From European Journal of American Studies, a special issue on film: European film-makers construct the United States. Jaimie Baron (UCLA): "How Could She?": The "Inappropriate" Woman in Contemporary Appropriation Films. From Film-Philosophy, Steven Shaviro (Wayne State): Post-Cinematic Affect: On Grace Jones, Boarding Gate and Southland Tales; what is film-philosophy? A round table; and a series of book reviews. PopMatters spotlights Oliver Stone and Akira Kurosawa. The rise of self-awareness in cinema: Is film doomed to become a mockery of itself? Josiah Howard, author of Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide, discusses the uniquely American film genre. A review of Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille by Scott Eyman. A review of A Philosophy of Cinematic Art by Berys Gaut. Toward a universal cinema: An interview with Steven Soderbergh. From The New Yorker, John Lahr on the life and work of Elia Kazan. Cutting it out: Hillary White watches movies with Mormons. The End: Grady Hendrix on why projectionists will soon be no more. Fifty years ago, death on the silver screen was typically quite decorous — then came Psycho and the murder that broke all the rules and changed American movies forever. Pamela Robertson Wojcik on her book The Apartment Plot: Urban Living in American Film and Popular Culture, 1945 to 1975. A review of Arts of Darkness: American Noir and the Quest for Redemption by Thomas S. Hibbs.
