Have you ever been profoundly bored watching a film? If so, is it possible that you may have overlooked the positive aspects of profound boredom? Either way(s), there’s an article on the subject of cinematic boredom in the current issue of the journal Film Philosophy, in which Dr Chiara Quaranta of the University of Edinburgh, […]
Tag: movie
Skull-Penetration Interventions to Combat Zombies
An article in the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, February 2019, Volume :51 Number 1, discusses the question of evidence in assessing traumatic brain injuries (TBI) by using the example of Zombies. The article begins : “Despite anecdotal evidence seen on television and in movies, there is zero actual research to support penetrating traumatic brain injury […]
Recent Progress in ‘Ratatouille’ Studies
The 2007 publication of the Pixar movie Ratatouille presented a unique set of opportunities for academic study – a challenge which scholars have not ignored. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of published work about the film : ● Man is a Puppet, Soul is a Rat: On Pixar’s Ratatouille in Critical Engagements: A Journal of […]
Sausage Party : a vegan critique
The 2016 movie Sausage Party may have been a box-office hit, but when it comes to inspiring scholarly articles, it’s something of a flop. There are one or two however . . . “This article provides a critical vegan reading of the comedy animation film Sausage Party (2016), directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan […]
Recent progress in Wonder Woman studies
Since her first appearance in 1941, Wonder Woman © has received considerable attention from academia. Here are (but a few) recent(ish) contributions to the literature : • ‘A Different Kind of Power’?: identification, stardom and embodiments of the military in Wonder Woman • Wonder Woman, the Gutter, and Critical Genocide Studies • Loving Lassos: Wonder Woman, […]
Recent progress in Kung Fu Panda studies
In 2008, the launch of the Kung Fu Panda© film series kicked off a series of opportunities for in-depth academic study across the globe. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of progress in Kung Fu Panda studies over the last ten years or so : • Kung Fu Panda: Animated Animal Bodies as Layered Sites of […]
The pleasures of watching ironically-enjoyed movies (new study)
“So-called ‘trash films’ do not stand in opposition to taste and education. Quite the contrary, they are often watched by people with an above-average education and interest in culture.” – informs a recent online article from Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, München, Germany. The ‘delight-in-cheapness’ they are referring to is analysed in a paper for the journal Poetics Volume […]
Predictably smelly breathing [podcast 74]
Heavy breathing (that’s smelly) in movie theaters, in response to what’s in the movie, is the subject of this week’s Improbable Research podcast. SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free. This week, Marc Abrahams — with dramatic readings by Harvard chemist Daniel Rosenberg — tells about: Predictably smelly breathing in movie theaters— “Cinema audiences reproducibly vary the chemical composition […]
‘A Video Lesson on the Price of Movie Popcorn’
Richard B. McKenzie is the Walter B. Gerken Professor Emeritus of Enterprise and Society at The Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine. Here he is presenting ‘A Video Lesson on the Price of Movie Popcorn’ Also see: ‘Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies’ by Richard B. McKenzie and Gordon Tullock, […]
He’s the “k”, and has great Erdos and Bacon numbers
“He is the ‘k’ in G. W. Peck, a pseudonym for a group of six mathematicians,” says Wikipedia, which goes on to say: Kleitman has coauthored at least six papers with Erdős, giving him an Erdős number of 1. He was a math advisor and extra for the film Good Will Hunting.[5] Since Minnie Driver of Good Will Hunting appeared in Sleepers with Kevin Bacon, Kleitman […]