MeToo movement

After Just for Laughs’ bankruptcy, we should ask Canadian comedians what they need to succeed

Retrieved on:

Thursday, April 18, 2024

It’s still not clear how Juste Pour Rire / Just for Laughs (JPR/JFL) went from one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world to bankruptcy.

Key Points:

It’s still not clear how Juste Pour Rire / Just for Laughs (JPR/JFL) went from one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world to bankruptcy.
On April 12, La Presse reported the festival lost $800,000 in an email phishing scheme in 2023.
The company also applied for protection from creditors under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

From burst to bust

JPR was founded by businessman Gilbert Rozon in 1983 as a two-day French-language comedy event in Montréal. In 1985, Rozon was joined by promoter Andrew Nulman who brought the event to anglophone audiences and co-founded the company’s bilingual iteration. JPR/JFL is a behemoth in Canadian comedy and tourism. The flagship festival still took place in Montréal but expanded nationally and globally.

Conflicts around sexual assault, harassment

In recent years, JFL has contended with a series of high-profile conflicts.
At the height of #MeToo in 2017, Rozon stepped down as president after being named in numerous sexual assault allegations.
This also brought back to light Rozon’s previous 1998 sexual assault charge that he plead guilty to.
: Sexual misconduct and the pursuit of justice
Mausner said Rozon’s stepping down was a “a surface-level solution for a systemic problem” and called the festival an “accessory to sexual assaults.” Following the earlier assault allegations, the organization implemented an
anti-harassment policy and brought in new investment partners.

Royalties issues, pandemic challenges

The channel, which once played exclusively Canadian content, would now primarily feature classic JPR/JFL recordings, meaning a substantial reduction in royalties for Canadian comedians.
Intense public pushback from comedians led JPR/JFL to walk back their proposal and commit to playing 100 per cent Canadian content.
The pandemic hit live festivals hard, but JPR/JFL did receive significant monetary assistance from government sources.

Blockbuster festivals, broke comedians

Canadian comedians often think of performing at JPR/JFL as a massive career goal.
But for years, JPR/JFL has been taken to task for their prioritization of American comedians.
Even if JPR/JFL survives restructuring, comic Sam Sferrazza says this likely will mean “bringing in more bankable American talent paid for by Canadian taxpayers and artistic institutions.” Canadian funding agencies tend to favour blockbuster events like JPR/JFL but in the world of art grants, stand-up comedians are at a disadvantage.

Boosting international exposure

But what if we created an environment where they not only wanted to stay but could stay.
One option is boosting Canada’s comedic digital content internationally.

Funding for local comedians and festivals

Another option is putting more funding directly into the pockets of individual Canadian comedians, producers, and (smaller) festivals, strengthening the comedy industry nationwide.
We need to be asking comedians what they need to succeed and recognizing their work as both artists and contributors to Canadian culture.

Madison Trusolino has received funding for her research from SSHRC, OGS and the Jackman Humanities Institute.

Anapol Weiss Acquires Fierce Philadelphia Litigator Who Prosecuted Bill Cosby and Won Two Eight-Figure Verdicts on the Same Day in 2023

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Wednesday, March 13, 2024

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PHILADELPHIA, March 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Kristen Gibbons Feden, one of America's most fierce and famous trial attorneys, has joined Philadelphia's Anapol Weiss to lead its sexual abuse and civil rights litigation practices. In 2018, Feden was hailed by The New York Times as "The Prosecutor Who Stared Down Bill Cosby." In 2023, Feden earned national recognition for winning two eight-figure verdicts in the same day – a $10.5M verdict for victims of rapper R. Kelly and a $22M verdict for the sexual abuse victim of a renowned pediatrician in New York.

Key Points:

PHILADELPHIA, March 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Kristen Gibbons Feden, one of America's most fierce and famous trial attorneys, has joined Philadelphia's Anapol Weiss to lead its sexual abuse and civil rights litigation practices.
In 2018, Feden was hailed by The New York Times as "The Prosecutor Who Stared Down Bill Cosby."
Prior to joining Anapol Weiss, Feden sharpened her legendary skills through both private practice and as a prosecutor.
"We are thrilled Krissy is joining our family of exceptional trial lawyers at Anapol Weiss," said Managing Shareholder, Thomas Anapol.

Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art – Barbican show reveals the medium’s subversive nature

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Textile art is having a revival, as the artists on show at the Barbican exhibition, Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, attest.

Key Points:

Textile art is having a revival, as the artists on show at the Barbican exhibition, Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, attest.
But it also invites deeper reflection on the societal shifts that have prompted a revival of the art form.
The exhibition focuses on this subversive nature of textiles in contemporary art through works by artists including Feliciano Centurión.

The changing landscape of exhibiting textiles

Their three-dimensional fibre structures both physically and metaphorically reclaimed space in an art world largely dominated by their male counterparts.
Their practices often employ textiles and recycled elements, transcending the European dichotomy between art and craft.
Private galleries are exerting a growing influence on the art world, and have contributed significantly to the visibility of fibre art and textiles.
Moreover, the practicality of textiles, being easier to transport and install compared to paintings, further enhances their appeal to galleries.
The resurgence of textiles in contemporary art provides a vital opportunity for conversation and revision within both the art world and society at large.

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Francesca Stocco does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Comcast Announces Premiere of the Inspiring Black Girls Documentary on Black Experience on Xfinity Platform

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Launched in 2021, Black Experience on Xfinity features the ultimate in Black storytelling from Black programming partners and film studios and has released a variety of original documentaries like Black Girls to showcase Black talent and content creators.

Key Points:

Launched in 2021, Black Experience on Xfinity features the ultimate in Black storytelling from Black programming partners and film studios and has released a variety of original documentaries like Black Girls to showcase Black talent and content creators.
The Black Experience on Xfinity Channel is the first-of-its-kind, curated destination of Black content, endorsed by the African American Film Critics Association.
View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240227373262/en/
Black Girls Documentary Premiers on Comcast's Black Experience on Xfinity Channel.
Xfinity customers can access the Black Experience on channel 1622 or simply say “Black Experience” into the Voice Remote to instantly enjoy the ultimate in Black storytelling.

Winning Writers Announces the Winners of the Ninth Annual North Street Book Prize

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Thursday, February 15, 2024

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NORTHAMPTON, Mass., Feb. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Winning Writers is pleased to announce the results from its ninth annual North Street Book Prize .

Key Points:

NORTHAMPTON, Mass., Feb. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Winning Writers is pleased to announce the results from its ninth annual North Street Book Prize .
Fearing that both families would be horrified, the lovers carry on an affair whose secrecy intensifies their lust but strains their relationship.
In addition to the North Street Book Prize, Winning Writers also sponsors the Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest, the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, and the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee).
Winning Writers has also been named one of the "101 Best Websites for Writers" (Writer's Digest, 2023).

Super Bowl: events like this are perfect for brand storytelling – unless companies get their messaging wrong

Retrieved on:

Friday, February 9, 2024

With 115m viewers watching the game last year in the US, 30-second ad spots go for a reported $7m (£5.5m).

Key Points:

With 115m viewers watching the game last year in the US, 30-second ad spots go for a reported $7m (£5.5m).
These days, “Super Bowl ads” are highly anticipated in terms of creative, memorable storytelling that hits home.
Successful ads leverage the massive platform not just to grab eyeballs, but to reinforce brand values through authentic, engaging stories.
Our research showed that employees who believe in the brand will go out of their way to do good.

When brands don’t read the room

Reducing environmental harm and standing up for social issues are two examples of consumer expectations of favoured brands, some of which may be tempted to jump on the bandwagon.
But soon after, Gillette, in its attempt to play the social activist card, launched its “is this the best a man can get?” campaign.
In a dramatic two-minute ad, aspects of toxic masculinity, including bullying, sexism and sexual harassment post-#MeToo were addressed.
The consumer base ends up feeling alienated by the brand’s perceived hypocrisy and inauthenticity.

Evolving narratives

Research shows that storytelling increases reader identification with characters, shifts attitudes and beliefs and creates more lasting memorability than straightforward delivery of information.
Unlike explicit messaging which can feel inauthentic, getting lost in a story can inspire emotions and shape beliefs in a subtle, organic way.

Digital immersive storytelling

We propose using immersive digital storytelling techniques for brands to craft and validate the authenticity of their messaging.
Interactive digital media enables more participatory story experiences between brands and audiences.
Working with a company to showcase their sustainability efforts, we created an immersive storytelling experience using extended reality technology.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

What recent Netflix shows – including The Crown and Beckham – get wrong about the British press

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Recent celebrity documentaries Beckham and Robbie Williams, and the final season of TV drama The Crown, have painted a portrait of the UK tabloids as cruel, sadistic and predatory of its homegrown celebrities.

Key Points:

Recent celebrity documentaries Beckham and Robbie Williams, and the final season of TV drama The Crown, have painted a portrait of the UK tabloids as cruel, sadistic and predatory of its homegrown celebrities.
While criticism of the British tabloids – particularly the ethics and methods of the News of the World – is often justified, the specifics offered by all three shows fall flat.
While these shows all try to claim part of the noughties nostalgia trend, they feel politically and contextually vacant.

The millennium press

By 1998, only 8% of editorial in The Sun and The Mirror could be classed as “public affairs” – the rest focused on gossip, sports, or both.
Inevitably, as celebrity culture became news, news also became gossip and both categories disintegrated into what we now call “clickbait”.
As The Crown dolefully shows, one picture of Princess Diana could sell for millions to print newspapers in 1997.

The Crown

The final season of The Crown covers the last eight months of Princess Diana’s life.
Through fictionalised monologues from actors playing real photographers and journalists, the press compare themselves to “hunters” and “killers”.

Beckham and Robbie Williams

Unlike The Crown, the main characters in the documentaries Beckham and Robbie Williams are not only living subjects but also active participants in the programmes.
Beckham consults a litany of talking heads – former managers, teammates, Spice Girls and two suitably shame-filled paparazzi – to build a portrait of the footballer and his union with wife Victoria.
As Williams notes, “[When you become famous] you want to give away the privacy you want to give away.

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Rachel Sykes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

HOLLYWOOD COMMISSION RELEASES RESULTS OF 2022-23 ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY CULTURE & CLIMATE SURVEY

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Thursday, January 11, 2024

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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hollywood Commission, the leading organization working in partnership with 26 of the most influential entertainment industry companies, unions and guilds, academies, and talent agencies to end discrimination, harassment, bullying, and abuse in the entertainment industry, today released the results of its 2022-23 Entertainment Industry Survey. An industry-wide temperature check, assessing what progress has been made and where workers still need support, the survey provides a critical update on the Commission's first 2019-20 survey.

Key Points:

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hollywood Commission, the leading organization working in partnership with 26 of the most influential entertainment industry companies, unions and guilds, academies, and talent agencies to end discrimination, harassment, bullying, and abuse in the entertainment industry, today released the results of its 2022-23 Entertainment Industry Survey.
The survey polled 5,259 anonymous workers; from their responses, the Commission conducted an extensive data analysis to find the larger overall trends in the industry.
The survey report is not a report card on any individual company or organization, but rather a snapshot of where the industry as a whole is now.
The full 2022-23 Entertainment Industry Survey report may be found at www.hollywoodcommission.org .

Priscilla: a bold feminist retelling of Elvis' dark fairytale marriage

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Friday, January 5, 2024

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Over the course of the relationship, we see Priscilla grow from girlhood to womanhood.

Key Points:

Over the course of the relationship, we see Priscilla grow from girlhood to womanhood.
On the surface, the story of Elvis and his wife Priscilla has all the qualities of a modern fairy tale.
She becomes queen to the “King of Rock and Roll” and they live happily ever after in their Memphis palace.
Coppola’s biopic in fact exposes the dark heart of this fairytale.

The lens of #MeToo

The audience watches as Priscilla matures under the shadow of Elvis’ controlling influence.
The #MeToo feminist landscape has shaped the story Coppola tells about Elvis and Priscilla.
The Twitter hashtag #MeToo was popularised in 2017 to expose the widespread abuse of women in Hollywood by the film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Priscilla is the latest in a cycle of post-#MeToo feminist retellings that offer a more sympathetic take on women in the spotlight.

Power and abuse

The film makes a comment about how powerful men are able to abuse their positions.
Coppola’s script emphasises the unequal power dynamic between Elvis and Priscilla, including the age difference.
The film shows how a toxic blend of fame, wealth and status draws people into Elvis’ orbit and, in turn, how his star power allows him to behave in ways that are rarely challenged by those around him.

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Harriet Fletcher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Jan. 6 was an example of networked incitement − a media and disinformation expert explains the danger of political violence orchestrated over social media

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Friday, January 5, 2024

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What set Jan. 6 apart was the president of the United States using his cellphone to direct an attack on the Capitol, and those who stormed the Capitol being wired and ready for insurrection.

Key Points:

What set Jan. 6 apart was the president of the United States using his cellphone to direct an attack on the Capitol, and those who stormed the Capitol being wired and ready for insurrection.
My co-authors and I, a media and disinformation scholar, call this networked incitement: influential figures inciting large-scale political violence via social media.
Networked incitement involves insurgents communicating across multiple platforms to command and coordinate mobilized social movements in the moment of action.
The reason there was not more bloodshed on Jan. 6 emerged through investigation into the Oath Keepers, a vigilante organization composed mostly of former military and police.

Social media as command and control

What happened in D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, does not easily fit into typical social movement frameworks for describing mobilization.
Even with the availability of social media, networked social movements still need mainstream media coverage to legitimize their cause.
As in prior social movements, the networking capacity of social media proved to be an important conduit to bring strangers together for the occasion.
The call to action for Jan. 6 came from the president himself in a series of social media posts enticing supporters to come to D.C. for a “wild” time.
Tweets like these from a prominent figure became social media’s equivalent of shouting fire in a crowded theater.

Mobilizing for violence

The purpose of these documents was to explain the rationales and mental states of the accused, while also offering a defense or explanation for their actions.
We analyzed the documents, looking at the multiple motivations for the insurrectionist mobilization.
In sum, we concluded that disinformation mobilizes and incites political violence under specific conditions, such as a popular public figure calling for help.
Oath Keeper Meggs’ tweet illustrates that even before Jan. 6, militia groups were looking for signs from Trump about how to proceed.
An investigation by NPR also illustrated how Trump’s messages emboldened participants and ignited the events of that day.

A dark future

The use of social media for networked incitement foreshadows a dark future for democracies.
Clear regulations preventing the malicious weaponization of social media by politicians who use disinformation to incite violence is one way to keep that future at bay.

Joan Donovan is on the board of Free Press and the founder of the Critical Internet Studies Institute.