The Codes of Gender (2010)
Identity and performance in popular culture
Genre : Documentary
Runtime : 1H 13M
Director : Sut Jhally
Synopsis
Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.
When a feminist filmmaker sets out to document the mysterious and polarizing world of the Men’s Rights Movement, she begins to question her own beliefs. Chronicling Cassie Jaye’s journey exploring an alternate perspective on gender equality, power and privilege.
Compared to girls, research shows that boys in the United States are more likely to be diagnosed with a behaviour disorder, prescribed stimulant medications, fail out of school, binge drink, commit a violent crime, and/or take their own lives. The Mask You Live In asks: as a society, how are we failing our boys?
The chauvinist Damien wakes up in a world where women and men have their roles reversed in society, and everything is dominated by women.
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'Ringers: Lord of the Fans' is a feature-length documentary that explores how "The Lord of the Rings" has influenced Western popular culture over the past 50 years.
A behind-the-scenes look at San Diego Comic-Con, the world's largest comic book convention, and the fans who attend every year.
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A film profiling the unusual cross-demographic fandom of the ostensibly girl oriented television series "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic"
A hilarious look at the universe's most fervent fans.
In 1982, three 11 year-olds in Mississippi set out to remake their favorite film: Raiders of the Lost Ark. It took seven turbulent years that tested the limits of their friendship and nearly burned down their mother's house. By the end, they had completed every scene except one... the explosive airplane scene. 30 years later, they attempt to finally realize their childhood dream by building a replica of the 75 foot "Flying Wing" plane from Raiders in a mud pit in the backwoods of Mississippi... and then blow it up! This is the story behind the making of what is known as "the greatest fan film ever made."
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Amid the release of the fourth Indiana Jones movie, filmmaker Brandon Kleyla chronicles the fanaticism of the whip-carrying admirers and interviews various filmmakers, archaeologists and writers about the Indy franchise. Viewers learn why archaeologist Indiana Jones and his many adventures have spawned die-hard, convention-going fans for more than two decades.
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Sheila Levine is a Jewish-American princess and a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. An innovative, bright, but painfully introverted individual, she comes to New York City with her mother and father to take an apartment with a nightclub-hopping roommate.
A family is caught in a financial ruin after being involved in a ponzi scheme.
A man's life is altered unexpectedly after telling a lie to get out of work.
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Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? reveals how American corporations orchestrated the dismantling of middle-class prosperity through rampant deregulation, the outsourcing of jobs, and tax policies favoring businesses and the wealthy. The collapse of the U.S. economy is the result of conscious choices made over thirty five years by a small group: leaders of corporations and their elected allies, and the biggest lobbying interest in Washington, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. To these individuals, the collapse is not a catastrophe, but rather the planned outcome of their long, patient work. For the rest of the country, it is merely the biggest heist in American history.
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