Mae West Belle of the Nineties

The End of American Film Censorship

The Hays Code kept Hollywood on a short leash until the Supreme Court decided in 1952 that films were protected by the First Amendment.
rainer werner fassbinder

Why Do Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Films Still Resonate?

A miniseries directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder finally has its U.S. premier 45 years later and reminds us of the phenomenon of this great German director.
Mommie Dearest

Are Mothers Monsters? Revisiting Mommie Dearest

On the surface, "Mommie Dearest" is a portrait of vanity and self-obsession. Dig deeper, and it reflects society’s discomfort with mothers and single women.
Old movie theater

Weirdly Enough, Movies about TV Prepared America for TV

Ironically, it was movies that helped accustom American viewers to television in the first place, writes Richard Koszarski.
Stephen King and George Romero

Stephen King’s Prophetic Early Work

King of Horror Stephen King celebrates his 70th birthday. Will he finally get the respect he deserves from academia and the culture industry?
DNA Strand

Using DNA As a Memory Drive

Scientists have successfully encoded a simple movie in bacteria DNA, and played it back. Using DNA for data storage is not as crazy as it sounds...
Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis: French Film Master

Jerry Lewis was lionized in France as a film auteur, a genius of movie-making. What did the French know that Americans didn't?
drive-in theater

Why Drive-Ins Were More Than Movie Theaters

Drive-ins embodied the suburbanization of middle class families -- and created an entirely new way of watching the movies.
Gene Wilder in 1978

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder and the fan letters he got...from Gene Wilder.
Screenshot of Flower from the trailer for the film Bambi.

The Problematic Influence of Disney’s “Bambi”

Bambi has had a pervasive influence on how Americans view nature, and that might not be such a good thing.