Articles on Film and Television
“What are we holding onto, Sam?” Sam: “That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Apocalypse Now and Then
Science Fiction Films and the End of My World There’s something in the human heart that loves an apocalypse. Throughout human history stories have been told about the cataclysmic events at the end of [...]
Beauty and the Beastly
Beauty and the Beast Towards an Aesthetic of Film The success of the movie King Kong--now made and re-made and re-made again is a reminder of the perennial appeal of the Beauty and the [...]
The Morality of Movieland
Moralists make much of immorality in movies. They are disgusted by scenes of sex and the viewing of violence. The prude is horrified by all that is lewd and nude and crude and rude. [...]
Morality at the Movies – Double Indemnity and Chinatown
The movie mogul Sam Goldwyn rightly growled through his cigar to a screenwriter, “If you want to send a message use a telegram.” Didacticism in storytelling is always a disaster because the audience sniffs [...]
Joseph Campbell Goes to the Movies
One of the most influential forces in American cinema of the second half of the twentieth century is a man who was not a film maker at all. The self styled ‘mythologist’ Joseph Campbell, [...]
Downton Abbey: The Fairytale
The roaring success of the English television drama Downton Abbey had little to do with the grand house, the sumptuous costumes, the superb cast and intricately intriguing storyline. Having just finished watching the [...]