Category Archives: gender

Dogman: Manhood and Belonging

Posted on 26/02/2019 by fesmontemaggi

Far from the aestheticising mania of much contemporary film-making, Garrone’s film-making feels neo-expressionist. He captures what is underneath: the chagrin of the characters, the social desolation, and the violence. Continue reading →

Posted in Dogman, expressionism, gender, good & evil, innocence, italy, loyalty, masculinity, morality, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Post: Nixon-Trump, Bullshit, and the Forgotten Woman

Posted on 19/02/2019 by fesmontemaggi

The flawed comparison of Nixon with Trump is pursued through a trite investigative structure, which leaves a much more interesting story unexplored: the story of a woman who takes ownership of her own self. There are times when the story-teller … Continue reading →

Posted in America, consciousness, democracy, disenchantment, emotions, entertainment, epistemology of suspicion, gender, journalism, knowledge/epistemology, Paul Ricoeur, personhood, politics, postmodernism, reality, Sixties Counterculture, The Big Short, The Post, Truth, Uncategorized, Vice, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Roman J. Israel Esq.: Denzel Washington and Identity Politics

Posted on 10/12/2018 by fesmontemaggi

The film Roman J. Israel Esq. is incredibly frustrating. It has a strong moral question at the core, but it is totally unable to communicate it in a credible way. It is the story of a socially awkward and idealistic … Continue reading →

Posted in 'othering', America, authenticity, consciousness, films, gender, identity politics, justice, politics, power, race, race/diversity, Roman J. Israel Esq. | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Testing Goodness and the American Family

Posted on 31/10/2018 by fesmontemaggi

The Netflix series comes from the 1990s programme Sabrina The Teenage Witch. It is slightly tainted by Hollywood obsessive market segmentation which dictates specific styles and motifs to appeal to specific demographics; yet this Sabrina is really not for young … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, family, fantasy/supernatural, gender, good & evil, Halloween, horror, magic, morality, myth, religion, ritual, Sabrina, Satanism, TV, witchcraft | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cinderella – Maskenfreiheit & play

Posted on 07/01/2016 by fesmontemaggi

Kenneth Branagh chooses to begin the story with Cinderella’s childhood and has the heroine suffer her parents’ death and the humiliation of going from owner of the house to unpaid servant. Screenwriter Chris Weitz clearly couldn’t conceive, let alone write, Cinderella’s  moral strength and … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinderella (1950), Cinderella (2015), entertainment, fairytales, family, fantasy/supernatural, femininity, freedom, gender, imagination, Into the Woods, magic, play, Precious | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Star Wars: the ambiguity of religion

Posted on 15/12/2015 by fesmontemaggi

There is something compelling about the Star Wars saga (I’m only referring to the original films 1977-1983). It manages to be original whilst being heavily plagiarised (from 1940s war movies and 1950s B-movies to pirates and Robin Hood movies, mixed … Continue reading →

Posted in belief, Empire Strikes Back, faith, fantasy/supernatural, gender, good & evil, humility, masculinity, monasticism, morality, myth, religion, sexuality, Star Wars, The Return of the Jedi, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi/Witching & Bitching: masculinity and misogyny

Posted on 14/06/2015 by fesmontemaggi

I loved the first 20 minutes of this film. I loved its ironic and absurd humour, yet it turned quickly into a fudge with misogynistic undertones. The film puts gender relations at its core. Everything hinges on it: the characters, … Continue reading →

Posted in fairytales, fantasy/supernatural, femininity, gender, horror, masculinity, power, ritual, sexuality, social conventions, society, witchcraft, Witching & Bitching/Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

American Horror Story (Coven) – Witchcraft & the Dark Goddess

Posted on 28/04/2015 by fesmontemaggi

The Coven is the third installment of American Horror Story, the first being porn and film plagiarism, the second concentrating on the plagiarism. The third benefits from an injection of irony. It is set in a boarding school for witches … Continue reading →

Posted in America, consciousness, Enlightenment, fantasy/supernatural, femininity, gender, horror, knowledge/epistemology, magic, nature, reality, reason/rationality, religion, ritual, The Coven (American Horror Story) | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Good Women, Bad Women, and Witches – Hocus Pocus, The Craft, Practical Magic

Posted on 27/04/2015 by fesmontemaggi

Hocus Pocus is fun. It is for children so the evil witches are more fun than scary. Yet, they follow the traditional cinematic construct of the evil witch as a bad woman, a woman who does not adhere to the … Continue reading →

Posted in 'othering', body, family, fantasy/supernatural, femininity, gender, good & evil, Hocus Pocus, love, magic, morality, nature, patriarchy, Practical Magic, sexuality, The Craft, witchcraft | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sleepy Hollow – Science, Magic, and Modernity

Posted on 16/04/2015 by fesmontemaggi

Faithful to gothic tradition, Sleepy Hollow has fear at its centre. Fear is here understood as what cannot be controlled by scientific reason, but it also associated with the horror of the sublime, as argued by Edmund Burke. Tim Burton’s film … Continue reading →

Posted in 'othering', belief, Enlightenment, fantasy/supernatural, gender, Godfrey Lienhardt, horror, knowledge/epistemology, magic, masculinity, Max Weber, myth, nature, reality, reason/rationality, religion, science, Sleepy Hollow (1999), Stanley Tambiah, witchcraft | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment