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Book review
Thomas C. Messerli. (2021). Repetition in Telecinematic Humour. How US American sitcoms employ formal and semantic repetition in the construction of multimodal humour. Freiburg: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg.
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Thomas C. Messerli. (2021). Repetition in Telecinematic Humour. How US American sitcoms employ formal and semantic repetition in the construction of multimodal humour. Freiburg: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg.
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The article examines the globalization of the 21st century, which is driven by the postmodernist processes of decanonization that create a hybrid cultural environment in the present. The main focus of the text is the film-literature relationship, which is both synergistic and competitive in the market of cultural products. The article presents key postmodern novels from the 80s and 90s of the last century and their film adaptations, which even in the 21st century reproduce with the techniques of cinema a common, archetypal, futuristic, fictional model. Cinema and literature in the third millennium are subordinated to corporate interests and media giants, and the rhizomatic interface between the arts argues for the ubiquitous hybridization of culture. In conclusion, the dialogical modes between world literature, world cinema, and world media are highlighted.
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Theater is not only a place where one can admire artistic craftsmanship - it is also an institution that can act as a moral compass. Acting was a form of art, therefore, actors influenced the way the society perceived reality. One of the most famous actors in the history of Polish film and theater is Aleksander Bożydar Żabczyński. He was also one of the artists that were very much a subject of interest of the security services of the Polish People’s Republic. The security services wanted to infiltrate the artistic circles, which included surveillance of Żabczyński himself. Thanks to the obtained information, the authorities wanted to prevent the groups from undertaking any anti-government actions.
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The article analyses painter, graphic artist and stage designer Ilmārs Blumbergs’ (1943–2016) artworks in which he thematises the body as his intimate space subject to finality and death. Besides existential and intellectual issues, Blumbergs has always been interested in human physical existence in art. Searches for the meaning of the body and bodily states are an important theme in Blumbergs’ art. The author interprets Blumbergs’ self-portraits as imprints of his individual experience. They embody the transformations of the portrait genre in Latvian art since the 1980s; thus in his case, the traditional boundaries of the genre are significantly expanded. Affect theory as a critical discourse in the social sciences and humanities surged in the mid-1990s. This article deals with affect theory and the possibilities of using it in the interpretation of artworks. The author provides a brief insight into the history of studying affect, the meaning of the terms affectus and affectio in the shaping of two paradigms in this theory: affect as an elementary state and affect as an intensive power. The article emphasises those facets of the theory which relate to the body, bodily reactions as well as aspects of the artwork’s creation and perception. Several theoretical approaches of how to view an artwork through the prism of affect theory have been examined in the article. Focusing on the aspect of the affect’s working and influence, the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995), in collaboration with the philosopher and psychoanalyst Felix Guattari (1939–1992), developed the theoretical trend of affect as an intensive force, and this perspective seems to be the most appropriate for the research of art. According to Deleuze’s and Guattari’s philosophical stance, affect is a result of the clash between organic or inorganic bodies; it is also present in the artwork as a peculiar aesthetics of materials and forms where colouring, surface texture, mass and volume are significant. Considering the mutual connection between affect and body, the article outlines several conceptions of the body identifiable in Blumbergs’ art, including body as a space where the battle for survival takes place, and the performative body as a constituent part of the artwork. The author takes up the interpretation of works titled “Me Myself in Strontium Radiation” (2010–2012) and “My Head in Strontium Radiation”, concluding that Blumbergs’ body in “Strontium” works is real, corporeal and affected by external conditions, while at the same time being abstract too. Material and abstract features are united in the context of affect studies. In other words, the body depicted in the artwork and related to the affect can be viewed as an indivisible unity embracing both spiritual and material substances. From the perspective of Deleuze’s affect theory defining affect as an intensive force, the idea of active matter comes to the fore. Strontium radiation depicted in Blumbergs’ paintings is a representation of “expressive” matter. The author invites viewers to spot connotations of affect and bodily reactions in several of Blumbergs’ works. In the performance “The Drawings are in the Box” (2003), the artist has used his body as a part of the artwork. Equipped with sheets of paper, charcoal sticks and loose charcoal, the artist drew lines and scratches with his naked body, leaving traces on the plane of the paper. Creating a soundtrack was important for this performance. Alongside other associations, emotions and reflection possibly caused by this artwork, the viewer (listener) could have quite an affective reaction of goosebumps caused by such a sound. In the series of photographic portraits “House-Keeping” (2002) Blumbergs has captured himself and his closest associates, emphasising the process of aging. In these photographic works he stresses the biological nature of the human body, its inescapable finality that is the main bodily limitation experienced by everyone. Body and ash as a metaphor or tangible matter is revealed in ten large-sized photographs, portraying a man’s body and skin that was part of the multi-media exposition in the exhibition “A Prayer for Seeing” in the Riga Gallery in 2004. The motif of ashes has a special place in Blumbergs’ art as a connection with his friend Imants Tilbergs (1939–2023) who was Blumbergs’ model or alter ego in most photographs as well as in the short films “Man” (2004), “Room” (2007) and “Ashes” (2010). In the film “Man”, Blumbergs created a peculiar human portrait in the interior. Blumbergs himself and Tilbergs are doing performative actions but the shabby room with dusty furniture and a rundown sofa serve as a static background for naked male figures, briefly entering the shot in a disorderly and unexpected manner. The film lasts no more than a few minutes but its viewing demands concentration from the spectator who is confronted with a rapid change of shots and a sudden noise able to cause anxiety by the means of image and sound. Therefore, besides the thematisation of the body, one can speak about yet another point of intersection between affect and art in the context of this video – the artwork’s ability to cause not only certain emotional states but also to affect the viewer directly. The author concludes the article with at least three conceptions of the body emerging in Blumbergs’ art. Firstly, this is the body as an inner, closed space where the ongoing processes are captured. Secondly, representation of the body as it interacts and connects with other bodies, with space and the outer world. Thirdly, the body as a constituent part of the artwork, meaning its direct involvement in the artwork as a performative act. Discussion about affect in the context of Blumbergs’ art is significant because spiritual and bodily dimensions, the latter unfortunately and inevitably encountering illness, are equally manifested in his art.
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The oneiric universe is present in almost all of Samuel Beckettʼs work, if only in the aspect of a form of reverie as found in modified states of consciousness, distinct from the usual states of mind, and which are often quite closeto trance or hypnotic states, or even, sometimes, to quite problematic psychologicalstates. At first glance, all of Beckettʼs characters are dreamers, but by dint offollowing them in their inner turmoil, we may discover the signs of a deeper if notfunding activity of the spirit. Oneirism in Beckett, when it is not the simplerepresentation of its phenomenality, can be part of an articulatory strategy ofsimulacra of deep experiences of the psyche, most of the time in connection withexistential questions which are neatly brought into the spectatorʼs field ofconsciousness, so that, with the guard down or in no way forced to “connect” to the genre of discourse, (s)he finally lets her/ himself be experientially inhabited by it.In the opening of this article, I will present a brief overview of the formal, aspectualdiversity of oneirism in a few short pieces by Samuel Beckett: …but the clouds…,Nacht und Träume, What Where and Ghost Trio. Then, most of the development isdedicated to the descriptive analysis of Samuel Beckett’s Film, which will highlightthe richness of dreamlike forms and contents from his uniquely non-verbaldiscourse. Its aspectual diversity ranges from philosophy with phenomenologicaland existential tints, to the anthropology of rites and popular beliefs, and even topsychoanalysis, for the sharpness of the figures of the work of the dream which relate to it, as surprised in the field of manifestations of this unique cinematographic work.
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While going through some cultural expressions in texts and images, this article proposes reflections on ways in which the practice of poetics, in the sense of creative making, needs to encounter, address, and overcome difficulty in order to facilitate the contribution of the imagination and the acts of “imaging” it allows, to the figuration of the new. Encounter is the key word, indicating plurality and process. Nothing is fixed; hence, not “identity” as something permanent, but instead, in the encounter, identification with others, other fields, other ideas, other images becomes appealing and possible.In the painstaking attempts to think up new ideas, one encounters difficulty, which needs to be overcome. Only through encounters this becomes thinkable, and that makes imaging something so far unheard of, possible. The ‘poetic’ side of psychopoetics, making through (as traversing) and with (as its material) the reflections emanating from the unconscious as they appear at the edge of consciousness, is what binds together the different disciplines as we know them, in a knot of creativity, imagining, and thinking what we did not know.
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After World War II, culture became a tool that the communist authorities used to take over the so-called government of souls in Poland. Therefore, they introduced revolutionary changes in that field to bring it in line with the Soviet models. The state was to be the sole patron, setting the directions for artists to follow, and the relevant party bodies or institutions were to control creative processes to ensure that they did not become distorted in a way inconsistent with the prevailing ideology. According to the theorists, this was the only way to ensure more efficient management of culture and a better understanding of its needs. The communists used creators for their own purposes in a utilitarian way and, at the same time, they pushed those who refused to comply to the margins of social life. The article is an attempt to describe the state of research in the period from the publication of the 2014 issue of “Memory and Justice” dedicated to the subject in question until today. For over a dozen years, scientific research has been conducted in that field, the purpose of which is to explain and describe the mechanisms of the authorities’ influence on creative circles in the period from 1944 to 1989. The progress made is noticeable, although the degree to which individual environments are described greatly varies. The best results have been achieved in the field of writers or filmmakers, though a lot of work still needs to be done when it comes to musicians or visual artists.
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In Art History, the representation of the female figure has an important role, since as early as the prehistoric period and the Venus figurines and is respective to the social and cultural conditions that differ from era to era and place to place. As these data are linked to social stereotypes and the construction of the social gender, the woman as an object of representation is transformed according to her role as a social subject. The artists derive their themes from both myth and reality regarding how the female identity is transformed. This research proposal focuses on a comparative analysis of the works of two contemporary artists who draw their themes from Jewish religious tradition and women’s lives in the Middle East. These are the sculpture Lot’s Wife, by the Greek sculptor Froso Efthymiadi-Menegaki, and the film Turbulent, by the Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat. The research is based on the theory of social gender, as formulated by the Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell, and the theory of social representations, introduced by the French social psychologist Serge Moscovici.
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It would be said that any scenography suits hell as soon as humanity completely disappears from the world. When the alienation reaches its peak, one breathes pure despair. Wasted lives are wasted time. It is futile to garnish human shells with religious metaphors. Like in the last scenes of Roy Andersen's film Songs from the Second Floor. If one climbs ten floors higher and a man burnt by habit mechanically steps into the open door into an elevator that, God knows why, did not arrive at the call, well, just such a shock causes one to step into nothingness. Enter the void! You can often survive a fall, and there is no one who has not experienced it at least once in their lifetime.
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J edna od prvih asocijacija na Hollywood su žene u prelijepim, detaljno dizajniranim haljinama koje plijene pažnju na crvenim tepisima dok novinarima odgovaraju na pitanja o svom nadolazećem filmu ili, češće, o tome ko im je sašio haljinu, napravio štikle, izradio nakit. Suštinska pitanja o temama njihovih filmova, idejama ili motivima likova koje su utjelotvorile obično mahom bivaju prepuštene njihovim muškim kolegama.1 Raskošne svečane toalete su postale sinonimne s glamurom koji Hollywood nosi u svojoj karmi. Ako bismo usporedili slike starog, tzv. "zlatnog doba2 " Hollywooda, gala svečanosti koje su pohodile Marylin Monroe u njenoj sada već kultnoj bijeloj haljini iz 1955. ili Audrey Hepburn nagizdane angara biserima sa savremenim slikama s crvenog tepiha Angeline Jolie u široko komentarisanoj crnoj haljini s prorezom iz 2012. ili s onima od Nicole Kidman u crvenoj Diorovoj toaleti veoma lahko bismo uočili konstantu glamurozno odjevene, besprijekorno dotjerane ljepotice koja pozira fotografima sa zanosnim osmjehom i nepogrešivo doziranom dozom seksipila. Ta konstanta nam želi poručiti da su žene u samom srcu Hollywooda no to nije istina: žene danas ne čine ni polovinu filmske industrije. Na crvenom tepihu žene izgledaju kao da su upravo one zvijezde američke filmske industrije, ali na platnu glume glavne uloge samo u 15 posto filmova (McKinney 2015.). A taj postotak se skoro nije promijenio od 1930-ih: Filmovi koje Hollywood proizvodi uveliko nedovoljno predstavljaju žene i prikazuju ih na načine koji ih predstavljaju inferiornima u odnosu na njihove muške kolege. To seže do najranijih godina filma, kada su pogrešna predodžba da gledatelji više vole muške glavne uloge i sada opskurni skup internih pravila cenzure institucionalizirali rodne probleme kojima se industrija tek treba pozabaviti, probleme koji imaju implikacije daleko izvan kino dvorana.
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The aim of the article is to present the nature of remuneration due to film co-authors and performers on the basis of Art. 70(2)(1) of the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyright and related rights (CRRA). The current wording of the provision does not take into account the realities of the contemporary audiovisual industry and changing habits of audience who give up cinema screenings in favor of VoD. The streaming services also replace usage of films stored on DVD or other carriers. According to Article 18 of Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the digital single market, the Member Stated shall ensure that where authors and performers license or transfer their exclusive rights for the exploitation of their works or other subject matter, they are entitled to receive appropriate and proportionate remuneration. According to the author of this article, the said article, with respect to coauthors of an audiovisual work should be implemented by extending the scope of Art. 70(2)(1) of the CRRA by introducing an inalienable right to appropriate remuneration for making the work publicly available in such a manner that anyone could access it at a place and time individually selected by them.
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In literature we find phrases about fables and medieval stories about animals, synthetic expositions of works with such themes, portraits of people with tricks and stubbornness, stupidity and imposture, the symbolism of the mask, the artistic treatment of the political message, the religious significance of animals, descriptions of animals with moralizing explanations, imaginary narratives. The cinematography completes the bestiary with novel and spectacular moralizing stories.
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Throughout the period of the People’s Republic of Poland, political and systemic solutions were undemocratic. There was the Main Office of Control of Press, Publications and Shows (GUKPPiW)., whose name was changed in July 1981 to the Main Office of Control of Publications and Shows (GUKPiW). On 13 December 1981, the communists (under the leadership of General Wojciech Jaruzelski) introduced martial law, which was abolished on 22 July 1983. The state authorities tried to stop the development of Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity”. Society, including the makers of television serial and series, has been subjected to even tighter control. Preventive censorship had a negative impact on the development of cultural and artistic life. The aim of this article is to show the mechanisms of operation of Polish censorship (also in the historical and legal context), which had an impact on the broadcast of programs on Polish Television during martial law (1981-1983).
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The purpose of the article is to determine the place and importance of Chain of Title of a film or other audiovisual work, which is the basis of the successful sale of film industry products. The role of Chain of Title for film producers is imputed by film distributors, sales representatives and broadcasting organizations. The importance of proper and prompt formalization of business relationship between the industry product creators – which are the intellectual property rights holders, and the film producers is fundamental to the possibility the producer to generate revenue and profit from the film that will recoup the investment made, and also to provide rights holders with additional remuneration. In the Republic of Bulgaria, for the producers of films and other audiovisual works, the issue Chain of Title is still not fully clarified and the article focuses on the process of presenting this essential information from the point of view of the current regulations in the field, the requirements of distributors, broadcasters, and to present the author’s experience in obtaining the Chain of Title process. The methodology used, allows to present accessible and practical information, both for professionals in the field of the film industry, as well as for teachers and students.
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Before delving into the two themes that outline the period of socialist system in Albania (1944-1991). We will attempt to provide a brief retrospective by referring to the early influences of Italian culture in Albania. Based on historical facts, the influence or impact of Italian culture during the socialist period did not start there, nor was it incidental, but rather a continuation of a relationship that dates back hundreds of years. One of the theses of Italian cultural influence in various aspects of Albanian life is the geographical proximity between the two countries. By carefully observing the distant past now belonging to history, we notice that there is an extra factor, other than geographical proximity that serves as the glue for this cultural fusion. The question arises: What is it? What were the reasons that made Italian political and cultural hegemony necessary in Albania? The first undeniable fact that catches the eye is, Albania borders many nations, but none of the neighboring Balkan countries have had the same effect as Italy. The Albanian people resonate more with Italian culture than any other. Italian influence has been embraced by Albanians as a welcomed addition rather than an imposed one. There may be several reasons. Today we will consider the main reason: the similarity in temperament and inevitable intertwining of history between the two nations. The beginnings of this path of cultural influence date back very early. Referring to history, the Italo-Albanian connections date back to around the 1800s. But if we go even further back in time, it would be the years 1259, and then 1478, when the Ottoman army's conquest of Kruja, triggered the exodus of Arbëreshi settlers towards Calabria.
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The US military presence in South Korea [hereby Korea] in the aftermath of the Korean War has been a politically sensitive and contentious issue for Korea. While the relationship between the US military and Korea has often been characterized in Korean popular and scholarly discourse as neocolonial, I argue that in recent years, Korean yeneung (television entertainment programs) have been reversing such power dynamics in how they depict US soldiers. They contest the image of Korea as a neocolonial nation-state and portray it as a powerful and aspirational one. Such nationalistic portrayals of the relationship between the two countries coincide with the nation’s rise in economic and cultural status. I build on theories derived from Media Studies and scholarship on national identity formation. I use the theoretical framework of “illusions of reality” to analyze the Korean popular media depictions of US soldiers stationed in Korea. I contend that yeneung mobilize illusions of reality to depict an aspirational future reality where the neocolonial power dynamics between the US military and Korea are reversed and where stereotypes that the US held of Korea are mirrored and projected back onto the US.
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The major focus of the present paper is All Alone (2013), an Iranian film by Ehsan Abdipour which narrates the life of a boy from Boushehr, whose friendship with the son of a Russian engineer at a nuclear plant has to end as the result of the sanctions against Iran’s nuclear capacity at the time. Using the lens of young adults and children, the film tangibly illustrates the impact of the sanctions on the lives of individuals. The power of cinematic representation in highlighting the significance of child perspectives is that it can reveal the human effect of sanctions not directly addressed in the adult world. In addition, the liminal position of the pre-adolescent can provide new space for negotiating the ‘unspoken’ or unrecognized effects of the sanctions. At the same time, as an Iranian who followed the progress of nuclear talks closely between 2013-2015, the recent release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023) triggered an immediate association with recollections about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known more commonly as Iran’s Nuclear Deal. In particular, Oppenheimer’s self-reflexive recollections of the questions he grappled with as a youth about the nature of the universe struck a chord with the dilemma faced by the young protagonist in All Alone. In the light of this, the paper will also briefly consider the controversies around nuclear talks at the time All Alone was made.
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The present study aims to contextualize Soviet propaganda films from the middle of the 1960’s until the middle of 1980’s, based on evidence retrieved during original archival research at the EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. The undertaken discovery on the Sovexport Collection brings its content to the scholarly attention by revealing a number of paradoxes in the representation of the Soviet utopia. Pursuing an extensive empirical and theoretical study of the documentary film collection with the aim to throw light at their semifictional features, I bring to the fore the visions of space, nature, and technology seen as part of the utopian Communist grand narrative documented in the Sovexport films. The unveiled evidence shows that Soviet ideology is depicted as holding transformative power for the future, as well as serving the goals of Soviet foreign policy. Filling a gap in the study of Soviet cinema, this paper provides a new impetus for making, viewing, and analyzing documentary films in accord with history and its complexities.
More...(Върху примера на арията „Омраза като планина, гняв като море“)
“The White-Haired Girl“ is the first original Chinese opera. It combines Western music, music from regional Chinese music dramas and Chinese folk music. In this sense, “The White-Haired Girl“ has very high research value. One of the most brilliant vocal performances in the opera is the protagonist's aria “Hate like a mountain, anger like a sea”, which incorporates musical elements from the regional musical theatre of Shanxi province. In this paper, the aria is analyzed in terms of its musical nature, the features of vocal line and emotional expressiveness, the use of elements from Chinese musical theater in operatic arias is explored, and its significance and influence on the creation of opera on local soil is examined.
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The study seeks to determine the level of adequacy of the transfer into Bulgarian of the neologisms coined by Raymond Queneau in the novel Zazie in the Metro (1959). To this end, we examine the translation strategies implemented in Зази в метрото (2001). Starting from the assumption that, while translation is possible, the degree of translatability of a neologism is variable, we evaluate the relevance of the equivalents proposed by the translator.
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