Dossier editors: Lavinia Brydon (University of Kent), Bibi Burger (Univiersity of Cape Town), Sanele KaNtshingana (University of Cape Town), Janina Schupp (University of Oxford)
Lavinia Brydon, Sanele KaNtshingana and Janina Schupp, Introduction: Screen Media and ‘Middling Cities’ – Questioning Hierarchies, Dominant Narratives and Negative Associations
In their dossier introduction, the editors discuss the significance of “middling cities” and make a case for the importance of looking beyond global metropolitan centres and media capitals.
Chris Hite, Mature Adults Only: Italian Cinema in Middling, Western Pennsylvania Cities
Chris Hite explores the popularity of Italian cinema in the “middling” industrial towns of Western Pennsylvania in the early twentieth century and traces how shifts in distribution and exhibition practices for foreign films marginalized these markets after World War II.
Georgina Cebey, A Summer in a City in the Middle of the Desert: Visions of Mexicali, Mexico, in Levantamuertos (2013)
Georgina Cebey analyses the distinctive image of Mexicali in Levantamuertos (2013), arguing that the film’s exploration of the “slow violence” of everyday life challenges stereotypical representations of the Mexican border.
Chris Broodryk, The Pretorian Paradise Paradox: Waiting and Contemplating in the Middling City
In the lead-up to South Africa’s first democratic elections, the television series Tropical Heat used Pretoria to double for a fictional Florida city. Chris Broodryk considers the complex political dynamics of the series and its transformation of Pretoria into a “retrotopian” space.
Photo: Kyle-Philip Coulson on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/@kp_coulson)