Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa

It was such a pleasure to discuss Mighty Joe Young with Keith. Thank you for having me on!

A gente exibiu filmes da Mai Masri na Mostra de Cinema Árabe Feminino e é impressionante os registros q ela faz particularmente das crianças palestinas em campos de refugiados. Um olhar e escuta atentos da sabedoria de luta que, por necessidade, meninas e meninos aprendem a compartilhar desde cedo.

As @jasonread.bsky.social observes, today's right often adopts 20th century avant garde techniques. Here's their take on appropriation art (ex. Adbusters). It's not about misreading the original meanings of the clips, but applying their previous cultural cache to create a new message.

New scans of home movies of a communist activist, Portugal, 1976.

We need your help bringing two pregnant women back home from ICE detention! Their loved ones and community are asking for financial assistance to support the family during these difficult times.

givebutter.com/bring-pregna...

I had a dream last night that I was teaching a class called "Screening Spaces" and it was about curating films for different purposes in different settings. Some of the topics/spaces were: cinephile clubs, activist rallies, and classrooms. Not a bad idea for a dream!

REMINDER! The deadline to submit a panel/roundtable/seminar proposal is MARCH 13!!

You can do it here: asap17.exordo.com

Come for the giant gorilla, stay for my handwaving about postcolonial kitsch.

I'd love to be on!

Somehow I missed that @kphipps3000.bsky.social has a podcast about pre-Y2K sci fi films! With a bunch of smart people I respect! And this one has @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social on it!
How exciting!

It was such a pleasure to discuss Mighty Joe Young with Keith. Thank you for having me on!

The Laser Age: ‘Mighty Joe Young’ with Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa On this episode, film studies professor Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa joins the show to talk about 'Mighty Joe Young,' a 1949 companion piece to 'King Kong' starring Kong's kinder cousin.

Today at The Reveal: It's a new episode of The Laser Age. @benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social joins me to talk about MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, misguided 20th century science, and what the two have in common:

All of the projects were to be based around creating these spaces. So students would, for instance, make, curate, and advertise a screening for cinephiles or activists or students, etc.

I had a dream last night that I was teaching a class called "Screening Spaces" and it was about curating films for different purposes in different settings. Some of the topics/spaces were: cinephile clubs, activist rallies, and classrooms. Not a bad idea for a dream!

A central asset of Skinner's Project Pigeon was its shift of the kill chain to within the bomb itself. Unlike radio controlled course-correcting bombs, the kill chain in Skinner's could not be interfered with by enemies intercepting the signal and thus stopping the bomb from hitting its target. 1/2

ugh. Sorry to see this.

noooooooo thank you.

The use of operational war images seems especially noteworthy to me. They're unlocking the affective thrill of technical imagery of murder. It's scary shit.

Illustration of transgender rights protest with colorful crowd holding signs during a march with watercolor splashes behind them

Just published: "Reimagining Trans in Contemporary South Asia," a special issue of TSQ edited by Claire Pamment & Jeffrey A. Redding. View the TOC: buff.ly/88OB7Es
Buy this issue: buff.ly/fwoMpZD

The use of operational war images seems especially noteworthy to me. They're unlocking the affective thrill of technical imagery of murder. It's scary shit.

As @jasonread.bsky.social observes, today's right often adopts 20th century avant garde techniques. Here's their take on appropriation art (ex. Adbusters). It's not about misreading the original meanings of the clips, but applying their previous cultural cache to create a new message.

I'd love to read Dr. Nosthoff's piece! I've also got a chapter on it in The Celluloid Specimen.

AI weaponry is similar, except now barriers to the bomb's mission are not only enemy interference, but include moral, legal, and ethical restrictions, which can stop the kill chain just as effectively. An asset of the AI bomb's localized kill chain is its ability to avoid these barriers as well. 2/2

A central asset of Skinner's Project Pigeon was its shift of the kill chain to within the bomb itself. Unlike radio controlled course-correcting bombs, the kill chain in Skinner's could not be interfered with by enemies intercepting the signal and thus stopping the bomb from hitting its target. 1/2

Toronto Film Critics Association Faces Collapse After Allegedly Censoring Indigenous Filmmaker’s Pro-Palestine Speech Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers returned her trophy, the president resigned and 16 members have quit — with more considering their position: "This Is Killing the TFCA."

Update: the TCFA is in shambles with over a third of their members resigning in protest. Taking a stand is contagious and effective. Your voice matters. How you use it matters.

Toronto Film Critics Association in Crisis Over Censored Speech share.google/hIZNG9yHhJ1w...

As Arendt observes, if human rights are dependent on individual states for enforcement, they will always be dependent on citizenship status. This is what allows ghouls like Miller to do what they do. The only way to actually achieve human rights is to abolish borders.

It’s tiring that we are increasingly stuck organizing our intellectual lives around arguing for the value of having an intellectual life

Border wall is closing in on Texas’ Big Bend country Residents and elected officials are speaking out against a proposed border barrier through Texas’ biggest state park and one of the jewels of the national park system.

"Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security waived 28 laws for environmental protection and historical and archeological preservation to expedite construction in a more than 150-mile stretch from Fort Quitman in Hudspeth County to Colorado Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park."

I think looking at the pro-war, interventionist consensus across sectors of the political and journalistic elite helps explain this issue so much more than anything about populism.

"Populist" understandings of Trump and Trumpism are almost uniquely unsuited for understanding it. They're acting lawlessly in an arena almost uniquely insulated from democratic accountability. The problem here is emphatically not that of a captive, mob-like public marching along. Quite the opposite