There are certain films which should be required viewing for anyone trying to make sense out of life in George Bush's America. One is Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957), shot in black and white on a budget of less than 1 million dollars. Paths of Glory is set…
At one point while making his way through the press questioners, Bush awkwardly referred to a list of reporters whom he was instructed to call on. "This is scripted," he joked. The press laughed. But Bush meant it was scripted, literally. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer later admitted he compiled…
Continuing to sort out my thoughts from the recent Popular Culture Association convention in Atlanta, I recall a discussion about whether the movie Brokeback Mountain told a universal love story or whether the point of the movie lay in its specificity. I think that's the sort of question which doesn't…
Another theme that came up during the Memory and Representation session at the recent Popular Culture Association convention in Atlanta was how using different names for things can shape our memory of events. For instance, labeling people as "heroes" may shift attention away from inquiries as to whether their deaths…
Speaking about the lack of hard factual international news reporting by our nation’s major news outlets, Ted Koppell stated the following as part of his speech to the Overseas Press Club (where he received the President's Award): They have almost surrendered even the pretense of civic responsibility. That is not just…