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.

Kevin Willmott’s journey as an independent filmmaker is an improbable success story. He was born on the 31 August 1958 in Junction City, Kansas, a small city of a little more than 20,000 residents some ninety miles west of the university town of Lawrence and 125 miles from Kansas City, Missouri. He earned his BA in drama from Marymount College in nearby Salina, then an MFA in dramatic writing from

Abstract: Over the years, critics and historians have come back to Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd periodically and with varying enthusiasm. This essay will show how the film’s influence of real-world media manipulators has increased its power and has renewed relevance in the digital era.

Abstract: After the Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty in 1976, films about capital punishment were written and directed almost entirely by white men. The protagonists and those sentenced to death were largely white and, to avoid antagonizing audiences who might be offended if the films took positions on larger issues, the stories told were those of individuals rather than institutions. The

ABSTRACT: Turkish television has undergone a transformation in recent decades due to the rising global popularity of Turkish series; the proliferation of viewership; and the introduction of cable, digital, online, and OTT (over-the-top) platforms. The result has been increasingly higher-quality TV content. This article traces the history of Turkish television with a look at how the Turkish television-series

Abstract: This article begins with an analysis of the six-episode British television series Hit & Miss (2012) before moving back in time to a discussion of the films The Crying Game (1992) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). Though seemingly counterintuitive, the article progresses in this fashion because, as a television show, Hit & Miss is afforded more space for developing trans characterization than

(2021). HOME IS WHERE THE HURT IS: MEDIA DEPICTIONS OF WIVES AND MOTHERS. By Sara Hosey. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2019. 224 pp. $55.00 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 62-63.

(2021). APOCALYPTIC VISIONS IN 21ST CENTURY FILMS. By Elizabeth A. Ford and Deborah C. Mitchell. McFarland Press, 2018. 229 pp. $49.95 paper. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 63-64.

(2021). THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RACISM IN AMERICAN FILM. Ed. Salvador Jiménez Murguia. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. 805 pp. $125 hardcover, $118 e-book. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 64-65.

(2021). THE STYLE OF SLEAZE: THE AMERICAN EXPLOITATION FILM, 1959–1977. By Calum Waddell. University of Edinburgh Press, 2019. 224 pp. $29.95 softcover. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 65-66.

(2021). SMALL SCREEN, BIG FEELS: TELEVISION AND CULTURAL ANXIETY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY By Melissa Ames. U of Kentucky P, 2020. 300 pp. $50 hardcover. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 66-67.

(2021). THEY DREW AS THEY PLEASED: THE HIDDEN ART OF DISNEY’S MID-CENTURY ERA; THE 1950s AND 1960s.By Didier Ghez. Chronicle Books, 2018. 224 pp. $45.00 hardcover. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 67-68.

(2020). Issue PDF. Journal of Popular Film and Television: Vol. 48, A Spectrum of Voices from The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, pp. I-LII.

Abstract The Television Academy Foundation’s The Interviews: An Oral History of Television is the television industry’s premier oral history collection, featuring over nine hundred conversations with key figures in professions in front of and behind the camera. The interviews provide first-hand accounts of those working within the TV industry, serving as valuable primary texts for scholarly engagement

She’s best known as an actor—for playing Maria on Sesame Street—but Sonia Manzano (1950–) was also a writer for the critically-acclaimed children’s program. She helped craft storylines, set-pieces, and songs for Sesame Street, adding a Puerto Rican voice to the show’s chorus of contributors until her retirement from the program in 2015. Karen Herman conducted the interview on July 15, 2004, at the

A music lover from a young age, Kevin Eubanks (1957–) followed his passion around the world, touring as a jazz musician before accepting a job in beautiful downtown Burbank. For nearly two decades, viewers watched Eubanks—first as a band member, then as the bandleader/music director—on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. They also observed Eubanks’s and Leno’s easy rapport—a natural chemistry that made

Music has always been an integral part of Leslie Uggams’s (1943–) career—while still a teenager, she received her first recording contract and became a regular on the popular television show, Sing Along with Mitch, and in 1968 she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Hallelujah, Baby! Her TV credits—which include Beulah, The Leslie Uggams Show, Roots, and Empire—span

Though Dick Smith (1922–2014) liked to doodle and draw in his youth, he “wasn’t a natural born artist.” He re-evaluated his career aspirations several times during his undergraduate years, ultimately deciding on makeup artist—not exactly a “safe” job prospect in the early 1940s. But in 1945 Smith became NBC’s first staff makeup artist, cultivating his skills during the early days of live television

Agnes Nixon (1927–2016) started her career in radio soap operas under the tutelage of Irna Philllps, the “Queen of Soaps.” Nixon honed her craft in the early days of television, writing for Phillips’s The Guiding Light and Another World, and co-creating As the World Turns before eventually creating her own soap operas, One Life to Live, All My Children, and Loving. She gained a reputation for incorporating

Agnes Nixon created Carla Benari/Clara Gray and her famous storyline on One Life to Live, but Ellen Holly (1931–) brought the character and her actions to life. As a light-skinned Black woman, Holly struggled to find work as an actress, particularly in television. She’d enjoyed more success in theater, making her 1956 Broadway debut as Stephanie in Robert Yale Libott’s Too Late the Phalarope—a role

After building a successful career in television news, Jonathan Murray (1954–) wanted to develop entertainment programs. At the urging of his agent, Murray teamed up with soap opera producer Mary-Ellis Bunim to help transform his dream into reality. The partnership not only gifted Murray a creative collaborator with sharp business acumen, it also yielded MTV’s The Real World and ushered in the modern

James Burrows (1940–) knows a thing or two about camera placement. The famed sitcom director of Taxi, Cheers, Friends, and Will & Grace is one of the most prolific television directors of all time, with over one thousand episodes of TV on his resume. But Burrows didn’t always aspire to a career in television. The son of playwright/director Abe Burrows, he grew up with an inside look at the entertainment

Darren Star (1961–) has experienced more than a few encounters with Standards & Practices over the years, at times both writing and directing episodes that networks deemed controversial. A self-professed film geek who made Super 8 movies as a teen, Star found early success with the television programs he created in the 1990s—Beverly Hills, 90210; Melrose Place; and Sex and the City. He pushed the limits

Gwen Ifill (1955–2016) was a dedicated viewer of The Huntley-Brinkley Report during her formative years, often witnessing footage of the Civil Rights Movement—images that her father would supplement with his own accounts of participating in marches. She felt an early pull towards journalism and writing, but didn’t anticipate a career in television. Ifill went on to work at NBC News, PBS NewsHour, and