Dialogic Cinephilia - June 23, 2020

"Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995) by Octavia Butler." Sherds (December 5, 2019) ["Octavia Butler’s Bloochild and Other Stories was originally published in 1995. The book collects seven stories from throughout Butler’s career, and in this episode we focus on the title story, which depicts a social and sexual relationship between humans and a race of alien beings. Later, we discuss the penultimate story in the collection, Amnesty, which explores the complexities of confrontation with the alien other.  Over the course of the episode, we examine the degree to which the stories may be said to engage with slavery and American history, and consider Butler’s implementation of the ‘pregnant man’ motif."]

Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. "Generous Thinking." This is Not a Pipe (August 1, 2019) ["Kathleen Fitzpatrick discusses her book Generous Thinking: A Radical Approach to Saving The University with Chris Richardson. 'We once, at least for a very brief moment, understood that the purpose of higher education was not just individual in nature but that it served a social good for us to have a broadly educated public equipped with the tools for social mobility.'"]

Ford, Phil and J.F. Martel. "The Medium is the Message." Weird Studies #71 (April 15, 2020) ["On the surface, the phrase "the medium is the message," prophetic as it may have been when Marshall McLuhan coined it, points a now-obvious fact of our wired world, namely that the content of any medium is less important than its form. The advent of email, for instance, has brought about changes in society and culture that are more far-reaching than the content of any particular email. On the other hand, this aphorism of McLuhan's has the ring of an utterance of the Delphic Oracle. As Phil proposes in this episode of Weird Studies, it is an example of what Zen practitioners call a koan, a statement that occludes and illumines in equal measures, a jewel whose shining surface is an invitation to descend into dark depths. Join JF and Phil as they discuss the mystical and cosmic implications of McLuhan's oracular vision."]




"Hedwig and the Angry Inch." See Hear #72 (May 7, 2020) ["Hmmm. It seems like what the world really needs now is a discussion between Bernie, Tim and Maurice about the 2001 film starring, written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell, “Hedwig And The Angry Inch”.  Hedwig Robinson used to be Hansel Schmidt. Following a botched gender reassignment, Hedwig isn't really certain of what her identity actually is. She's touring around America with her band playing to patrons of seafood restaurants – partly to stalk ex-lover, Tommy Gnosis, but also partly as a form of therapy explaining her life via song to her audiences (both on screen and those of us watching the film). We discuss split personalities, Frankenstein, French crime films, rock music and wigging out. We're ecstatic to be back in your earholes and talking about wonderful movies. We hope you're happy to welcome us back into your monthly podcast listening experience. You'll never Tear Us Down!!!!!"]

Holtmeier, Matthew. Entertainment-wise, a motherfucker: Critical race politics and the transnational movement of Melvin van Peebles." Jump Cut #59 (Fall 2019)

Lesage, Julia. "12 Years a Slave and The Birth of a Nation: Two Moments of Representing Race." Jump Cut #59 (Fall 2019)

Levin, Sam. "'America told us to get over it': Black Vietnam veterans hail Spike Lee film that finally tells their story." The Guardian (May 23, 2020)

Simmons, William J. "On Affect and Criticality in Steve McQueen's Widows." Jump Cut #59 (Fall 2019)