“Sous les paves, la plage!” [Under the paving stones, the beach]
Mark Shiel
Mark Shiel considers some historical precedents for the current moment.
From the Editors’ Desk
Trump and the Dialectic of Enlightenment
Stanley Corkin
Stan Corkin discusses Trump's affinity with televisuality and the dangers of the reality effect.
The Speed of Power, The Pace of Protest: Resistant Urban Rhythms
Caitlin Bruce
Caitlin Bruce identifies the polyrhythmic nature of the city as a potent model for resistance to the Trump administration's tactics, and to anti-urban representations of the city as population instead of populace.
Migrating Globally, Fighting Back Locally
Sabine Haenni
Sabine Haenni fills in the "points of warmth" on her migration map with examples of local resistance and local cinemas.
Hollywood and the Muslim Ban: The Contemporary War Film as Urban Cinema
Johan Andersson
Johan Andersson considers the relationship between Trump's rhetoric and the anti-urban themes of the contemporary war film.
On the Outpacing of Reality and the Uses of Representation
Erica Stein & Brendan Kredell
Managing Editors Erica Stein and Brendan Kredell kick off the second phase of From the Editors' Desk by asking what role media and the city can play in an effective response to the rapid pace of change.
Do Not Adjust Your Set! Recalibrating Urban Cinema and Media Studies Under Donald Trump
Mark Shiel
Mark Shiel calls for urban cinema and media studies to reorient its methodologies in the wake of Donald Trump's election.
Trump, The Wire’s Serial Killer, and the State of the News
Stanley Corkin
Stan Corkin claims the neoliberalization of journalism as a key cause in the rise of Trump, and looks to the fifth season of The Wire as anticipating this phenomenon.
No Cities to Love: The Urban as Population, not People
Caitlin Bruce
Caitlin Bruce argues that the city could not figure in public imaginaries as a space for authentic populism in the 2016 U.S. election in part because of its long-standing representation as a contagion in cinema.
Class Consciousness, Cinema, and the Rise of Trump
Johan Andersson
Johan Andersson explores the relationship between political crisis and class consciousness in cinema past and present.
Are Cities Sanctuaries? Mapping Migration in the Mediated Metropolis
Sabine Haenni
Sabine Haenni explores the limits of local warmth, sanctuary cities, and the mediation of experiences of immigration and migration in fiction films.
Media and Polis in Light of Trump, Brexit, and the Global Far Right
Erica Stein & Brendan Kredell
Media and the urban were two key strands in discussions of the US presidential election and Brexit. The Managing Editors re-connect them in this introduction to our From the Editors' Desk feature.