Dialectics Between Director and the Media
Almodóvar en la prensa de Estados Unidos
The title, translated to English, is Almodóvar in the United States Press. Author Cristina Martínez-Carazo, professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, provided synopses in Spanish and English:
Este libro analiza la respuesta de la prensa estadounidense al cine de Pedro Almodóvar y su impacto a la hora de reflejar y construir su recepción en este país. Por medio del análisis de reseñas, artículos, entrevistas y demás apariciones en el espacio público, se aquilata la dialéctica entre el director español y los medios de comunicación en Estados Unidos, y se rastrea la convergencia de su universo creador con determinadas propuestas estéticas del cine norteamericano. La respuesta de The New York Times, The New Yorker y Los Angeles Times, entre otras muchas publicaciones, al cine del director manchego permite explorar sus encuentros y desencuentros con la crítica estadounidense y adentrarse en los factores que determinan la oscilación entre la aceptación y el rechazo, los elogios y los reproches.
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This book analyzes the response of the United States press to the films of Pedro Almodóvar, the most transnational Spanish filmmaker, recipient of two Oscars, and its impact on the articulation of his reception in this country. By analyzing different reviews, articles, interviews and other appearances in the public space, this study evaluates the dialectics between the Spanish director and the media in the United States and explores the merging points between his creativity and some specific aesthetic traces of Hollywood films. The response of The New York Times, The New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times, among many other newspapers, to the Spanish filmmaker allows the reader to explore the encounters and dis-encounters of this Spanish artist with critics in the United States and to understand the factors that determine the oscillation between acceptance and rejection, compliments and reproaches.
Bread From Stones: The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism
By Keith David Watenpaugh, professor of religious studies and the director of Human Rights Studies. Bread From Stones earned honorable mention in judging for the 2016 Norris and Carol Hundley Book Award, given by the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, and is recognized as an Ahmanson Book in the Humanities. (University of California Press/2015)