Film and Media

F i l m a n d M e d i a

Despite its political potential and pervasiveness, film and other forms of media have been somewhat neglected within the social sciences. As powerful afffective assemblage, they play a vital role in performing political, cultural, racial and gendered conceptions of the world.

Possible areas of analysis might include:

Documentary and persuasive truth
The portrayal of, for example, Africa in film
Audio-visual forms of Othering
The performance and (re)inscription of cultural, racial or gendered understandings
The use of cinematic techniques to elicit affective response
How the discourses and themes performed within videogame series have developed over time

Related References

Campbell, D. (2002a) “Atrocity, memory, photography: Imaging the concentration camps of Bosnia – the case of ITN versus Living Marxism, Part I”, Journal of Human Rights 1(1): 1-33

Campbell, D. (2002a) “Atrocity, memory, photography: Imaging the concentration camps of Bosnia – the case of ITN versus Living Marxism, Part II,” Journal of Human Rights 1(2): 143-72

Campbell D (2003) “Cultural governance and pictorial resistance: reflections on the imaging of war”, Review of International Studies 29(1): 57-73

Arendt, H (1972) ‘Lying in Politics’ in Crisis of the Republic, Harcourt Brace

Barthes, R (1977) ‘The Photographic Message’ in Image-Music-Text, London: Fontana

Hall, S (1980) ‘Encoding/decoding’ in S Hall et al Culture, Media, Language, London: Unwin Hyman

Fanon, F (1989) ‘The Voice of Algeria’ in Studies in a Dying Colonalism, London: Earthscan

Negt, O and A Kluge (1993) The Public Sphere and Experience, Minnesota 1993

Downing, J (1984) Radical Media, Boston: South End Press

Lapsley, M and G Westlake (1988) Film Theory: an introduction, Manchester: Manchester University Press

Barry, A (2001) Political Machines: Governing a Technological Society, London: Athlone , chapter 8

Latour, B and P Weibel (eds) (2005) Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy, MIT

Aitken S (2006) “Leading men to violence and creating spaces for their emotions”, Gender, Place and Culture 13(5); 491-506
Carter, S. and McCormack, D. (2006) “Geopolitics, film, and the affective logics of intervention” Political Geography 25(2) 228-245
Connolly, W (2002) Neuropolitics: Thinking, Culture, Speed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press

Additional Readings:
Jones, S. and Clarke, D. (2006) “Waging terror: the geopolitics of the real”, Political Geography 25: 298-314
Deleuze, G. (1985) Cinema 2: The Time-Image. Translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Habberjam. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Deleuze, G. (1986) Cinema 1: The Movement-Image. Translated Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Habberjam. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Dodds, K. (2006) “Popular Geopolitics and audience dispositions: James Bond and the Internet Movie Database” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 31(2): 116
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett B 2002 “Kodak Moments” The Drama Review 47(1): 11-48
Kneale, J. (1999) 'The Media', in Cloke, P., Crang, P., and Goodwin, M., (eds.), Introducing Human Geographies, London: Arnold, pp. 316-23.
Natter, W. and Jones, J. (1993) “Pets or meat: class, ideology, and space in Roger and Me”, Antipode, 25, 140-158
Mattelart A (1994) Mapping World Communication: War, progress, culture, translated by Susan Emanuel and James A. Cohen, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press
Pisters, P. (2003) The matrix of visual culture: working with Deleuze in Film theory. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Shaw, M. (1996) Civil Society and media in global crises: representing distant violence London: Pinter
Taylor, P. (1992) War and the media: propaganda and the persuasion in the Gulf War, Manchester: Manchester University Press
Virilio, P. (1989) War and Cinema: the logistics of perception, London: Verso

Selected Media:

Films
Michael Caton-Jones (2005) Shooting Dogs
Terry George (2004) Hotel Rwanda
Fernando Meirelles (2005) The Constant Gardener
Ridley Scott (2001) Black Hawk Down
David O. Russell (1999) Three Kings
Gavin Hood (2007) Rendition
Stephen Frears (2002) Dirty Pretty Things
Ken Loach (2007) It's a Free World...
Marc Forster (2007) The Kite Runner
Zack Snyder (2006) 300
Sam Raimi (2007) Spiderman 3
Francis Ford Coppola (1979) Apocalypse Now
Oliver Stone (1986) Platoon
Stanley Kubrick (1987) Full Metal Jacket
Stuart Gillard (2008) Wargames : The Dead Code

Videogames
THQ (2005) Full Spectrum Warrior
US Army (2003) America's Army
MicroPose, Infogrames, Activision and Take 2 interactive (1991-2008) Sid Meier's Civilisation Series
Ubisoft, Broderband and Gameleft (1989-2008) Prince of Persia Series
Rockstar and Rockstar North (1997-2008) Grand Theft Auto Series
THQ (2007) Company of Heroes [Gold Edition]
Activision (2003-2008) Call of Duty Series