| May 2005, #6
Culture | Cultural Preservation
| Film & Television | History
| Performing Arts
G1 - Our New Cultural Determinism
Society, Jan/Feb 2005, v42, #2, pp71-75
”Today culture is the framework for understanding what moves the world. Culture has become to our time what religion was to the early modern period and science to the Enlightenment... Culture is the new catch-all, the court of first and last appeal, the basic of public policy, the place we all reside..." In this article, the author explores the interrelation of philosophical, economic and cultural determinism in the U.S. and discusses the concept of cultural imperialism. David Steigerwald is associate professor of history at Ohio State University. This essay is drawn from "Culture’s Vanities: The Paradox of Cultural Diversity in a Globalized World.” Order article
G2 - Ethics and Evil: Frameworks for Twenty-First-Century Culture
Bell, Daniel
The Antioch Review, Spring 2005, v63, #2, pp207-, 16p
"The author examines what lies ahead for the post-modern and post-9/11 world. He suggests that as a framework for the twenty-first century, people should consider the twin concepts of evil and ethics as a way of understanding the major issues facing the new century. In so doing, he suggests some recent books that might help people understand the perils ahead." Daniel Bell was a professor at Columbia and Harvard Universities; he has been involved with a number of social and academic organizations. Fulltext
G3 - Ancient Treasures for Sale: Do Antique Dealers Preserve the Past or Steal It?
Vincent, Steven
Reason Online, April 2005
This article provides an overview of how the trade in ancient treasures has changed since the 1970s, and how the relationship between those who loot antiquities and those who collect, trade, and preserve them, has “spawned global treaties, inflamed Third World nationalism, created a secretive Washington bureaucracy, and triggered federal prosecutions.” Cultural patrimony, the question of who has the right to own and exhibit mankind’s aesthetic and archaeological treasures, is the focus of a complex, three-sided debate about the best form of regulation to insure the preservation and accessibility of cultural property. Steven Vincent is author of In the Red Zone: A Journey Through the Soul of Iraq (Spence). Fulltext
Film & Television
G4 - Life after Darth
Silberman, Steve
Wired, May 2005, v 13, #5
"George Lucas was born to make underground films. Then a little movie called Star Wars lured him to the dark side. Can the father of the blockbuster really rediscover his avant-garde soul? Lucas and his contemporaries came of age in the 1960s vowing to explode the complacency of the old Hollywood by abandoning traditional formulas for a new kind of filmmaking based on handheld cinematography and radically expressive use of graphics, animation, and sound. But Lucas veered into commercial moviemaking, turning himself into the most financially successful director in history by marketing the ultimate popcorn fodder. Now he has returned to the most private place in his universe to reinvent himself. He could spend the rest of his life capitalizing on Star Wars' legacy. Instead he's trying to dream up a second chance to be the rebel filmmaker he aspired to become a long time ago." Also an online exclusive Q&A with George Lucas - on Star Wars, Fahrenheit 9/11, and his own legacy. Fulltext
G5 - The Apocolypse, Rated PG
Douthat, Ross
The Atlantic Monthly, May 2005, v295, #4, pp36-40
Can a socially conservative Christian Republican succeed in Hollywood? By investing millions in a movie of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Philip Anschutz is betting he can. "When Jamie Foxx bounded onto the stage to accept his Golden Globe for Ray, in January, he thanked his grandmother, and then he thanked his 'Caucasian' director, Taylor Hackford, for 'taking his chance on this beautiful black film.' Finally, and effusively, he thanked Philip Anschutz. If this prompted a few of NBC's 16 million-odd viewers to wonder Philip who? - well, that's probably just how the elusive Mr. Anschutz wanted it." Ross Douthat is an Atlantic reporter-researcher, and the author of “Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class.” Fulltext
G6 - Saving the Silents
Johnson, Janis
Humanities,Jan/Feb 2005, v26, #1; pp36-42
"In this period of time, filmmaking in the United States grew from a laboratory experiment to a polished project for entertaining and educating audiences all over the world." The motion picture industry developed from a peep-show curio to the nation's fifth largest industry, and American cinematic themes of prosperity, individualism, and social mobility emerged. Hollywood was born. This article reveals the importance of tracing the evolution of silent films and the efforts undertaken by scholars to preserve it. Silent films, which represents the first decades of American filmmaking, are being revived into DVD formats for entertainment and scholarly purposes. Janis Johnson is a writer in Playa Vista, California. Fulltext
G7 - Screen Idols: The Tragedy Of Falling Stars
Reni Celeste
Journal of Popular Film & Television, Spring 2005, v33, #1, pp29-39
"The emergence of the modern celebrity, a figure made possible by the camera and mass communication technologies, is essential to understanding the structure of popular culture. The author argues that the star, rather than being a mere social text, is a tragic figure suspended between heroism and its loss." Reni Celestre, is currently a research affiliate at Yale University. This article draws from her first book, “The Tragic Screen: Cinema at the Limits of Philosophy.” Fulltext
G8 - Star Trek Warps to an End
Lileks, James
American Enterprise, June 2005, v 16, #4, pp52-53
"Forty-one years after they filmed the pilot, "Star Trek" went off the air for good this spring. "Star Trek" has always mirrored the era in which it was made, and perhaps we live in times whose stark fears don't really translate well to metaphor. The Enterprise is dry-docked, but that can't last; the show is America itself, and we can make Captain Kirks like no one else. It's not "The Scarlet Pimpernel in Space" that has lasted for four decades, after all. It's "Star Trek". Space is still the final frontier, and it'll be waiting when we're ready for it again." Fulltext
History
G9 - When Government Writes History
May, Ernest R.
New Republic; 5/23/2005, v232, #19, p30, 6p (cover story)
Reputed historian Ernest R. May was the senior adviser of the 9/11 Commission. His job was to help produce the historical narrative that ended up preceding the final report's two chapters of recommendations in eleven chapters on the history of September 11. May describes what sets the final report -- that was nominated for a National Book Award – apart from other government reports, “Typically, government reports focus on "findings" and array the evidence accordingly. None, to our knowledge, had ever attempted simply to produce professional-quality narrative history. None, certainly, had been conceived as international history, not just American history. None had aspired to deal not only with the immediate past but also with the long background that would be needed if, as we said to each other, the report was to remain the reference volume on September 11 sitting on the shelves of high school and college teachers a generation hence… Here was an opportunity to try to tell the whole story from both sides.” Ernest R. May is Charles Warren Professor of American History at Harvard. Fulltext
performing arts
G10- Forward to Balanchine
Phillips, Siobhan
The Hudson Review, Spring 2005, v58, #1; pp123-133
"Balanchine had a genius's trust in the certainties of time, famously banishing regrets and even more famously shrugging off care for the future." Phillips discusses Balanchine's career as a choreographer and the influence he made in the world of dance. Fulltext
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