Cinema in Context

Sarah Watt, Max Tarrant, Jeremy Downing and William Chen discuss the films Ghostbusters (2016) and Ghostbusters (1984). The discussion touches on nostalgia, the strangeness of the original film, the baffling sexism the stars of the new film have been facing, the radicalisation of pop culture, Ghostbusters hate stepping into Gamer Gate territory, the new film’s meta quality of addressing the kick b...

William Chen, Jeremy Downing and Max Tarrant discuss the films Independence Day (1996) and its sequel Independence Day: Resurgence (2016). We discuss nostalgia, fast food, over-the-top-ness, practical visual effects being more tangible that CGI, Roland Emmerich’s connection to Steven Spielberg, pacing, films both pre and post 9/11, international box office strategies, diversity and globalisation,...

William Chen, Jeremy Downing, Max Tarrant and Sarah Watt discuss the films Tickled (2016) and Catfish (2010). Both films are documentaries and deal with online manipulation. The discussion touches on a number of topics, including: how film creates a sense of place; the universal struggle of bullying; how truth is created in documentary filmmaking; creating online personas with varying levels of re...

William Chen, Jeremy Downing, Max Tarrant and Sarah Watt discuss the films Zootopia (2016) and The Lion King (1994). Both films were produced by Disney Animation Studios and deal with anthropomorphic characters. The discussion touches on the technology behind “world building” and animation, the history of Disney, story structure expectations, the trend of musical animation, the “milk toast” hero a...

Jeremy Downing, Sarah Watt and Max Tarrant discuss the context around and connections between Lee Tamahori's films Mahana (2016) and Once Were Warriors (1994). The conversation touches on New Zealand cinema, depiction of Māori in film, strong female characters in film, the changing face of cinema and the careers of New Zealand directors.