerations prompt modifications to existing scholarship pertaining to Britain’s previous generation of cinema audiences, highlighting a particularity of period that primarily revolves around the emergence of pop-stars and the teenage subculture. Equally, cultural factors such as a rising sentiment of Welsh nationalism are explored through film centred memories and textual analysis, highlighting the vivid semiotics and structures of Welsh national identity. These nuances of Welsh national identity and strengthened feelings of nationalism from the recollected period are explored through analysis of How Green Was My Valley, a US production, and its somewhat counterintuitive popularity with respondents as a “Welsh” film.

The Application of Laswell Communication Model on The Good Message Within Religious Malay Films

The general public perceives film as the factor that encourages negativity in the behaviour of its audience. However, through the perspective of film studies, the film can serve as the means to convey a good message. However, more in-depth reviews need to be done to attest to its capability in doing so. Therefore, using Laswell Communication Model (1948), this study was carried out to examine the good messages from religious Malay films. This study used qualitative content analysis design. by using purposive sampling, the researcher chose four Malay films as the subjects in this film study. The movies were Maut (Death) (2009), Syurga Cinta (Love Heaven) (2009) and Nur Kasih (The Light of Love) The Movie (2011). The films were watched and analysed by inserting all the facts into content analysis forms - the film meaning evaluation form and theme coding form. Narrative and theme analysis were used to analyse the film text data. Overall, the study found that the Malay religious films examined to discuss the concept of good message. There were four themes from the religious Malays films analysis which were promoting the good messages; the plays of emotions, based on the target group, negative reinforcement style and the good advice. However, not all the film samples highlight the idea of good messages in their purest sense as they are inharmonious with the principle of Amar Ma’ruf Nahi Munkar (encouraging good deeds, forbidding bad acts).

ALLUSIONS AS A TYPE OF INTERTEXTUAL LINKS IN THE FILM DISCOURSE OF “THE MATRIX”

The purpose of the article is to outline intertextual links in the English cinematic discourse by establishing the types of allusions functioning in the cinematic discourse of “The Matrix”.Methods. The research has been carried out by dint of descriptive method while surveying and outlining the scientific approaches to the category of intertextuality, the method of contextual analysis for singling out from the film text of the film discourse in question the relevant contexts with intertext, the method of intertextual analysis for determining types of allusions according to their relation with the source text.Results. It has been determined that a cinematic discourse as a semiotically complex dynamic process of interaction between a multiple addressor and a film recipient is characterized, alongside verbal-visual unity, coherence, completeness and contextual meaning, by intertextuality, the latter being revealed in the film text – an integral part of the cinematic discourse. It has been found out that the means of creating textual reminiscence which shapes the intertextuality of the film text of “The Matrix” is allusion. The philosophical meaning encased in the cinematic discourse of the film under analysis is connected with the ideas of the belief in being the chosen one, of one’s mission, the struggle of two worlds – the good and the evil, loyalty and betrayal. Those are ideas which permeate the Sacred Writ, so it is the Bible – the most recognizable and significant for the American culture precedent text – that serves as a source text providing ground for associative referential hints within the framework of the film in question. According to the form of presentation in the film text there have been picked semantic and structural allusions, according to the placing in the text relative allusions (allusions of local impact) have been identified. Semantic allusions preserve the initial semantic content of the source and impart occasional connotation to the objects of allusive evaluation. Structural allusions bring about associative links with certain qualities of allusive denotata. Relative allusions are realized in the film text through non-verbal indexical signs. The latter, in the vivid form of number plates, refer the viewer to definite Biblical lines, thus coming up with some additional characteristic of the objects of allusive reference.Conclusions. Textual Biblical allusions in the cinematic discourse of “The Matrix” semantically, structurally or as allusions of local impact create intertextual links, transferring the attributes of Biblical characters and events to those highlighted in the cinematic discourse analyzed. Allusions, being references to the source text as to the index of the situation, come forth as a means of identification of certain characteristics of film personages, places, actions.Key words: film text, the category of intertextuality, textual reminiscence, precedent text, semantic content of the source. Метою статті є визначення інтертекстуальних зв’язків в англомовному кінематографічному дискурсі через з’ясування типів алюзій у кінодискурсі фільму «Матриця».Методи. Дослідження здійснено за допомогою описового методу для осмислення та опису наукових підходів до кате-горії інтертекстуальності, методу контекстуального аналізу у разі виокремлення з кінотексту досліджуваного кінодискурсу релевантних контекстів з інтертекстом, методу інтертекстуального аналізу для визначення типу алюзій за їх зв’язком з тек-стом-джерелом.Результати. Виявлено, що кінодискурс як семіотично складний динамічний процес взаємодії множинного адресанта та кінореципієнта поряд з вербально-візуальною єдністю, зв’язністю, завершеністю та контекстуальністю значення харак-теризується інтертекстуальністю, причому остання проявляється в кінотексті – невід’ємній частині кінодискурсу. З’ясовано, що прийомом створення текстової ремінісценції, через який реалізується інтертекстуальність кінотексту фільму «Матриця», є алюзія. Філософський смисл, закладений у кінодискурсі аналізованого фільму, пов’язаний з ідеями віри в обраність, місій-ності, боротьби двох світів – добра і зла, відданості та зради – ідеями, якими пронизане Святе Письмо, а отже, Біблія як найбільш впізнаваний та ціннісно значимий прецедентний текст для американської культури і слугує текстом-джерелом для асоціативних натяків-відсилок – алюзій у такому кінотексті. За формою представленості в кінотексті було виявлено семан-тичні та структурні алюзії, за положенням у тексті ідентифіковано алюзії релятивні (алюзії локальної дії). Семантичні алюзії зберігають вихідну семантичну наповненість джерела та надають об’єктам алюзивної оцінки оказіональної конотації. Струк-турні алюзії викликають асоціативні зв’язки з певними якостями алюзивних денотатів. Релятивні алюзії реалізуються через невербальні індексальні знаки – в кінотексті фільму написи на транспортних засобах наочно відсилають глядача до конкрет-них рядків у Біблії, щоб надати додаткову характеристику об’єктам алюзивної відсилки.Висновки. Текстові біблійні алюзії у кінодискурсі фільму «Матриця» семантично, структурно чи релятивно (як алюзії локальної дії) створюють міжтекстові зв’язки, переносячи ознаки біблійних персонажів та подій на ті, про які йдеться в ана-лізованому кінодискурсі. Алюзії, слугуючи відсилками до тексту-джерела як знаку ситуації, функціонують як засоби для ототожнення певних характеристик персонажів, місць, дій, які відбуваються у кінотворі.Ключові слова: кінотекст, категорія інтертекстуальності, текстова ремінісценція, прецедентний текст, семантична напо-вненість джерела.

Studies of Chinese Cinema in Japan

Japanese interests in Chinese cinema go as far back as to the 1910s, when film magazines reported on the situation of Chinese cinema. Discussions of Chinese cinema began to flourish in the 1920s, when intellectuals wrote travelogue essays on Chinese cinema, particularly on Shanghai cinema. In the mid-1930s, more serious analytical discourses were presented by a number of influential contemporary intellectuals, and that trend continued until the end of WWII. Post-War confusion in Japan, as well as political turmoil in China, dampened academic interests of Japanese scholars on Chinese cinema somewhat, but since the re-discovery of Chinese cinema in the early 1980s with the emergence of the Fifth Generation, academic discussions on Chinese cinema resumed and flourished in the 1980s and the 1990s. In the past decade or so, interesting new trends in studies of Chinese cinema in Japan are emerging that include more transnational and comparative approaches, focusing not only on film text but the context of production, distribution, and exhibition. Moreover, scholars from outside of the disciplines of literature and film studies—such as cultural studies, history, and sociology—have begun to contribute to rigorous discussions of Chinese cinema in Japan.

Экранизация как трансмедиальный перевод

The article is devoted to the interaction of literary text and film text in the media environment. Transmediality is understood as a new kind of translation, film translation, which is considered on the basis of various sciences.