Twenty years after South Africa's first democratic elections, what is the state of film and media studies education at the country's higher education institutions? The article examines several key debates, from calls for the decolonisation of curricula to the tension between internationalisation and local research in local media industries. Is…

Found that suspense was at a maximum when the hero's chances of success/survival were perceived to be about one in 100 and minimal when either success or failure seemed absolutely certain. Further, suspense increased in proportion to how strongly the audience liked the hero. Also noted the effectiveness of audio preambles. (PD)

An argument for increased attention to visual literacy, both as a research topic and in the classroom. (RL)

This monograph presents a sampling of papers delivered at a multidisciplinary conference focused on two dominant entities in African American cinema: religion and music. Papers in the monograph are grouped into three sections: the scholar's involvement in the filmmaking process, early Black theater and film, and contemporary issues in Black cinema…

In order to assess the nature of conversations that students in an introductory film-appreciation class had after the showing of various films, this study used questionnaires to determine with whom students talked, the number of the conversations, their duration and subjects. It was found that both the content and the duration of discussions…

A film presented as factual may permit critical responses that question its purported factual objectivity and political neutrality. In class, Hans-Georg Gadamer's concept of effective-historical consciousness can be used to evaluate the allegedly propagandistic messages in Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will." Analysis of this 1934…

This report contains a selection of contributed papers and presentations from a conference attended by 270 educators and media workers committed to formulate a vision for media education in South Africa. Pointing out that media education has been variously described in South Africa as visual literacy, mass media studies, teleliteracy, and film…

Using the methods of cultural criticism to analyze the images of Blacks prevalent in American popular culture, this book examines possible connections between the finite and often distorted range of depictions of Blacks, especially prevalent in the mass media, to the treatment that they receive in contemporary society. The book looks at the way…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with the following topics: British mass communication research; communication theories held by Harold Adams Innis; adolescents' mass communication behavior and family planning knowledge; a college-level course in…

This document highlights the findings of a committee formed by The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to assess the status of film at all levels in American education. The introduction by the editor, William Costanzo, stresses that film is best understood in relation to the language arts--not as a "visual aid" but as an…