Based on the forthcoming book by Pepi Leistyna, Class Dismissed navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows. Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants - stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy. Class Dismissed breaks important new ground in exploring the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality intersect with class, offering a more complex reading of television's often one-dimensional representations. The video also links television portrayals to negative cultural attitudes and public policies that directly affect the lives of working class people. Featuring interviews with Stanley Aronowitz, (City University of New York); Nickel and Dimed author, Barbara Ehrenreich; Herman Gray (University of California-Santa Cruz); Robin Kelley (Columbia University); Pepi Leistyna (University of Massachusetts-Boston) and Michael Zweig (State University of New York-Stony Brook). Also with Arlene Davila, Susan Douglas, Bambi Haggins, Lisa Henderson, and Andrea Press.
Danny Ray Horning robs a Winslow, Arizona bank, and is linked to a gruesome murder that took place months before. But the dangerous criminal manages to walk out of a prison in broad daylight, setting off a massive manhunt with the FBI
This 2005 HBO documentary shows behind the scenes at a Spencer Tunick art installation of 85 HIV-positive people posing naked at Florent Restaurant for the 10th anniversary cover of POZ Magazine. Featuring: Vinny Allegrini, Gwen Barringer, Shawn Decker, Mark de Solla Price, Elizabeth Perez, Barbara Kemper Powell, Ron Singleton, Sean Strub, Spence Sutton, Julia Tripp, and Spencer Tunick (photographer).
Also known as The Curse of Debbie Does Dallas, in the vein of Inside Deep Throat, it examines the history of the production and marketing of the 1978 cult hit, Debbie Does Dallas, and is a study of the porn industry in the 1970s. Interviews with former porn stars also try to uncover the mystery of Bambi Woods, the starlet who disappeared from porn soon after Debbie Does Dallas and was rumored to have connections with the mafia and problems with the FBI. Featuring interviews with Robin Byrd, female actress in the movie and Bill Kelly, a former FBI agent once working on an undercover operation to bust porn producers.
Based on the forthcoming book by Pepi Leistyna, Class Dismissed navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows. Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants - stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy. Class Dismissed breaks important new ground in exploring the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality intersect with class, offering a more complex reading of television's often one-dimensional representations. The video also links television portrayals to negative cultural attitudes and public policies that directly affect the lives of working class people. Featuring interviews with Stanley Aronowitz, (City University of New York); Nickel and Dimed author, Barbara Ehrenreich; Herman Gray (University of California-Santa Cruz); Robin Kelley (Columbia University); Pepi Leistyna (University of Massachusetts-Boston) and Michael Zweig (State University of New York-Stony Brook). Also with Arlene Davila, Susan Douglas, Bambi Haggins, Lisa Henderson, and Andrea Press. 