Velvet Light Trap articles from March 2001

Velvet Light Trap archives from March 2001

Introduction.(entertainment industry )(Editorial)
March 22, 2001... As technology alters the landscape of popular culture and phrases such as "postnetwork," "indie film," and "cybermedia" become more prevalent, the idea of media as an industry in flux also becomes commonplace. Daily, we read about the...

"I laughed and cringed at the same time": shaping pedophilic discourse around American Beauty and Happiness.
March 22, 2001... The interrogation of suburbia's facades is hardly new fodder for Hollywood or independent filmmakers. The Academy Award--winning Ordinary People of 1981 was hailed as an incisive foray into middle-class malaise; it garnered praise as a subtly...

Cartoon realism: genre mixing and the cultural life of The Simpsons.
March 22, 2001... It's an odd thing when a cartoon series is praised as one of the most trenchant and "realistic" programs on TV, but there you are.--Josh Ozersky, media critic (quoted in Ozersky 11) It's just a cartoon. People shouldn't pay that much...

The short-lived life of the Hollywood LSD film.(lysergic acid diethylamide)
March 22, 2001... This essay examines the rise and fall of the late 1960s Hollywood LSD film, a category that encompasses cheaply made pseudodocumentary films such as The Weird World of LSD (1967), Roger Corman's higher-budgeted exploitation film The Trip...

"Professional television": three (super)texts and a (super)genre.
March 22, 2001... In recent television seasons, the prime-time schedules of the major networks have included an increasing number of programs that might be termed professional dramas. NBC's phenomenally popular ER as well as its new offering, Providence, CBS's...

Lifetime on the street: textual strategies of syndication.
March 22, 2001... A text's unity lies not in its origin but in its destination.--Roland Barthes, "The Death of the Author" Given the penchant for niche narrowcasting in the 1980s, and the corporate cult of diversification in cable of the 1990s, the best way...

Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema.(Book Review)
March 22, 2001... Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema by Chon A. Noriega Occasionally, a work of cinema scholarship forges a new path with respect not just to its subject matter but also with regard to the process of film...

Feminist Hollywood: From Born in Flames to Point Break.(Book Review)
March 22, 2001... Feminist Hollywood: From Born in Flames to Point Break by Christina Lane Christina Lane has released an insightful glimpse into the negotiations, concessions, and triumphs of six of today's crossover women directors. Examining the tenuous...

The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses.(Book Review)
March 22, 2001... The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses by Laura U. Marks In her book The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses, Laura U. Marks provides a fascinating exploration of the ways that...

Errata.(Correction Notice)
March 22, 2001... Bliss Cua Lim, author of "True Fictions: Women's Narratives and Historical Trauma (Issue 45, Spring 2000)," has asked the editors of The Velvet Light Trap to print the following corrections. On page 66, the sentence should read: "The Flor...