Dialogic Cinephilia - July 1, 2020

Bevins, Vincent. "The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade & the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World." New Books in History (July 1, 2020) ["Why did the word “Jakarta” appear as graffiti on the streets of Santiago in 1973? Why did left-wing Chilean activists receive postcards in the mail with the ominous message “Jakarta is coming”? Why did a Brazilian general lose his temper in an interview with university students, threaten their safety, and yell the name of Indonesia’s capital city? In The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade & the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World (Public Affairs, 2020) journalist Vincent Bevins links the history of the overthrow of Sukarno – a leader of 1960s Third Worldism –, the rise of the Suharto – one of the most brutal and corrupt dictators – , and the slaughter of 500,000 to one million Indonesians allegedly linked to the Indonesian Community Party (the PKI) to the Latin American “dirty wars”, including Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Central America. This is a major achievement and something that very few scholars have been able to do. Bevins persuasively argues that the long-ignored and even silenced history of Indonesia 1965 was of truly world historical significance. The Jakarta Method joins a growing body of scholarly work on what some call a “political genocide” and what a 1968 CIA report deemed “one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century”. By showing how the overthrow of the radical Sukarno, the rise of the pro-American Suharto, and the brutal destruction of the largest Communist party outside of the USSR and the PRC impacted both right-wing generals and left-wing revolutionaries from the streets of Rio de Janeiro to the jungles of Cambodia, The Jakarta Method is a much needed and very welcome globalization of this history."]

Boehlert, Eric. "Why Do Journalists Keep Falling for Police Fast Food Hoaxes?" On the Media (June 26, 2020) ["TV stations across the country were abuzz last week over an alleged plot to poison three New York Police Department officers by pouring bleach into their Shake Shack milkshakes. That story, sent to the press by the local Police Benevolent Association, was false, but fit into a right-wing caricature of rabid anti-cop vigilantes targeting officers. After the story had gone viral, an NYPD investigation cleared the fast food workers of any criminal wrongdoing. A recent report from The New York Post also revealed that the officers had tasted something funky in their drinks — which turned out to be a hint of milkshake machine cleaning solution — but hadn't exhibited any poisoning symptoms, and were even given fresh milkshakes as a courtesy. This extraordinary lie is just the latest in a string of false cop-poisoning stories levied against fast food workers, alleging widespread anti-cop harassment, and amplified by credulous reporters. Brooke spoke with media critic Eric Boehlert, creator of the pressrun.media newsletter, about what these episodes tell us about the press's troubling relationship with police sources."]

Grey, Orrin and Tyler Unsell. "The Zombies of Sugar Hill." The Horror Pod Class 3.31 (June 25, 2020) ["When her boyfriend is murdered by gangsters, Sugar Hill decides not to get mad, but BAD! She entreats voodoo queen Mama Maitresse to call on Baron Samedi, Lord of the Dead, for help with a gruesome revenge. In exchange for Sugar’s soul, the Dark Master raises up a zombie army to do her bidding. The bad guys who think they got away clean are about to find out that they’re DEAD wrong."]

Holmlund, Chris. "Transgender documentary subjects shaping 'hirstory.'" Jump Cut #59 (Fall 2019)

Jaising, Shakti. "Soldiering for Rights." Jump Cut #59 (Fall 2019)

Koski, Genvieve, et al. "Man Up, Pt. 1 - Fight Club." The Next Picture Show #186 (July 31, 2019) ["We’re looking at two films featuring underground fight clubs, secret identities, and male protagonists trying to reclaim their self-worth through violence, beginning with David Fincher’s Fight Club, which traffics in many of the same themes as Riley Stearns’ new The Art of Self Defense, albeit with decidedly more stylistic flourish. In this half of our toxic masculinity double feature, we dig into what made Fight Club so divisive in 1999, and what makes it seem so prescient today."]

---. "Man Up, Pt. 2 - The Art of Self-Defense." The Next Picture Show #187 (August 6, 2019) ["Riley Stearns’ new dark comedy The Art of Self Defense centers on an underground scene of fighters who engage in their own version of the transgressive tactics Tyler Durden plays with in 1999’s Fight Club, but both films are ultimately about the catharsis of violence. After digging into how The Art of Self-Defense spins the “fight club” premise to its own ends, we pit these two films against each other to see which reigns supreme!…Or, to determine what each movie has to say about their shared interests in misogyny, toxic masculinity, and the dehumanization of life in corporate America."]








The Pursuit is a reflection on the fight for LGBT rights, more than 50 years since protesters gathered in front of Independence Hall and called for an end to discrimination against homosexuals. Contrasting stories from LGBT experiences past and present, a complex and vibrant picture emerges that demonstrates both how far the community has come and how far there is left to go.