Search Results for: Stephen Rea

‘The Host’: Less Anti-Feminist Than ‘Twilight’, but Hardly a Sisterhood Manifesta

The Host posters This guest post by Dr. Natalie Wilson is cross-posted with permission from Ms. Magazine. I readily admit I did not read The Host. I couldn’t face it after immersing myself in all things Twilight while researching my book Seduced by Twilight. I started it, but less than 20 pages in I couldn’t stomach any … Continue reading “‘The Host’: Less Anti-Feminist Than ‘Twilight’, but Hardly a Sisterhood Manifesta”

Up the Stairs, Out the Front Door: ‘Nyctophobia’

Nyctophobia, a film by Emily Bennett This is a guest post by Emily Bennett. If you asked me a year ago if I liked scary movies, I would have responded with the immortal words of Sydney Prescott in Scream: “What’s the point? They’re all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can’t … Continue reading “Up the Stairs, Out the Front Door: ‘Nyctophobia’”

Summer Movie Preview

Written by Max Thornton. Time’s relentless onward march has brought us to the end of April. In just a few days it will be the first weekend in May, which is – in the strange, terrifying minds of Hollywood executives – the first weekend of summer. Summer movies are an odd and frustrating bunch. I … Continue reading “Summer Movie Preview”

Lust, Love, Duty, Sex: Female Experience in ‘The Deep Blue Sea’

Written by Rachel Redfern Terence Davies’ 2011 film, The Deep Blue Sea, is based off the 1952 Terence Rattigan play of the same name and while it wouldn’t pass the Bechdel test, it is a film full substantive consideration, both strengths and flaws, of its female character; the film’s main premise hinges on the choices … Continue reading “Lust, Love, Duty, Sex: Female Experience in ‘The Deep Blue Sea’”

Women of Color in Film and TV: ‘Scandal’ Pilot: Loosen Up Your Buttons, Baby

Scandal Guest post written by Nakeesha Seneb, originally published at Structured Breakdown. Cross posted with permission. I think Shonda Rhimes, and her writing round table, are some of the most prolific storytellers of our times. Yes, I said prolific and I’m going to stand by such a big SAT word. Prolific actually means producing much … Continue reading “Women of Color in Film and TV: ‘Scandal’ Pilot: Loosen Up Your Buttons, Baby”

2013 Oscar Week: Searching for Sugar Man Makes Race Invisible

Written by Robin Hitchcock Rodriguez, the central figure of documentary Searching for Sugar Man Searching for Sugar Man, considered the front-runner for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards this weekend, shares the unlikely story of Sixto Rodriguez, an obscure failed musician in the United States who became an icon on the other side of … Continue reading “2013 Oscar Week: Searching for Sugar Man Makes Race Invisible”

Race and the Academy: Black Characters, Stories, and the Danger of Django

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.” – W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk   Written by Leigh Kolb When I first wrote … Continue reading “Race and the Academy: Black Characters, Stories, and the Danger of Django”

2013 Oscar Week: Heroic Black Love and Male Privilege in ‘Django Unchained’

Guest post written by Joshunda Sanders. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained was a movie I never thought I’d see or write about. As much as I adore movies and popular culture, particularly when black characters are front and center, well, the Crunk Feminist Collective put it best:  “… I am not a fan of Tarantino at … Continue reading “2013 Oscar Week: Heroic Black Love and Male Privilege in ‘Django Unchained’”

Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: Slut-Shaming in the 1700s: ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ and ‘Cruel Intentions’

Period dress This is a guest post by Jessica Freeman-Slade. Name more than five novels in which sex, and all its consequences, takes center stage. OK, you’ve got The Story of O, Justine (the infamous novel written by the Marquis de Sade), Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and of course, the juggernaut 50 Shades of Gray trilogy… … Continue reading “Classic Literature Film Adaptations Week: Slut-Shaming in the 1700s: ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ and ‘Cruel Intentions’”

2013 Golden Globes Week: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Raises Questions On Gender and Torture, Gives No Easy Answers

Jessica Chastain as Maya in Zero Dark Thirty Written by Megan Kearns. | Warning: Spoilers ahead!! Driven, relentless, bad-ass women in film always hold a special place in my heart. Ripley from Alien and Aliens, Patty Hewes from Damages, Carrie Mathison from Homeland. Maya, the female protagonist of Zero Dark Thirty, is no exception. But … Continue reading “2013 Golden Globes Week: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Raises Questions On Gender and Torture, Gives No Easy Answers”

2013 Golden Globes Week: From a Bride with a Hanzo Sword to a Damsel in Distress: Did Quentin Tarantino’s Feminism Take a Step Backwards in ‘Django Unchained’?

This is a guest review by Tracy Bealer and is cross-posted with permission from Gender Focus. Movie poster for Django Unchained One of the pleasures of being a Quentin Tarantino fan for the last (gulp) twenty years has been enjoying his development as a writer-director, especially in terms of his ever more complicated representations of … Continue reading “2013 Golden Globes Week: From a Bride with a Hanzo Sword to a Damsel in Distress: Did Quentin Tarantino’s Feminism Take a Step Backwards in ‘Django Unchained’?”

2013 Golden Globes Week: The Evolution of ‘The Big Bang Theory’

Kunal Nayyar, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Simon Helberg, Kaley Cuoco Written by Rachel Redfern. The Big Bang Theory, the show that legitimizes the nerd in all of us and tickles that small (or large) part of us that gets the Star Trek jokes. The writers of the show are like geeky unicorns who can finally … Continue reading “2013 Golden Globes Week: The Evolution of ‘The Big Bang Theory’”