MetaFilter posts tagged with literature and film

Hard-Boiled Detectives, female and male

mediareport — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:56:33 -0800

Early Female Authors of Hard-Boiled Fiction. Chester Himes and Early African-American Detective Novelists. The Detective's Code. The Femme Fatale. Just a few of the many fascinating offerings at detnovel.com.

"Just don’t call this blog entry a deconstruction."

defenestration — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 12:27:22 -0800

It was a dark and stormy campaign... A film theorist's thoughts on the narratives of Barack Obama and John McCain. This was published before the election, but I only just found it. Although the votes have been cast, and new narratives are forming, this is still certainly worth a look.

The lively, compelling, rarely-updated Waggish

colinmarshall — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:43:12 -0800

Waggish would be one of the choicest blogs around if he updated more, but I suppose I can settle for what there is. If you've never read it, you'll know how good it is when I tell you about a few of the coolest posts: an inquest on "left-brained" literature, a short review of John Williams' Stoner, an appreciation of the great Shohei Imamura and three part coverage of the ultimate film, Béla Tarr's Sátántangó.

Guardian's Top 50 Arts Videos

djgh — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:42:57 -0800

The Guardian has compiled a list of their top fifty arts videos, the majority being from either rare or obscure sources and uploaded onto YouTube.

Dystopian Evolution: Imagining an Envirogeddon

dead_ — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:18:16 -0800

Dystopian storytelling is pillar of Western narrative tradition, but this decade has seen a significant shift in the way our apocalypse is told. Orthodox tales of government tyranny are giving way to visions of humans running helpless in the wake of environmental meltdown. From the plausible to the fantastic, most of this fiction remains hauntingly real while the non-fiction can get downright scary. In 2008, the 20th anniversary of climatologist James Hansen's landmark speech before Congress, popular art is beginning to reflect an increasingly bleak public sentiment on the future, playing out some of our worst nightmares. It may be that these writers and directors are wishing for the end of the world, but even so, they are certainly giving voice to the creeping feeling that indeed, we might not make it.

There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There is just stuff people do.

miss lynnster — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:08:19 -0800

John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath on May 6, 1940. The "Wrath" link is the Henry Fonda film in its entirety.

You can’t trade with balls of frozen methane.

brundlefly — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:01:43 -0800

Geoff Ryman on mundane science fiction. [previously, via]

Through All the Lousy Luck

matteo — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 11:14:44 -0800

I first read "Ask the Dust" in 1971 when I was doing research for "Chinatown". I was concerned about the way people really sounded when they talked, and I was dissatisfied with everything else I had read that was written during the '30s. I wanted the real thing, as Henry James would say. When I picked up Fante's "Ask the Dust," I just knew that was the way those kids talked to each other—the rhythms, cadences, racism.
Robert Towne on adapting John Fante's novel for the big screen. More inside.

1 + 2 = high drama

mediareport — Mon, 18 Apr 2005 19:58:21 -0800

The Mathematical Fiction Homepage is a collaborative attempt to "collect information about all significant references to mathematics in fiction." Feel free to add classic or recent works in any medium to the collection, or rate existing entries on their mathematical content and literary quality.

Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow the Paths of the Dead

Joey Michaels — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 18:41:15 -0800

Did The Wizard of Oz inspire Lord of the Rings? "The first film version of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz was released in the summer of 1939, less than a month before World War II officially began. Though started as early as 1937, The Lord of the Rings was largely composed during the war years, but not published until somewhat later. Therefore, it is by no means impossible that J.R.R. Tolkien saw the magnificent MGM movie before he wrote most of his magnum opus. Could Oz have influenced his tale somehow, consciously or unconsciously?"

Million Dollar Baby Short Story

pwb503 — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 00:06:13 -0800

Everyone is talking about Clint Eastwood's new movie, Million Dollar Baby (trailer). What you may not know however is that the movie was based on a short story in a book by the name of Rope Burns: Stories From The Corner by the late F.X. Toole (aka Jerry Boyd). The book by the way was called, "...the best boxing short fiction ever written," by James Ellroy of L.A. Confidential fame. Back in 2000 Toole gave an amazing interview on Fresh Air about spending the last 20 years of his life as a cut man and the last 40 years of writing while trying to overcome his fear of rejection before getting his first book published at age 70.

Fathom

plep — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 06:19:28 -0800

The biology of B-movie monsters ; ancient Greek curse and love magic; the correspondence of Elizabeth I and James VI; Egil Skallagrimsson, poet and killer; the mythology of Harry Potter; Pinocchio's cultural heirs; Tiananmen's legacy; experimental art in China; the question of Hatshepshut's character. Articles courtesy of the Fathom Archive, 2000-2003.

A film for those who read

rushmc — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 21:56:42 -0800

"Stone Reader makes you want to pick up a great novel and consume it in one long gulp. It’s a love letter to literature and literacy, a bibliophile’s dream film, dedicated to the joys of fiction and the passions of those who need books like they need food, water and air." (The Dallas Morning News)

berating the classics

reklaw — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 21:45:48 -0800

"First, look up the most popular and critically-acclaimed books, movies, and music on Amazon. Click on 'Customer Reviews,' and sort them by 'Lowest Rating First'..." The Amazon.com Knee-Jerk Contrarian Game.

Interesting Motherfuckers

the biscuit man — Fri, 28 Nov 2003 18:09:29 -0800

These people make for some "Interesting Motherfuckers."

The Dance of Death.

misteraitch — Thu, 03 Jul 2003 00:21:35 -0800

The Dance of Death. Die Totentanz: A German-language site spotlighting, for example, the dance of death in literature, graphic art, music and film. For those, like me, whose German is not so good, this page offers an English-language history of the phenomenon, and the Catholic Encyclopedia has an article too. See also Holbein's Dance-of-Death; Lübeck's Dance-of-Death; and umm, this.

kirkaracha — Sat, 02 Feb 2002 15:12:52 -0800

Alexandre Dumas on film This AP/CNN article says Dumas’ books make good movies, but aren’t being read as much as they used to be. Do the changes the movies make improve the books, or would more faithful adaptations be better?

terrapin — Thu, 24 Jan 2002 09:34:47 -0800

Police Boycott "Harry Potter" Police in Penryn, PA (near Harrisburg) have refused to direct traffic at a YMCA event. The police claim that because the YMCA reads "Harry Potter" to local children that they are promoting witchcraft. Fire Police Capt. Robert Fichthorn says "I don't feel right taking our children's minds and teaching them (witchcraft). As long as we don't stand up, it won't stop. It's unfortunate that this is the way it has to be."

cfj — Sat, 10 Mar 2001 18:11:03 -0800

Don't make Hunter mad. Hunter S. Thompson doesn't think the production company that optioned The Rum Diaries is doing a very good job. And he tells them. Man, does he tell them.