Popular Film Research Articles

Pragmatic Analysis of Flouting Maxim in Romantic Dialogue: A Case Study of Dilan 1990

Dilan 1990 is a popular Indonesian film known for its romantic dialogue and engaging narrative. This study analyzes the use of flirtatious remarks within the film through Grice's Cooperative Principle, focusing specifically on the concept of flouting his four maxims: Quantity, Quality, Relevance, and Manner. The analysis reveals that the maxim of Relevance is most frequently flouted (18 instances, 32%), followed by Quantity (17 instances, 30%), Quality (15 instances, 26%), and Manner (7 instances, 12%). This pattern suggests that the characters prioritize emotional expressiveness and romantic appeal over strict adherence to conversational norms. The flirtatious remarks often manipulate language strategically to heighten romantic tension and evoke humor, which significantly contributes to the film’s charm and cultural resonance. These findings provide valuable insights into the pragmatic strategies of flouting used in romantic discourse and their impact on viewer engagement and narrative effectiveness, highlighting the complexities of youthful romance.

Intersemiotic Translations of Greek Popular Films in the Film Industry and Media

Abstract This paper examines cultural texts and their place in the Greek semiosphere. More particularly, it delves into intersemiotic translations or adaptations or remakes of masterpieces of, the so-called, Golden Age of Greek cinema, which are deeply engraved in the Greek collective cultural memory. These cultural texts assume yet further value many decades after they were created, through three semiotic choices involving a translational dimension: their colourisation, their cinematic adaptation, and their amateur remakes hosted on social media and other internet sites. Assuming that the original texts are located at the centre of the Greek semiosphere, this study aims to show whether these new texts, the metatexts, are placed next to their originals or whether they coexist along the periphery or near the borders of the Greek semiosphere, an element that will determine the extent to which they will be accepted by contemporary Greeks. The study shows that the popularity of new cultural texts, which belong to the comedy genre, is increasing due to the desire of film audiences to participate through these intersemiotic translations (metatexts) in the popularity of the original cultural texts (prototexts) that are considered cultural myths.

Strangled Women: Popular Culture, ‘Conservative Modernity’ and Erotic Violence in Britain, c.1890–1950

ABSTRACT This article analyses popular novels and films in early-mid twentieth-century Britain. It argues that strangled women were increasingly depicted in violent narratives of adventure and domination by a male lover. The mass female audience for these erotic fictions demonstrates the psychic realm of escapism embedded within Alison Light’s paradigmatic framework of ‘conservative modernity’. During the interwar period, an erotic imaginary of sexual violence emerged that glamourised non-fatal manual strangulation as a transgressive form of courtship. This built on a late-Victorian cultural script of the ‘monstrous stranger’ that persisted into the twentieth century. Strangled women were commodified and normalised as mass entertainment by the 1940s, becoming the acceptable face of sexual violence.

Effects of colour and scene dynamism on visual fatigue in animated films

Animated films are highly popular in society, particularly among children and adolescents. During film production, selecting an adequate colour palette and scene dynamism is crucial for creating a visual impact on the audience. However, the influence of visual aesthetics, such as colour and scene dynamism on visual fatigue remains unexplored. In the present study, visual fatigue was assessed and compared in 30 young participants after viewing two popular films: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, an active, fast-paced film, and My Neighbour Totoro, a more relaxed film. Both films were viewed twice, once with the original colour palette and once in greyscale. Watching Spider-Man film induced a greater degree of visual fatigue than My Neighbour Totoro in two subjective questionnaires evaluating visual fatigue, and in the vergence facility and binocular accommodative facility tests. Moreover, important differences in the visual dynamics and colour aspects between both films were found. These results demonstrate that the high-paced and high-colour aspects of films directly affect visual fatigue. Future animated film producers should consider these factors that are relevant to their audiences.

Rocking in Kasba: “band” music, contemporary Bengali cinema, and Anjan Dutta’s lost Kolkatas

ABSTRACT With the gradual obsolescence of the lip-synched romantic duet, the sonic texture of Bengali popular cinema has transformed radically in the new millennium. One of the most remarkable components of the rise of the Original Soundtrack in Bengali film specifically has been the incorporation of local pop, folk, and rock bands, whose lyrics are written in Bengali but whose music retains a decidedly western flavour. This paper situates this relationship between cinema and what has traditionally been understood as ‘band’ music in Kolkata in a longer history of the city and its colonial and postcolonial musical cultures. With the incorporation of the pop/rock stars into the diegesis, the productive tensions between star and singer, visible and invisible bodies and voices have been overturned in recent years. Conversely, the music that is commissioned by these films now contribute to the bands’ larger discography and bring their music to a wider listening audience. In some of these films, musicians and bands appear as themselves, bringing together multi-modal sites of fandom and entertainment. Finally, this essay demonstrates that singer/songwriter/filmmaker/actor, Anjan Dutta’s oeuvre emerges as the canvas on which many of these developments come to be visible.

OVERLOOKING THE TRANSFORMATION OF VALUES THROUGH THE TRANSNATIONAL AMERICAN REMAKES MOVIES

This study explores the transformation of values in transnational remake movies, focusing on their popularity and the incorporation of new elements to suit target audience preferences. An analysis of The Lake House, a remake of the Korean film Il Mare, reveals shifts in values and the integration of American cultural aspects. These changes stem from audience demands, business considerations, and Hollywood's global influence. Remakes require more than simply reproducing original content; they involve capturing cultural nuances from both versions. Utilizing Hall's representation approach and qualitative methods, the study assesses transnational remakes and their conveyed values. The research identifies shifts from South Korean values to those of the American target market, such as the transition from interdependence to self-reliance and a preference for directness, assertion, and rationality. The American film industry should carefully evaluate the suitability of movies for its audiences, recognizing changes in scenes and messages. The establishment of American values in remakes is influenced by the success of original films and their formulas. As transnational products, movies must be repackaged for target audiences. The industry faces complex processes to align the values of popular films with audience tastes while maintaining the essence of original works.

Eschatology of the Singularity: “Deus ex machina” in the Construction of Film Images of the Future

The mixed assessment by critics and theorists of the deus ex machina artistic device common in popular cinema requires a more thorough study of its dramatic and narrative functions in science fiction films. It is in the construction of film images of the future that this technique is combined with a fantastic assumption, expressing the narrator’s attitude towards artistic narration and becoming an argument in dialogue with the viewer. The study reveals, based on the analysis of empirical material, the multifunctionality of deus ex machina using the example of the development of the theme of technological singularity in cinema. The analysis of films significant for the development of the science fiction (Sci-Fi) genre and the most popular television series among science fiction fans today demonstrates the evolution of the deus ex machina technique. In addition to the trivial function of arbitrary resolution of peripeteia, it acquires various dramatic functions (accelerating or slowing down the rhythm of action, connecting parts of the plot in a large form), obtains the properties of scaling and fragmentation, synchrony and asynchrony with a fantastic assumption, adding complex narrative functions to the toolkit of expressive means, through which the narrator reveals or, on the contrary, conceals his attitude to artistic reality, involving the viewer into the game of probable meanings. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that the theme of technological singularity has been penetrating cinema since its appearance in the work of L. Lumiere and determines, depending on the narrator’s attitude to the topic, the vector of techno-skepticism or techno-optimism in the eschatological dilemma that characterizes the cosmogony of traditional religions. The article is of interest to researchers and film lovers and contributes to the study of artistic and scientific communication.

Playing Our Parts: An Ode to Selected Twentieth Century South African Newspaper Film Critics

The first part of this analysis discusses film critics as historians and historians as film scholars via an examination of texts, subtexts, and contexts. The article recalls the primary contributions of some prolific film critics, offering a personal testimonial to those who had significantly contributed to the teaching of film at universities or who had contributed to popular film discourse. An autobiographical historical overview explains how newspaper and magazine film critics shaped the author’s own analyses of twentieth century South African film, with special reference to Afrikaans movies framed by the insider-outsider genre. As an active member of the film industry since 1970, the author explains the significance of key contextual events. The study focuses on the metaphorical and subtextual elements where fictional characters engaging in discursive social struggles are studied as indicators of wider social roles in conflict. The second part examines questions of language, empirical observation, and subtextual analysis in metaphorical relation to the methods used by the film critics who informed the author’s theory of Afrikaans film narrative as a social metatext. The conclusions are two-fold: first, that academics who are also critic-practitioners constitute holistic value; and second, that journalists are actually theory-based intellectuals.

Portrayal of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Popular Films.

Stigmatization of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) threatens provider-patient relationships and contributes to the underutilization of STI services. Media can shape public attitudes toward healthcare topics by perpetuating or reducing stigma. Given the high prevalence of STIs and the widespread consumption of media, it is essential for healthcare providers to be cognizant of factors influencing societal perceptions of STI symptoms, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment. This study is a scoping review of popular films depicting STIs. Full-length English-language narrative films featuring characters with confirmed or suspected STIs were included. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the proportion of characters accurately portrayed with STI symptoms, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment. The final analysis comprised 128 characters from 77 films, with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) being the most frequently featured STI (42 films, 54.5%). The overall accuracy across all four clinical variables of symptoms, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment was 87.4%. Transmission was the most depicted clinical variable, represented in 74 characters (57.8%). All four clinical variables were simultaneously depicted in only four (3.1%) characters, with two characters portraying all four clinical variables accurately. Death occurred in 39 characters (30.5%), with HIV accounting for the majority (82.1%). Most films accurately portrayed STI clinical variables, including symptoms, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment. Rates of individual variable depiction were inconsistent, while death secondary to STIs was common. Understanding the portrayal of STIs in popular films can provide valuable insights for clinicians, enabling them to effectively address patient misconceptions and knowledge gaps.

Alcohol imagery in popular films in China, 2001-2020.

This study aims to identify the level and trend of alcohol imagery in popular films in China from 2001 to 2020. We divided the running time of the annual 20 top-grossing films in China into 5-min intervals and coded those containing alcohol imagery, the presence of warnings, whether the imagery was related to minors and alcohol brands. Results showed that alcohol imagery occurred in 90.75% (363/400) of the films and 25.26% (2380/9423) of the intervals; these proportions remained stable over time. No film containing alcohol imagery had warnings, alcohol imagery related to minors appeared each year, and 103 alcohol brands were present in 185 intervals across 93 of the 400 films. Chinese films contained more alcohol imagery than international films. National policies are required to restrict alcohol imagery in films and to reduce the availability of such films for viewing by young people.

Portrayal of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Popular Film: A Review of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity.

Portrayal of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Popular Film: A Review of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity.

Leveraging history to invoke nationalism: from the annals of history to social engineering of present and future in Hindi cinema

ABSTRACT Nationalism calls for one’s loyalty and affiliation towards their chosen nation. Various versions of nationalism emphasise that one must prioritise said nation above themselves and their personal ethics, hence, allowing the nation to overpower the nationalist’s individuality. In this article, we use Critical Discourse Analysis to deconstruct the narratives of nationalism as portrayed in two popular films, viz. The Kashmir Files and Uri: The Surgical Strike, which are based on real historical events – the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus and the surgical strike by the Indian Army in retaliation to the Uri attack. Both films use narrative strategies to frame key historical events into certain ideological contexts, and hence they serve the populist purpose of swaying viewers’ opinion in favour of the dominant socio-political class.

Analyzing the NetEase CloudMusics Marketing Campaign

The Internet's innovation has had a profound impact on NetEase CloudMusic's development and marketing strategy adjustments. This paper examines the 2017 "Music Review Train" campaign, which NetEase CloudMusic and Hangzhou Metro launched, with the goal of identifying the strategic factors that led to its success. Based on the marketing mix theory of 4Is, this paper applies the campaign as a case and employs relevant data and literature. This paper found that the success of the campaign was primarily due to the application of an interesting strategy by selecting interesting music reviews as advertising content. This paper suggests exploring the interests of different audience groups in the future and collaborating with popular film and television intellectual property (IP). The second reason is the application of an interaction strategy, which allows for offline and online interaction with users. It is suggested that in the future, emphasis can be placed on the operation of new media platforms and the opening of offline shops to offer an interactive experience. This paper hoped to provide a reference for upgrading the marketing strategy of NetEase CloudMusic to improve the communication effect and brand image and thus contribute to the brands future development.

A Digital Archaeology of Early Hispanic Film Culture: Film Magazines and the Male Fan Reader

As a sociologically-oriented study, this project contributes to an archaeology of cinema fandom broadly, and early Spanish fan culture specifically, by spotlighting male readers of popular film magazines. Taking as an exploratory case study reader interactivity with the magazine Popular Film, analysis of correspondence and published photos of readers participating in reader contests demonstrates that the magazine’s cinema fan base was composed of a strikingly large proportion of readers who were male and that these were ardent enthusiasts of celebrity consumer culture. This is a notable contradistinction to the widely-held idea of the star-struck female movie fan. Methodologically, in conducting this study we reflect on the challenges of digital approaches to historical periodical research, where particular challenges are posed when working with magazines in a non-anglophone language, and when there are few baseline studies to rely on to guide and contextualize patterns picked up through strictly macro methods. We advocate for the affordances of a mixed macro-micro approach that combines distant reading with traditional textual studies of close reading. By adopting such a hybrid framework, digital methods provide new opportunities towards reconstructing profiles of magazine readerships and to unearth evidence of male movie fans in Spain.

Desiring audiences: We will go to the cinema if…?

Beginning in the 1990s, Bangladeshi cinema began to lose its audiences significantly. This leads to the continual closure of cinema halls, one after another. Popular perception is that Bangladeshi audiences watch foreign films, Indian popular films in particular, and television programs using home-viewing facilities. Mainstream filmmakers and producers in Bangladesh argue that when audiences can almost effortlessly access similar contents at home and so they do not go to the theatres. This study, therefore, explores how the audiences decide about a film (irrespective of the origin of production) to watch, what satisfies their viewing, and their disinclination to watch cinema at the theatre in Bangladesh. A total of 100 regular movie-viewers participated in the survey interviews. The findings confirm that for most of the viewers, the trailer of a film, known or favorite actors and/or actresses, and cinema viewers or cinema-goers’ feedback are the three key sources based on which they decide whether to watch a film or not. Relying on these sources, they want confirmation that the film(s) they will watch must have all the necessary components contributing to their viewing satisfaction. The story itself, the craft of storytelling, performance, and dialogues through which characters of the story reach the audience, good making that creates reality, known (star) actors and actresses, and visual spectacle are found to be the primary elements that produce audiences viewing satisfaction. Though most respondents conditionally agreed that they prefer to watch films at theatres, films screened there are found unworthy of watching. Their leisureless lifestyle considerably contributed to this disinclination toward cinema-going.

Hindi Popular Cinema – Reading of the Representative Register of India’s Pre-liberalization Social History and Its Prevalent Discourse Since Post-independence Period

Hindi Popular Cinema – Reading of the Representative Register of India’s Pre-liberalization Social History and Its Prevalent Discourse Since Post-independence Period

The Picture Show: Lucille Clifton’s Poetry and Children’s Writing from Popular Culture and Film

The Picture Show: Lucille Clifton’s Poetry and Children’s Writing from Popular Culture and Film

Cultural Degradation of Female Characters in Disney's Asian films：From Jasmine to Mulan

As one of the world's most popular film brands, Disney movies' influence on shaping female characters in culture cannot be ignored. The gradual deterioration of female characters in Disney films has influenced the development of Asian cinema. This paper takes Princess Jasmine and Mulan as the main research objects, compares the characters and plot development, and expounds the role of Princess Jasmine and the characteristics embodied. However, Mulan transforms from a simple girl to a brave warrior and realizes a role change. Among them, the social culture, market demand, etc., reflected in the transformation of Mulan's role, are really the essential changes in a role, and the shaping and evolution of Disney's role has also had an impact. The research helps to provide in-depth understanding and analysis to promote the diversity of Asian cultures and the positive image shaping of women's roles.

Prospective study of exposure to smoking imagery in films and changes in susceptibility to smoking in a cohort of school students in Southern India.

India has unique tobacco-free film and TV rules designed to prevent tobacco uptake. In this study, we examined the potential influence of exposure to smoking imagery in regionally famous films, on susceptibility to smoke in teenagers enrolled in schools in a district in Southern India. A longitudinal survey of students, in grades 6 to 8 at baseline in 2017 and grades 7 to 9 one year later in 2018, ascertained prospective incident susceptibility to smoking during the study period in relation to baseline exposure to 27 locally popular films with actual or implied smoking imagery. We analyzed linked data from 33676 participants, and 3973 (11.8%) of the adolescents reported incident susceptibility. There was a significant increase in susceptibility to smoking with increasing exposure at baseline to smoking imagery in films on univariable analysis, highest tertile of exposure relative to no exposure (OR=1.4; 95% CI: 1.0 -2.1, ptrend<0.001), and this trend remained significant (p=0.022) after mutual adjustment for recognized confounders, highest vs no exposure (AOR=1.3; 95% CI: 0.9-1.8). We found no statistically significant association between exposure to tobacco-free film rules and change in susceptibility. Prospectively, watching films featuring smoking imagery increases adolescents' vulnerability to smoking. Further research revealed no difference in susceptibility change between youth who saw partially compliant films and those who watched non-compliant films. Our findings, thus, underscore the need to incorporate comprehensive approaches to prevent the inclusion of smoking imagery in films.

Objects of the Mind: using film to explore the entangled histories of media and mental health

This article presents the findings of an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) project, Objects of the Mind: engaging publics in the material cultures of media and mental health (AH/W002140/1), which was co-investigated by academics at the University of East Anglia and the University of Manchester and curators from across the Science Museum Group (SMG). Through this co-investigation we sought to tap into public interest in the SMG object collections and the accessibility of popular films (supplied by partners StudioCanal) to engage new audiences for our research on the interactions of psychiatry and cinema. From the museum perspective, we sought to use this research to ask new questions and tell new stories about the SMG objects, and to foster cross-collection dialogue between medicine (Science Museum) and media (National Science and Media Museum) collections. We discuss a range of events, activities and outputs we delivered towards these aims, but focus particularly on three new films we produced that (re)combined museum objects, feature film clips and expert interviews to tell new, enhanced or entangled stories about and across the collections. We will use these three short films to demonstrate three dialogues the project fostered: between museum collections; between histories; and between academic disciplines.