Episode #106 - Janet Staiger (Zombieland)

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"I see both my work as an attempt to understand how history works and how people experience and live, and how they can live better lives as critical consumers of media."

What does it mean to study the means of production? Is one deconstructing the way an industry might operate, its cultural and political signification, or is simply one reproducing an apologia for capitalism itself? In a lively and spirited conversation, Peter explores these questions with one of his all-time academic heroes, Janet Staiger. The author of Interpreting Films, Perverse Spectators, and co-author of The Classical Hollywood Cinema examines the various political undertones that have always peppered her work, and where the future of media studies can go in today's political age, whether it be studying the way images are made or the way they are received. But there's also a lot of fun to be had, including the unique connections between Zombieland, a recent "romantic comedy" that just happens to feature blood and gore, and a certain 2017 film of fashionable elegance. Plus, Peter recaps his recent trip to Il Cinema Ritrovato with Welsh critic Christopher Small, where the two debate whether the films or the gelato stood out more.

0:00-4:00  Opening
4:58-29:48 Establishing Shots — Il Cinema Ritrovato with Christopher Small
30:33-1:05:47 Deep Focus — Janet Staiger
1:06:45-1:11:40  Sponsorship Section
1:13:06-1:26:35 Double Exposure — Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer)

1:26:39-1:28:18 Close

Notes and Links to the Conversation

—Learn more about Janet Staiger's work, and read her books The Classical Hollywood Cinema, Interpreting Films, The Studio System, Bad Women, Blockbuster TV, Perverse Spectators: The Practices of Film Reception, Authorship & Film, and Media Reception Studies.
—Read Christopher Small at Cinema Scope, MUBI Notebook, and more here.
—Learn more about Il Cinema Ritrovato
—Films discussed: Rosita (1923), The Woman Under Oath (1919), When Tomorrow Comes (1939), Caravan (1934), The Girl In The Window (1961), Laughing Anne (1952), Black Goddess (1978), Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975), Maneuver of the Operating Bed (1898), Abdominal Hysterectomy (1898), Der Fall Rosentpof (1918)
—More about Herb Eagle
—The idea of the so-called "Wisconsin Project" was discussed in Screen. An archival copy can be read here. Bordwell speaks in retrospective terms here.
—UW Milwaukee's Center for 20th Century Studies
—Raymond Williams' "Structures of Feelings"
—Louis Althusser's "Ideological State Apparatus"
—A debate between Neo-Classical and Marxist Economics
—Staiger makes a more pointed description of capitalism's role in Classical Hollywood in this 2004 text.
—Staiger on Thomas Ince and the divisions of labor produced.
—For more on the CHC production of screenplays, see Staiger's article here.
—Matthew Bernstein on "Semi-Independent Production" and Staiger's Response
—Staiger on "The Politics of Film Canons" and Virginia Wexman on Vertigo's canon placement
—Tony Bennett on James Bond
—Staiger on The Silence of the Lambs
—Read the new collection, CinemaTexas Notes
—Staiger on Fan Studies and Eraserhead
—Carol Clover on the Slasher Film

Theme Music: “Forward” by Northbound

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