Abstract Netflix’s reboot series Cobra Kai (2018–present) depicts an intergenerational negotiation of masculinities as the men from the original Karate Kid mentor Gen Z students. Reagan-era masculine norms and measures of manhood are tested by the teens as they face twenty-first-century challenges. Static performances of masculinity fail to meet the demands of new situations; thus, the mentors and

Abstract Bernarr Cooper (1912–1999) led the Bureau of Mass Communications of the New York State Education Department from 1962 to 1982. During its heyday—roughly between 1970 and 1980—the Bureau produced or coproduced more than 1,500 educational programs, distributed widely to public schools and libraries across the state of New York. This article draws the story of Cooper and the Bureau out of the

ABSTRACT Except for a brief representation of her as a child in The King’s Speech (2010), Queen Elizabeth II’s life has been adapted to the screen through The Queen (2006) and A Royal Night Out (2015). Moreover, the release of the TV series The Crown has added a new perspective to the ways in which the queen’s life has been revised, rewritten, and adapted, although the dynamics of film and of television

Abstract The post-hardware heroine is argued to be the latest revision of action heroines since the 1990s, emerging into a parodic postmodern paradigm that recalls compensatory reactions exhibited by the “beefcake” cinema of the 1980s that is inextricably caught up in nostalgia and desire. For Yvonne Tasker, muscular, built male bodies the likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone are reactions to a then-new

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 51, No. 2, 2023)

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 51, No. 2, 2023)

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 51, No. 2, 2023)

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 51, No. 1, 2023)

Abstract The Netflix time-travel series Dark exhibits many motifs found in ancient Athenian tragedy, from themes to modes of presentation. These include the use of myth, emphasis on houses and family trauma, mirror scenes, and other techniques for showing parallel events across generations, acts of murder and incest, preoccupation with fate, and divine intervention in the form of deus-ex-machina appearances

Abstract In recent decades, scholars have recognized close connections between Western film and Greek and Roman antiquity, a relationship HBO’s Westworld brings into sharp relief through classical themes, characterizations, and allusions. Two episodes from season 2 in particular have a heavy classical bent. Episode 4 (“Riddle of the Sphinx”) casts park owner James Delos as an Oedipus figure who, in

Abstract This article focuses on Black representations of Greco-Roman goddesses in film and on television, exploring the historical and ideological conditions which have allowed audiences to react neutrally or favorably toward such representations. Adopting the transmedial perspective, the intersecting forces that have gradually disjointed conceptions of the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology in

Abstract The TV show Supernatural (2005–2020) features itinerant brothers Sam and Dean Winchester battling pagan gods from ancient Greco-Roman mythology who pose a threat to the present-day American way of life. The show utilizes two key concepts to define perils to American culture and values: the frontier myth and the myth of American exceptionalism. In a remote town in Alaska (i.e., the frontier)

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 50, No. 4, 2022)

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 50, No. 4, 2022)

Abstract Although alternate histories have been present since the early days of televised science fiction, the genre didn’t take off until the streaming era of television began. Direct-targeted advertising, a glut of content, the maturation of the genre, and the historical instability of the twenty-first century intersected in the alternate-history genre, making it not only an important artistic genre

Abstract This article examines a 1962 episode of The Defenders as a landmark scripted drama that staged a debate about unplanned pregnancies and abortion access in the early network era. “The Benefactor” served as a test of television networks’ authority, and its success created space for more open discussion of controversial topics in prime time.

Abstract The Korean War is paradoxically remembered in the United States as “The Forgotten War.” While there are many reasons for this amnesia, the war’s representation in American popular culture, and cinema in particular, remains a key factor. Looking beyond the narrow canon of Korean War film “classics,” this article surveys a broad spectrum of American-produced Korean War films made since 1951

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 50, No. 4, 2022)

Abstract Building from Helena Hammond’s discussion of Disney’s legacy films, there are three kinds of Disney legacy films designed specifically around Disney’s animated classics: legacy re-releases when classic animated films are brought “out of the vault”; legacy remakes which fairly faithfully remake the original animated classics with the story and plot more or less intact; and legacy retellings

ABSTRACT An analysis of Pose (2018–2021) shows that the way HIV/AIDS suffering was represented in this series was very different to earlier representations. In particular, multimodal analysis is deployed to show how the series contributes to the provision of opportunities for audiences to identify and empathize with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). At a critical discourse level of analysis, Pose

Abstract The soap opera Dark Shadows (ABC, 1966–1971) gradually took on elements from horror movies, including an immensely popular vampire character. This article examines how the mixing of genre elements took place and how it changed the show’s audience and messaging.

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 50, No. 3, 2022)

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 50, No. 3, 2022)

ABSTRACT TV mini-series and international hit Normal People (2020) introduced the character of Connell Waldron to the world. Connell’s character was not only well-received but he also created a following of his own. From his clothes, to his looks, to his character, Connell became an obsession for many. An analysis of the character of Connell with regard to the portrayal of his masculinity is presented

Abstract At first glance, the Netflix series Stranger Things places itself within the category of monstrous feminine narratives by introducing preteen Eleven as the series’ human monster. The show pits her against literal monsters which, like adolescents, exist in a physically transformative and liminal space. However, while the series initially appears to reinforce the stereotype of young females

ABSTRACT The twenty-first century TV landscape is dominated by high-gloss quality dramas, experimental single-camera comedies, and auteur dramedies. These shows use nihilism and irony to signify their inclusion in the newest pantheon of sociopolitical relevance: Woke TV. A textual analysis of One Day at a Time (Netflix/Pop, 2017–2020) and The Baby-Sitters Club (Netflix, 2020–), however, challenges

Abstract The article studies Dante’s Commedia and its influence on American televisual culture. In addition to exploring how the poem has shaped the audience’s perception of the afterlife, it observes how the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) interweaves, appropriates, and adapts the medieval text into its series arc. Throughout its production, Buffy the Vampire Slayer received

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 50, No. 2, 2022)

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 50, No. 2, 2022)

Published in Journal of Popular Film and Television (Vol. 50, No. 2, 2022)

ABSTRACT Through close analysis of the supporting role played by black jazz musician Jon Batiste on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, this article examines how the legacy of minstrelsy shapes late night comedy in the twenty-first century formally, spatially, and acoustically. For the majority of The Late Show’s history, Batiste has primarily operated as a voice without a body, or an acousmêtre, incorporated

Abstract While many celebrate Mae West as a sex symbol and feminist icon, she wrote herself into a mentoring role during the Great Depression as well. Few remember that West wrote or cowrote most of her own scripts, and in those parts—as well as in other nonfiction writing—she counseled women, young people, even a congregation. Among the messages in her themes, characterizations, plotlines, and dialogue

ABSTRACT Babylon Berlin (ARD/Sky, 2017–) depicts Germany’s Weimar Republic by way of complex genericity, drawing especially on the era’s internationally recognizable associations with film noir and the musical. While this reflects its position in a transnational “quality” television landscape, its generic frameworks also draw out ambiguous historical tensions difficult to capture in a realist mode

ABSTRACT This article argues that MGM’s 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz allegorizes both cultural and political responses to teen pregnancy in the 1930s, a decade which not only saw other movies address similar woman’s rights issues, but also saw legislation which eased restrictions on abortion. Part of the film’s universal appeal is its ability to represent unmarried, pregnant women from all economic

Abstract This essay gives much-needed critical attention to the 1980s sitcom, The Facts of Life. While the show was a spinoff to the series Diff’rent Strokes, I make a case that its true creative and cultural debt is to a far different source: Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, Little Women.

Abstract As the screen superhero genre enters the revisionist phase of its evolution, its status as a genre overwhelmingly dependent on the adaptation of preexisting material provides a challenge to established models of generic revision. The faithful adaptation of a revisionist comic does not in itself constitute a revisionist film or series. HBO’s miniseries adaptation of Watchmen serves as an example

Abstract The essay analyzes the film, Joe May’s Asphalt (1929), with specific attention to the representation of the city in the film, emphasizing the role of urban experience in the 1920s and the psychology of the city. This essay explores the novel and superficial experience of the metropolis in Asphalt and the ways in which it captures modern urban surface culture within its historical and cultural

(2021). COLD WAR FILM GENRES Edited by Homer B. Pettey. Edinburgh UP, 2018. 280 pp. $110 hardcover. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 232-232.

(2021). THE STREAMING OF HILL HOUSE: ESSAYS ON THE HAUNTING NETFLIX ADAPTATION Ed. Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. Jefferson: Mcfarland & Company, 2020. 282 pp. $39.95 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 233-234.

(2021). WOMEN IN THE WESTERN Ed. Sue Matheson. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2020. 360 pp. $110.00 hardcover. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 234-235.

(2021). WOMEN MAKE HORROR: FILMMAKING, FEMINISM, GENRE. Edited by Alison Peirse. Rutgers UP, 2020. 270 pp. $29.95 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 235-236.

(2021). SEE! HEAR! CUT! KILL! EXPERIENCING FRIDAY THE 13TH By Wickham Clayton. Jackson: U Mississippi P, 2020. 238 pp. $30.00 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 236-237.

(2021). HOLLYWOOD HATES HITLER! JEW-BAITING, ANTI-NAZISM AND THE SENATE INVESTIGATION INTO WARMONGERING IN MOTION PICTURES By Chris Yogerst. Jackson: U P of Mississippi, 2020. 208 pp. $25.00 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 238-239.

(2021). Geriaction Cinema: Introduction. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, Geriaction Cinema, pp. 130-135.

Abstract Geri-action as a term within film studies describes a subgenre of action cinema in which, largely though not exclusively, men in their middle ages partake in narratives of action and spectacle, whilst simultaneously dealing with issues of aging bodies that participate in a move, or not as the case might be, towards some sort of an idea of retirement. This article explores how we might make

ABSTRACT Like much of Clint Eastwood’s late work, Gran Torino is a film that directly addresses themes and images of old age. It is also a film about mortality. This article discusses the imagery of mirrors and reflections in the film and way they are used symbolically and structurally to highlight and explore issues of aging, entropy, and death. Drawing on Kathleen Woodward’s notion of a mirror stage

Abstract This article discusses how old age aligns with ideals of hegemonic masculinity and generic conventions of the action film through the performance of strenuous heroics. Whereas it is commonly assumed that action films omit many characteristics which reference the geriaction hero’s age in order to safeguard his masculine status, aspects of age and aging are in many contexts instead emphasized

Abstract The article explores the politics of the vigilante geriaction film, with specific focus on the remake of Death Wish (Eli Roth, 2018). In its construction of a nation under mortal threat from within and without, the subgenre is uncritical in its reinforcement of Trumpian rhetoric regarding the marginalization, precarity, and obsolescence of the older white male. Typical of the contemporary

Abstract: The influx of European émigré filmmakers into the US film industry during the mid-1930s led to an exilic critique in Hollywood films. This study analyzes Fritz Lang’s Fury (1936) to explore the relationships between exile and trauma, engaging with issues of displacement, memory, the victim/perpetrator duality, and the loss of “home.”

Abstract: This article analyzes the Cuban television production of police series between 1969 and 1981. It shows the relationship between the series, the cultural policy of the Cuban Revolution, and the primarily educational role of television after the 1959 revolutionary triumph. These series have been produced and developed, until today, under the strict supervision of MININT (Ministerio del Interior

ABSTRACT: This article explores the representation of the White Hunter as an archetypal figure across different periods and genres in Hollywood, mapping the legacy of this colonial icon in James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). In its redefinition of the safari film genre, Avatar embeds colonial tropes of wild Africa in an alien fantasy world of simulations, where the “eco-romantic” postcolonial production

Abstract: Black Mirror (2011–current), an anthology science-fiction television series, portrays how digital technologies reflect and shape our dreams and nightmares about the current media environment. The ways in which Black Mirror depicts the world where digital devices are strongly tied to human consciousness and bodies can be elaborated by focusing on three keywords: algorithmic intimacy, prosthetic

(2021). THE PROXIMITY OF OTHER SKINS: ETHICAL INTIMACY IN GLOBAL CINEMA By Celine Parreñas Shimizu. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. 264 pp. $39.95 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 119-120.

(2021). AMERICAN BLOCKBUSTER: MOVIES, TECHNOLOGY, AND WONDER By Charles R. Acland. Duke University Press, 2020. 400 pp. $29.95 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 120-120.

(2021). EXPLORING STAR TREK: VOYAGER: CRITICAL ESSAYS Ed. Robert L. Lively. McFarland, 2020. 278 pp. $39.95 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 121-122.

(2021). HOLLYWOOD AT THE RACES: FILM’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE TURF. By Alan Shuback. UP of Kentucky, 2019. 278pp. $34.36 softcover. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 122-123.

(2021). YOU’RE NICKED: INVESTIGATING BRITISH TELEVISION POLICE SERIES. By Ben Lamb. Manchester UP, 2020. 232 pp. $120 hardcover. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 124-124.

(2021). THE BIONIC WOMAN AND FEMINIST ETHICS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE 1970s TELEVISION SERIES By David Greven. McFarland, 2020. 178 pp. $39.95 softcover. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 125-126.

(2021). POVERTY IN AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE. Ed. Wylie Lenz. McFarland, 2020. 274 pp. including index. $55.00 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 126-127.

(2021). THE STRUGGLE BEHIND THE SOUNDTRACK: INSIDE THE DISCORDANT NEW WORLD OF FILM SCORING By Stephan Eicke. McFarland, 2019. 227 pp. $45.00 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 127-128.