Aaron Vega

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.

This fun and exhilarating look at the new faces of the carnival sideshow reveals today's most unusual performers who have taken their acts from the circus grounds to nightclubs, rock concerts, college campuses and even Broadway. Get a backstage pass to witness their outrageous acts before live audiences, who are still shocked, surprised and entertained!

Built around the landmark 1954 legal case Hernandez v. Texas, the film interweaves the stories of its central characters with a broader story of the civil rights movement. It also brings to life the heroic post-World War II struggle of Mexican Americans fighting to dismantle the discrimination targeted against them.

Once a symbol of '60s counterculture and psychedelic drug use, Ram Dass has since become a renowned speaker and author on the topics of aging, spirituality, and overcoming the mistakes of the past. This documentary chronicles his journey from his affiliations with LSD advocate Timothy Leary to his endeavor to continue remaking himself after his stroke in 1997.

The members of the superband Los Van Van tell their individual stories, comment on the love and pride they feel for their group, and testify about the origin, development, and characteristics of the most famous Cuban dance orchestra—founded more than forty years ago by Juan Formell—until they won the coveted Grammy Award in February 2000. Of particular note are the sincere and entertaining statements by singer Mayito and those popular melodies with which our people have identified themselves for several decades.