ALL ISSUES
Me, Myself, and AI: A Look Into Parasociality With Chatbots
Written by José-Matéo Hozjan-Guerra for Cheryl Simon’s Communication Theory course. Movies such as Ex Machina and The Terminator offer us a glimpse into the possibility of future advancements in technology and artificial intelligence. While we deny the plausibility of a cyborg assassin sent to kill us someday in the future,…
Biting Back at Abusers: Reclaiming Women’s Agency in Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Written by Audrey Anne Le Nabec for Justine McLellan’s Cinema and Culture course. Long-existent before the creation of the film, the socio-cultural phenomenon of the repression of women’s autonomy and freedom concerning sexual violence has been present across cultures and nations. It is with the rise of feminist movements like…
Biting the Hand that Feeds You: Navigating Film Censorship in Communist Poland
Written by Philippe Cliche for Magdalena Olszanowski’s Alternative Cinema course. It had been a long time since you had watched a movie. A real one at least. There had certainly been ‘cinematic works’ shown in theaters throughout the last few years, but they were all nauseating with how much they…
Lenses of Freedom: An Exploration of Third Cinema as a Redefinition of Film
Written by Suchitra Marti for Michael Filtz’s Explorations in Cinema & Communications course. In examining the collective, the artist’s role significantly impacts how we view our reality, a fact long used by vanguards to inspire revolutionary thought. As filmmaking became particularly accessible, this form has transformed into a powerful tool…
The Devil in Disguise: Feminism through the Male Gaze in Rosemary’s Baby
Written by Shira Goren for Cheryl Simon’s Film Theory course. TW: mention of r*pe. Rosemary’s Baby, directed by Roman Polanski in 1968, is a psychological horror movie that discusses themes such as paranoia, satanism, and women’s liberation. It deals with the story of a young woman named Rosemary who moves…
Reflections of the Self: Nature, Identity, and Coming of Age in Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight
Written by Spencer Stutman for Robin E. Feenstra’s Coming of Age Fiction course Nature, in many ways, can be the strongest reflection of self throughout one’s life. Through the trauma, the joys, the lessons, and the often-unexplainable grief of childhood, it is the natural world which surrounds us that continues…
Category III Cinema: About Hong Kong’s Exploitation Cinema
Written by Mikaël Bédard for Cheryl Simon’s Film Theory course. In the 1996 film Viva Erotica, an out-of-work film director agrees to make a Category III/soft-core porno to make ends meet. He is asked to be more “Wong Jing than Wong Kar-wai”; in other words, he is asked to compromise…
Disinformation, Scapegoating, and the Weaponization of Fear : Mechanics of Propaganda in Harry Potter, Nazi Germany, and the Trump Era
Written by Neyla El-Euch for Lex Milton’s Explorations in Cinema and Communications course. The desire to convince others of one’s opinions has been an integral part of human communication across time. However, this has resulted in the dissemination of propaganda: the spreading of biased and often misleading information promoting particular…
Sex, Blood, and Stereotypes: How X Challenges Horror’s Sex-Negativity
Created by Kayla Rodgers for Justine McLellan’s Cinema Styles course. Kayla Rodgers discusses horror film tropes and stereotypes through X’s subversion of expectations.
Incels are Abusing Women: The Gendered Effects of AI
Created by Athena Bouas for Cheryl Simon’s Communications Theory course. Athena Bouas talks about the ever-expanding use of AI and its roots in misogyny.
Survival Through Dominance in Video Games
Created by Kayliya PS for Magdalena Olzanowski’s Ecocinema: Nature, Bodies, Environments course. Kayliya analyzes the fight for survival between nature and humanity in video games such as Minecraft, the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and more!
Rebirth Through Water: Cinematic Imaginaries of Transformation and Renewal
Created by Andrew Côté for Dipti Gupta’s Film Theory course. Andrew Côté gives examples of the ‘rebirth’ trope and its visual ties with water.
Metropolis: A Searing Critique of Inequality Through Contrast
Written by Lea Safaryan for Justine McLellan’s Cinema Styles course Metropolis (Lang, 1927) is a Weimar-era sci-fi film that explores themes of class disparity and industrialization. Through the use of contrast within the mise-en-scène, elements such as the aristocratic costuming, the theatrical acting, and the hyper-industrialized megacity come together to…
Parasite and The Menu on Anti-Capitalism
Written by Lily Greenspoon and Gabriella Kouri for Magdalena Olszanowski’s Cinema Styles course Described as “eat the rich movies,” Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 film Parasite and Mark Mylod’s 2022 film The Menu have been praised for their commentary on class consciousness: exploring anti-capitalism, and highlighting the inequalities that exist between classes, along…
Isolation and Desire: The Psychological Landscape of Tom at the Farm
Written by Zheng Cheng for Justine McLellan’s Cinema Styles course Tom at the Farm (2013), a psychological thriller directed by Xavier Dolan, tells the story of Tom, a young man from Montreal, who attends his deceased boyfriend’s – Guillaume – funeral in rural Quebec. At the remote farm, Tom struggles…
Reconstructing Memories: Intimacy and Silence in Aftersun
Written by Élise Léger for Justine McLellan’s Cinema Styles course Aftersun (2022) is a film acting as intimate memories reminisced by daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) about a vacation spent with her father (Paul Mescal) in the 1990s. Directed by Charlotte Wells, the film deals with themes of depression, connection, and…
Anthropocentrism in Grizzly Man and La Pieuvre
Written by Dorothée Gingras-Bernardin for Magdalena Olszanowski’s Cinema and Communications: Selected Topics course Winner of the Cheryl Simon Writing Award for Subtext’s Fall 2024 issue Is it possible to perceive nature without projecting human values onto it? How can cinema reinforce our anthropocentric mentality or, on the contrary, contribute to…
Organic Futures: Intersecting Tradition, Technology, and Asian Identities in After Yang
Written by Luca Graziani for Justine McLellan’s Cinema Styles course Following the lives of mixed-race couple Kyra and Jake, who purchase an android named Yang to teach their adoptive child Mika about her Chinese culture and heritage, After Yang explores the theme of Asian identity through the means of technology,…
The Power of Wild Imagination
Created by Rex Buatag for Justine McLellan’s Explorations in Cinema and Communications class Rex Buatag discusses childlike imagination through the lens of “Where the Wild Things Are” directed by Spike Jonze, based on the book of the same name by Maurice Sendak.
Seen and Not Seen: 1960s and 1970s American Gender Politics
Created by Vassilia Kiakas and Maya Gregoire for Magdalena Olzanowski’s History of Film Production Techniques class Vassilia Kiakas and Maya Gregoire discuss 1960s and 1970s queer representation and gender politics through the lens of horror.
Udigrudi: From Underground to the Surface
Created by Stella Avolio for Magdalena Olzanowski’s History of Film Production Techniques class Stella Avolio explains and analyzes the cinematic movement ‘udigrudi,’ a Brazilian subculture that was active between the 1960s and 1970s.
The Evolution of the Iconic “Flying Warrior Special Effect” in Chinese Cinema
Luke Chau delves into the history of an iconic special effect in Chinese cinema.
Poor Things: A Feminist Analysis
Video Essay submitted in Jesse Hunter’s Film Theory course. Maya Mielenz analyzes the film “Poor Things,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, through a feminist lens.
Interstellar & Greenland: Beyond Human Nature
Written by Aylu Girard for Magdalena Olszanowski’s Cinema and Communications: Selected Topics course “We used to look up at the sky and wonder about our place in the stars. Now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt.” – Interstellar Interstellar directed by Christopher Nolan (2014)…
Stepford Wives and the Rebranding of Feminism
Delia Markus explores the difference between the two adaptations of The Stepford Wives and analyzes how feminist theory may be applied to each of them.
Denis Villeneuve’s Memorial: Honoring or Deceiving?
Written by Aïyana Faye-Giard for Kim Simard’s … class At the end of the 20th century, just as the world was slowly recovering from two World Wars, a violent tragedy shook the province of Quebec. On December 6, 1989, fourteen women were brutally murdered on the Polytechnique campus, in response…
Love Without Borders: The Parental Relationship Between Theodore and Samantha in Spike Jonze’s Her
Written by Elliot King for Justine McLellan’s Cinema Styles course Spike Jonze’s Her (2014) is set in a futuristic world where technology has been fully integrated into everyday life, even more than today. This is clear when the protagonist Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with an operating system named…
Cinematic Transformations: Exploring the Evolution of Violence in Film Narratives
Written by Eva Sivilla and Noa Druker for Michael Filtz’s Cinema Styles course In its primitive form, the use of violence in cinema ranged from portraying moral consciousness to simply serving as a form of entertainment. Yet, through the evolution of characterization, the advancement of modern-day cinematography, and a societal desensitization to…
Migration, Memory, and Identity: Kim Thúy’s Journey from Vietnam to Québec
Written by Berdie Pidika Matondo for Justine McLellan’s Cinema and Culture course Ru is a 2023 Québécois film directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud based on Kim Thúy’s 2009 novel of the same name. Both works recount the story of a Vietnamese family that migrates to Quebec in 1978, three years after…
Echoes of the Pandemic: Isolation and Despair in Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall
Written by Juniper McKenzie for Justine McLellan’s Cinema and Culture course The 2023 film Anatomy of a Fall directed by Justine Triet is set in modern-day France, post COVID-19 lockdown. While this was a worldwide event, the pandemic hit France particularly hard with over 38,997,490 confirmed cases as of December…
Do the Right Thing Love/Hate Scene Analysis
By Imogen Prince, written for Kim Simard’s Explorations in Cinema and Communications class Winner of the Cheryl Simon Writing Award for Subtext’s Winter 2024 issue Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) takes place in the span of one day in a predominantly Black New York neighborhood during a heatwave.…
An Analysis of Midsommar: Burning Men and May Queens
Written by Michaela Charbonneau for Dr. Magdalena Olszanowski Cinema & Communications: Selected Topics course *This text contains spoilers to the film Midsommar The night-winds come and go, mother, upon the meadow-grass. And the happy stars above them seem to brighten as they pass; There will not be a drop of…
Postmodernism & Parody
Morad Zidoune delves into parody films and their embracement of postmodernist film techniques and concepts!
The Model Minority in Film
The Model Minority in Film by Lindsy Mae explores the concept of the Model Minority in film and its perpetuation of harmful stereotypes due to the limited portrayal of Asian characters in mainstream media.
Toxic Masculinity & Moose Hunting in Pierre Perrault’s The Shimmering Beast
Written by Markus Falk and Juniper McKenzie for Justine McLellan’s Cinema and Culture course The film La Bête Lumineuse (Pierre Perrault, 1982) centers around a group of middle-aged men who go on a hunting trip in search of moose. During this trip, the social dynamics of the group, compared to…
Shifting Identities
A scene analysis from Robert Altman’s 3 Women Written by Kayliya Phongsavath Sananikone for Justine McLellan’s Cinema Styles course 3 Women (1977), directed by Robert Altman, is a fever dream of a film that follows the otherwise mundane lives of Millie, Pinky, and Willie. The film focuses on their identities…
Jordan Peele’s Nope
Created by Kayla Rodgers Kayla Rodgers analyses “The Star Lasso Experience” scene from Jordan Peele’s 2022 Horror/Sci-Fi.
Alienation as a Result of Mass Industrialization in Antonioni’s Red Desert
Written by Dorothée Gingras-B for Magdalena Olszanowski’s Ecocinema course Through grim images of factory chimneys, opaque fumes, and behemoth infrastructure, Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1964 drama Red Desert tells the story of a woman’s growing sense of alienation and disorientation in the face of a highly industrialized and increasingly polluted environment. In the…
The Mesmerizing and Brutal Essence of Nature in Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland
By Angélique Babineau, written for Magdalena Olszanowski’s Ecocinema class Nomadland (2020), set in 2011 Nevada, Arizona, South Dakota, and California, is an independent American drama directed by Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao. Adapted from the 2017 novel by Jessica Bruder of the same title, Nomadland mostly features real nomads as fictionalized…
Cultural Differences, Diasporic Cinema in The Farewell
By Clarisse Boutin, created for Justine McLellan’s Media and Society course Click the image or here to watch
Romantic Comedies and Romantic Ideals
By Clarisse Boutin and Arielle Simon-Hamel, created for Justine McLellan’s Media and Society course
Cinema and Behavior
by Sarah Foster, Caleb Gales & Emilia Martinez, created for Justine McLellan’s Media and Society course
Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival and the Critique of Nationalism
By Théo Lambert, created for Justine McLellan’s Media and Society course
Reality Television as a Funhouse Mirror
By Théo Lambert, created for Justine McLellan’s Media and Society course
How Do You Like Them Apples?
By Lisa Nguyen, created for Dipti Gupta’s Cinema and Culture course.
The Erasure of Black Contribution in Hollywood and Jordan Peele’s Nope
By Ethan Bautista, created for Justine McLellan’s Media and Society course In this magazine, Ethan Bautista explores how Jordan Peele’s Nope addresses the historical lack of recognition for black contribution in the film industry, thus touching on topics such as presentism, the legacy of stunt work, themes of exploitation and…
Fembot Fantasy
By Victoria Psiharis, Emma Simetic, Adelina Petkova and Sofia Timotheatos, created for Justine McLellan’s Media and Society course Fembot Fantasy analyzes the science-fiction genre’s fetishistic portrayal of fembots, robots adorning feminine traits, through the lense of technoscopophilia.
Women’s Self-Determination
A comparative analysis of Miriam Toews’ Women Talking and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women By Kara Chevry, written for Louise Slater’s Women and Anger course For four years, several women and girls within a remote Mennonite colony have woken up in pain and agony, their skin marked with bruises and cuts.…
Spectatorship Theory’s Relation to Genre Films
By Clarisse Boutin, written for Cheryl Simon’s Film Theory course Since its development in the 1970s, spectatorship theory has become an integral aspect of film studies. This theory explores the connections between cinematic apparatus —including, but not limited to, cinematography, editing, music, and performance— and individual interpretations of a film…
Taylor Swift and the Double Standard of Modern Media
By Emilia Martinez-Zalce Darroch, written for Justine McLellan’s Explorations in Cinema and Communication “I would be complex / I would be cool / They’d say I played the field before I found someone to commit to / And that would be okay for me to do / Every conquest I…
An Exploration of National Identity: New German Cinema
By Alexandrina Sandu, written for Cheryl Simon’s Film Theory course Andrew Higson, professor of Film and Television at the University of York, explains that it is primordial “[…] to pay attention to historical shifts in the construction of nationhood and national identity: nationhood is always an image constructed under particular…
The Rise of Feminist Horror
Written by Lou Tremblay, written for Justine McLellan’s Explorations in Cinema and Communications Winner of the Cheryl Simon Writing Award for Subtext’s Fall 2023 issue It is a well-known fact that the horror genre has not been particularly kind to women. In the past, horror films often have offered tropes,…
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