Sonic Movie Memories: Sound, Childhood, and American Cinema

Though the trend rarely receives attention, since the 1970s many American filmmakers have been taking sound and music tropes from children’s films, television shows, and other forms of media and incorporating those sounds into films intended for adult audiences. Initially, these references might seem like regressive attempts at targeting some nostalgic desire to relive childhood. However, this dissertation asserts that these children’s sounds are instead designed to reconnect audience members with the multi-faceted fantasies and coping mechanisms that once, through children’s media, helped these audience members manage life’s anxieties. Because sound is the sense that Western audiences most associate with emotion and memory, it offers audiences immediate connection with these barely conscious longings. The first chapter turns to children’s media itself and analyzes Disney’s 1950s forays into television. The chapter argues that by selectively repurposing the gentlest sonic devices from the studio’s films, television shows like Disneyland created the studio’s signature sentimental “Disney sound.” As a result, a generation of baby boomers like Steven Spielberg comes of age and longs to recreate that comforting sound world. The second chapter thus focuses on Spielberg, who incorporates Disney music in films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Rather than recreate Disney’s sound world, Spielberg uses this music as a springboard into a new realm I refer to as “sublime refuge” - an acoustic haven that combines overpowering sublimity and soothing comfort into one fantastical experience. The second half of the dissertation pivots into more experimental children’s cartoons like Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951) - cartoons that embrace audio-visual dissonance in ways that soothe even as they create tension through a phenomenon I call “comfortable discord.” In the final chapter, director Wes Anderson reveals that these sonic tensions have just as much appeal to adults. In films like The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Anderson demonstrates that comfortable discord can simultaneously provide a balm for anxiety and create an open-ended space that makes empathetic connections between characters possible. The dissertation closes with a call to rethink nostalgia, not as a romanticization of the past, but rather as a reconnection with forgotten affective channels.

Meios de divulgação promocionais de cinema : estudo sobre o impacto nos consumidores

O cinema, desde o seu início, teve uma constante necessidade de se promover. Os filmes, para além de serem um produto cultural, são também um produto que necessita de rentabilidade, tornando fulcral uma receita adequada de bilhetes vendidos para garantir retorno no dinheiro gasto à produção dos mesmos. Sendo assim, os filmes exibidos em salas de cinema são anunciados semanas ou até meses antes da sua estreia, criando, desta forma, complexas campanhas de marketing e publicidade de forma a garantir que o maior número de pessoas tome conhecimento da sua existência. No presente projeto procura-se conhecer e compreender os fatores determinantes na frequência de ida às salas de cinema, tendo como objetivo principal analisar a promoção de cinema, cada um dos meios de divulgação cinematográficos e o seu respetivo papel comunicativo, na tentativa de se perceber de que forma estes se destacam em modos promocionais, incentivando o consumidor a visionar um filme numa sala de cinema. O estudo desenvolveu-se através de uma análise conceptual teórica da promoção e consumo de cinema, dos seus respetivos meios de divulgação, e da utilização de uma abordagem quantitativa que consistiu na análise e interpretação dos resultados de um questionário que contou com a participação de 380 sujeitos. O questionário procurou compreender os hábitos de obtenção de informação cinematográfica dos inquiridos, bem como os fatores que os influenciam a ver filmes nas salas de cinema e os meios de divulgação que mais impacto causam nas suas preferências. A análise dos dados recolhidos revela que existe uma ligação entre a ida às salas de cinema e a ideia da crescente falta de tempo das pessoas, associada ao reduzido poder de compra. Já no que se refere aos fatores e meios de divulgação determinantes na escolha de filmes, os participantes destacaram a Internet e o “bocaa- boca” como principais influenciadores. Os resultados alcançados sugerem assim tendências que devem ser consideradas na implementação de uma estratégia cuja intenção seja a do aumento da frequência da ida às salas de cinema.

De Casa em Casa - sobre um encontro entre etnografia e cinema

"De Casa em Casa" é um estudo sobre as rodagens de dois documentários de João Pedro Rodrigues: "Esta é a minha casa" (1997) e "Viagem à Expo" (1998). Filomena Silvano, que colaborou com João Pedro Rodrigues em quatro dos seus filmes, relaciona neste livro questões das identidades colectivas e individuais com o estudo do espaço, do habitat, da cultura material e da cultura expressiva.

IRANIAN EMBASSY AND AYANDEH CULTURAL CENTER ( EMBASSY OF THE FUTURE)

This thesis began with the assertion that future embassies will differ significantly from past and current embassies. Embassy of the Future is a place where people of two (or more) countries come together to learn and share their ideologies, perspectives, dictions and ultimately their humanity. Unlike the traditional embassy model where the focus is on representing the foreign country’s political and legal standing, this thesis asserts that future embassies will focus on representing cultural exchanges while promoting economic and cultural cooperation. In this new embassy model political and security matters should not dominate the cultural and humanitarian matters. This thesis is exploring a proposal for the establishment of an Iranian Embassy in Washington D.C. The goal is to promote the Embassy of the Future concept through an attempt at utilizing an architectural structure to be the convening place for reconnecting and resolving conflicts between Iran and the U.S. It has been 36 years since both countries closed their embassies in one another’s countries.

Subtitling Chinese cinema: a case study of Zhang Yimou’s films

In recent years, more and more Chinese films have been exported abroad. This thesis intends to explore the subtitling of Chinese cinema into English, with Zhang Yimou’s films as a case study. Zhang Yimou is arguably the most critically and internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker, who has experimented with a variety of genres of films. I argue that in the subtitling of his films, there is an obvious adoption of the domestication translation strategy that reduces or even omits Chinese cultural references. I try to discover what cultural categories or perspectives of China are prone to the domestication of translation and have formulated five categories: humour, politeness, dialect, history and songs and the Peking Opera. My methodology is that I compare the source Chinese dialogue lines with the existing English subtitles by providing literal translations of the source lines, and I will also give my alternative translations that tend to retain the source cultural references better. I also speculate that the domestication strategy is frequently employed by subtitlers possibly because the subtitlers assume the source cultural references are difficult for target language subtitle readers to comprehend, even if they are translated into a target language. However, subtitle readers are very likely to understand more than what the dialogue lines and the target language subtitles express, because films are multimodal entities and verbal information is not the only source of information for subtitle readers. The image and the sound are also significant sources of information for subtitle readers who are constantly involved in a dynamic film-watching experience. They are also expected to grasp visual and acoustic information. The complete omission or domestication of source cultural references might also affect their interpretation of the non-verbal cues. I also contemplate that the translation, which frequently domesticates the source culture carried out by a translator who is also a native speaker of the source language, is ‘submissive translation’.

MEN WRITING WOMEN: “THE WOMAN QUESTION” AND MALE DISCOURSE OF IRANIAN MODERNITY"

In this dissertation I explore “The Woman Question” in the discourse of Iranian male authors. A pro-modernity group, they placed women’s issues at the heart of their discourse. This dissertation follows the trajectory of the representation of “The Woman Question” as it is reflected in the male discourse over the course of a century. It discusses the production of a literature that was anchored in the idea of reform and concerned itself with issues pertaining to women. These men challenged lifelong patriarchal notions such as veiling, polygamy, gender segregation, and arranged marriages, as well as traditional roles of women and gender relations. This study is defined under the rubrics of “The Woman Question” and “The New Woman,” which I have borrowed from the Victorian and Edwardian debates of similar issues as they provide clearer delineations. Drawing upon debates on sexuality, and gender, this dissertation illustrates the way these men championed women was both progressive and regressive. This study argues that the desire for women’s liberation was couched in male ideology of gender relations. It further illustrates that the advancement of “The Woman Question,” due to its continuous and yet gradual shifting concurrent with each author’s nuanced perception of women’s issues, went through discernible stages that I refer to as observation, causation, remedy, and confusion. The analytical framework for this project is anchored in the “why” and the “how” of the Iranian male authors’ writings on women in addition to “what” was written. This dissertation examines four narrative texts—two in prose and two in poetry—entitled: “Lankaran’s Vizier,” “The Black Shroud,” “‘Arefnameh,” and “Fetneh” written respectively by Akhundzadeh, ‘Eshqi, Iraj Mirza, and Dashti. Chapter one outlines the historical background, methodology, theoretical framework, and literature review. The following chapters examine, the advocacy for companionate marriage and romantic love, women and nationalistic cause, veiling and unveiling, and the emerging figure of the New Iranian Woman as morally depraved.

Calcium Intake, Major Dietary Sources and Bone Health Indicators in Iranian Primary School Children

Background: Adequate calcium intake may have a crucial role with regards to prevention of many chronic diseases, including hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, different types of cancer, obesity and osteoporosis. In children, sufficient calcium intake is especially important to support the accelerated growth spurt during the preteen and teenage years and to increase bone mineral mass to lay the foundation for older age. Objectives: This study aimed to assess daily calcium intake in school-age children to ensure whether they fulfill the FGP dairy serving recommendations, the recommended levels of daily calcium intake and to assess the relationship between dietary calcium intake and major bone health indicators. Patients and Methods: A total of 501 Iranian school-age children were randomly selected. Calcium intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Bone health indicators were also assessed. Results: Dairy products contributed to 69.3% of the total calcium intake of the children. Daily adequate intake of calcium was achieved by 17.8% of children. Only 29.8% met the Food guide pyramid recommendations for dairy intake. Dietary calcium intake was not significantly correlated with serum calcium and other selected biochemical indicators of bone health. Conclusions: The need for planning appropriate nutrition strategies for overcoming inadequate calcium intake in school age children in the city of Tehran is inevitable.

Association of TNF-α Gene Variants With Clinical Manifestation of Cystic Fibrosis Patients of Iranian Azeri Turkish Ethnicity

Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF), a life-limiting autosomal recessive disorder, is considered a monogenic disease that is caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. According to several studies, mutation analysis of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene alone is insufficient to predict the phenotypic manifestations observed in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. In addition, some patients with a milder CF phenotype do not carry any pathogenic mutation. Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) contributes to the pathophysiology of CF by causing cachexia. There is a reverse association between TNF-α concentration in patient's sputum and their pulmonary function. Objectives: To assess the effect of non-CFTR genes on the clinical phenotype of CF, two polymorphic sites (-1031T/C and -308G/A) of the TNF-α gene, as a modifier, were studied. Patients and Methods: Focusing on the lung and gastrointestinal involvement as well as the poor growth, we first investigated the role of TNF-α gene in the clinical manifestation of CF. Furthermore, based on the hypothesis that the cumulative effect of specific alleles of multiple CF modifier genes, such as TNF-α, may create the final phenotype, we also investigated the potential role of TNF-α in non-classic CF patients without a known pathogenic mutation. In all, 80 CF patients and 157 healthy control subjects of Azeri Turkish ethnicity were studied by the PCR–RFLP method. The chi-square test with Yates' correction and Fisher's exact test were used for statistical analysis. Results: The allele and genotype distribution of the investigated polymorphisms, and their associated haplotypes were similar in all groups. Conclusions: There was no evidence that supported the association of TNF-α gene polymorphisms with non-classic CF disease or the clinical presentation of classic CF.

Marketing de cinema : a supply chain do sector cinematografico português

Mestrado em Marketing

Novos sentidos da leitura: a contribuição do cinema para a leitura do texto narrativo

Mestrado em Literatura Comparada, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Departamento de Letras Clássicas e Modernas, Univ. do Algarve, 2004

O Neo-Peplum: Hollywood e a herança do cinema popular europeu no séc. XXI

Através de uma análise histórico-formal este artigo propõe-se analisar a influência do peplum, um conjunto de filmes de aventuras produzidos na Europa mediterrânea entre 1958 e 1964, no cinema de Hollywood contemporâneo, em particular num ciclo de filmes que denominámos de neo-peplums pois, tal como o peplum europeu, estes caraterizam-se pela recriação fantasiosa do Mundo Antigo e pela hipertrofia do trabalho formal, utilizando os novos recursos tecnológicos na criação de uma mise-en-scène altamente estilizada.

O cinema de Ray Harryhausen: efeitos especiais e maneirismo no cinema de Hollywood

Através de uma análise histórico-formal, este trabalho propõe uma leitura maneirista da obra de Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013), um dos maiores criadores de efeitos especiais do cinema de Hollywood, verdadeiro autor de uma série de filmes que se distinguem pelo uso virtuoso da técnica, colocada ao serviço de narrativas fantásticas, construídas numa clara referencia a grandes clássicos do cinema de Hollywood.

Formaçao de público para o cinema

Dissertação de mest. em Gestão Cultural, Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Univ. do Algarve, 1999