Film history, theory or criticism Books
Columbia University Press Projecting Race
Book SynopsisProjecting Race presents a history of educational documentary filmmaking in the postwar era in light of race relations and the fight for civil rights.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Learning to Look: The Educational Documentary and Post-war Race Relations 1. Documenting from Below: Post-war Documentary, Race, and Everyday Life 2. The Sick Quiet That Follows Violence: Neorealism, Psychotherapy, and Collaboration 3. Charismatic Knowledge: Modernity and Southern African American Midwifery in All My Babies (1952) 4. Full of Fire: Historical Urgency and Utility in The Man in the Middle (1966) 5. Training Days: Liberal Advocacy and Self-Improvement in War on Poverty Films 6. The World Is Quiet Here: War on Poverty, Participatory Filmmaking and The Farmersville Project (1968) 7. An Urban Situation: The Hartford Project (1969) and the North American Challenge Conclusion: Still Burning: Pedagogy, Participation and Documentary Media Bibliography Index
£25.20
Columbia University Press Fast Forward
Book SynopsisInvestigates a full range of contemporary creative practices dedicated to the future of mediated storytelling and by connecting with a new generation of filmmakers, screenwriters, technologists, media artists, and designers to discover how they work now, and toward what end.Trade ReviewRecommended. CHOICETable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: The State of Things 1. Past, Present, Future: Situating Post-Cinema 2. New Practices / New Paradigms 3. Live Cinema 4. Urban Screens / Screened Urbanism 5. Books to Watch, Films to Read, Stories to Touch: New Interfaces for Storytelling 6. Virtual Reality and the Networked Self Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index
£70.40
Columbia University Press Fast Forward
Book SynopsisInvestigates a full range of contemporary creative practices dedicated to the future of mediated storytelling and by connecting with a new generation of filmmakers, screenwriters, technologists, media artists, and designers to discover how they work now, and toward what end.Trade ReviewRecommended. CHOICETable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: The State of Things 1. Past, Present, Future: Situating Post-Cinema 2. New Practices / New Paradigms 3. Live Cinema 4. Urban Screens / Screened Urbanism 5. Books to Watch, Films to Read, Stories to Touch: New Interfaces for Storytelling 6. Virtual Reality and the Networked Self Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index
£25.20
Columbia University Press The Cinema of Wes Anderson
Book SynopsisWes Anderson's films, such as Rushmore (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), are made in a style so distinctive that his films are often recognizable from a single frame. This book explores the filmic and literary influences that have helped make Anderson a major voice in twenty-first-century "indie" culture.Trade ReviewHere one finds many Andersons: Anderson the miniaturist, Anderson the skilled director of advertisements, and most impressive, Anderson the autodidactic dreamer. * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments1. Introduction: Wes Anderson as Auteur—a History2. Wes Anderson: His Position in American Cinema and Culture3. Gender, Youth, and the Explorartion of Masculinity in Bottle Rocket4. “Sic Transit Gloria”: Transgressing the Boundaries of Adolescence in Rushmore5. The Interplay of Narrative Text, Language, and Film: Literary Influence and Intertextuality in The Royal Tenenbaums6. Opposition and Resolution: The Dissonance of Celebrity in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou7. Fragmentary Narratives/Incomplete Identities in The Darjeeling Limited8. Adaptation and Homage: The World of Roald Dahl and Fantastic Mr. Fox9. Reconstitution of the “Family” and Construction of Normalized Gender in Moonrise Kingdom10. Literary Influence and Memory: Stefan Zweig and The Grand Budapest Hotel11. Wes Anderson’s Short Films and Commercial WorkConclusion: Memory and Narrative in the Works of Wes AndersonFilmographyBibliographyIndex
£70.40
Columbia University Press The Cinema of Wes Anderson
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgments1. Introduction: Wes Anderson as Auteur—a History2. Wes Anderson: His Position in American Cinema and Culture3. Gender, Youth, and the Explorartion of Masculinity in Bottle Rocket4. “Sic Transit Gloria”: Transgressing the Boundaries of Adolescence in Rushmore5. The Interplay of Narrative Text, Language, and Film: Literary Influence and Intertextuality in The Royal Tenenbaums6. Opposition and Resolution: The Dissonance of Celebrity in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou7. Fragmentary Narratives/Incomplete Identities in The Darjeeling Limited8. Adaptation and Homage: The World of Roald Dahl and Fantastic Mr. Fox9. Reconstitution of the “Family” and Construction of Normalized Gender in Moonrise Kingdom10. Literary Influence and Memory: Stefan Zweig and The Grand Budapest Hotel11. Wes Anderson’s Short Films and Commercial WorkConclusion: Memory and Narrative in the Works of Wes AndersonFilmographyBibliographyIndex
£22.50
Columbia University Press Prison Movies
Book SynopsisPrison Movies: Cinema Behind Bars traces the public fascination with incarceration from the silent era to the present.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: After the Crime is Over 1. Prison Films of Pre-Code Hollywood: Big Houses, Death Houses and Chain Gangs 2. Women's Prison Films of the 1950s and Early 1960s 3. Identity and Violence in Popular Prison Films from the 1960s to the 1990s Afterword: Post-9/11 Prison Movies and the Era of Mass Incarceration Bibliography Index
£52.70
Wallflower Press Prison Movies
Book SynopsisPrison Movies: Cinema Behind Bars traces the public fascination with incarceration from the silent era to the present.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: After the Crime is Over 1. Prison Films of Pre-Code Hollywood: Big Houses, Death Houses and Chain Gangs 2. Women's Prison Films of the 1950s and Early 1960s 3. Identity and Violence in Popular Prison Films from the 1960s to the 1990s Afterword: Post-9/11 Prison Movies and the Era of Mass Incarceration Bibliography Index
£17.09
Columbia University Press Silent Cinema
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA short introduction though this may be, in eschewing the common textbook structure of plotting a few disparate movements in film history, it manages to construct instead a nuanced and impressively cohesive picture of the diversity of silent cinemas and their cultures. * Frames *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction1. Going to the Pictures2. Germany: Beyond “Expressionism”3. Russia: “Of all the arts, the most important for us is the cinema”4. America: Continuity and Dominance5. Britain: Looking Two WaysConclusionBibliography Index
£52.70
Columbia University Press Mythopoetic Cinema On the Ruins of European
Book SynopsisMythopoetic Cinema explores how contemporary European filmmakers question the constant need to provide new identities, a new Europe, and with it a new European cinema after the fall of the Soviet Union. Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli analyzes how filmmakers question the ability of the moving image to challenge conventional ways of understanding history.Trade ReviewThis brilliant book follows European cinema into the depths of the European psyche, illuminating the mental map of Europe, rethinking the modern mythology of Europe, and exploring especially the significance of Eastern Europe for the cultural crisis of European identity that attended the conclusion of the Cold War and still traumatizes the continent in the early twenty-first century. -- Larry Wolff, Julius Silver Professor of History at New York University and author of Inventing Eastern Europe Borrowing a phrase she herself coined, one must acknowledge that Ravetto-Biagioli has written a 'vertiginous history' of the moving image. Just as she did in The Unmaking of Fascist Aesthetics, she guides us through unfamiliar perspectives, unrehearsed practices, audacious gestures, and remarkable works where cinema unthinks our certainties. An exquisite treat of great courage and clear-sightedness, Mythopoetic Cinema shows how Sokurov, Angelopoulos, Abramovic, and Godard challenge the imagined, institutional, and philosophical construction of Europe in the aftermath of extraordinary, enduring violence. Ravetto-Biagioli's readings are simply astonishing for their thoughtfulness and for the capacious vision and interpretative hospitality they offer. A vertiginous history, indeed. -- Gil Anidjar, Columbia University Drawing attention to central European cinema of the last three decades, Ravetto-Biagioli explores films that are without happy resolution-disquieting and perplexing productions in which ethics, aesthetics, and politics are tightly knit. Through refreshingly close analysis of works of four very different artists, she shows how the ideology of European 'identity,' a myth of selfhood and appurtenance to a nation or community, is questioned and becomes fractured and pulverized. Along the way the reader marvels at the care and detail Ravetto-Biagioli brings to the works she analyzes. Mythopoetic Cinema is a study that will endure. -- Tom Conley, Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor, Harvard UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Floating on the Borders of Europe: Aleksandr Sokurov's Russian Ark 2. O Megalexandros: Falling In and Out of Dreams 3. In Balkan: Marina Abramovic and the Politics of the Suffering Body 4. Notre Musique: On the Ruins of the Divine Epilogue: The Politics of Confrontation Notes Bibliography Index
£79.20
Columbia University Press Mythopoetic Cinema On the Ruins of European
Book SynopsisMythopoetic Cinema explores how contemporary European filmmakers question the constant need to provide new identities, a new Europe, and with it a new European cinema after the fall of the Soviet Union. Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli analyzes how filmmakers question the ability of the moving image to challenge conventional ways of understanding history.Trade ReviewThis brilliant book follows European cinema into the depths of the European psyche, illuminating the mental map of Europe, rethinking the modern mythology of Europe, and exploring especially the significance of Eastern Europe for the cultural crisis of European identity that attended the conclusion of the Cold War and still traumatizes the continent in the early twenty-first century. -- Larry Wolff, Julius Silver Professor of History at New York University and author of Inventing Eastern Europe Borrowing a phrase she herself coined, one must acknowledge that Ravetto-Biagioli has written a 'vertiginous history' of the moving image. Just as she did in The Unmaking of Fascist Aesthetics, she guides us through unfamiliar perspectives, unrehearsed practices, audacious gestures, and remarkable works where cinema unthinks our certainties. An exquisite treat of great courage and clear-sightedness, Mythopoetic Cinema shows how Sokurov, Angelopoulos, Abramovic, and Godard challenge the imagined, institutional, and philosophical construction of Europe in the aftermath of extraordinary, enduring violence. Ravetto-Biagioli's readings are simply astonishing for their thoughtfulness and for the capacious vision and interpretative hospitality they offer. A vertiginous history, indeed. -- Gil Anidjar, Columbia University Drawing attention to central European cinema of the last three decades, Ravetto-Biagioli explores films that are without happy resolution-disquieting and perplexing productions in which ethics, aesthetics, and politics are tightly knit. Through refreshingly close analysis of works of four very different artists, she shows how the ideology of European 'identity,' a myth of selfhood and appurtenance to a nation or community, is questioned and becomes fractured and pulverized. Along the way the reader marvels at the care and detail Ravetto-Biagioli brings to the works she analyzes. Mythopoetic Cinema is a study that will endure. -- Tom Conley, Abbott Lawrence Lowell Professor, Harvard UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Floating on the Borders of Europe: Aleksandr Sokurov's Russian Ark 2. O Megalexandros: Falling In and Out of Dreams 3. In Balkan: Marina Abramovic and the Politics of the Suffering Body 4. Notre Musique: On the Ruins of the Divine Epilogue: The Politics of Confrontation Notes Bibliography Index
£25.20
Columbia University Press Cinematic Overtures
Book SynopsisA great movie’s first few minutes provide the key to the rest of the film. In Cinematic Overtures, Annette Insdorf discusses the opening sequence, inviting viewers to turn first impressions into deeper understanding of cinematic technique. She offers a series of revelatory readings of individual films by some of cinema’s leading directors.Trade ReviewCinematic Overtures is about openings; it serves as an opening to a much wider field of films. It is, therefore, a kind of overture itself. It's surprising that nobody has thought to do this before, and it leads to a fascinating subject ripe for in-depth discussion. This book's strengths lie in the erudition Annette Insdorf brings to the subject, her extensive experience of writing about and teaching film, and the precision of her formal analysis. -- Ed Sikov, author of Film Studies: An IntroductionTable of ContentsPreface1. The Crafted Frame (Saul Bass, Talk to Her, Knife in the Water, Camouflage)2. The Opening Translated from Literature (The Conformist, The Tin Drum, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, All the President’s Men, Cabaret)3. Narrative Within the Frame: Mise-en-Scene and the Long Take (Touch of Evil, The Player, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, The Piano, Bright Star, In Darkness)4. Narrative Between the Frames: Montage (Z; Hiroshima, mon amour; Seven Beauties; Schindler’s List; Three Colors: Red; The Shipping News; Shine)5. Singular Point of View (The Graduate, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Come and See, Lebanon, Good Kill)6. The Collective Protagonist (La Ciudad, 3 Backyards, Little Miss Sunshine, Le Bal, Day for Night, A Separation, Where Do We Go Now?)7. Misdirection/Visual Narration (The Hourglass Sanatorium, Before the Rain, Ajami, Under Fire, The Conversation, Rising Sun, Psycho, The Truman Show)8. Voice-Over Narration/Flashback (Sunset Boulevard, American Beauty, Fight Club, Badlands)NotesIndexColor Plates
£16.19
Columbia University Press The Holy Mountain
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: ‘But is this life reality? No. It’s a film.’ The Holy Mountain and Me1. Enlightenment for Sale: Production, Promotion, Initial Reception2. The Secret of Immortality: Afterlife3. Sacred Excrement: Reading The Holy Mountain4. ‘Real life awaits us!’: Placing The Holy MountainNotesBibliographyIndex
£12.34
Columbia University Press Film and the Natural Environment
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIn this original and lucidly written study, Adam O’Brien shows us how to think environmentally about film theory, history and criticism. The book takes in a wide range of films, both geographically and historically, through insightful close readings of often overlooked formal and aesthetic features. It explores the ways in which narrative and character are shaped by, and interact with, the environment in which a film is located, as well as the specific use of landscape and setting in genres such as film noir and in a variety of national cinemas, including Japan. By viewing fictional films as embedded in the natural environment, this is a fresh and innovative contribution to film studies. -- David Ingram, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at Brunel University, UK, and author of Green Screen: Environmentalism and Hollywood Cinema (2004)Adam O’Brien’s Film and the Natural Environment is an essential contribution to the burgeoning field of ecomedia studies. It provides an accessible and comprehensive exploration of films that address environmental concerns from around the world. The focus on global film culture and on films that would not immediately be recognised as ‘environmental’ is a particular strength of this book. The fact that the book so fluently synergises theory with case study examples makes it essential reading for anyone interested in the field. -- Pietari Kääpä, University of WarwickO’Brien eloquently considers a wide range of films and critical practices. * Critical Inquiry *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Film Studies and the Natural Environment2. Film Narrative and the Natural Environment3. Film Genre and the Natural Environment4. National Cinemas and the Natural EnvironmentConclusionFilmographyBibliographyIndex
£17.09
Columbia University Press PostFordist Cinema Hollywood Auteurs and the
Book SynopsisJeff Menne rewrites the history of the New Hollywood boom of the late 1960s and 1970s, arguing that auteur theory served to reconcile directors to Hollywood’s corporate project. Post-Fordist Cinema sheds new light on the cultural myth of the great director and the birth of the “creative economy.”Trade ReviewMenne links the development of the auteur theory in the U.S. and its enactment in the filmmaking practices of the New Hollywood to the rise of the “management revolution” of the postwar period. In Menne’s telling, New Hollywood auteurs—and their small production companies—at once instantiate the practices of this management revolution while also offering allegories for it in the films they make. This salient and persuasive book connects these arguments to case studies of small production companies, demonstrating how these entities enabled new forms of creative labor that were nonetheless compatible with the larger corporations that took over the studios at this time. -- Derek Nystrom, author of Hard Hats, Rednecks, and Macho Men: Class in 1970s American CinemaMenne has produced a masterful study in which close readings of key films of the post-studio era are informed by an understanding of large-scale socioeconomic trends and evolving institutional arrangements. Deeply researched and carefully argued, Post-Fordist Cinema represents a new and promising direction for the field. -- Virginia Wright Wexman, author of Creating the Couple: Love, Marriage, and Hollywood PerformancePost-Fordist Cinema rewrites the standard narrative of New Hollywood. Joining the dots between auteurism, corporate management theory, and the counterculture, Menne shows how innovative small firms played a pivotal role in the emergence of New Hollywood and the rise of the “cultural economy.” Packed with bravura close readings and rigorous industrial history, this is an outstanding contribution to the scholarship on 1960s and 1970s cinema. -- Lawrence Webb, author of The Cinema of Urban Crisis: Seventies Film and the Reinvention of the CityJeff Menne has made a crucial contribution to our understanding of postclassical Hollywood. Examining the films and filmmaking of small “outsider” firms run by a range of savvy industry players – from star Kirk Douglas to producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown to renegade director Robert Altman – Post-Fordist Cinema gauges the economic logic, innovative aesthetics and revisionist auteurism of the nascent New Hollywood. -- Thomas Schatz, author of The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio EraMenne’s book offers not only a history of the "new Hollywood” of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but also a deft examination of what was lost and what was gained as filmmaking dealt with television and the loss of a theater audience. * Choice *Menne provokes a reassessment of New Hollywood, a golden age of the directorin American cinema, as non-auteur driven. Such revision does not necessarily dilutethe achievements of the filmmakers who reinvigorated Hollywood but encourage usto appreciate them for resisting deification as auteurs in order to increase the artisticcontributions from the bottom-up in their productions during this period. * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television *With its bold rethinking of New Hollywood, Menne’s book is undeniably appealing to film scholars. It should also appeal to readers seeking to understand how creative works encode abstract processes of capitalist development. * Film Quarterly *Impeccably researched, Menne’s monograph brings fresh clarity to New Hollywood’s industrial machinations . . . [Post-Fordist Cinema] refreshes the domain of auteur theory in ways both insightful and original. * This Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Business of Auteur Theory1: Post (Henry and John) Fordism: Kirk Douglas and Guerilla Economy2. The Cinema of Defection: The Corporate Counterculture and Robert Altman’s Lion’s Gate3. Television Totalities: Zanuck-Brown and the Privately-Held Company4. The Ethos of Incorporation: BBS and the Law of Unnatural PersonsAfterword: Auteurs, Amateurs, AnimatorsNotesIndex
£79.20
Columbia University Press PostFordist Cinema
Book SynopsisJeff Menne rewrites the history of the New Hollywood boom of the late 196s and 197s, arguing that auteur theory served to reconcile directors to Hollywood’s corporate project. Post-Fordist Cinema sheds new light on the cultural myth of the great director and the birth of the “creative economy.”Trade ReviewMenne links the development of the auteur theory in the U.S. and its enactment in the filmmaking practices of the New Hollywood to the rise of the “management revolution” of the postwar period. In Menne’s telling, New Hollywood auteurs—and their small production companies—at once instantiate the practices of this management revolution while also offering allegories for it in the films they make. This salient and persuasive book connects these arguments to case studies of small production companies, demonstrating how these entities enabled new forms of creative labor that were nonetheless compatible with the larger corporations that took over the studios at this time. -- Derek Nystrom, author of Hard Hats, Rednecks, and Macho Men: Class in 1970s American CinemaMenne has produced a masterful study in which close readings of key films of the post-studio era are informed by an understanding of large-scale socioeconomic trends and evolving institutional arrangements. Deeply researched and carefully argued, Post-Fordist Cinema represents a new and promising direction for the field. -- Virginia Wright Wexman, author of Creating the Couple: Love, Marriage, and Hollywood PerformancePost-Fordist Cinema rewrites the standard narrative of New Hollywood. Joining the dots between auteurism, corporate management theory, and the counterculture, Menne shows how innovative small firms played a pivotal role in the emergence of New Hollywood and the rise of the “cultural economy.” Packed with bravura close readings and rigorous industrial history, this is an outstanding contribution to the scholarship on 1960s and 1970s cinema. -- Lawrence Webb, author of The Cinema of Urban Crisis: Seventies Film and the Reinvention of the CityJeff Menne has made a crucial contribution to our understanding of postclassical Hollywood. Examining the films and filmmaking of small “outsider” firms run by a range of savvy industry players – from star Kirk Douglas to producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown to renegade director Robert Altman – Post-Fordist Cinema gauges the economic logic, innovative aesthetics and revisionist auteurism of the nascent New Hollywood. -- Thomas Schatz, author of The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio EraMenne’s book offers not only a history of the "new Hollywood” of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but also a deft examination of what was lost and what was gained as filmmaking dealt with television and the loss of a theater audience. * Choice *Menne provokes a reassessment of New Hollywood, a golden age of the directorin American cinema, as non-auteur driven. Such revision does not necessarily dilutethe achievements of the filmmakers who reinvigorated Hollywood but encourage usto appreciate them for resisting deification as auteurs in order to increase the artisticcontributions from the bottom-up in their productions during this period. * Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television *With its bold rethinking of New Hollywood, Menne’s book is undeniably appealing to film scholars. It should also appeal to readers seeking to understand how creative works encode abstract processes of capitalist development. * Film Quarterly *Impeccably researched, Menne’s monograph brings fresh clarity to New Hollywood’s industrial machinations . . . [Post-Fordist Cinema] refreshes the domain of auteur theory in ways both insightful and original. * This Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Business of Auteur Theory1: Post (Henry and John) Fordism: Kirk Douglas and Guerilla Economy2. The Cinema of Defection: The Corporate Counterculture and Robert Altman’s Lion’s Gate3. Television Totalities: Zanuck-Brown and the Privately-Held Company4. The Ethos of Incorporation: BBS and the Law of Unnatural PersonsAfterword: Auteurs, Amateurs, AnimatorsNotesIndex
£25.20
Columbia University Press CinemaPoliticsPhilosophy
Book SynopsisNico Baumbach revisits the much-maligned tradition of seventies film theory to reconsider: What does it mean to call cinema political? He explores how cinema can condition philosophy through its own means, challenging received ideas about what is seeable, sayable, and doable.Trade ReviewThis is a good book for cinephiles, particularly those of a more intellectual bent. -- Ryne Clos * Spectrum Culture *Baumbach’s text will undoubtedly serve as a crucial launch pad of thinking on cinema. -- Daniel Fairfax * Senses of Cinema *In this lucid and insightful book, Nico Baumbach offers a much-needed critical account of new European philosophies of the image. Pairing Rancière with Althusser, Badiou with Deleuze, and Agamben with Benjamin, Baumbach demonstrates convincingly how these influential philosophers remap the relation of philosophy to film in ways continuous with the recent history of film theory, while in turn offering his own powerful perspective on the relation between aesthetics and politics. -- D. N. Rodowick, Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor, University of ChicagoIn this nuanced book, Nico Baumbach digs into contemporary European philosophy and its intersection with cinema, art, and aesthetics. Focusing on the trio of Rancière, Badiou, and Agamben, Baumbach makes a compelling case that such theorists, having already influenced discussions in literature and philosophy, also offer a new path for the future of cinema and media studies. Ultimately the question is not so much how film represents the world, or the material reality of affect or sensation, but how cinema itself is directly philosophical and political. -- Alexander R. Galloway, Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York UniversityFilm theory of the 1970s is not dead. True, we understand now that ideology critique and détournement are not the sole tools available to the political theorist or maker. In Cinema/Politics/Philosophy, Nico Baumbach shows that Rancière, Deleuze, Badiou, and Agamben—frequently set in opposition to their predecessors—in fact continue their work, while also illuminating exit signs from its various culs-de-sac. More urgently, Baumbach reveals the massive consequences when cinema is reduced to data, whether by celebrants of so-called “grand theory” or by its detractors. Cinema is not simply political or apolitical, a set of good or bad objects; it is itself a form of politics and a mode of thought. Provocative and timely, Cinema/Politics/Philosophy suggests that film’s political capacities are not opposed to, but rather inextricable from its capacity for thought and art. -- Homay King, Professor and Eugenia Chase Guild Chair in the Humanities, Bryn Mawr CollegeOnce again, philosophy knocks at cinema’s door and raises unsettling questions. Through an ideal conversation with Badiou, Rancière, and Agamben, Nico Baumbach retraces and relaunches a crucial debate. -- Francesco Casetti, Yale UniversityA compelling and innovative argument for thinking through the connection between the three topics listed in its title...The book therefore deserves a reception beyond the discipline of film studies and will be of interest to film scholars and philosophers alike. * Film Philosophy *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Politics of Film Theory and Its Discontents1. Cinematic Equality: Rancière and Film Theory After Althusser2. Cinema’s Thought: Badiou and the Philosophy of Cinema After Deleuze3. Cinema as Emergency Brake: Agamben and the Philosophy of Media After Benjamin4. Rethinking the Politics of the Philosophy of CinemaAcknowledgmentsNotes BibliographyIndex
£79.80
Columbia University Press The Cinema of Tom DiCillo
Book SynopsisThis volume considers this acclaimed director's entire oeuvre, analyzing themes such as identity, family, and masculinity as well as DiCillo's distinctive and influential film style. Detailed chapters on each of DiCillo's films offer a candid look at both the American independent film industry and the Hollywood studio system.Trade ReviewA candid and behind-the-scenes look at DiCillo's Hollywood, independent, fictional, and documentary filmmaking...essential reading for anyone who is interested in the intricacies of on-location film production, film festivals, distribution practices, acting, and performance. -- Sarah Sitwell, University of UtahThe book now functions not only as a portrait of a life in the pictures, but as a frank examination of several periods of American cinema and the attendant complexities of its industry. * The Irish Times *This volume by Irish author and Film Studies lecturer / education consultant Wayne Byrne is an extremely well-written, intelligent, enthralling addition to the Directors’ Cuts series published by Wallflower Press and a must-read for any cineaste or film student... Byrne’s book is an interesting in-depth look at all of DiCillo’s eight independent films (seven of which premiered at Sundance) the agony and the ecstasy of birthing them, as well as an honest, insider’s view into the independent film industry and the machinations of the Hollywood system. -- Christine Bode * Scully Love Promo *Funny, moving, entertaining and insightful, Include Me Out is a truly riveting account of one man's incredible dedication to his art. -- Paul Nolan * Hot Press *[The Cinema of Tom DiCillo] is informal and informative. It is dense, factual and rich in primary sourced research, as befits a scholarly milieu, yet it is written in such a style as to be accessible to anybody with an interest in film culture or film history. Those with ambitions to direct their own films should find it an especially illuminating read. * Books Ireland Magazine *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsForewordIntroduction1. The Language of Dream: Deciphering DiCillo2. Johnny Suede (1991)3. Living in Oblivion (1995)4. Box of Moonlight (1996)5. The Real Blonde (1997)6. Double Whammy (2001)7. Delirious (2006)8. When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors (2009)9. Down in Shadowland (2014)NotesFilmographyBibliographyIndex
£70.40
Columbia University Press Avengers Assemble
Book SynopsisAvengers Assemble! explores the cinematic and televisual branches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from a diverse range of critical perspectives. Beginning with Iron Man, the book considers them both as embodiments of the changing blockbuster film and as affective cultural artifacts that are immersed in the turbulent political climate of their era.Trade ReviewThe book engages with superhero films on a very deep level, making it not only informative but an extremely pleasurable read as well. -- Devapriya Sanyal Hindu College, University of Delhi * Journal of Popular Culture *A magnificent book. As insightful and comprehensive as it is engaging and timely, this full-length examination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a rewarding read for passionate superhero fans as well as researchers in the fields of film studies, political science, and cultural studies. -- Marc DiPaolo, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, author of War, Politics, and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and FilmThis is a timely and entertaining volume that will prove very useful in the development of genre courses in the next few years as the superhero genre finds its place in taught modules across film and media programmes. The work is scholarly and well referenced in ways that open it to further reading and research, but accessible to undergraduate readers. The author takes an epistemically specific approach that is not inappropriate given the avowed focus on the MCU specifically, rather than the superhero genre on the whole or its historical roots. As such, the range of contemporary readings on terrorism, conflict, and the power structures of the twenty first century (mainly American) is again both timely and informative. Intellectually, the breaking of the MCU into its industrially determined ‘phases’ again focuses the chronology but also opens new arenas of interrogation. The ‘phase two’ section demonstrates the degree to which the frames of reference change between 2008 and 2013, freeing the franchise (and scholarly debate) from some of the immediate trauma narrative tropes of the first phase, and allowing the discussion to delve into some of the more liminal spaces of the MCU, such as in Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy on gender and fantasy. The final section on the recent television incarnations of the franchise is useful without delving too deeply into the political economy of transmedia in the Netflix age (which is another topic entirely) -- Harvey O'Brien, University College. DublinTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsPrologue: The Heroes We Need Right Now?: Explaining ‘The Age of the Superhero’Introduction: Superheroes in the New Millennium and ‘The Example of America’PHASE ONE1. ‘That’s how Dad did it, that’s how America does it … and it’s worked out pretty well so far’: The Stark Doctrine in Iron Man and Iron Man 22. Allegorical Narratives of Gods and Monsters: Thor and The Incredible Hulk3. State Fantasy and the Superhero: (Mis)Remembering World War II in Captain America: The First Avenger4. ‘Seeing … still working on believing!’: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Destruction in The AvengersPHASE TWO5. ‘Nothing’s been the same since New York’: Ideological Continuity and Change in Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World6. ‘The world has changed and none of us can go back’: The Illusory Moral Ambiguities of the Post-9/11 Superhero in Captain America: The Winter Soldier7. Blurring the Boundaries of Genre and Gender in Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man8. ‘Isn’t that why we fight? So we can end the fight and go home?’: The Enduring American Monomyth in Avengers: Age of UltronTHE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE ON TELEVISION9. ‘What does S.H.I.E.L.D. stand for?’: The MCU on the Small Screen in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Marvel’s Agent Carter10. The Necessary Vigilantism of the Defenders: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron FistConclusion: ‘Whose side are you on?’: Superheroes Through the Prism of the ‘War on Terror’ in Captain America: Civil WarEpilogue: The Superhero as Transnational IconFilmographyBibliographyIndex
£70.40
Columbia University Press How Did Lubitsch Do It
Book SynopsisJoseph McBride analyzes Ernst Lubitsch’s films in rich detail in the first in-depth critical study to consider the full scope of his work in both his native and adopted lands. McBride explains the “Lubitsch Touch,” shows how the director challenged American attitudes toward romance and sex, and offers revealing insights into his working methods.Trade Review[This] excellent, authoritative book . . . is chockful of cultivated insights. -- Phillip Lopate * New York Review of Books *Named the best silent film book of 2019. * Silent London *McBride delivers his best book yet . . . A nuanced, thorough look at an important artist and his art. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *In How Did Lubitsch Do It? Joseph McBride has written a love letter to a filmmaker . . . McBride’s detailed appreciations could serve, ideally, as a viewer’s companion to the many layers of Lubitsch’s art. -- Geoffrey O'Brien * Wall Street Journal *Film historian Joseph McBride's tome How Did Lubitsch Do It? makes a comprehensive and enthusiastic . . . case for [Lubitsch]'s importance. * New York Times Book Review *Though some early Lubitsch films are lost, McBride rescues the director's neglected and underrated reputation, securing his legacy with critical insights and sound scholarship in one of the few full-length appreciations of the artist. Highly recommended. * Library Journal *[McBride] reacquaints readers with the director’s genius. . . . Will be a great companion for those interested in underexplored comedies in film history. * Washington Post *There is no better time than now for a comprehensive study of Lubitsch like McBride’s. . . McBride does much-needed work in showing how Lubitsch was one of the consummate artists America was ever lucky enough to claim as her own. * San Francisco Chronicle *How Did Lubitsch Do It? is one of the most indispensable film books I’ve ever read, not only a rigorously researched and considered biography and an illuminating analysis of Lubitsch’s technique but a broader study of how culture affects filmmaking and vice versa. * Filmmaker Magazine *Revered film historian Joseph McBride's new book, How Did Lubitsch Do It?, explores this master of modern comedy in scintillating detail. * LA Weekly *A compelling case for Lubitsch as an unequaled master of elegant, sophisticated entertainments marked by sly innuendo and adult sensibilities that have stood the test of time. * DGA Quarterly *Critical study. * Weekly Standard *A critical study. * Wellesnet *A critical study. * Mass Live *Nine well-informed chapters written in McBride's familiar, accessible style. -- Matthew Sorrento * Film International *[A] fine book. * The Sydney Morning Herald *A book well worth recommending. It is enjoyable, provocative and thorough. * World Socialist Web Site *In this delightfully informative book McBride is unabashedly nostalgic for the urbane art of concealing art that Lubitsch mastered in The Shop around the Corner and in so many of his other films. -- David Weir * Athenaeum Review *How Did Lubitsch Do It? is a critical [and] masterful study. -- Michel Ciment * Positif *Joseph McBride’s study of Lubitsch matches the breadth and range of his incomparable work on Welles and Ford. Reading it, it is impossible not to want to see each of the director’s greatest films again or for the first time – readers will be driven straight to seek out not only the repertory standards but the silents, the musicals, and the German films. It is especially gratifying to see McBride apply his supple understanding of the intricacies of Lubitsch’s sexual politics to the paradoxes lurking for contemporary viewers, exploring how the films play both against and into feminist readings. McBride doesn’t shy from such explorations, but never leaps to premature conclusions. The book is an act of devotion matched to the heart of its subject. -- Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless BrooklynMcBride subtly and concretely describes the change in cinematic tastes over the course of a century. We who love cinema and Lubitsch should be grateful to have such a book in our lifetime, and it will be the definitive work for years to come. -- Molly Haskell, author of From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the MoviesErnst Lubitsch’s work has never needed reappraisal more than it does today, and McBride is just the writer for the job. As usual, he mobilizes formidable research and passionate sympathy to probe a great director’s many sides. We see Lubitsch the ethnic comedian, the exile, the romantic, the sardonic satirist, the sly provocateur, the moralist, the supremely confident master of technique. Above all, we see an artist who poured into film after film his keen sensitivity to the vagaries of love and his tolerant wisdom about the ways of the world. -- David Bordwell, University of Wisconsin-MadisonIt’s a wonderful book on a wonderful picturemaker! The work and detail and time put into it — just extraordinary. Superb! A great service to the public, bringing this unique and brilliant director back to the public's attention. This splendid work does real justice to its subject. -- Peter BogdanovichAlthough Ernst Lubitsch is one of the wittiest, most entertaining, and sexiest of filmmakers, he’s difficult to write about because wit and humor are more resistant to analysis than drama. McBride succeeds admirably in this task, providing a comprehensive, in-depth critical analysis and commentary on the cultural significance of Lubitsch’s work. His book is a joy to read and a gift to anyone who cares about the art of film. -- James Naremore, Indiana UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction: “How Did Lubitsch Do It?”1. “Herr Ernst Lubitsch”2. “Who Is Ernst Lubitsch?”3. The “Berlin Style” in Hollywood4. Tin Cans in a Warehouse?5. “Give Me a Moment, Please”6. “In Times Like These . . .”7. Master of the Ineffable8. The Aging Master9. The Door ClosesEpilogue: The Importance of Being ErnstAcknowledgments and InfluencesFilmographyNotes on SourcesIndex
£69.26
Columbia University Press Duchamp Is My Lawyer The Polemics Pragmatics and
Book SynopsisIn 1996, Kenneth Goldsmith created UbuWeb to post hard-to-find works of concrete poetry. It grew into an essential archive of twentieth- and twenty-first-century avant-garde and experimental literature, film, and music. In Duchamp Is My Lawyer, Goldsmith tells the history of UbuWeb, explaining the motivations behind its creation.Trade ReviewNamed a Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020 * PopMatters *UbuWeb is one of the great avant-garde projects of our times. In Duchamp Is My Lawyer, Goldsmith takes us through the aesthetic, legal, economic, and social aspects of the whole project. Through it, we see how the avant-garde had to shift gears to move from the era of analog media to that of digital, or database media. It is an essential document on the theory and practice of experimental media art. -- McKenzie Wark, author of A Hacker ManifestoKenneth Goldsmith’s Duchamp Is My Lawyer details the story of UbuWeb, a free-source library for visual, audio and written art. He cites many extraordinary items – from masterpieces to flukes, oddities and trifles – that will send us rushing to the site to see, but the discussion is equally about the weighty issues of freedom vs ownership of culture. Goldsmith takes a stand – with Duchamp grinning wryly over his shoulder – for availability, access and the accumulation of knowledge. He’s holding the cultural back door open and letting in all the outcasts, misfits and oddballs that would never get past the velvet ropes up front. -- Lee Ranaldo, Sonic YouthDuchamp Is My Lawyer reads like an upbeat mediactivist manifesto—providing all at once an alternative political economy of open access, a humorous introduction to legal poetics, a joyful survey of artistic resistance, and an empowering toolbox to keep the web as free as we care for it to be. -- Yves Citton, author of MediarchyIn 1996, Kenneth Goldsmith sat down at his computer and initiated a website he appropriately called UbuWeb—a site soon consisting of “thousands of freely downloadable avant-garde artifacts,” and unlike any of its peers in being entirely free and open to all: no sponsors, no fees, no memberships or passwords required. Over the decades, it has become clear that UbuWeb, although an unmatchable scholarly resource, is itself the avant-garde artwork we have been waiting for—a giant collage of appropriated materials, chosen, juxtaposed, and framed so as to constitute perhaps the best single available history of its subject, and one entirely created by a single author—Goldsmith himself. The artist’s lively, entertaining, and revelatory account of how this uniquely democratic site was created and maintained, how he resolved vexing copyright issues, and how UBU has helped us reconsider movements from Concrete Poetry to the feminist punk of Angry Women—is nothing short of inspiring. This should be required reading for all those who wonder whether it still possible, in 2020, to speak of the avant-garde. -- Marjorie Perloff, author of Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by Other Means in the New CenturyUbuWeb is an anomaly of the internets. The irony is that it completely functions the way we envisioned the everything would, in the beginning of internets history. Kenneth Goldsmith kept UbuWeb true to the core values of the network: humanity, collectiveness, and borderless openness. In a world where data is synonymous with control and value is synonymous with price, UbuWeb functions as an oasis. -- Peter Sunde, founder of The Pirate BayWith an unshakable belief that art belongs more in the public sphere than behind closed walls, physical or digital, Kenneth Goldsmith originated the first open source platform for those who revere culture. This invigorating and timely book surveys why brilliant ideas, images, and sounds are important to both preserve and proliferate as freely as ever. -- Naomi Beckwith, senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, ChicagoDuchamp Is My Lawyer is the in-depth secret history of one of Goldsmith's most expansive and long running projects—the renegade website UbuWeb. At once manifesto, memoir, treatise, exposition, critique, and gossip column, it presents an essential history of renegade underground creative activity in the past 100 or so years. Brilliantly structured and filled with wit, wisdom, and Goldsmith's provocations, it is also an inspiring and hilarious read. -- John Zorn, composer and performerOne of the smartest manifestos on art and internet politics that I've seen. * The Wire *This book, although written in the first person singular, is an example of collective enunciation, the 'I' of Kenneth Goldsmith being a cooperative person representing all those eager to rely on the creative and communicative possibilities of the net to build a collaborative framework that does not dissolve but offers new promises to all individuals as well. In that sense, Duchamp Is My Lawyer perfectly qualifies as what Deleuze and Guattari call 'minor literature,' . . .the noncanonical use of a 'major' system to serve the needs and expectations of those at the margins. * Leonardo Reviews *A remarkably fluid and engaging read. . . When I finished Duchamp Is My Lawyer, I had the pleasure of sitting in natural silence for a brief while, pondering how much I had learnt, how entertainingly the book had conveyed its message of openness, what a gift it is to have such a light touch. * PopMatters *Duchamp is My Lawyer is an approachable and even-handed discussion of UbuWeb and issues regarding copyright in the digital age. It also provides an insight into the evolution of the counter culture in the internet age and the practical, legal and financial issues of producing and consuming art today. Well worth seeking out. * Alexander Adams Art *This is a book for lovers of art’s revolutionary import and those interested in the interface between art and the law. Recommended. * Choice *UbuWeb is portrayed as a small utopia in the middle of the commercial Internet, built on the principles of freedom, equality and cultural progress, but also subversiveness . . . between the lines, [Goldsmith] persuades us to create other such utopian places online, to try to transform the Internet and reclaim its vision of the future. * 3/4 Magazine *Duchamp Is My Lawyer displays Goldsmith fulfilling an ethics of caring about others who care about conserving odd things. Caring is at the heart of this tender homage to eccentric collectors who have put themselves at legal risk to share their obsessions. * William Carlos Williams Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Back DoorPart I: PolemicsPart II: Pragmatics 1. Folk Law2. From Panorama to Postage Stamp: Avant-Garde Cinema and the Internet3. The Work of Video Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction4. Shadow Libraries and Preserving the Memory of the WorldPart III: Poetics5. Dirty Concrete6. From Ursonate to Re-Sonate7. People Like Us8. Aspen: A “Multimedia Magazine in a Box”9. Street Poets and Visionaries10. An Anthology of AnthologiesCoda: The Ghost in the AlgorithmAppendix: 101 Things on UbuWeb That You Don’t Know About but Should NotesAcknowledgmentsIndex
£72.00
Columbia University Press The Disappearing Christ
Book SynopsisPhillip Maciak examines filmic depictions of Jesus to argue that cinema developed as a model technology of secularism, training viewers for belief in a secular age. Cinematic depictions of an appearing and disappearing Christ became a powerful vehicle for Americans to navigate a rapidly modernizing society.Trade ReviewClearly written and carefully argued, The Disappearing Christ offers an insightful reading of secularism—and rightly of both religion and race—in American film and visual culture. In doing so, Maciak opens up exciting new space in the study of the secular. -- Josef Sorett, author of Spirit in the Dark: A Religious History of Racial AestheticsIn developing the idea of an aesthetics of “spectacular realism,” Phillip Maciak offers an indispensable account of early cinema’s imbrication with secularization in the United States. With keen attention to matters of form and sensitivity to historical discourses of faith, spectatorship, and modernity, The Disappearing Christ changes our understanding of film history and theory by excavating the forgotten yet crucial dynamic of religion and secularism so central to early cinema and its world. -- Allyson Nadia Field, author of Uplift Cinema: The Emergence of African American Film and the Possibility of Black ModernityWith great agility and persuasive writerly verve, Maciak brings the conceptual idioms of postsecular critique to bear on the aesthetics of early cinema. In its attention to cinematic form, to aesthetic and intellectual history, and to the shifting terrains of religiosity, The Disappearing Christ is a fine achievement. -- Peter Coviello, author of Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons and the Unfinished Business of American SecularismThe Disappearing Christ retells the story of secularization, firmly placing visual media within that narrative. Maciak alters the ongoing conversation on secularization for the present day. -- S. Brent Plate, author of Religion and Film: Cinema and the Re-Creation of the WorldMaciak expertly argues for modernity making miracles rational. . . Recommended. * Choice *I recommend The Disappearing Christ. * Journal of Religion and Film *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Disappearing Christ and Other Stories1. A Rare and Wonderful Sight: Ben-Hur’s Historicism2. Looking Sideways: Media Theories of Jesus Christ3. Tricks and Actualities: The Passion Play Film and the Cinema of Attractions4. The Double Life of Superimposition: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Black Christ CycleCoda: Resurrectionists: Toward a Post-Cinematic PostsecularNotesBibliographyIndex
£79.20
Columbia University Press The Cinema of Paolo Sorrentino
Book SynopsisPaolo Sorrentino has emerged as one of the most compelling figures in twenty-first-century European film. This book is a critical examination of Sorrentino’s work, focusing on his emergence as a preeminent transnational auteur.Trade Review...Kilbourn’s monograph will form a solid foundation for what will likely be an outpouring of English-language writing on the director as he continues to produce works for a global audience. -- Allison Cooper, Bowdoin College * Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies *I highly recommend this book. It is a treasure trove of material and insight: assiduously researched, built upon minute observation, and grounded in important issues around Sorrentino and contemporary transnational cinema and media. It will be a touchstone for Sorrentino studies, setting a very high bar for its successors -- Frank Burke, Queen’s University * Italian Studies *With each new film, the need for a book capable of bridging the local and global and of accounting for the problematic aspects of Sorrentino’s aesthetic has become ever more pressing. That need has now been met. Film by film, Kilbourn maps and explains Sorrentino’s evolving aesthetic with great dexterity, clarity, and intellectual rigor, making a strong case for Sorrentino’s status as one of the most important cinematic artists of our age. This book is invaluable for newcomers and specialists alike and will undoubtedly become an essential touchstone for all future studies of the director. -- Alex Marlow-Mann, University of KentThis elegantly written book is the first extensive study in English of Italy’s leading contemporary director. It places Sorrentino more firmly on the Anglophone film-critical map, and offers an insightful reading of each of his films. Kilbourn is also incisive on the politics of the auteur that have elevated Sorrentino internationally and on his films’ sometimes problematic gender politics. As such, this book is a welcome and thorough examination of Sorrentino as an intermedial and transnational auteur, and will be required reading for all those interested in contemporary Italian cinema. -- Catherine O'Rawe, author of Stars and Masculinities in Contemporary Italian CinemaThe Cinema of Paolo Sorrentino will be a touchstone for future work on the director. Nothing of the sort exists that engages with Sorrentino’s entire oeuvre. Kilbourn writes in a lively, clear, and engaging tone, translating concepts from a wide array of fields in a very accessible fashion. The astute and highly original analyses of Sorrentino's films will make important contributions to film genre studies, discourses around auteurism, and the stakes of transnational cinema. -- Dana Renga, author of Mafia Movies: A ReaderRichly researched and ultimately rewarding book. * Studies in European Cinema *Newcomers to Sorrentino who seek a guided entry into his works as well as experts who want to prod deeper will find a valuable and enriching experience with this text. * University of Toronto Quarterly *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Commitment to Style1. One Man Up (L’uomo in piú): The Consequences of Coincidence2. The Consequences of Love (Le conseguenze dell’amore): This Must Be the (Non-) Place3. The Family Friend (L’amico di famiglia): “Ridiculous Men and Beautiful Women”4. “What Will They Remember About You?” Il Divo and the Possibility of a Twenty-First-Century Political Film5. This Must Be the Place: From the Ridiculous to the Unspeakable (A Holocaust Road Movie)6. The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza): Reflective Nostalgia and the Ironic Elegiac7. Youth (La giovinezza): Between Horror and Desire (Life’s Last Day)8. Ceci n’est pas un pape: Postsecular Melodrama in The Young PopeCoda: Toward a Post-Political Film: Loro and the Mediatic ElegiacConclusion: Style as CommitmentNotesBibliographyIndex
£60.00
Columbia University Press The Contemporary Superhero Film Projections of
Book SynopsisTerence McSweeney provides a concise and up-to-date overview of the superhero genre. He lays out its narrative codes and conventions, exploring why it appeals to diverse audiences and what it has to say about the world in the first two decades of the twenty-first century.Trade ReviewWith the emphasis on the global impact of comic book crusaders on screen, McSweeney offers a powerful take on the cultural and categorical stakes involved in superhero cinema that will appeal to comics fans and scholars alike. -- Blair Davis, author of Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to Page and Comic Book MoviesTerence McSweeney has written an excellent introduction to superhero cinema and the surrounding scholarship in the field. The Contemporary Superhero Film does exactly what I’d expect in a student-friendly overview of the superhero genre. -- Iain Smith, author of The Hollywood Meme: Transnational Adaptations in World CinemaTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Cultural Phenomenon or Cultural Catastrophe?1 The Codes and Conventions of the Contemporary Superhero Film2 The Mythologies of the Contemporary Superhero Film3 Gender and Sexuality in the Contemporary Superhero Film4 Ethnicity in the Contemporary Superhero Film5 The Global Contemporary Superhero FilmConclusion: “Is it me or is it getting crazier out there?”The Future of the Contemporary Superhero Film and the Genre’s “Impossible Solutions for Insoluble Problems”FilmographyNotesBibliographyIndex
£16.19
Columbia University Press Making Worlds
Book SynopsisClaudia Breger argues that contemporary European cinema provides ways of thinking about and feeling collectivity that can challenge the twenty-first century's political trends. Through a new model of cinematic worldmaking, Making Worldsexamines how films produce unexpected and destabilizing affects that invite viewers to imagine new connections.Trade Review[A] timely study. -- Carlos Kong * Film Quarterly *Her readings of the films she surveys are sharp and insightful...This is a bracing and timely work of scholarship. * Choice *Making Worlds offers a rich array of conceptual and affective tools to stimulate complex readings and imaginative openings, which will be of value to film theorists and ethical philosophers alike. -- ASTRID KORPORAAL, Kingston University, London, U.K. * Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television *Claudia Breger’s Making Worlds is a vital contribution to the political dimensions of contemporary film and media theory. Breger’s meticulous readings of contemporary cinema create generative openings in impasses that have petrified debate over the past three decades, developing models of cinematic worldmaking for critically feeling out the possibilities of creative assemblage and collective assembly in the face of authoritarian enclosure and humanitarian crisis. -- James Leo Cahill, University of TorontoClaudia Breger’s ambitious book draws its energy from our current moment of social dissolution. She sets out to counter collective closures with a focus on affective worldmaking in cinema. Her perceptive readings range from countercultural cinema of the 1960s to contemporary films set in Turkey or Iran. Making Worlds recharges European art cinema, known for its aesthetics of critical defamiliarization, with visual pleasure and possibilities of transnational empathy. -- Deniz Göktürk, University of California, BerkeleyFraming storytelling as a form of worlding or world assembly, Breger undertakes uncommon pairings of film not previously thought together, hereby unsettling inherited ways of compartmentalizing their aesthetic, social, and political significance. Making Worlds intervenes in a conjunctural moment when we sorely need compassionate and reasoned voices, calmly and carefully navigating the thicket of our global political morass with attention to the complexities of human identifications and multiple categories of belonging across shared layers of bounded earth. -- Angelica Fenner, author of Race Under Reconstruction in German Cinema: Robert Stemmle’s “Toxi”An exciting journey which reveals veiled alternative worlds within the cinematic universe. * Film Matters *Breger's book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of contemporary European cinema, global cinema, transnational film and media studies, film theory, and migration studies. * Monatshefte *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Affects in Configuration: Controversy and Conviviality in Fatih Akın’s The Edge of Heaven and Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation2. Critical Intensity: Jean-Luc Godard’s and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Defamiliarized Worldmaking Practices3. Genre Assemblages: Affective Incisions in Fatih Akın’s The Cut and Aki Kaurismäki’s Refugee Trilogy4. Tenderly Cruel Realisms: Objectfull Assembly and the Horizon of a Shared WorldEpilogue: Reconfiguring ResistanceAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex
£27.00
Columbia University Press Spaces Mapped and Monstrous Digital 3D Cinema and
Book SynopsisSpaces Mapped and Monstrous explores the paradoxical nature of 3D cinema and its place in today's visual landscape. Considering 3D's distinctive visual qualities and its connections to wider digital culture, Nick Jones situates the production and exhibition of 3D cinema within a web of aesthetic, technological, and historical contexts.Trade ReviewThis book’s highly polished arguments situate digital 3D cinema within major debates about the role of the image in contemporary society as well as related structures of power. Jones’s historical focus and interaction with significant visual culture debates situate the unique contribution this book has to offer. -- Miriam Ross, author of 3D Cinema: Optical Illusions and Tactile ExperiencesAt once rigorously historical, inventively erudite, and highly original, Spaces Mapped and Monstrous combines digital theory, screen aesthetics, and media archaeology to persuasively argue that the digital aesthetics in 3D cinema should not be dismissed as "failed realism" or cheap gimmicks. Instead, these examples provide new spatial relations and epistemological regimes that help us better understand digital technologies more broadly. -- Julie Turnock, author of Plastic Reality: Special Effects, Technology, and the Emergence of 1970s Blockbuster AestheticsIn this expansive inquiry, Nick Jones dispels the myth that 3D is simply a variant of planar cinema. For over a century, Jones contends, 3D has been vital to a shifting understanding of what images are and how we are mobilized through them. Encompassing both its experimental anamorphic facets and its complicity in the instrumentalization of the visual field, this account is a call for us to think 3D again. -- Janet Harbord, author of Ex-centric Cinema: Giorgio Agamben and Film ArchaeologyTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: Contexts1. History: The Long View of 3D Film and Theory2. Visualization: From Perspective to Digital 3DPart II: Mapped Spaces3. Simulation: Dematerializing and Enframing4. Immersion: Entering the Screen5. Surveillance: Converting Image to Space, World to DataPart III: Monstrous Spaces6. Defamiliarization: Rethinking the Screen Plane7. Distortion: Unfamiliar and Unconventional Space8. Intimacy: The Boundedness of Stereoscopic MediaConclusion: Seeing in 3DNotesBibliographyIndex
£27.00
Columbia University Press Hollywoods Artists
Book SynopsisVirginia Wright Wexman offers a groundbreaking history of how movie directors became cinematic auteurs that reveals and pinpoints the influence of the Directors Guild of America. Hollywood’s Artists sheds new light on the ways in which the DGA has shaped the role and image of directors both within the Hollywood system and in the culture at large.Trade ReviewVirginia Wright Wexman’s original, fine-grained study of the Directors’ Guild of America shows us how that organization helped shape the idea of the film director as author, how it managed political tensions within Hollywood, and how it negotiated major changes in the industry. Based on extensive research, this is a revealing and highly important contribution to U.S. film history. -- James Naremore, Indiana UniversityHollywood’s Artists is a groundbreaking study of the Directors Guild of America—viewing it not primarily as a traditional union, but as an organization that has fought for the recognition of its members as artists. Wexman provides a well-researched history of earlier organizations leading up to the formation of the DGA, the cultural context for its claims of artistry (including European traditions and the auteur theory), the effects of the rise of television, as well as a discussion of a controversial moment in its history during the McCarthy era, the HUAC hearings, and the persecution of the “Hollywood Ten.” Furthermore, she examines the notion of the director as authority figure (which requires “charisma”) as well as the legal battles engaged in by the organization. Finally, Wexman explores new challenges to film directors in the current era involving the ascendancy of digital effects and streaming services, as well as the globalization of the industry. In sum, a thorough and masterful study. -- Lucy Fischer, author of Cinema by Design: Art Nouveau, Modernism, and Film HistoryThis book fills a significant void in film history and offers an original and important argument about the role of the director in the ‘authorship’ of Hollywood films. -- Tom Schatz, University of Texas at Austin[A] concise and lucid history of how the Directors Guild focused upon the authorship of film. * Film Quarterly *Introduces academic audiences to the nuances of labor, law, and DGA politics by providing extensive sources from practitioners and adding context to famous moments in DGA history . . . Recommended. * Choice *Wexman has written a perceptive and interesting account of the Guild’s development and its underlying values. * Film & History *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Directors as Artists: The DGA Rides the Wave2. Charisma and Competition: The DGA Stakes Its Claim3. Recognition: The DGA Takes Credit4. Politics: The DGA Stages HUAC5. Law: The DGA and Artists as OwnersConclusionAppendix A. Beyond Creative RightsAppendix B. Chronology of the Directors Guild of AmericaAppendix C. Officers of the Directors Guild of AmericaAppendix D. Chronology of the Artists Rights FoundationNotesBibliographyIndex
£71.25
Columbia University Press Hollywoods Embassies
Book SynopsisBeginning in the 1920s, audiences around the globe were seduced not only by Hollywood films but also by lavish movie theaters that were owned and operated by the major American film companies. In a history that stretches from Buenos Aires and Tokyo to Johannesburg and Cairo, Ross Melnick considers these movie houses as cultural embassies.Trade ReviewThis is nothing short of a sterling book, an assiduously researched compendium of notable facts and compelling anecdotes culled from public archives, personal memorabilia collections, and old-time newspaper morgues all over the map. -- Kevin Canfield * Cineaste *The political and cultural repercussions of this exhibition strategy for both Hollywood and the national film industries “invaded” by these foreign-owned movie theaters are explored in great detail by Ross Melnick in his new book, Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power around the World. -- Bruno Guaraná * Film Quarterly *If there’s anyone who still holds the view that entertainment, art and politics are separate realms, Ross Melnick’s exhaustively researched book should set them straight. -- Tom Ryan * The Sydney Morning Herald *This volume is highly recommended for those interested in film studies, theater architecture, global affairs and American Studies and it may easily become a standard title on the reception of American films abroad. -- Dr. A. Ebert * Popcultureshelf.com *Hollywood's Embassies offers a unique history of movie theaters “as cultural embassies.” The scale of research and insight here is staggering. * The Film Stage *Melnick's book is a masterful achievement. -- Klaus Dodds * Business History Review *A work of vast scope and synoptic power, Ross Melnick’s Hollywood’s Embassies is required reading for anyone seeking to understand how American cinema came to dominate most of the planet’s screen space. With pinpoint global positioning, Melnick tracks how Hollywood planted its flag from Cairo to Rio and beyond, transmitting American values, colonizing consciousnesses, and raking in cash. It is a fascinating story, splendidly told. -- Thomas Doherty, author of Little Lindy Is Kidnapped: How the Media Covered the Crime of the CenturyA brilliantly conceived and trailblazing work, this is a must-read history of Hollywood studios’ perennial and always complicated efforts to create a globalized presence via theaters that promoted American values around the world. Melnick’s impeccable research and lively writing style raises the curtain on this largely neglected aspect of theater history, providing vivid, fascinating accounts of specific endeavors as well as an incisive framework for understanding them. Hollywood’s Embassies confirms Melnick’s stature as the leading historian of American film exhibition of his generation. -- Matthew H. Bernstein, author of Walter Wanger, Hollywood IndependentCaptivating and ambitious, Hollywood’s Embassies covers a fascinating breadth of global territory as it explores the way Hollywood displayed America to the world. -- Kathy Fuller-Seeley, author of Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio ComedyMelnick reveals a world-spanning exhibition strategy that major U.S. film companies continuously updated and coherently pursued for most of the twentieth century. All scholars of Hollywood will have perceived some aspect of this strategy, but none of us can possibly have appreciated its scope before now. A tour de force. -- Mark Garrett Cooper, author of Universal Women: Filmmaking and Institutional Change in Early HollywoodA fascinating book. * The Spectator *An essential volume that provides significant access for readers to the histories that lurk behind the marquees and that uncovers the critical challenges that lie ahead as both empires navigate the waters of pandemics and trade wars. * New Review of Film and Television Studies *A valuable entry in media studies as much as a thoughtful historization of business practices with a determined commitment to exploring multilingual archives, extracting and deciphering them for both experts and Hollywood enthusiasts alike. * International Journal of Communication *The book is easily adaptable for teaching in a variety of classes both due to its geographically determined chapter structure and elegant and accessible prose. Hollywood’s Embassies is full of treasures and is a monumental addition to the field. * Journal of Cinema and Media Studies *[An] absolute must-read. -- Peter Labuza * The Strategist *Skillfully woven together to offer a foundational industrial history of Hollywood’s majors and the many locales in which they operated shop window cinemas and nationwide or regional circuits. * Media Industries *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: “Shop Windows,” “Cultural Embassies,” and Hollywood’s Global ExhibitionPart I. Europe. When Expansion Was Paramount (1923–1993): “Shop Window” Cinemas and the European Expansion of U.S. Film Exhibitors1. Hollywood’s British Invasion and the Battle of Birmingham, 1919–19292. Hollywood’s European Adventure, 1925–19413. A New Battleground: U.S. Exhibitors Under Nazi Occupation, 1941–19454. Postwar Europe and the Legacy of Hollywood Cinemas, 1945–1993Part II. Australasia. Banking on Australasia (1930–1982): Global Banks and U.S. Cinema Ownership in Australia and New Zealand5. Fox Chases Hoyts: U.S. Cinema Ownership in Australia, 1930–19366. The Fox Chase in New Zealand and Australia, 1936–19467. Hollywood and Australasian Cinemas, 1946–1982Part III: Latin America and the Caribbean. Hollywood in Cinelandia (1927–1973): U.S. Cinemas and Local Politics in Latin America and the Caribbean8. Cine Metros y Cine Paramounts, 1926–1941: MGM and Paramount’s Latin American Shop Window Cinemas9. Prop(aganda) Window Cinemas, 1933–1945: Ufa, Hollywood, and the Battle for Hearts and Minds Through South American Cinemas During World War II10. Hollywood Cinema Expansion in Postwar South America, 1945–197311. Caribbean Dreams, 1929–1973: Hollywood Cinemas in Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and TrinidadPart IV. Middle East. Hollywood’s Muddle East (1925–1982): Political Change in Egypt and Israel and the Consequences for Hollywood’s Middle Eastern Cinemas12. Buildings, Ballyhoo, and Boycotts in Egypt, 1925–1947: Alternating Realities at Hollywood’s Egyptian Cinemas13. No Meeting in the Middle, 1947–1956: Hollywood Cinemas, Egyptian Revolution, and Israeli Independence14. After the Revolution, 1957–1982: Twentieth Century-Fox, Egypt, and IsraelPart V. Africa. An “Unhappy Image of the United States Before an African Population” (1932–1975): Race, Industry, and Rebellion at Hollywood’s African Cinemas15. MGM and the “Uncrowned King of South Africa,” 1932–1937: Hollywood Shop Window Cinemas in a Bitterly Protected Market16. Fox Hunting on the African Continent, 1937–1956: Twentieth Century-Fox and the Struggle for Control of African Cinemas17. A “Royal” Mess: Racial Strife in Colonial Zimbabwe, the Struggle for Independence in Postcolonial Kenya, and the End of Hollywood’s Control of South African Cinemas, 1959–1975Part VI. Asia. Eastern Promises (1927–2013): Hollywood’s Cinemas in China, India, Japan, and the Philippines18. Benshi and Ballyhoo, 1927–1973: Hollywood’s Shop Window Cinemas in Japan and the Philippines19. Joining the Global Metro Cub Club, 1936–1973: MGM and Fox’s Shop Window Cinemas in India20. China as Hollywood’s Final Frontier, 1946–2013: Hollywood’s Chinese Cinemas and the End of Hollywood’s Exhibition EmpiresEpilogue: Global Exhibition Flows in Reverse Before the Pandemic, 2013–2019NotesIndex
£96.80
Columbia University Press Hollywoods Embassies
Book SynopsisBeginning in the 1920s, audiences around the globe were seduced not only by Hollywood films but also by lavish movie theaters that were owned and operated by the major American film companies. In a history that stretches from Buenos Aires and Tokyo to Johannesburg and Cairo, Ross Melnick considers these movie houses as cultural embassies.Trade ReviewThis is nothing short of a sterling book, an assiduously researched compendium of notable facts and compelling anecdotes culled from public archives, personal memorabilia collections, and old-time newspaper morgues all over the map. -- Kevin Canfield * Cineaste *The political and cultural repercussions of this exhibition strategy for both Hollywood and the national film industries “invaded” by these foreign-owned movie theaters are explored in great detail by Ross Melnick in his new book, Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power around the World. -- Bruno Guaraná * Film Quarterly *If there’s anyone who still holds the view that entertainment, art and politics are separate realms, Ross Melnick’s exhaustively researched book should set them straight. -- Tom Ryan * The Sydney Morning Herald *This volume is highly recommended for those interested in film studies, theater architecture, global affairs and American Studies and it may easily become a standard title on the reception of American films abroad. -- Dr. A. Ebert * Popcultureshelf.com *Hollywood's Embassies offers a unique history of movie theaters “as cultural embassies.” The scale of research and insight here is staggering. * The Film Stage *Melnick's book is a masterful achievement. -- Klaus Dodds * Business History Review *A work of vast scope and synoptic power, Ross Melnick’s Hollywood’s Embassies is required reading for anyone seeking to understand how American cinema came to dominate most of the planet’s screen space. With pinpoint global positioning, Melnick tracks how Hollywood planted its flag from Cairo to Rio and beyond, transmitting American values, colonizing consciousnesses, and raking in cash. It is a fascinating story, splendidly told. -- Thomas Doherty, author of Little Lindy Is Kidnapped: How the Media Covered the Crime of the CenturyA brilliantly conceived and trailblazing work, this is a must-read history of Hollywood studios’ perennial and always complicated efforts to create a globalized presence via theaters that promoted American values around the world. Melnick’s impeccable research and lively writing style raises the curtain on this largely neglected aspect of theater history, providing vivid, fascinating accounts of specific endeavors as well as an incisive framework for understanding them. Hollywood’s Embassies confirms Melnick’s stature as the leading historian of American film exhibition of his generation. -- Matthew H. Bernstein, author of Walter Wanger, Hollywood IndependentCaptivating and ambitious, Hollywood’s Embassies covers a fascinating breadth of global territory as it explores the way Hollywood displayed America to the world. -- Kathy Fuller-Seeley, author of Jack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio ComedyMelnick reveals a world-spanning exhibition strategy that major U.S. film companies continuously updated and coherently pursued for most of the twentieth century. All scholars of Hollywood will have perceived some aspect of this strategy, but none of us can possibly have appreciated its scope before now. A tour de force. -- Mark Garrett Cooper, author of Universal Women: Filmmaking and Institutional Change in Early HollywoodA fascinating book. * The Spectator *An essential volume that provides significant access for readers to the histories that lurk behind the marquees and that uncovers the critical challenges that lie ahead as both empires navigate the waters of pandemics and trade wars. * New Review of Film and Television Studies *A valuable entry in media studies as much as a thoughtful historization of business practices with a determined commitment to exploring multilingual archives, extracting and deciphering them for both experts and Hollywood enthusiasts alike. * International Journal of Communication *The book is easily adaptable for teaching in a variety of classes both due to its geographically determined chapter structure and elegant and accessible prose. Hollywood’s Embassies is full of treasures and is a monumental addition to the field. * Journal of Cinema and Media Studies *[An] absolute must-read. -- Peter Labuza * The Strategist *Skillfully woven together to offer a foundational industrial history of Hollywood’s majors and the many locales in which they operated shop window cinemas and nationwide or regional circuits. * Media Industries *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: “Shop Windows,” “Cultural Embassies,” and Hollywood’s Global ExhibitionPart I. Europe. When Expansion Was Paramount (1923–1993): “Shop Window” Cinemas and the European Expansion of U.S. Film Exhibitors1. Hollywood’s British Invasion and the Battle of Birmingham, 1919–19292. Hollywood’s European Adventure, 1925–19413. A New Battleground: U.S. Exhibitors Under Nazi Occupation, 1941–19454. Postwar Europe and the Legacy of Hollywood Cinemas, 1945–1993Part II. Australasia. Banking on Australasia (1930–1982): Global Banks and U.S. Cinema Ownership in Australia and New Zealand5. Fox Chases Hoyts: U.S. Cinema Ownership in Australia, 1930–19366. The Fox Chase in New Zealand and Australia, 1936–19467. Hollywood and Australasian Cinemas, 1946–1982Part III: Latin America and the Caribbean. Hollywood in Cinelandia (1927–1973): U.S. Cinemas and Local Politics in Latin America and the Caribbean8. Cine Metros y Cine Paramounts, 1926–1941: MGM and Paramount’s Latin American Shop Window Cinemas9. Prop(aganda) Window Cinemas, 1933–1945: Ufa, Hollywood, and the Battle for Hearts and Minds Through South American Cinemas During World War II10. Hollywood Cinema Expansion in Postwar South America, 1945–197311. Caribbean Dreams, 1929–1973: Hollywood Cinemas in Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and TrinidadPart IV. Middle East. Hollywood’s Muddle East (1925–1982): Political Change in Egypt and Israel and the Consequences for Hollywood’s Middle Eastern Cinemas12. Buildings, Ballyhoo, and Boycotts in Egypt, 1925–1947: Alternating Realities at Hollywood’s Egyptian Cinemas13. No Meeting in the Middle, 1947–1956: Hollywood Cinemas, Egyptian Revolution, and Israeli Independence14. After the Revolution, 1957–1982: Twentieth Century-Fox, Egypt, and IsraelPart V. Africa. An “Unhappy Image of the United States Before an African Population” (1932–1975): Race, Industry, and Rebellion at Hollywood’s African Cinemas15. MGM and the “Uncrowned King of South Africa,” 1932–1937: Hollywood Shop Window Cinemas in a Bitterly Protected Market16. Fox Hunting on the African Continent, 1937–1956: Twentieth Century-Fox and the Struggle for Control of African Cinemas17. A “Royal” Mess: Racial Strife in Colonial Zimbabwe, the Struggle for Independence in Postcolonial Kenya, and the End of Hollywood’s Control of South African Cinemas, 1959–1975Part VI. Asia. Eastern Promises (1927–2013): Hollywood’s Cinemas in China, India, Japan, and the Philippines18. Benshi and Ballyhoo, 1927–1973: Hollywood’s Shop Window Cinemas in Japan and the Philippines19. Joining the Global Metro Cub Club, 1936–1973: MGM and Fox’s Shop Window Cinemas in India20. China as Hollywood’s Final Frontier, 1946–2013: Hollywood’s Chinese Cinemas and the End of Hollywood’s Exhibition EmpiresEpilogue: Global Exhibition Flows in Reverse Before the Pandemic, 2013–2019NotesIndex
£27.00
Columbia University Press Dr. No
Book SynopsisDr. No introduced the James Bond formula that has been a box-office fixture ever since. An explosive cocktail of action, spectacle, and sex, the film transformed popular cinema. James Chapman provides a lively and comprehensive study of Dr. No, marshaling a wealth of archival research to place the film in its historical moment.Trade ReviewDr. No: The First James Bond Film by James Chapman is particularly well researched. I especially appreciate the time the author took to dispel myths and legends about the movie. He delved into archives, first-hand sources, as well as unfinished scripts to separate fact from fiction. * Man of la Book: A Bookish Blog *Dr. No is a potentially invaluable resource for Bond scholars and cultural historians, as well as Bond fans keen to engage with the films at a more developed level. The lively writing and assured knowledge make the ideas and analysis feel fresh and revelatory. Chapman investigates and interrogates the many myths and half-truths surrounding the making of the film and the relationships between the key players in order to fully reassess the reputations and reception of the film both at its time of release and now. -- Laura Crossely, Bournemouth UniversityAn impressive and thoroughly enjoyable book. More than twenty years after the landmark volume Licence to Thrill, the author’s latest contribution to the field is meticulously researched and engagingly written. Merging the rigor of the historian with the enthusiasm of the aficionado and consistently illuminated by fresh archival discoveries, Chapman’s Dr. No reminds us that, in the field of Bond studies, nobody does it better. -- Jeremy Strong, author of James Bond UncoveredThe reward of James Chapman’s inquiry is that it explains how and why Dr. No "got it right" from the start while considering the “first” Bond film as a text on its own. Excavating a wealth of primary research, Chapman spearheads the archival and industrial turn in Bond studies to arrive at a new understanding of the ongoing appeal of the James Bond franchise. -- Jaap Verheul, editor of The Cultural Life of James BondJames Chapman's brilliant-realised study of the first Eon-produced James Bond film is a testament not only to the current renaissance of James Bond studies as a field but also the cultural significance of Dr. No in its own right, a film that arguably spawned the modern franchise blockbuster as we know it. Of course, Chapman's rigorous scholarship is the primary draw, here; he proves, once again, that, when it comes to matters of James Bond, "nobody does it better." Dr. No: The First James Bond Film breaks new ground, here, and is likely to pave the way for subsequent "deep-dive" scholarly examinations of specific films in the Bond series. This is film and cultural history scholarship at its finest. -- Ian Kinane, editor of the International Journal of James Bond StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Sex, Snobbery, and Sadism 2. Everything or Nothing3. Monkey Business4. Underneath the Mango Tree5. A Bizarre Comedy Melodrama 6. I’m Just LookingConclusionAppendix I: Dr. No Production CreditsAppendix II: Dr. No Production BudgetAppendix III: Dr. No Daily Progress ReportsNotesBibliographyIndex
£73.60
Columbia University Press Impossible Speech
Book Synopsis
£22.50
Columbia University Press Mary C. McCall Jr.
Book Synopsis
£80.00
Columbia University Press Harun Farocki
Book Synopsis
£93.60
Columbia University Press My Affair with Art House Cinema
Book Synopsis
£19.80
Columbia University Press Hollywoods Others
Book Synopsis
£87.20
MO - University of Illinois Press Lowering the Boom Critical Studies in Film Sound
Book SynopsisAmplifying the importance of sound in cinemaTrade Review“An excellent collection of essays which reveals much about the state of play of soundtrack studies and offers many fresh and original insights. It will certainly be of value to students and scholars of film sound.”--Music, Sound, and the Moving Image"A substantial and important book, Lowering the Boom includes work from both established scholars and emerging voices in the field and is a welcome addition to auditory culture and sound studies."--Steve J. Wurtzler, author of Electric Sounds: Technological Change and the Rise of Corporate Mass Media“[Lowering the Boom reclaims] cinema as an “audiovisual” object, demonstrating conclusively that whatever the relative importance of the “audio” and “visual” parts, neither can be ignored . . . . I hope Lowering the Boom is widely read.”--Jump Cut"A central text for the study of sound in media. Lowering the Boom's wide range of topics joins history and critical debates and will be useful and appealing to scholars and students of sound design, media studies, and film theory."--Donald Crafton, author of The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926-1931Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction: The Future of Film Sound Studies 1Jay Beck and Tony GrajedaPart 1: Theorizing Sound 1. The Phenomenology of Film Sound: Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped 23John Belton 2. The Proxemics of the Mediated Voice 36Arnt Maaso 3. Almost Silent: The Interplay of Sound and Silence in Contemporary Cinema and Television 51Paul Theberge 4. The Sounds of "Silence": Dolby Stereo, Sound Design, and The Silence of the Lambs 68Jay BeckPart II: Historicizing Sound 5. Sonic Imagination; or, Film Sound as a Discursive Construct in Czech Culture of the Transitional Period 87Petr Szczepanik 6. Sounds of the City: Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" and Urban Modernity 105Matthew Malsky 7. Film and the Wagnerian Aspiration: Thoughts on Sound Design and the History of the Senses 123James LastraPart III: Sound and Genre 8. Asynchronous Documentary: Bunuel's Land without Bread 141Barry Mauer 9. "We'll Make a Paderewski of You Yet!": Acoustic Reflections in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T 152Nancy Newman 10. Paul Sharits's Cinematics of Sound 171Melissa Ragona 11. "Every Beautiful Sound Also Creates an Equally Beautiful Picture": Color Music and Walt Disney's Fantasia 183Clark FarmerPart IV: Film Sound and Cultural Studies 12. "A Question of the Ear": Listening to Touch of Evil 201Tony Grajeda 13. "Sound Sacrifices": The Postmodern Melodramas of World War II 218Debra White-Stanley 14. Real Fantasies: Connie Stevens, Silencio, and Other Sonic Phenomena in Mulholland Drive 233Robert MiklitschPart V: Case Studies of Film Sound 15. Selling Spectacular Sound: Dolby and the Unheard History of Technical Trademarks 251Paul Grainge 16. (S)lip-Sync: Punk Rock Narrative Film and Postmodern Musical Performance 269David Laderman 17. Critical Hearing and the Lessons of Abbas Kiarostami's Close-Up 289David T. Johnson 18. Rethinking Point of Audition in The Cell 299Anahid Kassabian Works Cited 307 Contributors 327 Index 331
£87.55
MO - University of Illinois Press Creative Life Music Politics People and Machines
Book SynopsisLuminous essays on the nexus of music, politics, and technologyTrade Review"The most lucid philosophical work on music, culture and politics since Steve Reich's Writings on Music."--The Wire“A humble yet powerful reminder of the importance of being true to your ethics and clear about your motivations.”--Fundamentally Sound"This unusual memoir, which takes the reader on an amazing odyssey that begins with Ostertag's life as a musician in 1978 New York and ends 30 years later in San Francisco with his writing a book to explain the creative life. . . . Recommended."--Choice "Its intensity, clarity and directness are refreshingly tonic at a time when the art world often seems sunk to its neck in academicism, careerism and outright fraud."Fuse"Creative Life is a wonderful read, and it made my head whirl. Ostertag tells stories from his own experience as an artist and political activist. He searches for the connections and differences in the illumination sought by the artist and the insight sought by the activist, and he explores the quest for transcendence and universality that unites art and politics and also helps explain their divergence. There are no answers here, but rather a brilliant contemplation of the discontent and yearning that motivates our better natures."--Frances Fox Piven, author of Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America"Unique and engaging. Creative Life spins an intriguing narrative, builds a compelling argument about the nature of art and politics, and raises a stimulating set of questions for politically engaged art in an age of digital technologies."--Jonathan Scott Lee, author of Jacques Lacan"For the last thirty years, I've come to rely on Bob Ostertag to claw away at the superficial and often misleading 'official' versions of all things cultural and political and get simply and unpretentiously to the real heart of the matter. His passionate engagement can be felt on every page of this wonderful (re)collection."--Fred Frith, musician and composer"Creative Life is an oasis for anyone who is still making socially conscious art in today's increasingly bleak political and environmental reality. From the war zones of rural El Salvador to the new music basements of New York City, Ostertag's story becomes a way for us all to consider what role we want to play in the world and how to reconcile our politics with our poetics."--Mike Bonanno, media artist, The Yes Men "Ostertag 'comes out' again, here in a brilliant social and political memoir smack-dab in the middle of yet another musical revolution. A must read!"--Alvin Curran, musician and composer, Musica Elettronica Viva "Ostertag gives us a personal and substantive account of his life as an artist and activist committed to engagement and creativity in both the political and musical realms. An insightful observer of culture, he sees both the forest and the trees, and deftly unifies the details of his experiences with the larger social context in which they fit."--Carla Kihlstedt, musician and composer, Tin Hat Trio "Nothing like Creative Life has ever been produced by a major publisher. Few chronicles of the lives of late-twentieth-century American composers or improvisers exist, and even fewer first-person narratives exist in which the composer takes the time to critically examine his or her life practice. Bob Ostertag's brand of politics, however, demands that he do just that. Ostertag adopts a clear-eyed, forthright stance concerning the integration of radical politics and radical music through his own experiences at the center of an important New York musical scene and in historically and politically crucial regions of the world. He refuses to appropriate sounds and gestures unreflectively from his surroundings, despite the technological ease with which he could have done so as an expert in electronic media technique. Perhaps he regards this as just one more way in which the people whose life-and-death struggles he chronicles so sensitively--people with whom he has lived, worked, and shared danger--need not fear appropriation from him.One sees how Ostertag's political thinking is clarified through his involvement with music; in fact, this book shows how music can be deployed as a tool for actually theorizing the social world. One even dares to imagine that Creative Life will bridge the divide between Ostertag's two theaters of operations, and help them to radicalize each other."--George E. Lewis, MacArthur Fellow, Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music at Columbia University, and author of A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental MusicTable of ContentsACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiINTRODUCTION 1 Art and Politics after September 11 2 Early Years 151. CENTRAL AMERICA 25 El Salvador, 1988: Absolute Diabolical Terror 25Sooner or Later 38 Nicaragua 1990: Power Outage 40 Creative Politics 542. THE BALKANS 69 The Balkans 2000: Tour Journal 69 Program Notes for Yugoslavia Suite 1013. QUEERS 105Desert Boy on a Stick 105All the Rage, Spiral, and PantyChrist 115 Why I work with Drag Queens 1304. MUSIC AND MACHINES 134Between Science and Garbage 134 Living Cinema Manifesto 147 Human Bodies, Computer Music 149 Why Computer Music Is So Awful 159CONCLUSION 163 The Professional Suicide of a Recording Musician 163NOTES 173BIOGRAPHY 177SOURCES 187CREDITS 190INDEX 191
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Henry Mancini
Book Synopsis Through film composer Henry Mancini, mere background music in movies became part of pop culture--an expression of sophistication and wit with a modern sense of cool and a lasting lyricism that has not dated. The first comprehensive study of Mancini''s music, Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music describes how the composer served as a bridge between the Big Band period of World War II and the impatient eclecticism of the Baby Boomer generation, between the grand formal orchestral film scores of the past and a modern American minimalist approach. Mancini''s sound seemed to capture the bright, confident, welcoming voice of the middle class''s new efficient life: interested in pop songs and jazz, in movie and television, in outreach politics but also conventional stay-at-home comforts. As John Caps shows, Mancini easily combined it all in his music. Mancini wielded influence in Hollywood and around the world with his iconic scores: dynamic jazz for theTrade Review"Accessible and engaging, this fresh view of Mancini's oeuvre and influence will delight and inform fans of film and popular music."--Turner Classic Movies"Caps' assiduously research study of Mancini's life and career ... is detailed and insightful. . . . It will be enjoyed both by film buffs and music lovers."--Allaboutjazz.com "Will satisfy musically experienced readers as well as laypeople. It deserves a place in every film and popular music collection."--Library Journal "A stimulating chronicle of the life and works of film and television composer Henry Mancini. Consistently thorough and detailed, this book contains a considerable wealth of information and insight into this extremely popular composer."--James Wierzbicki, author of Film Music: A History and Elliott Carter "A well-researched study of a musical career. . . Film by film, the book reveals how Mancini negotiated and compromised to become the computer of many a moviemaker's dreams."--Booklist "An important book, and, in many ways, a crucial one, too, it's chief value resting in Caps' articulate championing of one of the most singular compositional talents to emerge from Hollywood's film factory."--Classical Music"In this lively, syncopated survey of Mancini's movie music, Caps offers a comprehensive critique of the composer's film/TV scores and hit albums."--Publishers Weekly
£22.79
University of Illinois Press C. Francis Jenkins Pioneer of Film and Television
Book SynopsisPresents the biography of the important American inventor Charles Francis Jenkins (1867-1934). This book documents the life of Jenkins from his childhood in Indiana and early life in the West to his work as a prolific inventor whose productivity was cut short by an early death.Trade Review"Almost eighty years following Jenkins’ death, the story of his life and many achievements is finally being told."--Robin Vierbuchen Sproul, Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief, ABC News "With his biography of Francis Jenkins (indeed, the first ever), Don Godfrey again demonstrates his "chops" as a historian willing to do the archival digging necessary to rescue a story worth telling. As in his earlier study of Philo Farnsworth, Godfrey sorts out the sometimes controversial pieces of a career that--for a time--seemed to show the way to widespread use of television. Especially interesting is Jenkins' creative work in both film and television at their very dawning. This is a life well worth reading."--Christopher H. Sterling, author of Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting and Sounds of Change: A History of FM Broadcasting in America"C. Francis Jenkins, Pioneer of Film and Television makes a substantial contribution to the literature on film and electronic communication. Godfrey's scholarship is exceptional and exhaustive. He left no stone unturned in compiling his resources to write this book." --Louise M. Benjamin, author of The NBC Advisory Council and Radio Programming, 1926-1945"Godfrey has produced a biography of the underappreciated inventor that excels both in its completeness and in its engaging readability. The book is an excellent example of history that is both thoroughly researched and eminently readable."--Journalism History"Media historians have not overlooked Charles Francis Jenkins, but neither have they given his story its due. Don Godfrey corrects this imbalance by probing traditional sources and cultivating evidence buried in unusual records--including Jenkins's 283 patents. C. Francis Jenkins is a much-needed improvement to existing histories and an indispensable reference for any future treatments of media technology. . . . brings an American visionary to life."--Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
£38.70
University of Illinois Press The Europeanization of Cinema
Book SynopsisShows how cinema both reflects and engenders interzones that explore the important questions of Europe's social order: imperialism and nation-building in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; "first contact" between former adversaries (such as East and West Germany) following World War II and the Cold War.Trade Review"An original and ground-breaking view of the post-Wende central European landscape, drawn from a remarkable abundance of sources. Halle's writing is intelligent and even amusing--I couldn't put the book down until I had read it to the last page." --Janina Falkowska, author of Andrzej Wajda: History, Politics, and Nostalgia in Polish Cinema"Fascinating. The book's meticulous, insightful, and effective writing, which illuminates the ideational spaces of cinematic interzones from a European context, should have no trouble finding several imaginative communities of active readers."--Council For European Studies "An intelligent and innovative study."--Journal of Contemporary European Studies
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Emir Kusturica
Book SynopsisEmir Kusturica is one of Eastern Europe's most celebrated and influential filmmakers. Over the course of a thirty-year career, Kusturica has navigated a series of geopolitical fault lines to produce subversive, playful, often satiric works.Trade Review"Bertellini is admirably succinct and evocative in discussing Kusturica's aesthetic management and no less insightful in discussing critical perspectives on the sociocultural, political thematic underpinnings of his major films." --Daniel Goulding, author ofLiberated Cinema: The Yugoslav Experience, 1945–2001"Enter Giorgio Bertellini with this remarkable study of Kusturica, his films, and their cinematic, cultural, and political implications and dimensions. . . . This is one of those rare film studies books that actively engages those who have seen and appreciated Kusturica's work as well as those just coming to these unusual films for the first time."--Slavic Review
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Seeing Sarah Bernhardt
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2016 "Radically revises our understanding of why Sarah Bernhardt chose to engage in the new medium of motion pictures and why her 1910s films were received (and are still readable) as both artistic and popular works far beyond France."--Richard Abel, author of Americanizing the Movies and "Movie-Mad" Audiences, 1910–1914"Sarah Bernhardt was one of the first well-known actresses to turn to moving pictures, proving that the movies could be taken seriously by major artists and attracting an audience cinema had not had before. Film historians have dismissed these films as 'filmed theater,' but Victoria Duckett demands we take a closer look. In our era of hybrid media, we can rediscover Bernhardt’s use of gesture and movement as linking cinema to Art Nouveau while forging a link between theater and film. Duckett’s careful research reveals the impact a woman had in establishing cinema as an art that drew on--rather than ignored--theater. Bernhardt not only became the first international movie star--she pioneered the role women might have in this new medium."--Tom Gunning, author of The Films of Fritz Lang: Allegories of Vision and Modernity"Addresses the chasm in criticism between a lionizing of Sarah Bernhardt's stage work on one hand, and the dismissal of her filmed performances on the other."--French Studies"Duckett's excellent skills as a researcher and a writer shine through. . . . Seeing Sarah Bernhardt therefore not only adds much needed context and analysis to the performances of the legendary Bernhardt, but it also shows the promise of intermedial research."--Theatre Journal"Well written and insightful, this is required reading for those interested in theater, film, or women's studies. . . . Essential."--Choice"Conceptually ambitious and highly stimulating."--Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film
£81.90
University of Illinois Press Agnes Varda
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Let's celebrate the many dimensions of Agnès Varda as one of the greatest artists working today. Conway succeeds in capturing her curiosity, ingenuity, wit, and new storytelling to confirm her status as the indefatigable pioneer of European cinema."--Hans Ulrich Obrist"Kelley Conway builds upon a vast array of archival research to forge this insightful study of Agnès Varda's distinct approach to filmmaking. Conway concentrates on Varda's experimental production strategies and Varda's engagement with her audience across a truly amazing career."--Richard Neupert, author of A History of the French New Wave Cinema, second edition"Drawing on privileged access to the filmmaker's archives, Kelley Conway expands our understanding of Agnès Varda in several new and eye-opening ways. Offering welcome insight into Varda’s working methods, revisiting the production, distribution and reception of the filmmaker's classics from La Pointe Courte and Cléo de 5 à 7 to Les Plages d'Agnès and her recent multi-media installations, Conway illuminates the astonishingly varied, yet coherent, life-long creative output of one of the key figures in world cinema."--Ginette Vincendeau, coeditor of The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks"A breakthrough text on Varda's trajectory from photography and film to video, digital media, and installation projects. Conway's pages on the reception of Cleo from 5 to 7 are stunning. Her take on The Gleaners and I, The Widows of Noirmoutier , and The Beaches of Agnès is astute." --Steven Ungar, coauthor of Popular Front Paris and the Poetics of Culture"Conway writes in an easy, conversational manner, conveying a good deal of information and numerous insights… Varda remains one of the least-examined figures of the French New Wave, so this book is especially welcome. Highly recommended."--Choice"The meticulous archival research, and the author's personal connection to her subject combine to make Agnès Varda an engaging, helpful read for scholars, students, and laypersons alike."--French Review"An excellent, in-depth study of the major works of the pioneering French New Wave auteur Agnes Varda, who not only preceded and helped to found the movement, but also became one of its most outstanding figures. . . . Agnes Varda is an outstanding work, not to mention a labor of love, and this love is evident in the scholarly care and expertise tendered to understanding Varda's working process and her life's work."--Film Matters
£81.90
University of Illinois Press John Lasseter
Book SynopsisCelebrated as Pixar''s 'Chief Creative Officer,' John Lasseter is a revolutionary figure in animation history and one of today''s most important filmmakers. Lasseter films from Luxo Jr. to Toy Story and Cars 2 highlighted his gift for creating emotionally engaging characters. At the same time, they helped launch computer animation as a viable commercial medium and serve as blueprints for the genre''s still-expanding commercial and artistic development. Richard Neupert explores Lasseter''s signature aesthetic and storytelling strategies and details how he became the architect of Pixar''s studio style. Neupert contends that Lasseter''s accomplishments emerged from a unique blend of technical skill and artistic vision, as well as a passion for working with collaborators. In addition, Neupert traces the director''s career arc from the time Lasseter joined Pixar in 1984. As Neupert shows, Lasseter''s ability to keep a foot in both animation and CGI allowed him to thrTrade Review"Richard Neupert's monograph provides an insightful analysis of the career and artistry of John Lasseter, the most successful and influential animation auteur in the world today. Neupert casts Lasseter as a new sort of collegial auteur who not only embodies his ideas in the films he writes and/or directs but also infuses them in the other films made by Pixar and Disney. At the same time, he fosters a communal creative atmosphere among his colleagues where everyone’s ideas and suggestions are taken seriously. Neupert further expands auteur studies by examining in detail how media reporting and critiques (as well as Lasseter's own comments in interviews and conference presentations) have helped construct John Lasseter for the industry and for the public at large as a genius, an auteur, and even the avatar of Pixar and, by extension, of CGI animation in general."--Richard J. Leskosky, past president, Society for Animation Studies"Neupert does an excellent job of analyzing the aesthetics, storytelling, technology, and business involved in the production of Lasseter's works, in so doing offering a rich context for his dissection of Lasseter's lighthearted films. Highly recommended."--Choice "John Lasseter is one of the most important figures in contemporary film history ”this book explains how that came to be. It focuses on his student films from CalArts, Pixar shorts, commercials, and features, setting them in a broad context and including analysis of the works as well as discussion of their technical components. Richard Neupert's research includes interviews of key figures as well as a thorough survey of reviews and critical commentary. The author's understanding of technology adds to the full picture of Lasseter, the Pixar studio, and the development of computer animation as a whole."--Maureen Furniss, author of Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics"The scholarship here is just extraordinary. This is not the kind of gushing fan hagiography that we so often get in the writing about animation. Rather, this is an incredibly nuanced historical work, one that provides a model for all writing about directorial careers, as well as an industrial history of the first order."--Eric Smoodin, editor of Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom"Just as John Lasseter is more than a director, Neupert's volume is much more than a director study. While knowledgeably surveying the history of computer animation, it offers a thorough background on Pixar's development, keen insights into Lasseter's style, and an appreciation of his creative leadership at the largest media and entertainment company, Disney."--J. P. Telotte, author of Animating Space: From Mickey to Wall-E
£77.35
MO - University of Illinois Press Paul Thomas Anderson
Book SynopsisSince his explosive debut with the indie sensation Hard Eight , Paul Thomas Anderson has established himself as one of contemporary cinema''s most exciting artists. His 2002 feature Punch-Drunk Love radically reimagined the romantic comedy. Critics hailed There Will Be Blood as a key film of the new millennium. In The Master , Anderson jarred audiences with dreamy amorphousness and a departure from conventional story mechanics. Acclaimed film scholar and screenwriter George Toles approaches these three films in particular, and Anderson''s oeuvre in general, with a focus on the role of emergence and the production of the unaccountable. Anderson, Toles shows, is an artist obsessed with history, workplaces, and environments but also intrigued by spaces as projections of the people who dwell within. Toles follows Anderson from the open narratives of Boogie Nights and Magnolia through the pivot that led to his more recent films, Janus-faced masterpieces that orbit around isolated centrTrade ReviewGeorge Toles is film studies' most astute close reader and its finest prose stylist. This book captures the ineffable strangeness of P. T. Anderson's films--their unusual forms, unsettled soundscapes, and characters wanting unmet connections. Toles explores the subjective interiors and cultural terrain these blinkered selves--and we viewers--cannot fully see. It's been said that actors are our substitutes, avatars who test unplumbed psychic depths. So it is with Toles, our guide to these miraculous films.--Carol Vernallis, author of Unruly Media: Youtube, Music Video, and the New Digital CinemaScriptwriter for films by Guy Maddin, George Toles is also one of the most insightful and articulate critics writing today. Tackling the enigmatic Paul Thomas Anderson, Toles probes these dramas of isolation, revealing both desperate violence and the possibility of communion.--Tom Gunning, author of The Films of Fritz Lang: Allegories of Vision and ModernityHere, caught within its covers, is the inimitable George Toles's richly challenging and brilliantly lambent voyage into the world of P. T. Anderson. Always turning and returning, always leaping and quivering with thought, the book opens Anderson to a new sense of value and depth that reveals his poetry, his multiplicities, and his touch upon our lives.--Murray Pomerance, author of Moment of Action: Riddles of Cinematic Performance
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Cinematic Encounters
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Rosenbaum is arguably America's greatest living film critic. This stimulating collection forms a kind of essay about the types of dialogues and meditations that one can have about a film or a body of films. It is often absolutely riveting."--Alan Williams, author of Republic of Images: A History of French Filmmaking"Given the power and voraciousness of his mind, Jonathan Rosenbaum could dominate and devour everything in his path if he wanted to, like the bullying movies he abhors. But with his openness of spirit, he prefers films that let you question and participate. Those are also his activities in Cinematic Encounters, as he converses with great and good filmmakers he admires and swaps ideas and enthusiasms with his cinephile friends. Open the book and you, too, are welcome to join in."--Stuart Klawans, film critic, The Nation
£81.90
University of Illinois Press Cinematic Encounters 2
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Challenging, probing, illuminating, Jonathan Rosenbaum's work is a beacon for other cinephiles. His new collection shows him engaging with an exhilaratingly wide range of films and filmmakers throughout the world and causing us to think about them in fresh ways."--Joseph McBride, author of How Did Lubitsch Do It?"Like a well-composed musical score, Rosenbaum’s magnificent Portraits and Polemics erupts with fresh, incisive, and dynamic sketches of essential cineastes and their works, interlacing tales, energetic rhythmic effects, and vibrant poetic matches: bold, impassioned, cadenced, dialectical, always surprising."--Tami Williams, coeditor of Global Cinema Networks "An excellent collection. Highly recommended." --Choice"Rosenbaum has passed a lifetime of cinephilia to me. A few scribbles in the margins I return." --Cineaste
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Todd Solondz
Book SynopsisFilms like Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness established Todd Solondz as independent cinema''s premier satirist. Blending a trademark black humor into atmospheres of grueling bleakness, Solondz repeatedly takes moviegoers into a bland suburban junk space peopled by the damaged, the neglected, and the depraved.Julian Murphet appraises the career of the controversial, if increasingly ignored, indie film auteur. Through close readings and a discussion with the director, Murphet dissects how Solondz''s themes and techniques serve stories laden with hot-button topics like pedophilia, rape, and family and systemic cruelty. Solondz''s uncompromising return to the same motifs, stylistic choices, and characters reject any idea of aesthetic progression. Instead, he embraces an art of diminishing returns that satirizes the laws of valuation sustaining what we call cinema. It also reflects both Solondz''s declining box office fortunes and the changing economics of independent film in an Trade Review"Todd Solondz, the dark horse of independent American cinema, has somehow escaped critical appraisal—until now. With this theoretically innovative and eminently readable volume, Julian Murphet has reframed Solondz's inimitable brand of cinema as a social document that comes closer to capturing the experience of late capitalism in the United States than the work of any other living filmmaker. Murphet's achievement is to show unequivocally that this world, a deracinated junk space filled with pedophiles and perverts, is our own. This book will be an indispensable guide to all of us that wonder about the hideously kitsch and just plain hideous aesthetic that has evolved over the duration of Solondz's career, and perhaps why it all feels so nauseatingly familiar."--Mark Steven, author of Splatter Capital: A Guide for Surviving the Horror Movie We Collectively Inhabit"Julian Murphet’s penetrating intelligence meets its match in Todd Solondz’ depthless abjection; surprisingly and superbly, it is a match made in heaven. Or perhaps in hell, the hell of the present that we must trust our most intrepid thinkers to explore, to challenge, and to discover within it not salvation but a livable world glowing with the possibility that we can survive it and enter the next world alive."--Joshua Clover, author of Riot. Strike. Riot: The New Era of Uprisings "Julian Murphet's Todd Solondz (published by the University of Illinois Press) makes me willing to at least give the director another look. Murphet defines the filmmaker as a satirist; Solondz isn't just trying to be disgusting but composes his bleak humor as a critique of a disgusting society." --Shepherd Express
£77.35
University of Illinois Press Voicing the Cinema
Book SynopsisTrade Review”Including works by many of film music's finest scholars, the diversity of articles and approaches here is most welcome. Some pieces will prove to be real game-changers, beautifully written and argued.”—Caryl Flinn, author of Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman”Valuable new essays on the ways cinema speaks, sings, shouts, and whispers.”—Claudia Gorbman, author of Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music"The book will intrigue those interested in voice and film studies and the various ways the singing voice can be used to advantage in cinema." --Choice
£87.55
