Criterion’s ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me’ Is a Semiotic Feast
Sheryl Lee's iconic performance as Laura Palmer evokes epic sorrow and haunting tragedy.
Garret Castleberry
Garret L. Castleberry (Ph.D., The University of Oklahoma) is Program Director and Associate Professor of Communication, Media, and Ethics at Mid-America Christian University. Garret has an interdisciplinary background in Communication Studies, Rhetoric, Performance Studies, Mass & Political Communication, with specialty areas in Genre, Film and Television Studies. His work has appeared in the scholarly journals Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies and the International Review for Qualitative Research. Contributions to edited anthologies on popular culture include chapters in "Television, Social Media, and Fan Culture" (Lexington Books, 2015), "Communication Theory & Millennial Popular Culture" (Peter Lang, 2015) and "The ESPN Effect" (Peter Lang, 2015). Projects on the horizon include analyses of True Detective, The Walking Dead, and Mel Brooks' sci-fi satire Spaceballs among others. Garret writes for the scholarly website and online journal In Media Res and Flow, as well as the upcoming contributions to the cultural encyclopedia "Hooray for Hollywood" (ABC Clio, 2016). He is currently co-editing the book, "Competition, Community, and Educational Growth: Contemporary Perspectives on Competitive Speech & Debate."
Mustaches Run Amok Throughout Mickey Spillane’s ‘The New Mike Hammer: The Series’
WARNING: This review may disturb, nay, trigger recollections for Gen X'ers that grew up watching TV with adults in the '80s.
Jean-Pierre Melville’s ‘Le Samouraï’ Plays with the Perils of the Loner
Under the lens of cultural and historical context, as well as understanding the reflective nature of popular culture, it's hard not to read this film as a cautionary tale about the limitations of isolationism.
‘Fanfiction and the Author’ Gives Well-Blended Discourse for Maximum Fan Enjoyment
Scholar Judith May Fathallah's work blurs lines between author and ethnographer, fan experiences and genre TV storytelling.
The Devil Is (or Isn’t) in the Details of “Behaving Badly’s” Search for Morality
Will secular moral solutions ever topple the ideological momentum of an amoral market?
In a Battle for Digital Media Literacy, Scholars Debate ‘Liberalism In Neoliberal Times’
A cabal of contributors demonstrate how collective efforts to truly achieve a lived understanding of the political theory of neoliberalism are failing at a societal if not global level.
‘David Lynch: The Art Life’ Pulls the Garmonbozia Directly Out of the Auteur Himself
This insightful documentary brings advanced closure to lingering questions we may have when Twin Peaks: The Return ends its triumphant televisual revival in September.
Retro Film Theory Feels Important but Romantically Distant in ‘On the Eve of the Future’
As hybrid art critic-scholar, Annette Michelson writes with a complex beauty that toggles between mechanical and poetic.
“The Book of Nora” Opens as ‘The Leftovers’ Draws to a Perfect Close
The story ends with a story, making The Leftovers' experiential sensation one of divine artistic intent.
‘The Leftovers’ “The Book of Kevin” Subverts Expectations in a Near-Perfect Episode
"The Book of Kevin" subverts its own narrative to offer a profound meditation on its own intelligent design.
On Profiting From War and the Privatization of Earth’s Remaining Resources
Loewenstein paints an essential portrait of post-9/11 globalism, framing war and natural disaster as among the most coveted "commodities" facing mass exploitation for financial gain.