Marvel's Behind the Mask

In this highly anticipated sequel to his groundbreaking, ADVERTISING AND THE END OF THE WORLD, media scholar Sut Jhally explores the devastating personal and environmental fallout from advertising, commercial culture, and rampant American consumerism. Ranging from the emergence of the modern advertising industry in the early 20th century to the full-scale commercialization of the culture today, Jhally identifies one consistent message running throughout all of advertising: the idea that corporate brands and consumer goods are the keys to human happiness. He then shows how this powerful narrative, backed by billions of dollars a year and propagated by the best creative minds, has blinded us to the catastrophic costs of ever-accelerating rates of consumption.

Marvel and its rival DC Comics were long locked in a battle for supremacy in the superhero universe. But then Marvel revolutionized its storytelling palette: Formerly slick comic book heroes were given human traits and problems as well as superpowers. Plot lines became increasingly interwoven. Superheroes like Spider-Man, X-Men and Jessica Jones now enjoy cult status even among an audience that has never read the comic books. Former Marvel insiders and comic experts give a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Marvel universe and reveal how the company fought its way back to become one of the most successful names in the entertainment industry.

Documentary about the Emmanuelle movies, looking at their making as well as their social and cultural impact.

A look at the global culture and appeal of the LEGO building-block toys.

Following the artist from the bustling streets of New York to her rain-soaked hometown of Bergen, the film includes interviews with AURORA's closest friends, as well as uniquely stripped-back performances of tracks including “Warrior” and “Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1).” Whether she’s reminiscing on her childhood with her sisters, dancing through the city streets in her headphones, or discussing the secret life of apples, there’s a spellbinding quality to everything the artist does.

The surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert (1942-2013): his early days as a freewheeling bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his famously contentious partnership with Gene Siskel, his life-altering marriage, and his brave and transcendent battle with cancer.

Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.

A documentary revisiting the global television phenomenon LOST. Featuring interviews with the cast and crew, as well as members of the loyal fan base who still celebrate the show twenty years after it originally aired.

An indie documentary exploring the art form of hand-drawn animation through a contemporary lens in the digital era. Featuring insights and anecdotes by hand-drawn animation artists from around the world.

A look back at the girl-group craze of the 60's through archival footage and interviews with those involved.

How the Islamic State has created a powerful propaganda factory that manipulates and twists at its convenience the subjects and icons of the Western popular culture in order to lure into darkness certain young people and recruit them to achieve a dreadful purpose, an industry of fear that overcomes the infamous Nazi machinery and the methods used by both sides during the Cold War.