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<p>In my dissertation I propose that Álvaro Bisama's <italic>Caja negra</italic> is a book that both continues and defies the interventions in the field of culture articulated in Alberto Fuguet's <italic>Por favor, rebobinar</italic> and other texts associated with the McOndo approach to culture in Latin America; an approach that includes urban metropolitan spaces as well as mass-produced cultural products in the range of possible representations of daily life experiences in Latin America. I argue that, in order to do so, Bisama performs an oppositional, counterfactual and cultist appropriation of the history of the Chilean written, audiovisual and musical media productions of the 20th century, considering Chilean both the media productions that were made in Chile and the media productions that were consumed in the Chilean context even if they were made somewhere else. In <italic>Caja negra</italic>, the appropriation of such a wide catalogue of productions is achieved by inoculating the text with a significant amount of apocryphal films, books, authors, filmmakers, musicians, records and other data related to these productions and their producers. I show that the saturation of apocryphal data in <italic>Caja negra</italic> aims to create an alternate history of Chile through the construction of an alternate cultural field. However, the historical fact of Augusto Pinochet's <italic>coup d'état</italic> in 1973 remains unchanged. I argue that Bisama's display of apocrypha in <italic>Caja negra</italic> is a way of responding to the lack of reliability of the accounts of history, especially, the history of media productions in Chile, as a consequence of the actions taken by the military. Therefore, I propose that Bisama's approach to the genre of alternate history is political and consists of proposing the conjectural as a strategy to overcome the gaps and untrustworthiness of the accounts of history in a way that provides an alternative to the search for truth. Finally, I propose that <italic>Caja negra</italic> engages with popular and alternative cultures in a double edged way: On the one hand, it builds on the changes in the field of culture that were either observed, proposed or performed by the productions associated to McOndo, in a time that coincided with the dawn of both the democratic transition and the popularization of new technologies that promised to democratize the access to culture. On the other hand, it shows that active consumption and fanatic appropriation are deliberate and personal acts that, as such, depend more on those who perform them than on the products that are being appropriated. Popular culture is treated as a plurality of cultures, and the text is not a place to display it or fictionalize it, as it happens in <italic>Por favor, rebobinar</italic>. In <italic>Caja negra</italic> the codes of these pop cultures are shown yet remain veiled. Their apocryphal nature and the complex processes of fictionalization serve to protect them from overexposure and loss of their subcultural capital. In my dissertation, I observe that <italic>Por favor, rebobinar</italic> articulates a principle that rules the relationships between characters and between the characters and the reader, and I call it aesthetic empathy. I recognize this principle as fundamental in Fuguet's writing in the nineties. Also; I read in <italic>Por favor, rebobinar</italic> an apology of active and public critical consumption of cultural products. In my comparative reading of <italic>Por favor, rebobinar</italic> and <italic>Caja negra</italic>, I find that in the latter there is a shift in the perception of culture and its representation that functions as a response to the principle of aesthetic empathy and to the apology of critical consumption articulated in <italic>Por favor, rebobinar</italic>. I argue that this contestation to <italic>Por favor, rebobinar</italic> and McOndo is achieved by a process of adoption and experimentation with the limits of the more provocative traits of <italic>Por favor, rebobinar</italic>'s content and composition, such as the presentation of a cultural field, the saturation of data related to popular cultures, the fragmentary structure, the inclusion of metatextual interventions, and the emphasis in the specific nature of each fragment of writing through its structure and mediations. In sum, I present a reading of <italic>Caja negra</italic> as a text engaged in the intervention on the field of culture in Chile, articulated in continuity and contrast to its predecessors in the nineties.</p> / Dissertation

Anita  (Torgny Wickman 1973) is a typical example of a film produced as part of a wave of Swedish softcore sex films created with an eye on the substantial overseas profits to be made in market curious to witness onscreen Swedish Sin.  Following an extremely brief and limited release in Sweden the film disappeared from popular cultural perception until resurfacing in the late 1990s as an object of nostalgic cult curiosity.  Taking cues from New Cinema History disciplinary methods, cult theory and touching on theories of the dispositif, this thesis maps the manner in which Anita is popularly and academically regarded as a text throughout differently delineated eras of its lifespan. By drawing on its appearance in film listings, popular press, national press and fanzines, and through its various releases and restoration this work builds to an understanding of how uses of this text move from populist via nostalgia through cult to historical canon, and the way in which these uses offer new perspectives on Swedish film history.

The diploma thesis focuses on the phenomenon of cult film, its theoretical definition, its history from the beginning to the present days, in world vide and Czech context. Another topic is the typology of cult films, selected cult directors. The other aim are fan activities, which are essential for the acquisition of the cult status of the film. The aim of this work is to reflect the phenomenon of cult film and to analyse selected Czech films in order to find out whether these films meet the cult film criteria according to the characteristics of selected theoreticians. The resulting analysis will confirm or will rebut my hypothesis and will show whether the use of the term cult film is accidental and has its backing in the Czech environment.

Dans le contexte actuel de globalisation et de développement des nouvelles technologies, notamment internet, les modes d’appropriation des œuvres culturelles sont devenus de plus en plus faciles mais aussi variés et complexes. Cette thèse traite des modes d’appropriation des films français en Chine, et étudie trois terrains de recherche : les sous-forums des films Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain et de La grande vadrouille sur Tieba et le sous-forum des Cahiers du cinéma sur Douban. Nous avons étudié deux types principaux des passionnés culturels : fan et amateur. Le premier est souvent lié aux films grand public. Les fans manifestent une série de caractéristiques dans l’appropriation des films : l’engouement pour leur objet culte, le désir de partager et de communiquer, créativité, collectivité, etc. Le film peut intervenir directement dans leur vie quotidienne à travers l’imitation et la copie des éléments ou des personages. Lorsqu’on parle des films d’auteur, nous avons trouvé que le terme « amateur » est plus approprié pour déterminer leurs publics. Ils déclarent souvent leur admiration d’une manière plus ‘discrète’. Ils s’intéressent souvent plus aux idées des réalisateurs ou aux techniques de la production du film qu’aux acteurs ou personnages du films et possèdent généralement de bonnes connaissances dans le domaine culturel. Voir les films d’auteur est aussi un moyen pour eux d’accumuler les capitaux culturels. Les deux postures ne sont pas conflictuelles. Certains amateurs construisent aussi des communauté et cherchent à partager et communiquer avec les gens qui ont les mêmes passions qu’eux. Cette complexité est encore plus évidente dans le cadre international. D’un certain point de vue, le visionnement des films français est devenu un acte distinctif pour certains publics chinois. Et l’appropriation des films français peut satisfaire un désir d’être plus ‘cultivés’. Ce travail vise à ouvrir de nouvelles perspectives dans les recherches sur l’appropriation des oeuvres culturelles. / In the current context of globalization and the development of new technologies, especially the internet, the modes of appropriation of cultural works have become easier but also more varied and complex. This thesis discusses the modes of appropriation of french films in China by studying on three areas of research: the subforums of Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain and La grande vadrouille on Tieba, and the subforum of Cahiers du cinema on Douban. We studied two main types of cultural enthusiasts: fan and amateur. The first is often linked to the popular films. The fans show a series of characteristics in the appropriation of movies: the passion for their cult object, the desire to share and communicate creativity, community, etc. The film can be directly involved in their daily lives through the imitation of elements or personages in the film. When we talk about “auteur cinema”, we found that the term "amateur" is more appropriate to determine their audiences. They often express their admiration in a more discrete way. For example, they are often more interested in the ideas of directors or the technical of production of the films than in the actors or characters. They usually have good knowledge in the cultural field: literature, film or art. Seeing the “auteur movies” is also a way for them to accumulate cultural capital. However, the two positions are not in conflict. Some ‘amateurs” also show a community which is manifested in their collective communications. This complexity is even more evident in the international background. In some ways, viewing the french movies has become a distinctive act for certain chinese audiences. So the appropriation of french films satisfy a desire to be more 'cultivated'. This work aims to open up some new perspectives in the research on the appropriation of cultural works.

The 1980s is a formative decade in American history. America sought to reestablish itself as a global power and to reassert the dominant ideology of white, patriarchal capitalism. Likewise, media producers in the 1980s sought to reassert the dominance of the white, male, muscled body in filmic representations. The identity politics of the 1980s and the depictions of the white, muscled body once prominent in the 1980s have been the site of conservative nostalgia for a young, male-dominated, cult audience that is a subset of a larger cultural trend known as retro film culture. This thesis provides historical context behind the populist 1980s B-action films from Cannon Group, Inc that celebrate violent masculinity in filmic representations with white, male action heroes. Equally important is the revival of VHS collecting and how this 1980s-inspired subculture reinforces white, patriarchal capitalism through the cult films they valorize and their capitalistic trading practices despite their claims of oppositionality against mainstream taste and Hollywood films. Lastly, this thesis reveals how a new cycle of contemporary films primarily produced outside of Hollywood reasserts and celebrates the dominance of the white, male, muscled body in filmic representations despite a postmodern and hyperconscious exterior. Overall, I argue how these areas of nostalgia are distinct, yet not unrelated, because they reassert white, patriarchal capitalism through the revival of conservative nostalgia for the 1980s.

The theme Point of View: David Lynch and intertextuality of this master thesis deals with the work of American film director David Lynch, which we view in terms of intertextuality. The aim is to show how David Lynch manipulates with intertextuality in his films Wild at Heart and Lost Highway and what other means he uses to achieve the specific atmosphere of his films. We say that it is impossible to unambiguously interpret Lynch's work and we will try to show that every of various points of view can be correct.

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