‘Film’ Category Archive


August 4, 2015

Knots & Loops

Images of Videogame Narratives The following paper was originally delivered at the Readers' Advisory Forum of the American Library Association in Washington D.C., June 2010. As you ...

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July 26, 2014

A Haze of Bizarre Angles

A Visual Essay on Michael Mann's Manhunter (1986) In his 1986 review of Michael Mann's detective thriller Manhunter, Chicago Tribune critic Dave Kehr described the ...

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February 15, 2014

Human-Car Affect in The Fast and the Furious

My first foray into Paul Walker studies. Via Twitter, Ian Bogost recently outlined criteria for the ideal 'airplane film,' i.e., a film that can help expedite ...

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September 30, 2013

Prêt-à-Jouer and Videogame Couture

What happens when we stop thinking about videogames as cinema and instead think of them through other media, like fashion, dance, or architecture? Note: This paper ...

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November 18, 2012

VHS as Palimpsest

Ghosts of an obsolete medium As the 90s make their inevitable loop back through the pop culture recycle bin, we find artists embracing the quirks and ...

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October 19, 2012

The Long Walk

Silent Hill 2, horror, and duration Our gaming priorities change as we get older. In my late teens, when I purchased my first console with my ...

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September 26, 2012

Fantômas

The master of disguise. The heist. The narrow getaway. The obsessive police inspector. The inside man. The prison note. The body double. The last-minute escape ...

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July 27, 2009

The Cameraman’s Revenge

My 1912 selection is spectacularly strange, but I won't spoil the surprise just yet.  First, a plot summary: A restless husband and wife are bored with ...

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July 24, 2009

The Lonedale Operator

Gaining a 'literacy' in film, both for viewers and creators, involves the recognition (or invention) of certain conventions that apply to the medium.  Over time, ...

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September 16, 2007

Wizard of Oz

I chose Wizard of Oz for the specific purpose of comparing it to the much-beloved musical from 1939. Then, while watching the elder version, ...

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