Tweet Originally posted at Hacktivision If YouTube’s massive overhaul – many years in the making – revealed anything, it was our deep investments in the transformative potential of web video. Many observers have criticized the company’s move as selling out, a way to streamline the site’s chaos for the benefit of advertisers. (What else is [...]
Posts Tagged ‘race’
Outsiders After Viral Video
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 27th, 2012
Posted in uncategorized 
Tags: gender, race, Video (Web/Mobile/Transmedia), web series, youtube 
No Comments »Web Series Spotlight: ‘Mythomania’ Strives For Comic Book Stardom
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 5th, 2012
Tweet If the 2000s taught filmgoers anything, it was “comics are marketable.” Hollywood mined superhero classics, artier graphic novels like The Watchmen got their due, and even original franchises like Inception were comic book’ed. Popularity opened up a space for edgier fare: Stan Lee and Alan Moore weren’t the only ones to profit. So did Derek Kirk [...]
Fan Production as Industrial Response in ‘Transformative Works & Cultures’
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on November 15th, 2011
Tweet Some of you may remember the web series The Real Girl’s Guide to Everything Else, a satirical show about Rasha, a Lebanese lesbian forced to date men to finance her book project. The series got a lot of coverage last year, from NPR to Jezebel, and a host of lesbian-focused blogs and websites. Super-syndicated across [...]
Posted in uncategorized Tags: academic, comedy, gay, gender, independent film, race, research, web series No Comments »Hollywood Needs Will Smith. Why Doesn’t It Make Another One?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 27th, 2011
Tweet In yet another great exclusive report on the industry, New York‘s Claude Brodesser-Akner writes today that Fox has been having a bit of trouble starting production on two possible sequels to Independence Day, in part because Will Smith is not yet signed on to star. Money problems. Smith, who’s been absent for years but is [...]
Web Series Spotlight: ‘Osiris’ Diversifies Sci-Fi With A Smart, Immortal Soul
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on September 28th, 2011
Tweet I recently explored the growth of diverse sci-fi/fantasy shows on the web using the new original series Osiris as a perfect example. The show, which has received some publicity help from the awesome Shadow and Act, is sleek thriller about a man named Osiris who cannot die, instead resurrecting each time after he’s killed. He’s 300 years [...]
Web Shows Trek Past Sci-Fi’s Color Line
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on September 28th, 2011
Tweet Thanks to Racialicious for reposting! From Blacula to Sleep Dealer, filmmakers of color have always been interested in science fiction and fantasy. But these days in Hollywood, sci-fi/fantasy films demand big budgets, and it seems like only Will Smith and Denzel Washington are powerful enough to greenlight a genre film starring an actor of color. [...]
Web Series Spotlight: ‘Chrysalis’ Delivers Baltimore Noir With Black Muslim Characters
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on August 3rd, 2011
Tweet Thanks to Racialicious for reposting! “Web Series Spotlight” is a regular feature showcasing a random indie web series I feel is culturally relevant, artistically notable or just plain interesting. This week I’m starting a new feature on this blog called “Web Series Spotlight.” I regularly get pitched series by creators and find it difficult to [...]
How Many Black TV Networks Do We Need?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on April 11th, 2011
Tweet Thanks to NewsforTVMajors and MIT Center for Civic Media for linking! We’re in for a deluge of black programming on television and on the net. Last fall I spent a considerable amount of time pitching articles about the rise of the “black network,” without much success. Mainstream publications seemed uninterested. Black Web 2.0 was gracious and forward-thinking [...]
Is Hollywood Pushing Black Actors to TV?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on February 17th, 2011
Tweet Posted at SpliceToday. Thanks to Racialicious for reposting UPDATE: Now, Taraji P. Henson is starring in a CBS and JJ Abrams pilot, called Person of Interest. Henson plays an ex-spy who solves crime. Hunh, sounds like another JJ Abrams show! But with Henson it looks like he took my advice on why Undercovers got [...]
10 Web Shows BET Could Greenlight After ‘The Game’
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 31st, 2011
Tweet Thanks to TheLoop21 (and MAN) for linking! Now, several weeks after the huge premiere of The Game, ratings for the show have fallen. While the numbers still look good, BET executives might be a little concerned viewers aren’t sticking with the show. Do I like The Game? I think it’s okay. As the leading [...]
