SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2018
VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 5
‘Call Me By Your Name’ artistic, lacks depth
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Student publications pushed to reduce printing budgets
After pressure from UFB to cut costs, groups scramble for alternate, cheaper printing By MELANIE PINCUS SENIOR STAFF WRITER
GUS REED / HERALD
‘Call Me By Your Name’ has been showing at Avon Cinema on Thayer Street since Jan. 26 and will play until Feb. 1. While aesthetically pleasing, the film fell short in other respects.
Film risks misrepresenting gay love to American audiences, downplays hardships of relationships By JACOB ALABAB-MOSER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
“Call Me By Your Name,” which was adapted from a 2007 novel, directed
by Italian director Luca Guadagnino, promises to pander to audiences with its premise of a gay love story, a theme that has yet to be fully developed in American cinema. But in reality, only the mesmerizing aesthetics of the film might move theatergoers; barren character development and dialogue renders its emotional content fruitless. The film’s protagonist is Elio — played by Timothée Chalamet — a
musically prodigious and multilingual 17-year-old boy who is spending the summer holiday with his parents at their countryside villa in an idyllic northern Italian town. His life appears to be perfect, which the cinematography shows; the camera guides viewers through languid summer days under the Mediterranean sun, which he spends riding bikes through the » See AVON, page 3
Multiple student publications are reducing their budgets this semester in response to requests from the Undergraduate Finance Board to decrease costs, according to representatives from several publications and UFB. UFB alerted publications to upcoming budget cuts when it did not approve any requests to cover printing costs for the spring 2018 semester in their annual budgeting review last April. By refusing budget requests, UFB aimed to spur conversations about reducing costs, The Herald previously reported. “A lot of the groups have been able to show us some reduction in their printing costs and have really narrowed down what is essential” to their papers, said UFB Vice Chair Drew To ’19. UFB approved funding for all but two publications by the end of the fall 2017 semester, according to UFB Chair
Yuzuka Akasaka ’18. The budget of the College Hill Independent — a weekly publication, known as the Indy, run by students from Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design — was approved last week, and the budget of the Clerestory Journal of the Arts — a literary publication — has yet to be approved, according to editors of each publication. Printing costs account for the vast majority of publications’ budgets. For example, 100 percent of the Clerestory Journal’s and 90 percent of the Indy’s budget go toward printing, editors of each publication said. Members of the Brown Noser said they made changes to reduce their budgets for this semester by searching for avenues to decrease their printing costs. The Noser will only print its front and back covers in color this semester instead of the entire paper, according to Editors-in-Chief Francis Bogan ’18 and Katherine Dunham ’18. Similarly, the Intercollegiate Finance Journal “ended up cutting down one of the sections in (the) magazine and then switching the kind of paper that (it was) using for the cover,” said IFJ Editor-in-Chief Ben Bosis ’19. Despite » See BUDGETS, page 2
2018 Oscar nominations Brown-RISD students color Granoff prove more progressive Eventful year in film culminates in wide variety of nominees, representing diverse spread By ZACHARY BARNES STAFF WRITER
The 2018 Oscar nominations came out early last week, firing the starting pistol for the final stretch of what has been one of the most tumultuous, industry-shaking years in Hollywood’s history. They honor a diverse, somewhat untraditional set of films, from the politically spiked scares of Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” to the young woman’s coming-of-age tale in Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird.” It’s a poetic coincidence that this year marked by new films breaking into the Academy’s ranks is also the year of Harvey Weinstein’s downfall. The films he produced, under the stamp of Miramax and the nowdefunct Weinstein Company, were largely old-fashioned, serious-minded affairs; historical epics (“The English Patient”), issue dramas (“My Left Foot”) and nostalgia trips (“Chicago”) varied in quality but were united in
INSIDE
their projection of good taste. The wrenching irony of Weinstein as an arbiter of good taste should be readily apparent. But, come to think of it, a “projection of good taste” isn’t a bad description of the Oscars themselves. They purport to acknowledge the best of the best in any given year of moviemaking, but what they really do — at least up until recently — is obligingly acknowledge a certain haughtily middlebrow, white-people-dominated type of movie. The term “Oscar bait” is less a critical judgment than it is a genre. That the world’s most prominent film awards have such a narrow idea of the “best” does neither the art nor the industry any favors. When boring movies — like “A Beautiful Mind” — keep winning Oscars, boring movies — like “The King’s Speech” — keep getting made. But this year’s crop of nominees suggests that our conception of what movies can win Oscars is changing. Take “Get Out,” a film that could scarcely be further away from the Weinstein ideal of an Oscar movie. It is a sharp, uncompromising film » See OSCARS, page 3
SAM BERUBE / HERALD
The Granoff Center’s Cohen Gallery began featuring works from Brown-RISD dual-degree students last Thursday. The tenth annual exhibition showcases art from the selective interdisciplinary program.
Exhibition’s short films, sculptures, furniture highlight program’s interdisciplinary mediums By ELISE RYAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
For the next month, the walls of the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts will exhibit the unique skills, interests and talent of students in the BrownRISD Dual Degree Program as their tenth annual exhibition presents work in a variety of media. Opened on Jan. 25, the exhibit colors the Cohen Gallery
and overflows throughout the living rooms and corridors of Granoff. The gallery immediately confronts visitors with “X: The Tenth Annual Brown-RISD Dual-Degree Exhibition” printed boldly on the wall. Scattered around this title are statements beginning with “X =.” While some comment on the fact that this reflects the dual-degree program’s tenth year in existence, others hint at themes, such as “X = the ambiguous,” “X = the unknown” or “X = anything you want, baby.” Since its creation in 2008, the five-year-long dual-degree program has maintained its status as a highly selective, intensive course of study.
Admitting only 15 students each year, the program aims to allow students to collaborate and work interdisciplinarily as they cultivate their academic and artistic interests, according to the program’s website. “I personally find that the work that I did at Brown informs what I do at RISD,” said Laura Jaramillo ’20, a dual-degree student studying furniture design and gender studies who showed an illustration in last year’s exhibition. “It provides a separate window into the same mode of thinking,” said Jake Ruggiero ’21, a first-year in the dual-degree program, speaking to the » See GRANOFF, page 3
WEATHER
TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2018
ARTS & CULTURE ‘Music Now’ Forum provides opportunity for students, staff to explore modern music
SCIENCE & RESEARCH Neuroscientists study cerebral cortexes in mice, find previously unknown structures
COMMENTARY Thomas ’21: Second semester of freshman year can cause similar symptoms as sophomore slump
COMMENTARY Mulligan ’19: Government leaders should pay their interns to create equal opportunity
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