Develops a social value model that reveals the relationship between film and social phenomena, and political processes. The model is used to demonstrate the nature of the political context that impinges on a film, such as "Rocky," and the specific exigence to which it is a response. (JMF)

A psychological/ritual model of criticism is used to examine the movie "The Deer Hunter" as a rhetorical event in which males undergo psychological change through their war and postwar experiences. The critical model depends on understanding a Jungian interpretation of the human psyche, the form and function of initiation rituals, and…

Analyzes "The Deer Hunter" in terms of a psychological/ritual model of criticism. Argues that the rhetorical force of the film is explained by men's participation in rituals, such as deer hunting, which affect the patterns of psychological change they experience during and after war. (JMF)

Critiques three contemporary films, "Rocky IV,""Blade Runner," and "The Terminator." Constructs an evolving dystopian shadow myth that expresses the culture's repressed fears about its relationship to technology. Offers implications for the reinterpretation of the dystopian myth and for the conduct of other cultural…

Developing a theme drawn from speculative writing of the nineteenth century--that technology, like biological species, undergoes a process of evolution--this paper explores the thesis that if technology divides from its human creators and perfects itself until it gains the capacity for self replication, it cannot return to its creator. Using…