Fantasy (Film Studies)

Groundhog Day: Film Analysis

by William Baldwin Jr

The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths: Escaping Escapism in Henson's Labyrinth and Del Toro's Laberinto

by T. S. Miller

Watching the Lord of the Rings: Tolkein's World Audiences

by Laurence Raw

An early draft of a review published in JOURNAL OF POPULAR CULTURE 42, no.6 (Decembe 2009): 1163-5

This collection breaks new ground in the study of film audiences by showing how the Lord of the Rings trilogy was... more This collection breaks new ground in the study of film audiences by showing how the Lord of the Rings trilogy was marketed and consumed in twenty different countries. The research is based on 25,000 questionnaire responses plus publicity materials. Each contributor uses these resources to explore a variety of issues – for example, why fantasy is so important for individual viewers; how marketing sensitizes viewers to the experience of the films; and how viewers respond to the films in a variety of social and cultural contexts.

The Politics of Magic: Fantasy Media, Technology and Nature in the 21st Century

by Ted Friedman

Published in Scope 14, 2009.

• Review of Christine Cornea, Science Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality (Edinburgh University Press, 2007) and Adilifu Nama, Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film (University of Texas Press, 2008)

by Martin Fradley

in Film Quarterly 63:1 (Fall 2009), pp.78-80.

Review of Screening the Gothic By Lisa Hopkins & Icons of Grief: Val Lewton's Home Front Pictures By Alexander Nemerov & Horror Film & Psychoanalysis: Freud's Worst Nightmare By Steven Jay Schneider (ed.)

by Martin Fradley

in Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies, 7 (2007)

• Review of Stacey Abbott, Celluloid Vampires: Life After Death in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2007) and Reynold Humphries, The Hollywood Horror Film 1931-1941: Madness in a Social Landscape (Scarecrow Press, 2006)

by Martin Fradley

in Film Quarterly 63:2 (Winter 2009-10), pp.79-80.

• Review of Todd McGowan, 'The Impossible David Lynch' (Columbia University Press, 2007)

by Martin Fradley

in 'Film Quarterly' 62:3 (Spring 2009), pp.84-85.

Digital Time - Recent Work in Film Theory

by Martin Fradley

in 'Film Quarterly' 64:1 (Fall 2010), pp.70-74.

• Review of Joshua David Bellin, 'Framing Monsters: Fantasy Film and Social Alienation' (Southern Illinois University Press, 2005)

by Martin Fradley

in 'Film Criticism' 31:3 (Spring 2007), pp.66-70.

“Why Doesn’t Your Compass Work?”: Pirates of the Caribbean, Fantasy Blockbusters and Contemporary Queer Theory

by Martin Fradley

in Karen Ross (ed.), "The Handbook of Gender, Sex and Media" (Blackwell, 2011), pp.294-312.

Myth and Gender in "Star Wars": Androgyny as Rhetorical Response to Patriarchal Crisis

by Barbara L. Baker

A 1993 revision of a paper from my dissertation, presented to the CSCA association, 1990; the paper won the Sam Becker Prize for Outstanding Mass Media Criticism. For copies please contact me directly at bbaker@ucmo.edu

Although widely recognized as a type of mythic discourse, the popular film trilogy known as Star Wars also contains... more Although widely recognized as a type of mythic discourse, the popular film trilogy known as Star Wars also contains within it an ambiguous message about gender. Using a feminist/rhetorical methodology, the study argues that Star Wars employs androgynous representations as rhetorical strategies which function to purify and transform the nature of the hero as well as the mythic quest narrative. Despite the appeal of such a depiction during a time of patriarchal crisis, ultimately the series reinforces a dualistic split between "masculine" and "feminine," reaffirming traditional beliefs about gender in the culture.

Preserving Henry James' THE SENSE OF THE PAST: ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (1970) and SOMEWHERE IN TIME (1980)

by Laurence Raw

Originally published in INTERACTIONS Vol. 13 no. 1 (Spring 2004): 81-91

The popularity of Henry James’ unfinished novella The Sense of the Past as a text for cinematic adaptation cannot be... more The popularity of Henry James’ unfinished novella The Sense of the Past as a text for cinematic adaptation cannot be disputed; apart from The Turn Of The Screw it has spawned more theatrical films than any other of his works. John L.Balderston' stage version (re-titled Berkeley Square) was filmed four years later with Leslie Howard and Heather Angel in the leading roles. A remake appeared in 1951 under the title I'll Never Forget You (GB title: House in the Square), starring Tyrone Power and Ann Blyth. Vincente Minnelli’s On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970) and Jeannot Szwarc’s Somewhere in Time (1980) were inspired by James’ novella and Balderston’s pIay; although neither film included any credit to these sources In this article I shall analyse these last two films in an attempt to discover why the basic scenario of The Sense of the Past remained a popular subject for filming over half a century after James's death.

Transnational Twilighters: A Twilight Fan Community in Norway

by Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore

Chapter co-authored with Rebecca Williams, published in M. Click, J.S. Aubrey and E. Behm-Morawitz (eds) Bitten By Twilight: Youth Culture, Media, and the Twilight Saga. New York: Peter Lang

Transnational fandom and the Twilight phenomenon

by Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore

Co-authored with Rebecca Williams for the 2011 Edinburgh International Film Audiences Conference

A number of empirical studies have examined how national audiences respond to imported media texts (e.g., Ang, 1982;... more A number of empirical studies have examined how national audiences respond to imported media texts (e.g., Ang, 1982; Gripsrud, 1995; Juluri, 2003; Liebes & Katz, 1990) and how world audiences respond to global media products (eg., Barker & Mathijs, 2007; Wasko, Phillips, & Meehan, 2001). Within fan studies, English-language publications have considered how transnational fans engage with U.S. media products (e.g., Gray, 2007) and how Western fans engage with non-Western texts (e.g., Birr, 2009; Chin, 2007; Hills, 2005), while others have shifted the focus away from the West altogether (e.g., Hayashi & Lee, 2007). However, despite such recent efforts, transnational fandom remains an under-researched field, and our study aims to further these emerging debates.

This paper considers how transnational texts are interpreted through a local lens (e.g., Biltereyst, 1991; Liebes & Katz, 1990) though a case study of the transnational appeal of the Twilight phenomenon. Focusing on a Norwegian language Twilight fan board, it examines one of the communities within the online fandom that surrounds the movies in the saga. The first part of our analysis looks at Norwegian fan board discussions around cultural and geographical proximity, and considers how posters negotiated constraints associated with their transnational fandom. The second part of the study examines how these Norwegian fans talked about the Twilight texts. Comparing their online debates with those on two different Anglophone fan boards, we consider the extent to which Twilight readings and fan practices may vary across different national contexts. This comparative approach facilitates a discussion of how a fan community on the periphery of the Twilight phenomenon engaged with wider Twilight fandom. Thus, the paper seeks to make a contribution to the emerging study of Twilight as a cultural phenomenon, and to our understandings of transnational film audiences more broadly.

'How come most people don't see it?': slashing The Lord of the Rings

by Daniel Allington

Published in Social Semiotics 17 (1), 2007

The now well-established fan tradition of ‘slash fiction’ locates homoerotic undercurrents beneath the surface of... more The now well-established fan tradition of ‘slash fiction’ locates homoerotic undercurrents beneath the surface of popular films, television serials, and books, from Star Trek to Pride and Prejudice. The encoding/decoding model of media production and reception has recently been used to explain how enthusiasts of slash fiction are able to discern subtexts invisible to the majority of readers and viewers, with those enthusiasts' discussions of texts being cited as evidence; here, it is argued that this mis-characterises complex rhetorical manoeuvres as transparent reports on private comprehension processes. A sample of online fan discourse regarding one particular homoerotic pairing is analysed, it being proposed that reception study as a whole must re-conceptualise the data upon which it most heavily relies; namely, spoken or written reports of encounters with texts. This forms part of an ongoing project employing discursive psychology and the study of argumentation to investigate reading and textual culture.

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