6.22
Louisa Shepard
News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Cinema & Media Studies
Cancel culture on the silver screen
Cancel culture on the silver screen
Iconic films like the 1939 blockbuster “Gone With the Wind” are being scrutinized in light of the Black Lives Matter movement against racial injustice. Cinema studies’ Meta Mazaj says framing films within context is more valuable than erasure and disclaimers.
Reality replaces virtual reality
Reality replaces virtual reality
What was supposed to be a cinema and media studies course to create virtual reality films on the Philadelphia Museum of Art collections became individual films by the students about the realities and connections to the pieces they researched.
Scholarship through the lens of an iconic media brand
Scholarship through the lens of an iconic media brand
A new Annenberg course centered around HBO offered undergrads hands-on exposure to media production and a chance to hone their analytical skills using primary source materials.
Sarah J. Jackson, Duncan Watts awarded 2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellowships
Sarah J. Jackson, Duncan Watts awarded 2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellowships
The program supports high-caliber scholarly research in the humanities and social sciences that addresses important and enduring issues confronting our society.
Documentary filmmaking in the Himalayas
Documentary filmmaking in the Himalayas
Supported by National Geographic and other grants, seniors Alina Peng and Charles Zhang traveled to Bhutan to discover how villagers are coping with the effects of water scarcity and climate change.
What craigslist can teach us about Web 2.0
What craigslist can teach us about Web 2.0
In a new book, Annenberg’s Jessa Lingel views modern online life through the lens of a site that hasn’t changed much in look or feel since it began 25 years ago.
International film and the Oscars
International film and the Oscars
Cinema & Media Studies Senior Lecturer Meta Mazaj describes Hollywood's traditional attitude toward international films and the chances of Korean film “Parasite” winning Best Picture at the Oscars.
‘May the force be with you’ and other fan fiction favorites
‘May the force be with you’ and other fan fiction favorites
Researchers have created a unique digital humanities tool to analyze the most popular phrases and character connections in fan fiction based on blockbuster film series, starting with “Star Wars,” “Lord of the Rings,” and “Harry Potter.”
‘13 Reasons Why’ and media effects on suicide
‘13 Reasons Why’ and media effects on suicide
in a recent study, researchers estimated that an additional 195 suicide deaths among 10- to 17-year-olds occurred in the nine months after the 2017 release of the first season of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why.”
Immersive stories to spur action on climate
Immersive stories to spur action on climate
Organized by the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities (PPEH), a two-day festival, “Environmental Storytelling and Virtual Reality” begins Friday, and will explore how virtual reality and other immersive storytelling might inspire action on climate change.
Media Contact
In the News
The Washington Post
Conservative media helps Trump perform ‘law and order’ in Portland, with risks for November
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center spoke about media coverage of the federal crackdown in Portland, Oregon. “The framing of this is dramatically different news channel to news channel, and this is an instance in which the visuals are difficult to understand because you’re seeing people in what look to be a kind of military uniform, and it’s unfolding at night,” she said.
FULL STORY →
Philadelphia Inquirer
Disney cast the Little Mermaid as a black woman. Why that unnerved some is the same reason others rejoiced
Ebony Elizabeth Thomas of the Graduate School of Education discussed the casting of a black woman as Ariel in the upcoming “Little Mermaid” remake. “Whether it’s seeing people of color traveling faster than the speed of light, or as superheroes, dragons, or even mermaids, when we see ourselves in these roles, even as kids we believe we can do anything,” she said. “These images shape our minds on a subconscious level.”
FULL STORY →
Chronicle of Higher Education
Virtual reality comes to the classroom
Peter Decherney of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the virtual-reality films he creates with students. “In an immersive experience, you have to give up a lot of control. I compare it to a museum visit,” he said. “Spectators have to become more active in the process.”
FULL STORY →
BBC News
Decline of soap operas: Was OJ Simpson to blame?
Joan DeJean of the School of Arts and Sciences commented on the soap operas of the 1990s, which were immensely popular due to their narrative structure. “There is no ending prescribed; they can go on for years, decades,” said DeJean.
FULL STORY →
Philadelphia Inquirer
She’s only a sophomore at Penn and she’s nominated for an Oscar
Sophomore Claire Sliney of Los Angeles is the first Penn student to be nominated for an Academy Award while currently enrolled. Sliney is the executive producer of “Period. End of Sentence.” It is a documentary short film about the fight against menstrual stigma in rural India.
FULL STORY →
Miami Herald
Sex and violence were pumped up to “Americanize” Jane the Virgin, study finds
A new study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that “Jane the Virgin,” like many other English-language adaptations of telenovelas, was augmented to feature more sex and violence than the original version in order to appeal to American audiences. These changes “could in turn adversely affect its adolescent Hispanic audiences,” wrote the report’s co-authors, Darien Perez Ryan and Patrick E. Jamieson.
FULL STORY →