Episode 51 travels back to the late-1980s to look closely at Beetlejuice (Tim Burton, 1988), a film that uses stop-motion, practical effects, prosthetics, make-up and bluescreen to complete its fantasy story of netherworlds, outsiderdom and life after death. Joining Chris and Alex is special guest Jingan Young, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and academic who is the editor of ‘Foreign Goods’ (the first collection of British Chinese plays published in the UK) and a regular contributor to The Guardian and Hong Kong Free Press, who has also recently completed a PhD in Film Studies at King’s College London. Listen as they discuss the tonally abrasive qualities of Tim Burton’s film and its shifts into haunted house horror; narratives of conquest, and how this connects to Beetlejuice’s take on white privilege and U.S. national identity; Michael Keaton’s performance and the figure of the trickster; the racialised use of music and questions of neo-minstrelsy; and how the film’s satirical-political edge gives the animated fantasy a bit of extra bite.
Corpse Bride (2005) (with Emily Mantell)
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (2012) (with Richard Haynes)
Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986) (with Robert Maslen)
Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) (with Stuart Messinger)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) (with Simran Hans)
King Kong (2005) (with Barry J.C. Purves)
The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) (with Shaun Gunner)
Waltz with Bashir (2008) (with Bella Honess Roe)
Gulliver’s Travels (1939)
Pogles’ Wood (1965-1967) (with Simon Costin)
Aladdin (1992) (with Steve Henderson)
Peppa Pig (2004-) (with Richard Dyer)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2019 (Part 2)
Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2019 (Part 1)
Coco (2017) (with Eavesdropping at the Movies)
Tron (1982)
(Bonus) Live from London Anime & Gaming Con 2019
Animal Farm (1954) (with Jez Stewart)
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