Discusses the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and how it offers a way of seeing normally obscured relations of social power in the details of modern capitalist culture. Concentrates on claims about critical theory that have functioned as strategies of denial. (MS)

Argues that, before accepting the "reading as resistance" approach of contemporary cultural studies, "resistance" should be clearly articulated and coherently theorized. Asserts that doing so will avoid banal and repetitive analyses. Considers problems with audience-centered cultural studies and attempts to retheorize the…

Suggests American screenwriters experiment with the lighting, colors, perspectives, angles, and positioning of images in works of art to generate narrative. Argues that American screenwriters, unlike European counterparts, unnecessarily adhere to the concept that characterization is essential to generate narrative. (KEH)

Examines similarities and differences between writing short, live-action narrative films and writing feature films. Examines market influence, budget, structure, and story factors. Describes useful procedures for inclusion in a scriptwriting class. (KEH)

Explores the significance of Robert Altman's film "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson." States that this film examines the western as a national myth and as a commercial entertainment form. Discusses questions about the moral authority of the hero and the consequences for Native Americans of western…

Describes a course that focuses attention on the position of the actor, especially the star actor, in cinematic and television signification. Divides the course into three sections: "The Star System,""Stars as Images," and "Star Performance." (RS)

Examines how and why Margarita Carmen Cansino became Rita Hayworth. Challenges widely held scholarly assumptions about how the discourse contemporary to Rita Hayworth and her films portrayed and promulgated her transformation, particularly with reference to her ethnicity. (RS)

Defines and analyzes the ideological conditions which motivate a writer to conclude a screenplay with an open ending. Questions whether screenwriting instructors in the 1990s should encourage their students to write nonclassical Hollywood cinema endings. (KEH)

Continues questioning the position of the ethnographer as filmmaker in relation to those of whom the filmmaker speaks, while arguing that attention be given to the position of those to whom the filmmaker speaks. Refocuses attention on the effects of the ethnographic film in the place of its reception. (PRA)

Finds that including media studies at the end of a traditional literature course is an effective pedagogical instrument for instigating discussion regarding the literary canon, since students recognize and address the important contribution of popular culture when it is in dialogue with more traditional material. Selects the film…

Argues that contemporary screenwriters have much to learn from journalism and from theater, especially in the move away from the linearity of the high-concept film to a richer, more complex screen story. Examines the writing skills and techniques of journalist and playwrights in developing both foreground and background stories. (KEH)

Looks at "The World of Tomorrow" (a 1984 documentary film of the 1939 New York World's Fair) as a gloss on the cultural tendency to sell the pleasures of technology while deferring questions about its nature. Notes that the film views the link between pleasure and technology that science fiction films variously exploit. (RS)

Recounts the life of Adela Sequeyro, actress, journalist, and producer of two feature films in the 1930s. (RS)

Presents an interview (edited into a first-person form) with Margot Benacerraf, known for two prize-winning films in the 1950s but not as well known for her active promotion of film culture in Venezuela. Discusses her education in Venezuela, travels outside Venezuela, production of her prize-winning films, and her efforts at promoting the…

Examines how Nathanael West's darkly critical text in his novel "Miss Lonelyhearts" was censored, through a series of demurrals and evasions, displacements and substitutions, even repression, to make it acceptable for the screen. Suggests that the resulting script illuminates the momentous cultural struggles underway in 1930s America--in…