CJ Fairman

At the time of this writing in November 2018, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or the MCU) is in an interesting position both behind the scenes and on the silver screen. After ten years and twenty feature films, the MCU is the highest grossing franchise in film history, though the character representation has only recently begun to improve significantly in contrast to its origins of focusing on white male protagonists; Black Panther featured an almost entirely black cast; Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne became the first titular female character in Ant-Man and the Wasp ; and next year, Brie Larson will debut as the first solo female hero in Captain Marvel . However, it could be argued that the most representative film, especially when also considering posthuman or cyborg theories, would be James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), as the female characters are not only developed and diverse, but also embody the principles of the posthuman/cyborg theories. The first woman of Gu...

  On December 13th 1970, Albert and David Maysles released their documentary film Gimme Shelter , one year after the release of the Rolling Stones song that is the namesake of the film, as well as one year after the infamous Altamont Free Concert, which is the subject matter of the documentary. As part of the ‘Direct Cinema’ movement, Gimme Shelter was made with the intention of depicting the truth - or a truth - in regards to the events of the Altamont Free Concert and the circumstances that led to the tragedies that occurred, without an intervention from the Maysles Brothers, who positioned themselves as observers. This calls into question whether it would have been better for the Maysles Brothers to have taken a more active role during the events of the documentary whilst filming, or if it was their duty as documentary film-makers to stay back and only observe in their pursuit of document the ‘truth’ of the events without interference from an external factor (i.e. the film-make...

  With the world becoming increasingly globalised by technology and transport capability, new opportunities open up for many people to extend beyond their local surroundings, to the national and the global landscape. But as much opportunity as this transnational world allows, there are also obstacles and challenges that arise from the cultural and language barriers between nations, which can hinder the transnational from becoming truly globalised. This is evidenced by various foreign films that employ themes of internationality and one’s self of belonging in that international setting, such as the 2007 French-Iranian film Persepolis , adapted from the autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane “Marji” Satrapi. The title of the animated film and the graphic novel it is adapted from is a reference to the ancient capital of the Achaemenid Empire (also referred to as the First Persian Empire). The title may have been chosen to allude to a grander past version of an Iranian ci...