Popular Movies Research Articles

Identification with internationalism: Socialist China’s media promotion of African cinema (1956–66)

While most researchers in the field of China–Africa media studies concentrate on the one-dimensional flow from China to Africa, this research aims to unfold the historical dynamics of how African Indigenous films were promoted in China in the 1950s and 1960s when an eliciting wave of independence movements bound the Third World countries. This research indicates that the first media coverage of African cinema in China appeared in the 1950s in the national newspaper People’s Daily and several movie magazines such as Popular Movies, World Cinema (世界电影; Shijie Dianying), Film Art and World Cinema (电影艺术译丛; Dianying Yishu Yicong). Based on these precious and understudied archives, this research examines the political agenda and ideological motivation of Chinese media’s publicity of African cinema. The media coverage of African movies laid the groundwork for the subsequent Film Weeks and the officials’ visits between China and Africa. The researchers argue that such promotion was a strategy to deconstruct the then-prevailing western cultural hegemony and to clarify the heterogenized development of Chinese cinema compared to the western world. The cultural and media interaction between China and Africa back then was part of the internationalist envision of cultural decolonization of the developing countries. This study’s retrospective review and analyses are expected to cast light on the historical foundation of Sino-Africa relations that underpin the South–South cooperation today.

Aesthetic of Choreographic Stunts in the Nigerian Nollywood

The Nigerian Nollywood has validated itself through the recent ranking by placing second to Bollywood of India and third to Hollywood of America in its popularity positioning. This acceptance is as a result of its rich content, treatment of social vices and the celebration of Nigeria’s multi-plurality. However, most of the films are bereft of rich choreographic stunts. Indeed, choreographic stunts are seen as ingeniously deployed creative additions that spice up the overall aesthetics of film. Consequently, the study examines the aesthetic of choreographic stunts in the Nigerian Nollywood through the theoretical framework of realism as propounded by Siegfried Kracauer complimented with content analysis of five purposively selected films out of a sample population of fifteen. The aim was to spur Nigerian filmmakers into a more quality production in action scenes, while the objectives were to find out if this lacuna is caused by lack of stunt coordinators in Nollywood and if it has stunted the industry. In this line, the research adopted the causal-comparative methodology analysis to review existing data and some popular Nollywood thriller movies. It also explored an interview with one of Nollywood’s actor/producer. The findings were that this vacuity resulted from insufficient professional trained stunt choreographers and low budget allocation to stunt performance which excludes the genre from audience with action interest worldwide. The article concludes that the void needs urgent intervention and suggests that stunt coordinator department be a standard part of Nollywood crew.

Popular movie effects on advanced finance course performance: flipped classroom vs in-class view

PurposeInterest in using popular movies in higher education has flourished, but determining their actual impact remains tricky. Some studies suggest these movies can positively affect student satisfaction, yet many criticize this method as ineffective or lazy. Our study compared two ways of using popular movies – watching them in class versus a flipped approach – for an advanced finance module. We aim to examine the best teaching delivery of watching popular movies in an advanced module.Design/methodology/approachThis study compares two teaching methods during movie screenings: a didactic flipped classroom (Group 01) and in-class viewing (Group 02). The sampling frame was final-year finance students from a public university. It was conducted over two academic years and involved 190 students aged 20–23. These students were split into two groups: G01, with 93 students, and G02, with 97 students. The study focused on the movie “Big Short,” chosen for its relevance to the Fixed-Income Securities course (the advanced module).FindingsOur findings indicate both methods led to high student satisfaction, with no significant difference between in-class viewing and the flipped approach. However, the understanding of the advanced module significantly increased overall. Importantly, using popular movies as flipped material resulted in better student grades compared to in-class viewing. This suggests that while using popular movies is a beneficial teaching method, employing a didactic flipped classroom approach yields superior outcomes for students.Practical implicationsThis research offers practical insights for instructors, highlighting the value of utilizing popular movies in advanced education. It suggests incorporating movies as learning materials can enhance student satisfaction, particularly when employed within a flipped classroom framework. Importantly, the study reveals that adopting the flipped classroom approach yields superior academic outcomes compared to traditional in-class viewing. Thus, instructors teaching advanced modules should consider integrating popular movies within flipped classrooms to not only enhance student satisfaction but also improve academic performance.Originality/valueOur research investigates popular movies' efficacy, particularly in advanced finance education. While previous studies have explored using movies to enhance student satisfaction, this study investigates it further by comparing two delivery methods: the didactic flipped classroom and traditional in-class viewing. While both methods effectively increase student satisfaction, the didactic flipped classroom significantly improves academic performance. This highlights the innovative potential of the flipped approach in promoting deeper learning and suggests practical implications for instructors seeking to enhance both satisfaction and academic outcomes in advanced courses.

Facial features of cartoon characters and their perceived attributes

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between skeletal antero-posterior profile of popular family cartoon characters and their perceived personal characteristics. The Internet Movie DataBase (IMDB) was used to identify popular animated family movies released since 2000. Cartoon characters were identified, and classified based on their gender (male/female), skeletal profile (Class I, II or III) and character assessment (protagonist/antagonist). Descriptive statistical analysis was carried out. Chi Square analysis was used to assess the differences (p-value) between gender and character assessment against the skeletal profile. Fifty popular animated family movies were identified. Within these 88 humanoid cartoon characters were identified made up of 32 male protagonists, 27 female protagonists, 22 male antagonists and 7 female antagonists. 40, 30, 21 were assessed as having a Class I, II and III skeletal profiles respectively. Statistically significant differences were observed in both FPFA and MPFP values for Class III characters (P = 0.009 and P = 0.006, respectively). However, no significant variations were noted when comparing the remaining groups. Female antagonists and male protagonists were most likely to be portrayed with a Class III skeletal pattern when compared to female protagonists and male antagonists respectively.

PERSONALIZED RECOMMENDATION ON MOVIESMETADATA USING HYBRID APPROACH

Recommendation systems are a form of data filtering that plays a crucial role in helping users discover relevant content,based on their interests and needs. They have become an integral feature of numerous platforms, particularly in digital streaming services, where users often struggle with decision fatigue due to vast content. However, challenges such as the coldstart problem, data sparsity, and evolving user preferences require advanced approaches that balance accuracy and scalability.This study presents a hybrid movie recommendation system that integrates content-based filtering and collaborative filtering techniques to generate highly relevant suggestions. The content-based approach leverages metadata from the Movie_Metadata and TMDB datasets, incorporating movie popularity and other relevant features. Collaborative filtering analyzes user interactions and preferences from the Movie_Metadata ratings dataset. By combining these techniques, the system effectively mitigates individual limitations, resulting in a robust and efficient recommendation engine. Experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid model outperforms standalone methods in user satisfaction. This scalable solution addresses the growing demands of streaming platforms and highlights the broader potential of hybrid recommendation systems across various domains.

Social Representations of the Jihadist: A Study of an Emerging Identity in Street Culture

Abstract Over the last two decades, the social identity of the jihadist has become a central part of street culture. Depictions of jihadists can be found in popular music, movies and media reports. Propaganda celebrating or condemning jihadism circulates online, and a significant number of individuals with a background in street crime have flirted with or converted to jihadism. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Oslo, this article analyses how Muslims involved in street life and crime construct and relate to the social identity of the jihadist. The Durkheimian theory of representations is employed to show how the joint construction of this identity shapes the ways in which people on the street make sense of themselves, their enemies, and the actions they take towards jihadi extremism. In conclusion, we argue that the theory of representations, including the concepts of anchoring and objectification, should be incorporated into the analytical toolboxes of cultural criminology and narrative criminology to deepen our understanding of how meaning-making unfolds in cultural context.

A hero's journey tale: Experimentally altering perceived posttraumatic growth via cultural expectation primes

Introduction: Burgeoning research has demonstrated that self-reports of posttraumatic growth assess perceived posttraumatic growth (PPTG), which should be disambiguated from genuine growth. One possible reason trauma survivors report PPTG is embedded cultural expectations that individuals should grow from adverse events. Contributing to this cultural expectation are popular hero's journey stories in which a protagonist overcomes adverse events, transforming the protagonist into a hero, which mimic stories of posttraumatic growth. Methods: In two experiments, we experimentally tested whether priming participants with cultural expectations of trauma-related growth via popular hero's journey movies would result in subsequent increases in PPTG. A pilot study confirmed our selection of hero's journey and control movies. In Experiment 1, 669 participants were primed with either a hero's journey movie or a control movie, then subsequently reported PPTG for their own most distressing event. Results: Results revealed that participants primed with a hero's journey movie reported significantly higher levels of PPTG. This effect was qualified by an interaction such that for participants with high levels of identification with the protagonist, the experimental prime led to increased levels of PPTG; for participants with low levels of identification with the protagonist, the experimental prime led to decreased levels of PPTG. In Experiment 2 we replicated this interaction in an online community sample via MTURK. Discussion: Our results provide evidence that PPTG levels can be manipulated via experimental primes and underscore the role of cultural expectations. Specifically, cultural expectations can inspire PPTG for some, but discourage PPTG for others.

Film Scheduling Strategy Optimization: The Introduction of Squeeze and Stopping Point Model for Movie Box Office Prediction

The 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic has caused a great impact on the Chinese film market. In recent years, the Chinese box office market has rebounded, but it has not recovered to the pre-epidemic level. Based on the box office data of 3791 Chinese movies from 2016 to 2023 provided by Maoyan Film, this paper proposes the concept of Film market Depression, identifies stopping points through stopping point analysis, and establishes a multiple regression model to explore the impact of competition. This study found that most stopping points occurred within two weeks of a movie's release, with new releases within three days likely to cause stopping points to reduce box office revenue, but high quality and popular movies suffered less revenue loss. This study innovatively analyzes the impact of dynamic competition on movie box office from a stopping point perspective. The research results show that the film market squeeze has a negative impact on the box office of the film, and the rational arrangement of films to reduce the negative impact of squeeze is helpful for the film to achieve better box office performance. The research results are helpful to optimize the arrangement strategy and promote the development of the Chinese film market.

Enhancing the Teaching of Radical Political Economy Through Multimedia Integration: A Pedagogical Framework

This article addresses the evolving challenges in teaching radical political economy in contemporary economics curricula, where traditional Marxist perspectives are increasingly marginalized. I propose a pedagogical framework centered on multimedia integration to revitalize the teaching of topics in radical political economy. Through an exploration of popular movies and documentaries, this article elucidates how innovative approaches can be used to engage students and foster critical thinking. By leveraging multimedia resources, educators can effectively convey Marxian concepts, provoke meaningful discussions, and inspire students to critically examine economic systems and envision alternative socioeconomic models. JEL Classification: A22, B51

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Movies: The Hollywood Effect.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is one of the most common chronic diseases with childhood onset. Cinematic films and movies can reach populations worldwide and affect their concept of this disease. Through this research, the authors examined the accuracy of movies depicting T1D from childhood into adulthood. We conducted an internet search of several databases, which resulted in a list of 39 movies from 2000 to 2022 with characters who had diabetes. We ultimately assessed 13 fictional movies. We calculated the percentages of movies that addressed vital aspects of T1D such as disease management, access to care, character development, and complications. We also applied a qualitative approach to assess the depth and accuracy of the portrayal of T1D. Movies portrayed severe but rare diabetes manifestations such as coma. They emphasized access to essential diabetes supplies and the cost of care. It was not until 2020 that movies featured a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and insulin pumps. They presented female characters as resilient and unaffected by the struggles of their T1D. This sample of fictional movies portrays extreme T1D symptoms and mostly outdated monitoring and treatment technology. It would be beneficial if future movies reflected the advances in closed-loop CGM/insulin pumps. Clinicians should know how the movie industry presents the disease to their patients. Clinicians can use popular movies to start difficult discussions with patients about topics pertinent to the comprehensive care of T1D.

Tickling translations: Small but mighty open-sourced transformers bring English PUN-ny entities to life in French!

Tickling translations: Small but mighty open-sourced transformers bring English PUN-ny entities to life in French!

The Impact of Short Videos and Live Streaming on E-commerce Consumers Purchasing Decisions

With the increasing popularity of online live broadcasts and short movies in e-commerce, the influence on customer purchasing behaviour has received extensive attention. This study seeks to investigate the influence of short films and live broadcasts on consumer purchasing decisions, with a particular emphasis on purchase intention, repeat purchase intention, and impulse consuming behaviour. The research used a literature review strategy to examine the particular influence of various live broadcast aspects on customer purchase decisions. This study discovered that short films and live broadcasts, due to their high engagement and immersive experience, may greatly improve customers' brand identity and happiness, resulting in increased buy and repeat purchase intentions. Furthermore, elements like real-time interaction, music and visual effects, and quick feedback can assist customers lower perceived risks and boost confidence in their purchase decisions. According to research findings, short films and live broadcasts are not only excellent marketing tools, but also essential strategic measures in modern e-commerce.

Monsters or Victims An Ecocritical Reading of Samson and Sally and Dot and the Whale, Retellings of Moby Dick

The paper aims to explore two animations, Samson and Sally (1984) and Dot and the Whale (1986), through the lens of zoocriticism (Huggan and Tiffin) and ecocinematic analysis to show how the directors have presented the alternative version of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick in order to showcase the crises of cetaceans like whale in the present scenario of the global warming, pollution and various anthropogenic damages. Unlike many popular Hollywood movies, these two animated films do not portray whales as monsters. In many popular Hollywood ventures, we can see the representations of vengeful bloodthirsty sea creatures like sharks and whales causing shipwrecks and killing humans, just like Moby Dick did in Melville. However, Samson and Sally and Dot and the Whale propose a different version of Moby Dick, where Moby Dick is portrayed as a saviour of the whale race under the threats of whaling, oil spills, and rising temperature. Samson and Sally is a bildungsroman as it depicts the journey of a young whale in search of the mythical Moby Dick who can only save his clan from whalers who have killed his mother and other relatives. Dot and the Whale, on the other hand, points such issues like the beaching of whales and their exploitation for oil and other resources. These two animations have presented an accurate picture where animals are not presented as monsters but rather victims of human greed. Although these animations are in the anthropomorphised version, they are created to raise human awareness to protect cetaceans and marine life.

Storytelling and Cartoon Characters in Medical Microbiology: An Engaging Approach to Enhance Teaching and Learning

Abstract Narrative learning, or storytelling, has emerged as a powerful pedagogical tool in medical education, offering benefits in making complex concepts relatable and memorable. Incorporating popular comics and movies, such as Marvel characters, into microbiology lectures brings humour and liveliness, stimulating curiosity and breaking monotony. For instance, Shigella’s invasive tactics were compared to Dr. Strange’s ability to access hidden dimensions, simplifying its intracellular pathogenesis. This approach caters to diverse learning styles: visual learners benefit from illustrations, auditory learners from storytelling, and kinesthetic learners from interactive role-plays. Feedback highlights increased enthusiasm and interaction, affirming cinemeducation as a creative, effective teaching method that can activate emotional centres and improves academic performance.

Visual Representations of Abandoned Industrial Spaces in Tourist Photos

A few decades ago, an enthusiastic researcher would have found relatively few data to analyze, looking for such information about the ruins of modernity as the structural consequences caused by rapid cycles of industrialization and desolation, development and depopulation, conflict and reconciliation. However, conducting the same search today reveals an extraordinary increase in academic and public interest in the ruins of the recent past and the associated abandoned places. The authors of this article join in the discussion and explore the images of deindustrialization posted and distributed in the online communities among abandoned sites enthusiasts. The aim of the research is to form an idea of “everyday life policy” about the abandoned industrial facilities popularized by amateur photographers. “Everyday life policy” is expressed through the signifying and conceptualizing the abandoned and ruined places when putting them in a close-up. The authors rely on the ideas of the architect and historian I. de Sola-Morales, who calls the places left by people “terrain vague”. Photographic images of the terrain vague spaces play an important role in conceptualizing them. In order to understand what meanings exactly shaped the public policy, the authors use the ethnographic method of immersion in the online VKontakte/Telegram communities of abandoned sites enthusiasts to discover the recurring iconographic elements of the derelict places. Deindustrialization in photographs is reflected through 1) loss of human; 2) violence of vegetation or nature agency; 3) artifacts and texts of the past or material objects agency. The authors discuss the similarities of the images taken by amateur photographers and those media clichés found in popular movies and video games. Photographs are a way of explaining space and spatial experience. Furthermore, like any other work of art, a photo conveys not only and not so much the actual characteristics of the depicted objects, thanks to which we can form an idea about them (in this case, about space), but also effects and experiences. Thus, a photograph becomes a tool that helps us form value judgments about the places we have seen.

This is the End: The Role of Death in the Narrative Structure of Popular Movies.

A set of sixty popular movies is analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively on the role of death in the narrative structure and the portrayal of death. Results of the quantitative analysis show that death events tend to be story-terminating, which implies that death is typically depicted as meaningful in relation to the past. The qualitative thematic analysis reveals that death is also depicted as meaningful in that it can lead to growth, unification and salvation. Furthermore, most movies include explicit death portrayals, thereby inviting viewers to closely approach death and to simulate both their own mortality and the mortality of their loved ones. Finally, it was found that most movie deaths involve violent attacks, indicating that movies tend to paint an unrealistic view of how people die. These findings advance our knowledge of how movies might help people to understand the meaning of death and to cope with existential fears.

WILL AI REPLACE HUMAN JOBS IN THE FILM PRODUCTION?

Artificial Intelligence is utilized in multiple steps of film production such as script writing, Pre-production works, identifying locations, casting the actors, calculating the budget of the film, Box-office performance, Demographics of the audience, enhancing VFX, animations, CGI, music and Post-production works (Editing, colouring, sound design). This article explores the arrival of AI in film production, popular filmmaker’s and artists’ opinions on AI, how AI benefits and challenges human jobs in the Film industry, and AI which are used in every stage of filmmaking. This article elucidates about movies generated through AI, how popular movie production companies like 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros. use AI as a tool to enhance their films, AI which are used to generate films, and jobs that AI is unlikely to replace. This article concludes by stating how humans should use AI in order to sustain in this era of AI.

Research on the Influencing Factors of Movie Popularity based on Random Forest

Movie, also known as moving or moving pictures, or "reflections," is a form of visual art that communicates ideas, stories, cognitions, emotions, values, or various atmospheric simulated experiences through the use of moving images. As the mainstay of cultural industry, film has brought huge economic and social benefits, and the box office is the most important index to measure the economic benefits of film. In this study, the prediction results of the random forest analysis model are acceptable, it is well in line with the structure of the data, which is conducive to the analysis of the data, and the data is displayed with charts and graphs at the same time, so as to show the readers the indicators and data used in this topic more clearly and clearly, which increases the scientific nature of this paper. This study provides more scientific and accurate strategies for decision-makers and creators, and contributes to the high-quality dissemination of short videos.

Dermatomyositis & Homoeopathy

In the month of February 2024, India lost a budding actor in the name of Suhani Bhatnagar who was a part of the popular movie ‘Dangal’. She was only 19 years of age. Unfortunately, she had ‘Dermatomyositis’, a rare inflammatory disease. She was treated with steroids but in vain. It is here that the article focuses on the use of homoeopathy of AYUSH in this rare disease. Homoeopathy has already proved its efficacy during the COVID 19 pandemic where it subdued the inflammation in the body. Thereafter, the disease could not progress to the lungs. Applying the concept of anti inflammatory approach, homoeopathy can deal with the issue of ‘Dermatomyositis’. It is to be noted that along with the homoeopathic medicines, all other supportive therapies like fluid management, temperature management & blood circulation management. At the end of the article, a homoeopathic protocol is mentioned that can be used in this rare disease.

Surface matches prevail over distant analogs during retrieval.

Laboratory studies using a reception paradigm have found that memory items sharing similar entities and relations with a working memory cue (surface matches) are easier to retrieve than items sharing only a system of abstract relations (structural matches). However, the naturalistic approach has contended that the observed supremacy of superficial similarity could have originated in a shallow processing of somewhat inconsequential stories, as well as in the inadvertent inclusion of structural similarity during the construction of surface matches. We addressed the question of which kind of similarity dominates retrieval through a hybrid paradigm that combines the ecological validity of the naturalistic production paradigm with the experimental control of the reception paradigm. In Experiment 1 we presented participants with a target story that maintained either superficial or structural similarities with two popular movies that had received a careful processing prior to the experimental session. Experiment 2 replicated the same procedure with highly viralized public events. In line with traditional laboratory results, surface matches were significantly better retrieved than structural matches, confirming the supremacy of superficial similarities during retrieval.