“The idea that hysteria swept America on October 30, 1938, when a 62-minute radio dramatisation of The War of the Worlds [was broadcast], remained unchallenged for nearly eight decades.” But it didn’t happen. (Well, not in the U.S.) Here’s (some of) the truth about that night.
Category: media
‘Straight Outta Compton’ Wins Big At The Box Office Without Superheroes
“Summer movies have become so monolithic over the last decade that releasing the film at this time of year was brazen, and I think youth culture responds to brazen.”
The Swiss Movie Fest That Gives Life To Indie Chinese Filmmakers
“Locarno has emerged as one of the most important Western festivals to support Asian film, particularly works without big box-office prospects. For mainland Chinese filmmakers, that kind of affirmation from foreign industry insiders has become more crucial in recent years, as various levels of government under President Xi Jinping carry out the broadest crackdown on free expression since 1989.”
The Actor And Director Who Wants To ‘Start A Feminist Revolution’ In Hollywood
“The difficulties women have had navigating Hollywood permeate every part of the business, from writers rooms to directors’ chairs to below-the-line production jobs — and, of course, to acting, which can be rife with the most corrosively age-obsessed, looks-conscious, and sexualized aspects of film and television.”
“Sesame Street” Move Makes Some Wonder About Future Of PBS
“For Sesame Street in particular, the shift toward streaming has meant a sharp decline in DVD sales, one of the key sources of revenue for the program (which only got about 10% of its funding from PBS). In 2014, Sesame Workshop lost $11 million, and its operating revenues were down by close to 14%. That trend meant it essentially had no choice but to do the deal with HBO.”
What HBO Acquiring “Sesame Street” Means For The Future Of TV
“Sesame Street will still air on PBS—after a nine-month delay—so it’s not as if the program is vanishing entirely behind a paywall. But today’s announcement is a harbinger. The streaming model won’t just be for re-runs and specialized content. It’s coming for all of us.”
Special Kind Of Crazy – How Classical Music Is Portrayed In Popular Movies
“The tendency to associate classical music with murderous insanity is a curious neurosis of the American pop-cultural psyche. There is little evidence of such a predilection among real-life serial killers, who seem to prefer Black Sabbath, AC/DC, REO Speedwagon, and, of course, the Beatles. So where does the trope come from?”
Research: Children’s Educational TV Doesn’t Reduce Prejudice
“Despite our vigorous attempts to unearth associations between children’s racial attitudes and their exposure to these types of programs, there were no significant direct effects of exposure to intergroup friendship shows such as Sesame Street, and minority hero shows such as Dora the Explorer,” the researchers write in the journal American Behavioral Scientist.
The Worst Best Picture Decade: How ‘Crash’ Capped Off The Strange Crossover Years When The Academy Lost Its Collective Mind
Scott Timberg: “The Oscars have never had a perfect batting average, but go back 20 years to the 1995 Oscars and work your way up through 2005 – the era in which the independent film movement crossed over into the mainstream – and time and again, the Academy it failed to acknowledge the best films and tended to fall for faux-profound piety. (Okay, it’s not the only time it’s done that.)”
Why Old-Media Companies Are Buying New-Media Sites
“What these new-media entities need most is money (and perhaps a bit of old-media prestige). Comcast has plenty of that, thanks to its cable TV, ISP, and movie businesses. Getting that cash also gives Vox and Buzzfeed a broader reach—and it allows them to brag about being “unicorns” for passing the $1 billion mark. So what does Comcast/NBCUniversal get out of these kinds of deals? For the most part, it means they get a hedge against the future.”