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This study focuses on how conspiracy theories are formally constructed, as we argue that there is a distinct need to look at the mediatized form that conspiracy theories take on. Within this research gap, we undertake a close reading of Plandemic , a conspiracy documentary film series that went viral in 2020. Focusing on its cinematic form, our close reading shows that Plandemic draws on several audiovisual strategies that operate according to a Holly-wood mode of storytelling. We conclude that by using these strategies, Plandemic advances its critical, anti-mainstream ideology, paradoxically, through mainstream cinematic strategies that grant it narrational authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the history and representation of gender in the James Bond film franchise. It highlights the contributions of women working behind the scenes, such as producers, casting directors, and wardrobe mistresses, and examines their impact on the making and presentation of the Bond films. The article also acknowledges the need for further research on women in below-the-line roles and women of color in the industry. Overall, the article aims to provide a more inclusive and diverse perspective on the women behind James Bond. [Extracted from the article]

Of all the women involved in the James Bond film franchise over the years, for the last three decades producer Barbara Broccoli has had the greatest power and influence on its development. Since taking over as co-producer (alongside half-brother Michael G. Wilson) of the Bond films in the mid-1990s, Broccoli is constantly mentioned in relationship to James Bond, yet there has been no academic attention paid to her role as Bond producer. This article will address this oversight in Bond studies and contribute to the growing area of scholarship on the producer in the British film industry by analysing the popular image of 'the Bond producer' using promotional materials and press coverage. The approach adopted in this article is framed in terms of a negative stereotype of (male) film producers that is widely generalised, and pressbook evidence showing that the original Bond producers Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were positively caricatured in the Bond film publicity. It will consider the enduring legacy of the 'Men Behind James Bond' producer image to examine the role played by Broccoli in the discourses of marketing and promotion during the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig eras. The article will demonstrate that although a high degree of public visibility might be expected to come with the role of Bond producer, the woman behind the image and the day-to-day business of film production largely remains hidden in favour of the authorised narratives shaped by the earlier promotional materials, references made to Bondian character types or popular discourses of gender which the mainstream press reproduce. In so doing the article will reflect on debates about gender and diversity in the Bond franchise to connect to wider discourses around inclusivity in British popular culture that have come to the fore in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excellent oxygen barrier films were prepared by blending very small loadings (<1 wt%) of dihydroxyacetone (DHA), erythritol (ET) or xylitol (XT) in thermoplastic starch (TPS), and/or processing with supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) assistance. The minimum oxygen transmission rates (OTR) and all free-volume-hole characteristic (FVH) values of each scCO2-processed TPS/sugar alcohol film series are somewhat smaller than those of corresponding TPS/sugar alcohol film series without scCO2-assistance, and decrease with the decrease in sugar alcohol's molecular weight. The minimum OTR values acquired for scCO2-processed TPS/DHA and TPS/ET blown films are only 3.6 and 4.3 cm3/m2·day·atm, respectively, which meet the demand of high oxygen barrier films having OTR ≦5 cm3/m2·day·atm. The longitudinal or transversal tensile strengths acquired for each scCO2-processed TPS/sugar alcohol series films are ∼30 % to ∼40 % higher than those of the TPS blown films. Dynamic mechanical relaxations of each TPS/sugar alcohol or scCO2-processed TPS/sugar alcohol film series reveal that the sugar alcohols are compatible with TPS, as their sugar alcohol contents are ≤ the corresponding compatibility values. The decreased OTR and FVH values acquired for TPS/sugar alcohol or scCO2-processed TPS/sugar alcohol films are most likely due to them being scCO2-processed or incorporated with smaller molecular weight of sugar alcohols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mano Po film series (2002-2016) presents an intriguing and developing representation of Chinese-Filipino culture in the Philippines. Through its captivating plot and characters, this second longest-running film series in the Philippines sheds light on the challenges Chinese Filipinos continue to confront as they seek their social and cultural identity in Filipino culture. The present study seeks to investigate the extent to which the seven Mano Po films attempt, via filmic representation, to preserve and enrich the Chinese culture and traditions within the Filipino community. It investigates the activities, rituals, ceremonies, culture, and traditions depicted in the film using cultural studies as a tool for inquiry. The study's findings are that while Chinese Filipinos make concerted efforts to embrace and assimilate into Filipino culture, they do so while maintaining their rich cultural heritage and traditions. They may experience cultural dislocation within Philippine society. Yet, they strive to overcome these challenges by openly acknowledging their hybrid identity and liminal status to establish a peaceful relationship with both cultures. The study aims to cultivate a more profound understanding of Chinese Filipinos' endeavours to embrace Filipino culture while conserving their rich traditions. This understanding can foster greater cultural acceptance and harmony between the two communities as they seek social and cultural identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historicist and cultural-essentialist filmmaker King Hu set most of his martial arts films in the Ming dynasty, a turbulent but legendary period in Chinese history. This article examines two archetypes in Hu’s films, namely the righteous Confucian scholar-xia and the politically powerful eunuch, who engage in contestations of masculinity within ideal cinematic spaces (jianghu, milieu). These settings and character designs profoundly influenced the martial arts genre. Hu’s cinematography embodied a field for negotiating Chinese masculinities that deviate somewhat from Euro-American theorising about gender binarism and masculinity. By tracing the historical and cultural origins of the scholar and eunuch archetypes, and scrutinising their cultural identities, power structures, gender negotiations, and distinctive notions of nationhood, this article illustrates that Hu’s works parodied and critiqued the problematic authoritarianism of the James Bond film series, despite the prevalence of Bond-esque Western ‘heroes’ in Hong Kong popular culture during the Cold War. He idealised the politically marginalised scholars, critically appraised the hegemonic and transgender eunuchs, and constructed unconventional and resolute swordswomen, and thereby re-articulated the gender and power systems of wen and wu, yin and yang, to revive Chinese cultural traditions and allegorise the sociopolitical landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ana M. López was a pioneer in Latin American film and cultural studies. Her work focused on the significance of classical Mexican melodrama and Latin American telenovelas, challenging previous dismissals of these forms. López's publications advanced a broader perspective of Latin American cinemas, including the New Latin American Cinemas, and brought cultural studies perspectives into the field of Latin American film studies. She also emphasized the transnational focus of Latin American cinema, highlighting cross-border dynamics and the influence of traveling filmmakers. López was known for her generosity and nurturing nature, creating a community of young scholars and defending their research topics. Her work continues to inspire new avenues of research in the field. [Extracted from the article]

The horror franchise [Rec] (2007-2014) is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in 21st century Spanish cinema. While banking on transnational modes of address such as the 'found footage' aesthetics and the imperfect look of digital technology, these films also build upon existing traditions within Spanish cinema and television. At the same, from an financial standpoint, it is the most successful Spanish franchise ever in the international arena while obtaining sizeable box-office receipts in the domestic market. This article analyzes how the [Rec] saga deploys a variety of discourses to appeal to horror aficionados while utilizing popular cultural artifacts to engage national audiences. Firstly, it situates [Rec] within the history of recent Spanish cinema, scrutinizing the generic hybridity at the core of several post-1990 national film products to ultimately study how this interplay will turn central in the constant re-articulation of the franchise. Secondly, it positions [Rec] within the transnational rise of the 'found footage' horror subgenre, contextualizing it by analyzing other significant efforts such as The Blair Witch Project. Thirdly, it explores this transnational dimension through a detailed analysis of the different films's marketing campaigns and how they relate to other products like Quarantine (2008), US remake of the first Spanish film. In this regard, it approaches how [Rec] conceptualizes film spectators as Internet, socially networked, users who participate in diverse, complementary, discourses across multiple online platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For historians of psychology, Hugo Münsterberg is best remembered as William James' successor as director of the Harvard Psychological Laboratory and a pioneer of applied psychology. By contrast, for film and media studies scholars, Münsterberg is recognized less for his contributions to experimental psychology than for those to film theory, a field in which his penultimate book, The Photoplay: A Psychological Study (1916), is frequently claimed as an inaugural text. However, lost in the blind spots of both disciplinary perspectives has been a thorough examination of Münsterberg's collaboration with Paramount Pictures, translating psychological tests into experimental short films. Despite reaching millions of moviegoers in 1916, Münsterberg's 'Testing the Mind' series has received little attention from historians of science and early cinema alike. One reason for this neglect is that, to date, not a single extant copy of a 'Testing the Mind' release has been located. This article is about the author's efforts, in collaboration with students, to reanimate these lost psychological tests for the screen through meticulous historical reconstruction based on the original scripts, journalistic accounts, and correspondence between Münsterberg and Paramount. This reconstructive process, I show, yields new insights into the relationship between psychology and early cinema and an opportunity for reflection on this promising new space for research at the intersection of media archaeology, the history of psychology, and experimental history of science. Film URL: https://archive.org/details/munsterberg_paramount.pictographs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Star Wars After Lucas: A Critical Guide to the Future of the Galaxy" by Dan Golding is a book that examines the Star Wars franchise after its creator, George Lucas, sold it to Disney. Golding explores the reception and impact of the new films, particularly "The Force Awakens," and delves into topics such as nostalgia, politics, and legacy. The book also discusses other Star Wars media, including the animated series "Rebels" and the film "Rogue One." Golding's analysis highlights the complex nature of the franchise and its cultural significance. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and fans interested in understanding the evolving legacy of Star Wars. [Extracted from the article]

This article analyzes the complete corpus of live-action X-Men movies for their depictions of genetics and otherness. The researchers watched and qualitatively coded all thirteen movies produced by 20th Century Fox that take place in the same shared cinematic universe, beginning with X-Men (2000) and ending with The New Mutants (2020). The X-Men movies are unusual summer blockbusters since they explore genetic topics through their central characters, mutants, who are genetically different from their non-mutant peers. Mutants in the films evoke a plurality of analogies, such as mutant-as-Black and mutant-as-queer. These intersecting metaphors build upon a core of genetic difference to create a versatile but limited picture of prejudice, solidarity, and otherness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looking at the Mediterranean as a geo-cultural space where people have met, assimilated, transformed and continue to do so, and at the relationship of cinema and media as representations of these ongoing movements and processes, the contributions of this Special Issue are pivotal in understanding the contemporary Mediterranean cultural identity. The authors' analyses of a wide range of contemporary films and TV series from Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain and Tunisia confirm that the Mediterranean identity does not belong to a group of sameness but to a group that embraces being and becoming. The guest editors, Giovanna Summerfield and Rosario Pollicino, intend to provide important reflections on the complexities of Mediterranean realities. Above all, their aim is to inspire and launch a dialogue between Mediterranean studies and media studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined gender-wise differences in the use of apology strategies employed by Persian and American English interlocutors in two popular Persian and American TV film-series. To this aim, 347 apology utterances across 600 min of both Persian and American TV film-series were selected for analysis. The apology utterances produced by males and females in the two film series were observed, classified, and coded based on the apology strategies taxonomy propounded by Eslami-Rasekh (2004) [59]. The acquired data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and Binomial tests to depict the frequency and type of apologies concerning female-female, female-male, male-female, and male-male interactions. The frequency of the males' apologies to the females and males suggested no statistically significant differences between the two communities. In addition, the findings manifested both similarities and differences in the realization and distribution of the apology speech act between males and females in the targeted cultures. For example, the apology strategies were more commonly used by the males than the females. Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices were the most frequent apology strategies employed by the Persian and American males in both languages. In the Persian film series, ‘Acceptance of responsibility’ and ‘Offer of repair’ were the other frequent apology strategies which differed significantly between the males and females. In the American film series, ‘Explanation’, ‘Acceptance of responsibility’, and ‘Refusing responsibility’ were the strategies found to be significantly different between the males and females. Generally, it was realized that males were more inclined to apologize in the examined film series despite the prevalent stereotype that women apologize more frequently than men.

Refusals have proven to be problematic since they are the source of so many cross-cultural misunderstandings in that they are face threatening acts, which require that the speaker utilize redress, mitigation or politeness markers. The present study’s goal was to investigate the realization of the speech act of refusal in the Iranians and Americans contexts to identify the similarities and differences. It also explored the effect of social status on the choice of refusal strategies. Two well-known popular family drama film series were selected as the sources of the data. Totally, 455 refusal words, expressions, and utterances were collected from the two series. The collected data was coded using Beebe et al.’s (1990) taxonomy of refusal strategies. Descriptive statistics, Binomial, and Chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. The frequency of the refusal strategies and also the frequency of utilizing these strategies with respect to the interlocutors’ social status were analyzed. The results revealed no statistically significant differences between the two cultures with respect to the prevalence of refusal strategies, shift, and content of semantic formulae used in refusals. However, there were statistically significant differences in the frequency of the two major refusal categories, namely, Direct and Indirect strategies. Furthermore, concerning social status, the differences were statistically significant in the frequency of the refusal strategies utilized by the three social levels as regards the main categories in both cultures. The findings enhance intercultural understanding and provide valuable insights into the realization of refusals in different cultural contexts, the influence of social status, and the implications for intercultural communication. It highlights the significance of pragmatic issues and cultural awareness in promoting effective communication and mutual understanding across cultures, hence, ameliorates mutual cross-cultural communication and warrant teachers and material developers about the significance of pragmatic issues in developing the learners’ communicative competence.

In the article, the author explores the history of creation and development of the media franchise which revolves around the life of a fictional extravagant and in his own way genius serial killer and cannibal, Hannibal Lecter. The author of the study attempts to systematize the movies and series of the Hannibal universe, with a particular focus on the Hannibal TV series (2013–2015). The focus specifically on a TV series is due to the fact that such works have become a significant form of popular culture. The popular images that are formed within the context of a TV series are based on topical and meaningful categories of culture. This makes contemporary TV series, such as Hannibal, an influential tool for forcing the viewer to reflect on important issues. In this way, TV series today are able to influence cultural dynamics. On the other hand, as the author of the article shows on the example of Hannibal, the material of such media products is also a promising source for researching the processes and transformations taking place in society and identifying topical problems and challenges. The present study aims to identify various aspects of the complex and controversial personality of Hannibal in the context of contemporary culture. To achieve this purpose, the author, on the one hand, compares the image of the main character with the real and fictional characters of popular culture, and on the other hand, analyses several key categories of culture, including power, art and others, which all together allows defining the features of Hannibal’s personality within the coordinate system of culture.

Toxic leading is by no means a modern problem--it is a human problem. As such, scholars can take a historical view in their analyses of toxic leading, enriching the study of this problem with additional resources. The authors present an example of this broader scholarly approach in the film study of leadership, using the dramatized World War ii television film series Band of Brothers, which compares the leader behaviors of several characters along a spectrum of harm. Among other suggestive conclusions, the analysis indicates that toxic leading combines a disregard for one's organization and a disregard for other people, and that habitual practice of virtuous behavior inhibits progress along a spectrum of harm that would otherwise result in chronic toxic leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the visual techniques of the Star Wars films The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), starting from the system of extreme wide and close-up shots and the thematic and dramaturgical function of masks. The visual rhetoric that runs through the three films is modelled by the face photographing story, which links the visual constructs to the characters' identity. Seen from this perspective, this series of figures connect the characters (Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren), while its significance lies in the fact that it presents Darth Vader's legacy as a visual material, as a series of superimposed close-ups. The paper will show that, in this effect, a long visual process gains its final representation. Consequently, the trilogy can be understood as a film series whose visual system is based on a single extreme close-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the representation of work and labor in American popular culture during the 1970s and 1980s. It examines the portrayal of work in film, television, and music, as well as the creators behind these forms of entertainment and the underlying messages conveyed through them. The article highlights the significant role that work and labor play in shaping popular media culture in the United States. It also discusses the academic study of work and labor during this period and its influence on popular culture. Overall, the article emphasizes the continuity and change in the portrayal of work and labor across different media and explores various aspects of working life, including technological advancements, globalization, gender dynamics, racial issues, corporate conduct, and generational shifts. [Extracted from the article]

This paper explores the remapping of the American landscape as a mass reproducible visual medium onto foreign territories - particularly Afghanistan - during the Cold War. A series of films produced by the US Bureau of Mines and later screened in these territories are the sites of analysis. These films were the source material that applied the American landscape in its many forms, climates and uses to the US's physical infrastructure projects during the time. As sights, these projects of infrastructure building are indicative of the colonial gaze US technicians used to reproduce these landscapes and their underlying systems of power and class around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long time ago (though not in a galaxy far, far away), fandom was seen at best as an offshoot of cultural studies, and at worst, as an acceptable target of ridicule and Othering. Since the early 1990s and the pioneering work of scholars like Henry Jenkins and Camille Bacon-Smith, however, fandom has gained respectability (and profitability) as both a multidisciplinary area of study and a lucrative part of commercial popular culture. Today, we live in an unprecedented time: not only have fandom and nerd culture become mainstream, but they have joined forces with rhizomatic web platforms and formed a digital age where transmediality reigns supreme, and where stories have become Intellectual Properties. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in Star Wars -- once a film series authored by a single creator, now a megacorporation-owned franchise with multiple authors, narratives, and storytelling platforms. As a result, the Star Wars fandom, never an inviting space, has fractured even more and turned to nostalgia as a source of comfort, with predictably volatile results, as different fandom factions lay sole claim to historicity and authenticity. Star Wars thus occupies the perfect liminal space between fandom and hatedom, present and past, nostalgia and schmaltz. Using contemporary fan studies scholarship, this paper examines the role of nostalgia in today's Star Wars fandom, with the emphasis on media convergence and cultural wars in digital social spaces, thus exploring popular convergence culture at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study provides insights into the external powers that can influence business leaders' communication on sustainability. It shows how the socio-political context manifested in national and transnational policies, regulations and other socio-political events can influence the CEO talk about sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts an interpretative and qualitative method of analysis using the lenses of the theoretical concepts of framing and legitimacy, analysing CEOs' letters from 10 multinational industrial companies based in Sweden, over the period of 2008–2019. Findings: The results show that various discourses of sustainability, emerging from policies and regulatory initiatives, socio-political events and civil society activism, are reflected in the ways CEOs frame sustainability over time. This article reveals that CEOs not only lead the discourse of profitable sustainability, but they also slowly adapt their sustainability talk to other discourses led by the policymakers, regulators and civil society. This pattern of a slow adaptation is especially visible in a period characterised by increased discourses of climate urgency and regulations related to social and environmental sustainability. Research limitations/implications: The theoretical frame is built by integrating the concepts of legitimacy and framing. Appreciating dynamic notions of legitimacy and framing, the study suggests a novel view of reporting as a film series, presenting many frames of sustainability over time. It helps the study to conceptualise CEO framing of sustainability as adaptive framing. This study suggests using a dynamic notion of adaptive framing in future longitudinal studies of corporate- and accounting communication. Practical implications: The results show that policymakers, regulators and civil society, through their initiatives, influence the CEOs' framing of sustainability. It is thus important for regulators to substantiate sustainability-related discourses and develop conceptual tools and language of social and environmental sustainability that can lead CEO framing more effectively. Originality/value: The study engages with Goffman's notion of dynamic framing. Dynamic framing suggests a novel view of reporting as a film series, presenting many frames of sustainability over time and conceptualises CEO framing of sustainability as adaptive framing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a discursive and equivalence-generating study of the use of the multilingual property as a narrative transmission mechanism in audiovisual texts. Specific functions can be constructed and different events and aspects of the plot can be presented through the introduction of linguistic variation and its deliberate application to achieve defined purposes. The analysis is based on functionalist approaches to the study of fiction and translation and on the binary branching classification model of solution types for determining textual problems in translation based on the form these adopt. This article presents the findings of multilingual property identification and translation related to the application of this forms- and functions-based approach. Several classifications of solution types are also developed with representative examples extracted from film and series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Writing / Xiezuo is the property of Writing Magazine Agency, Wuhan University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Europe has just established the first regulation for artificial intelligences. Large technology corporations and private educational institutions are already imagining neural networks educating us. Has anyone stopped to think about who, how and for what purpose we humans are going to educate machines? The Spanish critical pedagogy research team (PEDACRI), after participating in international conferences on digital education, robotics, ethics in the metaverse and cartography of hyperreality and participating in various publications on the challenges of pedagogy and ethics in the technologisation of educational processes, reflects in this essay on the challenges and questions we need to ask ourselves to imagine the post-human or trans-human community to come. Reviewing works coming from philosophy and those plays, series and films that address the future and the relationship between humans and machines, we analyse the opportunities and threats that can humanise machines or programme them as soulless weapons, which can civilise us or return us to a state of barbarism. The word robot, let us not forget, is derived from the Polish word roboca, which means "slave". Will we be able, as the replicant in Blade Runner wonders, to programme silence? What can philosophy and pedagogy contribute to the ethical programming of algorithms? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia y Sociedad (01218417) is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y Economicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

War on film and in television series reflects a nation's preoccupation with war and how warfare shapes conceptions of history. The war genre is inherently national, as it deals with a nation's heroic moments and traumas. Stories about war address a nation's collective moral values, cultural heritage and other tropes of national identity markers. This article will discuss two Norwegian war dramas made for TV, one set in the past (Kampen om tungtvannet [The Saboteurs] [2015]) and one set in a not-too-distant future (Okkupert [Occupied] [2015–20]). This article discusses how these war dramas articulate themes about history and nationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 in the United States and United Kingdom, a fantasy took hold that life under lockdown was like living in a time loop. The time loop quickly became the genre of the moment. And yet, however "timely" they appeared, most of the time-loop films and series du jour had been conceived and produced before the pandemic. Why and how did they become retrofitted to the temporality of the pandemic? To answer this question, we delve into the split time of the time-loop film. We argue that, in its deferred arrival, the time loop became a fantastical solution to the problems of loneliness, stuckness, and the future that the pandemic stoked but did not originate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bouhouth is the property of London Research & Consulting Center and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Through a series of reflections on the film Jole Dobe Na (Those Who Do Not Drown, 64 minutes, 2020), directed by Naeem Mohaiemen, this essay explores the relations between archives, dust and memory. It argues that memory is constantly struggling against the proliferation of detritus that clutters the material archive as we attempt to recover or reconstitute the past. Mohaiemen's Jole Dobe Na, a film about loss and mourning, places its protagonists in an abandoned hospital filled with disused furniture, equipment, and records, through which we pursue the thread of memory like searchers in an archive. But while Mohaiemen's earlier, research-driven films have excavated archives for documents, photographs and film footage in order to comment on history or release unexplored historical possibilities, Jole Dobe Na appears to view the archive itself as debris, always threatening to collapse into dust as memory confronts the past as wreckage. Mohaiemen's Tripoli Cancelled (2017) and Jole Dobe Na (2020), films set in liminal, derelict spaces (an airport and a hospital) both speak to the questions of site and space that preoccupy cinema today, especially artists' films meant for gallery viewing. They also reflect on the archive as a ruin rather than a repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reality shifting (RS) is a trendy mental activity that emerged abruptly following the flare-up of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and seems to be practiced mainly by members of the post-millennial generation. RS, described as the experience of being able to transcend one's physical confines and visit alternate, mostly fictional, universes, is discussed by many on Internet platforms. One RS forum boasts over 40,000 members and RS clips on some social media platforms have been viewed over 1.7 billion times. The experience of shifting is reportedly facilitated by specific induction methods involving relaxation, concentration of attention, and autosuggestion. Some practitioners report a strong sense of presence in their desired realities, reified by some who believe in the concrete reality of the alternate world they shift to. One of the most popular alternate universes involves environments adopted from the Harry Potter book and film series. We describe the phenomenology of RS as reported online and then compare it to related phenomena such as hypnosis, tulpamancy, dissociation, immersive and maladaptive daydreaming, and lucid dreaming. We propose a theoretical model of interactive factors giving rise to RS, and conclude that it is an important, uninvestigated emerging phenomenon and propose future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep brain stimulators (DBS) may fail for a multitude of reasons. We present a 79-year-old Parkinson's disease patient who suffered a DBS failure following impulse generator (IPG) replacement surgery due to the IPG flipping within an expanded capsular pocket. This creation of the pocket was unintentional, and the pocket formed around an undiagnosed postoperative hemorrhage. The syndrome could be considered "Twiddler-like" because it resulted in device flipping. There were, however, many characteristic differences between our case and classical Twiddler's syndrome. DBS neurostimulator failure due to hematoma induced device flipping should be suspected when device interrogation is impossible or there are abnormally high impedances across multiple DBS lead contacts. A plain film X-ray series should be ordered and can be useful in providing radiological evidence of device flipping. In cases like ours the extensive braiding encountered in Twiddler's syndromemay be absent. Anchoring the IPG to a deep fascial layer as well as the use of an antimicrobial pouch are two methods that may be employed to prevent or to treat this complication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a series of film motivations, this research aims to identify different dimensions associated with film tourism and analyse how each of these dimensions influences loyalty towards a cinematographic destination, following factorial analysis method. Also, confirm authenticity's existential or constructive influence on loyalty towards a film destination through software that uses the partial least squares methodology to test the hypotheses raised around the motivational dimensions and authenticity regarding loyalty towards a film destiny. The main results identify four motivational dimensions, a positive influence of experiential motivations on loyalty to a film destination, and the predominance of existential authenticity over constructivist authenticity in generating the same impact on loyalty. This work will allow public authorities and private companies managing film destinations to establish strategies that dynamise the area where the tourist activity takes place and increase the income of both the companies and the local community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criticism tends to be a face-threatening speech act that can endanger social relationships if not managed using appropriate strategies, especially in the intercultural context. This study aims to compare and contrast the politeness of criticism speech acts used in Japanese and Minangkabau languages as depicted in film series. The data on criticism speech acts in this study were collected from eleven Japanese film series with a total duration of 538 minutes and eight Minangkabau films with a total duration of 535 minutes. The collected data were formed into a set of data cards, classified based on the criticism speech acts strategies by Nguyen (2005), and analyzed based on Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory. The data classification in Japanese and Minangkabau was validated through the expert judgment process. The findings indicated that the Japanese and Minangkabau languages employed the same set of criticism speech act strategies but had different tendencies. In Japanese, speakers tend to use indirect strategies as their main criticism speech act strategy by 'asking/presupposing,' 'correction,' and 'advice for change.' Meanwhile, in Minangkabau, speakers tend to use direct strategies by using 'negative evaluation,' 'expression of contradiction,' and 'disagreement' strategies. Regarding the politeness strategy, off-record politeness strategies are more dominantly used among Japanese speakers. In contrast, Minangkabau speakers use bald on-record politeness strategies in criticism speech acts, reflecting their communication culture. The findings of this study provide a deeper understanding of criticism speech acts and politeness strategies. The study is expected to contribute to the area of research on intercultural communication and sociolinguistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A home-made straight-duct filter cathodic vacuum arc system was used to synthesize tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films. The ta-C films were fabricated using both direct-current cathodic arc evaporation (DC-CAE) and pulse-enhanced cathodic arc evaporation. A series of films were prepared as a function of pulse current ranging from 500 to 1000 A compared with 80 A direct current. The introduction of pulse current could markedly increase instantaneous input power (Wiip). The pulse-enhanced Wiip led to the increase in average substrate current from 0.46 to 1.07 A. Moreover, compared with DC-CAE, the pulse current of 1000 A significantly increased the intensity ratios of C II/(C I + C II) and C II/Ar II by about 65% and 130%, respectively. All the results showed that the pulse-enhanced Wiip substantially improved the evaporation and ionization rate of graphite. However, due to thermal-induced graphitization conversion, the threshold pulse current was 800 A. Under this pulse current, the film exhibited the smallest ID/IG (0.26) as well as the highest sp3 fraction (64.3%). Correspondingly, the highest hardness (≈40 GPa) and the preferable toughness (H/E* of 0.12 and H3/E*2 of 0.52) were simultaneously achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to assess the possibility of using narrative attributes applied in film and literary works for creating tourism products based on the attitudes and preferences of potential tourists with different levels of narrative. Design/methodology/approach: In the research procedure, desk research was used to define the attitudes and preferences of potential tourists, which were examined in terms of sensitivity to narrative related to the place. Then, an online survey (CAWI) was conducted among 200 respondents who were asked a sequence of questions about attitudes towards narratives related to the setting of the plot appearing in literary works. On this basis, potential tourists were divided into 3 groups: people with a low, medium and high level of sensitivity to narrative related to the place. In addition, they were asked to indicate their propensity to visit places related to film and literary works, and finally to determine the importance of various factors (pull factors) influencing the perception of the narrative. In the study, it was assumed that the tourist development of a given town can be intensified if a given place can be associated by potential tourists with a story that is described in a novel, film or series appearing in pop culture. Findings: The highest declarative inclination to visit a plot-related place is represented by people with a high level of sensitivity to narrative, which is in line with expectations. However, people with its low level more often decide to visit a described place. This may be due to their emotional insufficiency related to the narrative. Probably, when planning tourist trips, they want to become a "real" part of the plot. On the other hand, people with a high level of sensitivity are most emotionally attached to the narrative and, despite a higher declarative tendency towards visiting places related to the plot, they less often decide to actually travel. The lowest tendency to visit places related to the plot was declared by undecided people (with an average level of sensitivity to narrative) who, at the same time, constituted the largest group in the study. People responsible for film tourism should focus on this group. Places related to film and literary works in their home country are most often visited. Research limitations/implications: It is worth empirically verifying the possibility of developing film and literary tourism products based on fictional places related to fantasy films and series, not only such well-known and developed products as “Game of Thrones” or “Harry Potter”, but also other productions, because they are very popular and have a group of loyal fans. It is also worth using the criterion of sensitivity to narration as a moderator in future research. Practical implications: The group of people with an average level of sensitivity to narrative is the most attractive group for the authorities of territorial units due to their size. There are 4 narrative features that are worth considering to attract this group to the place: the attractive plot of the film, the experience/skills of the actors, the actors selected for the role and the actor's portrayal of the character, i.e. acting skills. In the promotional policy, it seems necessary to use the presence of actors and recreate the most attractive scenes from the film's plot in the design of promotional campaigns and the film tourism product itself. Originality/value: The article contains a list of attributes that can be used in a promotional campaign of a place related to a literary or film work. These attributes are perceived differently by various target groups divided according to the criterion of sensitivity to narration. The paper is addressed to the authorities of territorial units, both at national and local levels, and to people involved in the tourist development of a territorial unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hemispherical dynamic pressure motor (HDPM) has the advantages of high speed, wear resistance and stability, which is widely used in inertial instruments to produce the gyroscopic effect. The ultra-thin gas film between the stator and rotor of the motor provides dynamic pressure lubrication and bearing capacity, whose dynamic characteristics determine the motor performance. However, the influence mechanism of some key factors such as ball center distance on the film characteristics is not clear, which has become the bottleneck restricting the performance improvement of HDPMs. Therefore, in this paper, a series of gas film similarity models were solved under different geometric and working parameters, and the influence law of the ball center distance, rotor displacement and stopping process on the aerodynamic characteristics was obtained, the results show that these primary parameters have significant effects on the pressure distribution, resistance moment and frictional heat of the ultra-thin gas film. This work can not only provide a theoretical basis for the aerodynamic performance optimization of HDPMs, but also serve as a reference for the design of other aerodynamic instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers Mulvey's male gaze in today's postfeminist media culture in the latest remake of Charlie's Angels. Male gaze is analyzed as form, as production ecology, and as narrative. Since the inception of Charlie's Angels in the 1970s, the TV and feature film franchise has tried to balance feminist concerns with notions of femininity, in more and less successful ways. Although the 2000 remake of Charlie's Angels could be considered as an exemplar of objectifying and sexualizing women, the 2019 film barely presents such instances. Instead, it offers a male gaze directed at a female audience and internalized as a measure of success for its female protagonists and the implied female audience. Through practices of othering, and by placing male characters in morally inferior positions, the female audience is presented with hegemonic conceptions of white, middle-class femininity as an ideal that female viewers can and should aspire to be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Second World War was the first conflict fought in three dimensions, across the full spectrum of violence. Yet compared to the land and the air, the sea has surely received the least attention. It has been the subject of fewer books and articles, fewer films and television series and fewer monuments and commemorations than either of the other dimensions. Both historiography and remembrance are terrestrial in orientation. The books reviewed here each contribute to correcting the army-dominated and terrestrial, if not necessarily the Eurocentric view of the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the liquid crystal elastomer films (A'BG series) have been prepared by grafting polymerisation, using the 4-allyloxybenzoic acid cholesteryl ester (MB) as liquid crystal monomer, dodecane-1,12-diyl bis(undec-10-enoate) (MG) as flexible cross-linker and polymethyl hydrosiloxane (containing 35 Si-H) as the main chain. The A'BG series films are cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer films (LCEs) with a liquid crystal region above 100°C. With the crosslinker content decreasing, A'BG-2 and A'BG-3 display selective reflection in UV region and visible region, respectively. The selective reflection wavelength of A'BG-3 occurs blue shift with the temperature increasing. The glass transition temperatures (Tg) of the A'BG series films are 16.4-40.8°C and A'BG series films display shape memory properties near room temperature. The A'BG series elastomer films have a high thermal stability and the temperatures of the 5% mass loss are above 300°C. The backbone siloxane structures in the A'BG series elastomer films are highly stable, and the -COOChol group is relatively easy to decompose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]