Theory of the Gimmick

Theory of the Gimmick PDF Author: Sianne Ngai
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674984544
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 417

Get Book

Book Description
A provocative theory of the gimmick as an aesthetic category steeped in the anxieties of capitalism. Repulsive and yet strangely attractive, the gimmick is a form that can be found virtually everywhere in capitalism. It comes in many guises: a musical hook, a financial strategy, a striptease, a novel of ideas. Above all, acclaimed theorist Sianne Ngai argues, the gimmick strikes us both as working too little (a labor-saving trick) and as working too hard (a strained effort to get our attention). Focusing on this connection to work, Ngai draws a line from gimmicks to political economy. When we call something a gimmick, we are registering uncertainties about value bound to labor and time—misgivings that indicate broader anxieties about the measurement of wealth in capitalism. With wit and critical precision, Ngai explores the extravagantly impoverished gimmick across a range of examples: the fiction of Thomas Mann, Helen DeWitt, and Henry James; photographs by Torbjørn Rødland; the video art of Stan Douglas; the theoretical writings of Stanley Cavell and Theodor Adorno. Despite its status as cheap and compromised, the gimmick emerges as a surprisingly powerful tool in this formidable contribution to aesthetic theory.

Theory of the Gimmick

Theory of the Gimmick PDF Author: Sianne Ngai
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674984544
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 417

Get Book

Book Description
A provocative theory of the gimmick as an aesthetic category steeped in the anxieties of capitalism. Repulsive and yet strangely attractive, the gimmick is a form that can be found virtually everywhere in capitalism. It comes in many guises: a musical hook, a financial strategy, a striptease, a novel of ideas. Above all, acclaimed theorist Sianne Ngai argues, the gimmick strikes us both as working too little (a labor-saving trick) and as working too hard (a strained effort to get our attention). Focusing on this connection to work, Ngai draws a line from gimmicks to political economy. When we call something a gimmick, we are registering uncertainties about value bound to labor and time—misgivings that indicate broader anxieties about the measurement of wealth in capitalism. With wit and critical precision, Ngai explores the extravagantly impoverished gimmick across a range of examples: the fiction of Thomas Mann, Helen DeWitt, and Henry James; photographs by Torbjørn Rødland; the video art of Stan Douglas; the theoretical writings of Stanley Cavell and Theodor Adorno. Despite its status as cheap and compromised, the gimmick emerges as a surprisingly powerful tool in this formidable contribution to aesthetic theory.

The Gimmicks

The Gimmicks PDF Author: Chris McCormick
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 006290857X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Get Book

Book Description
“The Gimmicks is a gorgeous epic that astounds with its scope and beauty. With empathy and humor, McCormick unravels the ties between brotherhood and betrayal, love and abandonment, and the fictions we create to live with the pain of the past. This novel will blow you away.” —Brit Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of The Mothers Set in the waning years of the Cold War, a stunning debut novel about a trio of young Armenians that moves from the Soviet Union, across Europe, to Southern California, and at its center, one of the most tragic cataclysms in twentieth-century history—the Armenian Genocide—whose traumatic reverberations will have unexpected consequences on all three lives. This exuberant, wholly original novel begins in Kirovakan, Armenia, in 1971. Ruben Petrosian is a serious, solitary young man who cares about two things: mastering the game of backgammon to beat his archrival, Mina, and studying the history of his ancestors. Ruben grieves the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, a crime still denied by the descendants of its perpetrators, and dreams of vengeance. When his orphaned cousin, Avo, comes to live with his family, Ruben’s life is transformed. Gregarious and physically enormous, with a distinct unibrow that becomes his signature, Avo is instantly beloved. He is everything Ruben is not, yet the two form a bond they swear never to break. But their paths diverge when Ruben vanishes—drafted into an extremist group that will stop at nothing to make Turkey acknowledge the genocide. Unmoored by Ruben’s disappearance, Avo and Mina grow close in his absence. But fate brings the cousins together once more, when Ruben secretly contacts Avo, convincing him to leave Mina and join the extremists—a choice that will dramatically alter the course of their lives. Left to unravel the threads of this story is Terry “Angel Hair” Krill, a veteran of both the US Navy and the funhouse world of professional wrestling, whose life intersects with Avo, Ruben, and Mina’s in surprising and devastating ways. Told through alternating perspectives, The Gimmicks is a masterpiece of storytelling. Chris McCormick brilliantly illuminates the impact of history and injustice on ordinary lives and challenges us to confront the spectacle of violence and the specter of its aftermath.

The Gimmick

The Gimmick PDF Author: Dael Orlandersmith
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
ISBN: 9780822218838
Category : African American women
Languages : en
Pages : 120

Get Book

Book Description
THE STORY: BEAUTY'S DAUGHTER. One woman's journey with many obstacles stacked against her. The heroine or anti-heroine can choose to be a victim of the violent cards life has dealt her or she can use her poetry and music as a creative means to de

Beauty's Daughter, Monster, The Gimmick

Beauty's Daughter, Monster, The Gimmick PDF Author: Dael Orlandersmith
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307482057
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 134

Get Book

Book Description
The sheer exuberance of language that pours forth in Dael Orlandersmith's plays has dazzled critics and audiences alike. In these three pieces, the award-winning writer and performer celebrates the power of words to rescue the young black women she portrays from their constricted worlds. In the Obie Award-winning play "Beauty's Daughter," Diane yearns to free herself from her soul-deadening surroundings, where people drown their unfulfilled aspirations in drugs and alcohol. In "Monster," Theresa imagines a life in the rock-'n'-roll poetry bohemia of Manhattan's Lower East Side and away from her home in East Harlem, where she is scorned as a misfit. And in "The Gimmick," Alexis escapes her brutal reality among the library bookshelves, where she dreams of becoming a writer in Paris. Charged with fearless wisdom, these three electrifying plays transform rage-filled ghetto experience into a triumph of rhapsodic expression.

Albert J. Luxford, the Gimmick Man

Albert J. Luxford, the Gimmick Man PDF Author: Albert J. Luxford
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476635447
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book

Book Description
Albert J. Luxford has long been known as “The Gimmick Man” in the film and television industry, but he has remained one of its unsung and unknown geniuses despite his well-known work. He equipped James Bond with some of his most memorable gadgets; made possible many of the effects and sequences in the Carry On series. He worked on such shows and movies as Are You Being Served?, The Muppets, Highlander, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, among many others. In this memoir, Luxford reminisces with great good humor about his life and work and shares some tricks of the trade. He left school at 16 to attend the Institute of Automobile Engineers in West London and began in the film industry as an engineer at Pinewood Studios. The bulk of this work is made up of Luxford’s recollections about his experiences in special effects. This is a genuine tour behind the scenes by an incomparable master of movie magic.

Gimmick!, Vol. 2

Gimmick!, Vol. 2 PDF Author: Youzaburou Kanari
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
ISBN: 9781421517797
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book

Book Description
• As of Volume 8 of the Japanese version, there are 300,000 copies of Gimmick! in print (in Japan). • Detailed information and insight on movie makeup and special effects. • Will appeal to fans of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation genre. • Gimmick! is licensed in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea. Kohei Nagase, a genius when it comes to makeup and special effects. He uses his skills to expertly disguise people from the press, criminals, or anyone wanting to do them harm. Never one to let a minor inconvenience like a bullet wound get him down--he caught a little lead while trying to prevent a jewel heist--Kohei doggedly pursues a group of thieves who've been using one of his creations for illicit purposes. Can he spring his buddy Shingo from jail and track down the burglars before more blood--both real and costume--is shed? Later, a major Hollywood star contacts Kohei to help him deal with a fanatical female fan, but with a crooked agent thrown into the mix, Studio Gimmick might also have to foil a blackmail plot.

Hot Gimmick, Vol. 10

Hot Gimmick, Vol. 10 PDF Author: Miki Aihara
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
ISBN: 9781421501093
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book

Book Description
All-out warfare between their families has Hatsumi and Ryoki wondering about their future, forcing Hatsumi to choose between Ryoki and her brother.

Beauty's Daughter, Monster, The Gimmick

Beauty's Daughter, Monster, The Gimmick PDF Author: Dael Orlandersmith
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0375708715
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 134

Get Book

Book Description
The sheer exuberance of language that pours forth in Dael Orlandersmith's plays has dazzled critics and audiences alike. In these three pieces, the award-winning writer and performer celebrates the power of words to rescue the young black women she portrays from their constricted worlds. In the Obie Award-winning play "Beauty's Daughter," Diane yearns to free herself from her soul-deadening surroundings, where people drown their unfulfilled aspirations in drugs and alcohol. In "Monster," Theresa imagines a life in the rock-'n'-roll poetry bohemia of Manhattan's Lower East Side and away from her home in East Harlem, where she is scorned as a misfit. And in "The Gimmick," Alexis escapes her brutal reality among the library bookshelves, where she dreams of becoming a writer in Paris. Charged with fearless wisdom, these three electrifying plays transform rage-filled ghetto experience into a triumph of rhapsodic expression.

The Gimmick

The Gimmick PDF Author: Dael Orlandersmith
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
ISBN: 082221881X
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 109

Get Book

Book Description
Monster -- A violent family history passes from one generation to the next. The narrator, a young woman, uses stories, poetry and characters to introduce and juxtapose situations. Through her powerful eyes we witness violence, friendship, alienation, family love and loyalty.

Living the Gimmick

Living the Gimmick PDF Author: Ben Peller
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 9780759520011
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 428

Get Book

Book Description
From the time he was able to body slam a pillow, Michael dreamed of becoming a professional wrestler, vanquishing imaginary enemies and nagging self-doubt with every drop kick he landed. As his buddies hit the books, Michael got hit. When they left for college, he enrolled in Shane Stratford's Wrestling Academy, where cash -- and a particularly punishing "audition" -- afforded him a first look into a world part circus, part sport, and all spectacle. From penny-ante matches to national notoriety, Michael rises through the ranks of professional wrestling. Hopped up on speed, pumped up on steroids, and fueled by a frustration he can't quite name, he adopts and discards identities in a bid to find the "gimmick" that will make him complete. His search will bring him in contact with people weird and wonderful: athletes and actors, crazy fans and crooked managers, the full rich range of folks who revel in the ring. Combining elements of sports narrative a la "North Dallas 40, " the behind-the-scenes authenticity of "Pumping Iron, " and a flair for the bizarre that recalls John Irving, "Living the Gimmick" is a novel not soon forgotten.