Humanist Narratology and the Suburban Ensemble Dramedy

Examines the history of ethnic depiction and stereotypes for each of the major minority groups of color going back to colonial times. Shows that the depiction of each group has shifted from period to period — now featuring hapless, smiling blacks, for example; now, devious Asians or shoot-you-in-the-back Mexicans — but is, in each era, generally unfavorable. Puts forth a functional theory of racial stereotypes to explain the changes and offers an explanation (“the empathic fallacy”) to explain why improvement is so slow in coming.

Images of the Outsider in American Law and Culture: Can Free Expression Remedy Systemic Social Ills?

Les chercheurs en communication travaillant sur le comportement du consommateur ont montre que les recits fictionnels, et notamment les films utilisant des acteurs humains, influencent fortement les croyances et les valeurs du consommateur. Les As. examinent ici les films dont le personnage principal est un animal, et montrent qu'ils sont un exemple de transfert metaphorique ou les personnages animaux forment une structure parallele reiterant les formes sociales de la societe humaine. L'imitation de la vie humaine par les personnages animaux fournit une forme puissante d'instruction des consommateurs, en les confrontant aux dilemnes sociaux communs et en presentant des issues satisfaisantes qui servent de modeles aux comportements humains

Motion pictures as metaphoric consumption: How animal narratives teach us to be human

This thesis focuses on the sudden proliferation of a highly popular genre in French cinema over the past two decades. While genre cinema, French and otherwise, and especially comedy have historically been under-examined in France, this study contributes to a gradual shift towards the application of more traditionally Anglophone cultural and gender studies approaches to the analysis of French cinema. It also looks at the question of generic evolution and the relationship between domestic practice and Hollywood paradigms, including the way in which the national cinema is being reconceptualised in the face of an increasingly transnationally conceived film market. Major lines of enquiry thus concern both the rom-com’s French specificity, including the extent to which the genre is ‘naturalised’ and/or exported, and its representational politics, particularly with regard to gender. Is it appropriate to see the rom-com as a feminised genre in France and, if so, in what sense? How does the genre negotiate major contemporary social shifts, particularly those linked to gender? Notable here are the extension of singlehood and the increased acceptability of female autonomy; the concomitant decline of marriage; and the increased range of ‘acceptable’ gender roles today especially the rise of the professional woman, which in turn has implications for masculinity and for the family unit. Do films broadly reflect and embrace such shifts or do they resist, critique or downplay them? Finally, how are these questions inflected by considering production and reception contexts, as well as the issue of gendered authorship? In seeking to answer such questions, the thesis encompasses analysis of both formal aspects of the genre and specific narrative details. In so doing it hopes to pinpoint some of the ways in which the French rom-com has been mediating perceptions of key social trends over the past two decades, both at home and ultimately globally.

Comedy and social change in French cinema 1990-2010 : the rise of the rom-com

This study sets out to explore the life histories of long-term, regular theatregoers and
their motivating factors over time. It follows an interpretive framework and innovates
by using reminiscence workshops as the research tool. It argues that reminiscence
workshops enable richer, deeper data to be obtained than alternative, interpretive
methods such as interviews or focus groups, or quantitative surveys found in previous
studies from Baumol & Bowen (1966) to Bunting et al (2008). Data are analysed using
a phenomenological approach influenced by Schutz (1967) and the four-part life course
model developed by Giele & Elder (1998).
The thesis examines key themes emerging from the life histories of thirty-one
participants. The findings indicate the importance of a ‘theatrical epiphany’ which is
effective in creating a turning point in an individual’s life trajectory. The epiphany
occurs if factors such as play, magic, make-believe, religion, and the production’s visual
impact and relevance, are present. Most individuals experience their theatrical
epiphany after encouragement to attend by a ‘familiar’, a person well-known to them
and trusted. The study indicates that many theatregoers are active participants in
theatre-making after their epiphany. Their profile suggests a high level of educational
achievement, and a career in education.
It is suggested that the theatregoer continues to be motivated to attend productions by
seeking secondary epiphanies containing similar elements to those found during their
original epiphany. In addition, many theatregoers look for intimacy of scale, the
‘magic’ created by the synthesis of make-believe and nature, and in particular,
Shakespeare productions.
As theatregoers gain in cultural capital, they themselves become ‘familiars’ and initiate
the young into theatregoing. This thesis suggests that Bourdieu’s (1984) theory of
distinction can be expanded to include the concept of the ‘familiar’, and indicates that in
contemporary Britain, cultural capital results more from education and play than class
background.

From epiphany to familiar : the life history of the theatregoer

Image and influence: Studies in the sociology of film

http://soc.sagepub.com/content/11/1/155.full.pdf

Janet Wolff

Papers

Image and influence: Studies in the sociology of film

Book Review: Women's Studies and Sociology