“Men were deceivers ever”: Of Shakespeare and Superheroes  –In the past few years, the seemingly disparate careers of Joss Whedon and Kenneth Branagh have crossed tracks. In 2011, Shakespearean Branagh, famous for tackling the Olivier canon of Shakespeare and cinema masterworks—Henry V (1989) and Hamlet (1996)—directed one of the Marvel superhero movies, Thor (2011). As ...

Child Shark Pornography –As the 36th annual Big Muddy Film Festival comes to a close, I am haunted by two very different films, one a feature, Drinking Buddies, which kicked off the festival, and the other a short, Neon Heartache, which won the Best Narrative Film award at the “Best of the Fest” final screening. ...

Saving Public Simpsons: Michel Foucault Meets George Clooney —In an essay about “Postmodernism and Television,” Jim Collins celebrates the self-reflexivity, what he calls hyperconsciousness, of the cartoon show, The Simpsons. In the first Thanksgiving episode, Homer and Bart sit on the couch watching TV coverage of the Macy’s Day Parade. When Bart observes that all ...