In part one of a two-part series on the state of comic book film and television franchises, Mark Gallagher criticizes their exploitation of esoterica and origin stories.
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Why Superhero Movies Suck, Part I
Conference Announcement: Saving America’s Radio Heritage at the Library of Congress
Announcement of national conference for the Radio Preservation Task Force of the Library of Congress, February 25-27, 2016.
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Magical Realism and Fictional Verisimilitude in Medellín
Offering first impressions of Narcos, Kristina Busse discusses its layered framing, use of original footage, and language and accent.
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“We Know More About You Than You’d Like”: Podcasts and High-Status Fandom
Mark Lashley notes the rise of fan podcasts within the comedy community by discussing Adam Scott and Scott Aukerman's U Talkin' U2 To Me, and the ways in which performances of fandom are complicated by the hosts' celebrity and industry connections.
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What I Learned at Podcast Movement 2015
Jason Loviglio reports from the Podcast Movement 2015 industry conference, providing a state-of-the-industry rundown that includes the divide between professional radio broadcaster "Pro-casters" and amateur "Podcasters" and the shared discourse of podcasting-as-rebirth.
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Ashley Madison, Rentboy, and Dirty, Dirty Internet Sex
The Ashley Madison data breach and Rentboy's federally mandated closure underline Americans' ongoing problems with intimacy and digital technology and ultimately function as flare-ups in a perennial debate about whom and how people should desire and be.
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First Impressions: Fear the Walking Dead
Amanda Keeler offers some initial thoughts on the pilot of Fear the Walking Dead and its use of storytelling, genre, setting, and character, pointing out that interpretation will depend largely on which elements of the original Walking Dead series resonate with individual viewers.
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The Visibility and Invisibility of Chinese Independent Films
Festival film? Underground film? Dissident film? Sabrina Q. Yu on contemporary Chinese independent cinema's proliferating labels and reigning misperceptions.
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“Long Live Abigail Hobbs”: The Significance of Hannibal‘s Deviant “Daughter”
In the final installment of a limited series on NBC's gothic horror program Hannibal, Allison McCracken focuses on character Abigail Hobbs, who has become a prominent figure among the program's feminist fan communities.
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Love for the Fannish Archive: Fuller’s Hannibal as Fanfiction
In positioning the series as fan fiction, Hannibal show runner Bryan Fuller and his team claim the identity and ethos of the feminine-gendered fan, a position that allows them to intertextually and ardently acknowledge both the practices and the affect of its primarily female fandom.
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Branding Hannibal: When Quality TV Viewers and Social Media Fans Converge
In the first installment of a three-part series on NBC's Hannibal, Allison McCracken and Brian Faucette discuss the show's and network's branding efforts in relation to their appeals to "feminized" audiences.
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AnTENNA, UnREAL: Channel Branding and Racial Politics
The final part of a week-long forum for media scholars to share their thoughts about Lifetime's UnREAL explores the series in relation to cable branding and racial politics.
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AnTENNA, UnREAL: Romance and Pedagogy
The second part of a week-long forum for media scholars to share their thoughts about Lifetime's UnREAL explores the series in relation to romance and pedagogy.
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AnTENNA, UnREAL: Anti-Heroes, Genre and Legitimation
The first part of a week-long forum for media scholars to share their thoughts about Lifetime's UnREAL explores the series in relation to contemporary anti-hero dramas.
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Sesame Street’s New Landlord
What does HBO's deal with Sesame Workshop mean for Cookie, HBO, PBS, and their audiences?
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Hindi Cinema: Coming Soon To A Tweet Near You
Social media and Twitter-happy stars are changing the way Hindi films are promoted in India. (With this caveat: for English speakers only.) Sripana Ray looks at film prefiguration targeting India's urban middle class.
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