Truth, Journalism, and the American Way: Constructed Image and Authentic Sound in Citizen Kane and All the President’s Men
“The sound that these reporters seek, the meaning of rosebud or the secrets of the Nixon administration, are represented as the truths behind the lies of the constructed images of Kane and the U.S. government.”
Authenticity and Artificiality in Blade Runner‘s Androids
“The film’s synthesizer score helps render its moody, introspective atmosphere and interrogate the theme of the blurred line between man and machine.”
Gendered Fantasies in Clueless and The Virgin Suicides
“The femininity in Clueless is fun and seen as a power to wield socially, while the prescription of it is a death sentence in The Virgin Suicides.”
A Woman and Her Car: Vehicular Vulnerability in Thelma & Louise
“Where Louise is free in her car to escape the patriarchy, map her own journey, enact revenge, and emotionally flounder, these women are not.”
Dr. Strangelove and the Morality of Mass Murder in War
“The outcome of devastating war is not glorious victory; it is devastation.”
French New Wave and Pierrot le Fou
“Pierrot le Fou shares many hallmarks of Nouvelle Vague such as an attention to realism, a narrative and stylistic centering of reflexivity, and disorienting editing and writing.”
Night and Fog and Holocaust Remembrance
“The film argues, here with its words but also with its visuals, that the evil that allowed for the Holocaust lives on in the audience’s willful ignorance.”
T-1000 and T-Rex: Sound Design in the Action/Sci-fi Classics Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park
“T2 and Jurassic Park — both made by sound designer Gary Rydstrom — highlight new technology while using the advancements to comment on society, a hallmark of the science fiction genre.”
Political Noise and Quiet in We Need to Talk About Kevin and Night Moves
“(The prior) uses noise to explore the dehumanization of its mother and son characters… (the latter), on the other hand, uses sonic minimalism to interrogate activist methods and responsibility for actions.”
International Art Cinema: The Double Life of Veronique and Chunking Express
“For these films, the highest goal is communicating, respectively, the feelings of not being in control of your life and of simultaneous desire and resistance to change.”
Asian Popular Genres: Ring and Drunken Master II
“(These films) carry cultural motifs about the nature of horror and action that are unique to the places they spawned from and previous work they build upon.”