One track on Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” honors a long-celebrated, oft-miscast heroine of American feminism: actress Clara Bow. As historians of the 1920s, we’ve studied Bow’s fame and…
Tag: Hollywood
The failures of ‘Oppenheimer’ and the ascent of the foreign film
Because movies are so subjective, with views on the same performances and direction veering wildly from one critic to the next, determining the best of anything – whether it’s acting, direction or…
How non-English language cinema is reshaping the Oscars landscape
Over the past few years, the Oscars have taken a decidedly international turn. This year, of the 10 films nominated for an Academy Award for best picture, three of them – “Anatomy…
Hollywood on the picket line – 5 unsung films that put America’s union history on the silver screen
Some of Hollywood’s top stars are joining screenwriters on the picket line after the main U.S. actors union voted to take part in an ongoing strike. SAG-AFTRA, which represents more than 150,000…
How TV shows have grappled with a post-Dobbs America
Two doctors sit, despondent, on the side of a busy road as they watch an EMT zip up the body of their patient into a body bag. The patient died as a…
The exploitation of Hollywood’s writers is just another symptom of digital feudalism
The current Hollywood writers strike has drawn international attention to the plight of TV and film writers in the streaming era. Much has been made of television’s golden age, during which streaming…
Harry Belafonte leveraged stardom for social change, his powerful voice always singing a song for justice
In May 1963, as civil rights demonstrations rocked the city of Birmingham, Alabama, Harry Belafonte was at a cocktail party in Manhattan, scolding the then-attorney general of the United States. “You may…
Actors are demanding that Hollywood catch up with technological changes in a sequel to a 1960 strike
For the first time since 1960, actors and screenwriters are on strike at the same time. As with many of the other strikes that have rippled across the United States over the…
What are Hollywood actors and writers afraid of? A cinema scholar explains how AI is upending the movie and TV business
The bitter conflict between actors, writers and other creative professionals and the major movie and TV studios represents a flashpoint in the radical transformation roiling the entertainment industry. The ongoing strikes by…
Michael Oher, Mike Tyson and the question of whether you own your life story
What if you overcame a serious illness to go on to win an Olympic medal? Could a writer or filmmaker decide to tell your inspiring story without consulting you? Or do you…