Film history, theory or criticism Books
University of California Press Beyond the Movie Theater
Book Synopsis
£27.00
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The French New Wave
Book SynopsisThe French New Wave: An Artistic School is a lively introduction to this critical moment in film history by one of the worlda s leading scholars on the New Wave. * Provides a concise account of the French New Wave by one of the worlda s leading film scholars.Trade Review'Michel Marie, legendary cinephile and scholar of French cinema, has fashioned a three-dimensional map of the New Wave ‘School', providing its genesis and morphology as well. The table of contents alone is full of important ideas and promising directions. Yet within this brilliant organization operates the eye and the sensibility of someone who is intimate with these intimate films. What a vast film-culture subtends this tidy study.' Dudley Andrew, Yale University 'In Richard Neupert's extremely readable translation, Michel Marie's French New Wave is just what the directors ordered – a rat-a-tat-tat new look at the Nouvelle Vague that is fresh and irreverent. Michel Poiccard/Jean-Paul Belmondo would have loved it.' Rick Altman, University of IowaTable of ContentsTranslator's Note. Introduction. 1. A Journalistic Slogan and a New Generation. 2. A Critical Concept. 3. A Mode of Production and Distribution. 4. A Technical Practice, an Aesthetic. 5. New Themes and New Bodies: Characters and Actors. 6. The New Wave's International Influence and Legacy Today. Appendix: Chronology of Major Political and Cultural Events. Notes. Bibliography. Index.
£28.45
Harvard University Press The Temptation of Despair
Book SynopsisIn Germany the end of World War II calls forth images of obliterated cities, hungry refugees, and ghostly monuments to Nazi crimes. Drawing on diaries, photographs, essays, reports, fiction and film, Werner Sollors makes visceral the sorrow and anger, guilt and pride, despondency and resilience of a defeated people--and the paradoxes of occupation.Trade Review[A] deeply powerful book. It is a work of scholarship that intersperses critical analysis of movies, photographs, and memoirs of the period with Sollors’s own personal memories of being a frightened child, fleeing Silesia with his mother through a bombed-out and chaotic Germany in 1945… The Temptation of Despair belongs among the most distinguished German reckonings with its own past. Like Sebald, Sollors will have nothing to do with another kind of German reckoning—the lachrymose revanchism of the German right who seem so astonishingly indifferent to the sufferings they inflicted, so woundingly alive only to their own… The Temptation of Despair paints a picture of a society in ruins and a people at the edge of psychic collapse. But it is also a story of temptation overcome. The destroyed cities were rebuilt brick by brick, the refugee wanderers found homes and new lives… [A] wrenching book. -- Michael Ignatieff * New Republic *Elegantly written and subtly argued… The Temptation of Despair is, sub rosa, an extraordinary autobiography. In his examination of the social and cultural forces evolving out of the chaos of Germany’s Stunde Null (zero hour) in April 1945, the author looks back on the culture in which his earliest childhood was embedded. And he does so from the vantage point of a lifetime spent in America’s freedom, thinking about the fates of Jews and African Americans. Sollors’s portrait of 1945–48 Germany, like Proust’s portrait of Paris, is filtered through a sophisticated mind shaped for decades by forces antithetical to those at work on the minds of his subjects. As a consequence, Sollors’s book is not a portrait of the unsavory German reality between 1945 and 1948 (just as Recherche is not a portrait of Paris between 1871 and 1916) but the portrait of an Americanized mind in motion trying to retrieve a lost time. It is the intensity, subtlety, and suppleness of that mind that makes The Temptation of Despair a great book. -- Susanne Klingenstein * Weekly Standard *[Sollors’s] new book returns fascinatingly to the ruined landscape of his childhood. He argues that we’re wrong to see the Allied occupation as a prelude to the West German economic miracle. The occupation is often remembered as the moment when young Germans took to jazz and, like Sollors, aped the casual manner of the American soldiers posted in their country, but it was primarily a time of hunger and misery, as the Germans burrowed into ruins, or joined crowds of ragged [Displaced Persons] trekking across the country. -- Lara Feigel * London Review of Books *[A] marvelous new work on World War II–era Germany… This book [is] one of those rarities in academia: a volume that is the product of excellent scholarship, as well as deep introspection. -- Shyam K. Sriram * PopMatters *Anyone who reads this book will gain an important understanding of the few crucial years between Germany’s defeat and its emergence as a free country. -- Robert C. Conrad * Antioch Review *Another Age of Lead: Germany’s immediate post-war years. If there were such a thing as Pandora’s coffin, this book would be its unearthing and opening. -- Wolfgang Schivelbusch, author of In a Cold Crater: Cultural and Intellectual Life in Berlin 1945–1946As a child Sollors was carried in his mother’s arms across war-torn Germany, played in the ruins, and witnessed the Auschwitz Trials. Now he turns his gaze to the culture that came out of World War II—film director Billy Wilder, photographer Fred Kochmann, and the bestselling A Woman in Berlin, to name just a few. The Temptation of Despair tells fascinating stories of the unfathomable odyssey that is Germany after Hitler and the Holocaust. -- Adrienne Kennedy, Anisfield–Wolf Book Award Lifetime Achievement winnerWith attentive honesty and scrupulous openness, Sollors captures the utter untowardness of times and things in the making. The result is a complex pleasure—brave, broad, bracing, hugely intelligent, and unfailingly fresh. -- Gish Jen, author of Tiger Writing: Art, Culture, and the Interdependent Self
£32.36
Harvard University Press Muslims in the Movies
Book SynopsisMuslims in the Movies provides an introduction to the subject of Muslims and film for new readers while also serving as new works of critical analysis for scholars of cinema. This collection explores issues of identity, cultural production, and representation through the depiction of Muslims on screen and how audiences respond to these images.Trade ReviewMuslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology brings together a stunning array of scholarship on the representations of Muslims around the world. From drama to romantic comedies, the chapters deftly explore themes of gender and sexuality, censorship, religiosity, conversion, and secularism. With its innovative comparative analysis of both Muslim-majority and Western societies, this is an urgent and highly original contribution to our understanding of how Muslims are represented across media cultures. -- Evelyn AlsultanyWe often treat Muslims in terms of black or white, either or. This collection of essays, by some of the world’s leading scholars, throws open the door to a much wider view. It provide a tapestry that deals with the many nuances of Muslim cultures around the world, providing a global perspective on Islam. -- William L. BlizekMainstream Western cinema and storytelling play an influential role when it comes to the representation of Muslim life. Muslims in these stories are often stereotyped and depicted as outsiders. Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology is an exciting new collection that looks beyond this stereotype by bringing together the study of religion and film from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States. Seeking to interrogate the vexed question of Muslim identities from the African American Malcolm X to the Hausa language film industry in Kanywood, this volume will appeal to both the general reader and scholars looking to understand global Muslim communities through a cultural lens. -- Amina Yaqin
£22.46
Princeton University Press The Cinema of Federico Fellini
Book SynopsisThis major artistic biography of Federico Fellini shows how his exuberant imagination has been shaped by popular culture, literature, and his encounter with the ideas of C. G. Jung, especially Jungian dream interpretation. Covering Fellini''s entire career, the book links his mature accomplishments to his first employment as a cartoonist, gagman, and sketch-artist during the Fascist era and his development as a leading neo-realist scriptwriter. Peter Bondanella thoroughly explores key Fellinian themes to reveal the director''s growth not only as an artistic master of the visual image but also as an astute interpreter of culture and politics. Throughout the book Bondanella draws on a new archive of several dozen manuscripts, obtained from Fellini and his scriptwriters. These previously unexamined documents allow a comprehensive treatment of Fellini''s important part in the rise of Italian neorealism and the even more decisive role that he played in the evolution of Italian cinema beyTrade ReviewWinner of the 1992 Book Award of the Agnelli Foundation's Conference Group on Italian Politics and Society One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1992 "Offers rare insight into the life and times of one of the screen's most imaginative auteurs... Like its subject's best efforts, the book is as entertaining as it is enriching."--Variety "Peter Bondanella, an esteemed scholar of Italian film, has committed an act of daring. It's the best kind of daring - unselfconscious and authentic... Courageous in ideational independence, he is equally steadfast in his enterprise - to understand and explicate and important artist's process. He does this to an impressive degree, not with clinical smugness but with relish and respect. His book is a loving and helpful tribute."--The New RepublicTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsCh. 1Origins: Journalism and the Comic Strips3Ch. 2Neorealist Apprenticeship: Fellini as Scriptwriter30Ch. 3Beyond Neorealism: Character and Narrative Form in Early Fellini from Luci Del Varieta to La Dolce Vita68Ch. 4Dreams and Metacinema: Le Tentazioni Del Dottor Antonio, 8 1/2, Block-Notes Di Un Regista, I Clowns, Roma, E La Nave Va, Ginger E Fred, and Intervista150Ch. 5Literature and Cinema: Toby Dammit and Fellini Satyricon227Appendixes to Chapter Five253Ch. 6Fellini and Politics: Amarcord and Prova d'Orchestra262Ch. 7"The Great Fabricator and Dissolver of Clouds": Sexuality and the Image of Women in Giulietta Degli Spiriti, Casanova, and La Citta Delle Donne292Ch. 8La voce della luna and the Cinema of Poetry327A Fellini Filmography335Selected Bibliography345Index361
£40.50
Princeton University Press The Zero Hour
Book SynopsisOffers the study of changes in Soviet cinema that have been taking place since 1985. This title examines a variety of films from BOMZH (initials standing for homeless drifter) through Taxi Blues and the glasnost blockbuster Little Vera to the Latvian documentary Is It Easy to Be Young? and the new wave productions of Wild Kazakh boys.Trade ReviewOne of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1993Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Period of Adjustment3Pt. 1Glasnost: Back to the PresentCh. 1Back to the Present: (Re)presenting the Soviet Past and Feature Films33Ch. 2"We Are Your Children": Soviet Youth, Cinema, Changing Values67Ch. 3"Wherever Will I Begin?" Soviet Women in Cinema and on Film99Pt. 2Glasnost: Down With StutteringCh. 4Is It Easy to Be Honest? Glasnost in the Documentary Film127Ch. 5Down with Stuttering: Soviet Popular Genres and the New Film Language157Ch. 6From Accusatory to Joyful Laughter: Restructuring the Soviet Comic-Satiric Muse187Pt. 3The Islands of the ContinentCh. 7The Islands of the Continent: A Revised Map for Ethnic Cinemas219In Place of a Conclusion: The Zero Hour245Filmography251Bibliography263Index277
£40.50
Princeton University Press Richard Wagner Fritz Lang and the Nibelungen
Book SynopsisExplores the relationship between aesthetics and anti-Semitism in two controversial landmarks in German culture. This book argues that Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Fritz Lang's 1920s film Die Nibelungen exploits contrasts between good and bad aesthetics to address the question of what is German and what is not.Trade Review"This is a smart and thoroughly absorbing book. Its focus is not on a single genre but on the uses that have been made of the Nibelung legend to help shape German national and cultural identity... A subtly argued study of how the works under consideration 'render their politics in an aesthetic register.'"--Herbert Lindenberger, Quarterly Journal of the Modern Language Association "[David J. Levin] deftly executes his readings of Wagner and Lang, and the book's keen, unencumbered prose and practicable assessments ... perhaps a partial dividend of its author's work as Dramaturg at the Frankfurt Opera ... encourages the broad readership of this study."--Kelly Barry, Modern Language Notes "Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen engages in close textual readings in order to shed light on much larger cultural issues and fault lines... This brief summary can barely do justice to the richness and originality of Levin's many brilliant interpretive moves."--Lutz Koepnick, Modernism/ModernityTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceCh. 1Representation's Bad Object: The Nibelungen, Aggression, and Aesthetics3Ch. 2Where Narration Was, There Darstellung Shall Be: Wagner and the Scene of Narration30Ch. 3Viewing with a Vengeance: The Dramaturgy of Appearances in Fritz Lang's Siegfried96Postscript: Disavowal and Figuration: The Nibelungen after the Third Reich141Notes151Works Cited189Index199
£36.00
Princeton University Press Billy Wilder on Assignment
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2021""Longlisted for the Kraszna-Krausz Book Award, Moving Image Category""Longlisted for the National Translation Award, American Literary Translators Association""A revelation, a trove of snappy pieces that give the reader tantalizing glimpses of the mature film satirist."---Marc Weingarten, Washington Post"The brightest moments here let you watch a little more of the human comedy through Billy Wilder’s eyes. Few saw it as clearly he did or had more fun writing it down."---Jeremy McCarter, Wall Street Journal"Readers who come to Billy Wilder on Assignment to find the seeds of the films for which he is famous—nearly all of them, one assumes—will not be disappointed."---Ryan Ruby, Bookforum"A delicious compilation."---Tobias Grey, Financial Times "The most successful story in this collection, ‘Waiter, a Dancer, Please!,’ about being a hoofer for hire at a big hotel, is waspish and (if you allow for the choppy sentences) jazz-era excitable, New Yorker–ish, with a self-deprecating turn and a fairly urbane sense of the perfectly ridiculous."---Andrew O'Hagan, New York Review of Books"Long before he became the celebrated filmmaker of 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Some Like It Hot' and 'The Apartment,' a young Billy Wilder worked briefly as a dancer for hire in the ballroom of a fashionable Berlin hotel. As he described the endeavor . . . for a German newspaper in 1927, 'This is no easy way to earn your daily bread, nor is it the kind that sentimental, softhearted types can stomach. But others can live from it.' Wilder’s observations on his experience—from one of his many delightfully acerbic pieces of journalism anthologized in Billy Wilder on Assignment . . . get to the heart of our enduring obsessions with show business and the performing arts."---Dave Itzkoff, New York Times"Sharp and witty. . . . Full of glorious turns of phrase, entertaining narratives, and quirky characters. . . . . Thumbing through Wilder’s essays from the 1920s will make you feel as if you are enjoying yourself at a German coffeehouse, catching up on popular culture, and planning your next weekend adventure in the Weimar Republic. Isenberg and Frisch have done a great service for film historians and fans of classic Hollywood."---Chris Yogerst, Los Angeles Review of Books"An irresistible collection of articles, profiles, and reviews from Wilder’s salad-und-bratwurst days in Berlin, where he worked as a roving journalist, critic, and scene-maker between 1926 and 1930. . . . Isenberg is an expert guide to the Berlin-to-Hollywood axis, and Frisch is a veteran translator."---Thomas Doherty, Tablet Magazine"Billy Wilder on Assignment is, as my colleague, TIME Magazine film critic Stephanie Zacharek kvelled to me in an email, ‘the little book you didn’t know you needed.'"---Jordan Hoffman, Times of Israel"A must-read for film buffs and history aficionados alike."---Tobias Carroll, Inside Hook"This new volume takes in the most significant staging posts of Wilder’s early career."---Gavin Plumley, Literary Review"[Wilder] quickly moved on to Berlin and became a prolific writer of occasional pieces for papers such as Der Querschnitt and the Berliner Börsen Courier. Selections of these articles have been published before but are long out of print, and were never translated into English. Now, thankfully, Professor Isenberg of the University of Texas has put this frustrating situation to rights with a lively anthology, translated by Shelley Frisch into a brisk, punchy English which feels as though it must be an accurate reflection of the young Wilder’s original tone."---Jonathan Coe, Spectator"The opportunity to read Wilder’s journalism in English is welcome. . . . What’s particularly impressive, even slightly eerie, is how many times this young film buff and Americanophile wrote about people he would later work with in Hollywood." * Bookforum *"A delightful and illuminating collection."---Sam Wasson, Air Mail"There is no question that Billy Wilder on Assignment is the most historically important recent book exploring the early days of a major filmmaker. It compiles, for the first time, Wilder’s writings as a young freelance reporter in 1920s Berlin and Vienna. The result is an incredible glimpse of Wilder’s mind at a key age."---Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage"Billy Wilder On Assignment . . . explores the roots of one of Hollywood’s most accomplished and acclaimed directors in the fervid journalistic atmosphere of Central Europe between world wars. . . . Shelley Frisch—one of the nimblest and liveliest translators working today—renders Wilder’s journalism into an English that leaps off the page with deadline urgency. . . . Isenberg's collection offers those interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood valuable new insight into one of its most significant personalities. It is also a vivid account of the vanished world that helped shape Billy Wilder." * Wilson Quarterly *"Let it be said that Billy Wilder on Assignment – Dispatches from Weimar Berlin and Interwar Vienna, is an altogether wonderful read. In fact it reads as if a fine, literary, malt-whiskey."---David Marx, David Marx: Book Reviews"The new anthology Billy Wilder on Assignment proves Wilder's verbal and narrative gifts existed long before he set foot in Hollywood during the 1930s."---Dan Lybarger, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette"Readers will have fun picking out elements, traits and incidents in these lively witty texts and attempting to match them with Wilder’s later cinematic masterpieces."---Alexander Adams, Alexander Adams Art"Billy Wilder on Assignment . . . provides a long-overdue translation of Billy Wilder’s early writings in German. . . . The anthology will be of interest to both the academic and general public."---Nora Gortcheva, EuropeNow"Very nice."---Tom Stoppard, Times Literary Supplement"In this first English-language compilation of Wilder’s early journalism . . . we can see the mischievous humour and love of snappy dialogue characteristic of his later movies."---Monica Porter, The Jewish Chronicle"Billy Wilder on Assignment: Dispatches from Weimar Berlin and Interwar Vienna is a revealing collection of his lively reportage from those two cities. . . . [The book] create[s] a portrait of a man who is so much more complex than a mere cynic."---Kevin Lally, Cineaste Magazine"“Billy Wilder on Assignment is a beautifully assembled collection of the early writings of a master storyteller whose body of work has entertained moviemakers and movie watchers for generations."---Leonora Cravotta, American Spectator
£18.00
MP-KAN Uni Press of Kansas Oliver Stones U.S.A.
Book SynopsisOliver Stone has left an indelible mark on public opinion and political life and has generated enormous controversy and debate among those who take issue with his dramatic use of history. This text brings Stone face-to-face with some of his critics and supporters.Trade ReviewIt is gratifying that an American film artist has done work that needs such spirited discussion. - Stanley Kauffmann in The New Republic; ""This is more than just an explication of Stone's work; it affords a deeper inquiry into how political ideas and 'history' are constructed and conveyed to mass audiences."" - Publishers Weekly; ""An essential addition to film, history, and American culture collections."" - Library Journal
£23.70
MP-KAN Uni Press of Kansas West Side Story as Cinema
Book SynopsisFor millions of moviegoers unable to see the original stage version of West Side Story, director Robert Wise’s adaptation was a cinematic gift that brought a Broadway hit to a mass audience. Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz argues that Wise’s film was not only hugely popular, but that it was also an artistic triumph that marked an important departure in the history of American movie making.
£34.16
MP-KAN Uni Press of Kansas Superheroes Movies and the State
Book SynopsisSets a new standard for exploring the government-Hollywood relationship as it persuasively documents the critical role different government agencies have played in shaping characters, stories, and even the ideas behind the hottest entertainment products.Trade Review"[A] provocative and intelligent exploration of a massively popular cinematic trend [...] both fascinating reading and a lively, argumentative investigation of a popular subject." - DVDChoices.co.uk "Hollywood teems with the US national security state! Like one of the crowd-pleasing multisuperhero crossover movies discussed herein, this book unites two compelling subjects in one remarkable narrative. Jenkins and Secker show how the US military, NASA, and the CIA have successfully shaped the superhero genre even as that genre became a key mechanism by which Americans imagine and reimagine their relationship with the world. Lively, perceptive, and based on painstaking research, including specially declassified documents, this is a vital contribution to the understanding of post-9/11 culture in the United States." - Nicholas J. Cull, professor of communication, University of Southern California, and coauthor of Projecting Tomorrow: Science Fiction and Popular Cinema "This is the best book on the US federal government’s hand in Hollywood’s production of Marvel and DC superhero movies. Jenkins and Secker shed light on a sometimes collaborative and sometimes conflicted relationship between the state’s public affairs offices and the Hollywood studios behind the world’s most globally popular entertainment genre. This is a one-of-a-kind contribution to scholarly and public knowledge about the US state-Hollywood relationship and the geopolitics of creating, telling, selling, and watching superhero movies." - Tanner Mirrlees, president, Canadian Communication Association "Tricia Jenkins and Tom Secker have brought several strands together in this book, and the result is a cogent discussion of the twenty-first-century relationship between superheroes, technology, surveillance, and state-sanctioned violence. Although previous work has taken up this topic in the years since 9/11, Superheroes, Movies, and the State makes a substantial intervention by couching contemporary readings in a longer history of cooperation between Hollywood and Washington that goes beyond the familiar stories of cinematic propaganda and the Office of War Information. The result is a carefully researched, readable, and useful cultural history that occasions important new considerations of the ubiquitous and evolving superhero story." - Robert Moses Peaslee, associate professor, Journalism & Creative Media Industries, Texas Tech University, and coeditor of The Supervillain Reader "A well-researched and sophisticated investigation of how a variety of government agencies, from NASA and the CDC to the CIA and DOD, promote themselves and their agendas through superhero films. As Jenkins and Secker show, the battles between these agencies for control of the government narrative is, itself, epic!" - Stacy Takacs, author of Terrorism TV: Popular Entertainment in Post-9/11 America "I did not believe it possible to uncover sufficient evidence of government script manipulation to create a book specifically on superheroes. I was wrong—and Secker and Jenkins demonstrate it in glorious detail. The collaboration between the US national security state and comic book fiction is an injustice against the film-watching public, especially young people, and the details of how tight a grip the United States wields over these products was stunning even to me." - Matthew Alford, author of Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy and producer of the documentary The Writer with No Hands
£27.50
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Siegfried Kracauer
Book SynopsisThis major new book offers a much-needed introduction to the work of Siegfried Kracauer, one of the main intellectual figures in the orbit of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory.Trade Review"Our Companion in Misfortune is an evocative and engaging portrait with much fresh insight into Kracauer’s wide-ranging and imaginative work as theorist and critic of media and metropolitan experience. Gilloch successfully captures Kracauer’s distinctive voice in its mix of melancholy and sharp wit. Much more than an introduction, this book gives its due to Kracauer as a major figure in the orbit of Frankfurt School Critical Theory." Andreas Huyssen, Columbia University "Kracauer may “rest a while in peace”, but only for a while. Gilloch’s magisterial study, forces a return to Kracauer. Music, film, the city and his own literary attempts tie Kracauer to the modern. The book reveals a thinker who, in responding to the demands of his own time, writes and thinks in a way that addresses the contemporary. There is an acuity of thought that allows Kracauer to engage our modernity. Gilloch’s own power as a writer and a thinker is to stage that engagement. This is an invaluable book whose presence should be both welcomed and celebrated." Andrew Benjamin, Monash UniversityTable of ContentsOur Companion Introduced: An Intellectual Schwejk Part I From Inner Life: Sociological Expressionism Chapter 1 Small Mercies: The Spirit of our Times Chapter 2 Portraits of the Age Part II From Our Weimar Correspondent: The “Newest Germany” and Elsewhere Chapter 3 On the Surface: The Dialectics of Ornament Chapter 4 Berlin Impromptus Part III From the Boulevards: Paris of the Second Empire in Kracauer Chapter 5 Offenbach in Paris Chapter 6 Orpheus in Hollywood Part IV From the New World: Monstrous States, Mental Images Chapter 7 The Caligari Complex Chapter 8 Re-Surfacing Work Part V From the Screen: Redeeming Images, Remembered Things Chapter 9 Film, Improvisation and “The Flow of Life” Chapter 10 Film, Phantasmagoria and the Street Inconclusive: Penultimate Things
£49.50
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Siegfried Kracauer
Book SynopsisThis major new book offers a much-needed introduction to the work of Siegfried Kracauer, one of the main intellectual figures in the orbit of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory.Trade Review"Our Companion in Misfortune is an evocative and engaging portrait with much fresh insight into Kracauer’s wide-ranging and imaginative work as theorist and critic of media and metropolitan experience. Gilloch successfully captures Kracauer’s distinctive voice in its mix of melancholy and sharp wit. Much more than an introduction, this book gives its due to Kracauer as a major figure in the orbit of Frankfurt School Critical Theory." Andreas Huyssen, Columbia University "Kracauer may “rest a while in peace”, but only for a while. Gilloch’s magisterial study, forces a return to Kracauer. Music, film, the city and his own literary attempts tie Kracauer to the modern. The book reveals a thinker who, in responding to the demands of his own time, writes and thinks in a way that addresses the contemporary. There is an acuity of thought that allows Kracauer to engage our modernity. Gilloch’s own power as a writer and a thinker is to stage that engagement. This is an invaluable book whose presence should be both welcomed and celebrated." Andrew Benjamin, Monash UniversityTable of ContentsOur Companion Introduced: An Intellectual Schwejk Part I From Inner Life: Sociological Expressionism Chapter 1 Small Mercies: The Spirit of our Times Chapter 2 Portraits of the Age Part II From Our Weimar Correspondent: The “Newest Germany” and Elsewhere Chapter 3 On the Surface: The Dialectics of Ornament Chapter 4 Berlin Impromptus Part III From the Boulevards: Paris of the Second Empire in Kracauer Chapter 5 Offenbach in Paris Chapter 6 Orpheus in Hollywood Part IV From the New World: Monstrous States, Mental Images Chapter 7 The Caligari Complex Chapter 8 Re-Surfacing Work Part V From the Screen: Redeeming Images, Remembered Things Chapter 9 Film, Improvisation and “The Flow of Life” Chapter 10 Film, Phantasmagoria and the Street Inconclusive: Penultimate Things
£16.14
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Steven Spielbergs America
Book SynopsisSteven Spielberg is known as the most powerful man in New Hollywood and a pioneer of the contemporary blockbuster, America's most successful export. His career began a new chapter in mass culture. At the same time, American post war liberalism was breaking down.Trade Review"Steven Spielberg's America is a tour de force. Frederick Wasser deftly integrates cultural studies, social history, political economy, and reception studies to illuminate relationships between Spielberg and Hollywood, Spielberg's films and audiences, and globalization and America." Eileen Meehan, Southern Illinois University Carbondale "In varied writings, Frederick Wasser has established himself as a trenchant commentator on contemporary movies and the media industry behind them. Now, with his sharp, concise study of Steven Spielberg's complex resonances for America today, Wasser extends his critical reflection in important, new ways. This is a compelling, intelligent take on the director and his social role." Dana Polan, New York University "A masterful case study that illuminates aspects of American politics and culture through the work of one filmmaker. Wasser deftly weaves a sophisticated analysis of Spielberg and his films with a provocative look at corporate Hollywood and capitalist America. A great addition to film and media studies." Janet Wasko, University of Oregon Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vi Introduction: Culture, Politics, Film 1 1. The Formation of Spielberg’s Generation 18 2. Spielberg Gets His Break 39 3. The Shark and the Blockbuster 66 4. E.T. and All Things Private 101 5. Looking to the Past 137 6. The Historical Film 164 7. Spielberg and Dark Visions 193 Coda: Open Questions 215 Appendix 218 Notes 220 Works Cited 224 Index 232
£17.09
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Screen Culture A Global History
Book SynopsisIn this expansive historical synthesis, Richard Butsch integrates social, economic, and political history to offer a comprehensive and cohesive examination of screen media and screen culture globally from film and television to computers and smart phones as they have evolved through the twentieth and twenty-firstcenturies. Drawing on an enormous trove of research on the USA, Britain, France, Egypt, West Africa, India, China, and other nations, Butsch tells the stories of how media have developed in these nations and what global forces linked them. He assesses the global ebb and flow of media hegemony and the cultural differences in audiences' use of media. Comparisons across time and space reveal two linked developments: the rise and fall of American cultural hegemony, and the consistency among audiences from different countries in the way they incorporate screen entertainments into their own cultures. Screen Cultureoffers a masterful, integrated global history that invites media scholars to see this landscape in a new light. Deeply engaging, the book is also suitable for students and interested general readers.Trade Review�Screen culture is culture lived culture yet industrialized, ubiquitous yet iniquitous, pleasurable yet problematic for audiences around the world. Few scholars have the ambition to encompass both a historical and a global/local perspective, but Richard Butsch takes it all on with aplomb, expertly steering us through a wealth of fascinating archival research to reveal the emerging character of globalized media in this still-new millennium."Sonia Livingstone, author of The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age �Richard Butsch�s highly original and very readable overview of the development of screen cultures is particularly striking in the breadth of its chronological and geographical coverage. His knowledge and scholarship, based on an extensive career, ring out from the text.�Richard Maltby, Flinders University �Screen Culture is a meticulously researched work and a welcome response to the demand for a comprehensive textbook on the history of screen culture� students and scholars of film studies will find this book particularly useful.�Rahul Kumar, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television �The undeniable strength of the book lies in its social historical study of different global screen cultures in modern times. ... The synthesis of sociological analyses of audiences worldwide provides an educated account of the role of media cultures in the everyday lives of people around the globe. This includes the rich contextualization of various phenomena: economic, consumerist, nationalistic, colonial and political factors behind the developments of screen media.�Jukka P. Kortti, Journal of Social HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: A Screen Culture History 1 American Cinema to World War One 2 Global Cinema, 1900-1920 3 The Hollywood Studio Era, 1910s-1940s 4 Global Hollywood, 1920s-1950s 5 Western Television in the Broadcast Era, 1945-1990 6 Post-Colonial Television, 1960s-1990s 7 Digital Screens in the New Millennium 8 Using Digital in the New Millennium 9 Globalized Media in the New Millennium Notes Index
£49.50
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Screen Culture A Global History
Book SynopsisIn this expansive historical synthesis, Richard Butsch integrates social, economic, and political history to offer a comprehensive and cohesive examination of screen media and screen culture globally from film and television to computers and smart phones as they have evolved through the twentieth and twenty-firstcenturies. Drawing on an enormous trove of research on the USA, Britain, France, Egypt, West Africa, India, China, and other nations, Butsch tells the stories of how media have developed in these nations and what global forces linked them. He assesses the global ebb and flow of media hegemony and the cultural differences in audiences' use of media. Comparisons across time and space reveal two linked developments: the rise and fall of American cultural hegemony, and the consistency among audiences from different countries in the way they incorporate screen entertainments into their own cultures. Screen Cultureoffers a masterful, integrated global history that invites media scholars to see this landscape in a new light. Deeply engaging, the book is also suitable for students and interested general readers.Trade Review�Screen culture is culture lived culture yet industrialized, ubiquitous yet iniquitous, pleasurable yet problematic for audiences around the world. Few scholars have the ambition to encompass both a historical and a global/local perspective, but Richard Butsch takes it all on with aplomb, expertly steering us through a wealth of fascinating archival research to reveal the emerging character of globalized media in this still-new millennium."Sonia Livingstone, author of The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age �Richard Butsch�s highly original and very readable overview of the development of screen cultures is particularly striking in the breadth of its chronological and geographical coverage. His knowledge and scholarship, based on an extensive career, ring out from the text.�Richard Maltby, Flinders University�Screen Culture is a meticulously researched work and a welcome response to the demand for a comprehensive textbook on the history of screen culture� students and scholars of film studies will find this book particularly useful.�Rahul Kumar, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television �The undeniable strength of the book lies in its social historical study of different global screen cultures in modern times. ... The synthesis of sociological analyses of audiences worldwide provides an educated account of the role of media cultures in the everyday lives of people around the globe. This includes the rich contextualization of various phenomena: economic, consumerist, nationalistic, colonial and political factors behind the developments of screen media.�Jukka P. Kortti, Journal of Social HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: A Screen Culture History 1 American Cinema to World War One 2 Global Cinema, 1900-1920 3 The Hollywood Studio Era, 1910s-1940s 4 Global Hollywood, 1920s-1950s 5 Western Television in the Broadcast Era, 1945-1990 6 Post-Colonial Television, 1960s-1990s 7 Digital Screens in the New Millennium 8 Using Digital in the New Millennium 9 Globalized Media in the New Millennium Notes Index
£18.04
John Wiley & Sons Shooting from the East
Book SynopsisA critical history of filmmaking in Atlantic Canada from the early days of art cinema to the contemporary media industry.
£32.40
McGill-Queen's University Press WestBorderRoad Nation and Genre in Contemporary
Book SynopsisA captivating look at how recent Canadian fiction, film, and television appropriate and redefine American genres.Trade Review"The author makes an engaging, cross-disciplinary, cross-genre, cross-cultural argument for the importance and interaction of the border genre, the road genre, and the American western (as a concept and construct) in cultural production in Canada. An extremely ambitious and innovative study." Jane M. Koustas, Brock University and author of Robert Lepage on the Toronto Stage"Katherine Ann Roberts applies this practice [of North American cultural criticism] to a manageably large set of close readings of Canadian and American literature, television, and film. The interpretations are diligently explanatory. Roberts' chosen texts are not merely representations of a trans/national situation; they are also examples of genres evolving transnationally from American models that are economically incentivized (thus inevitable) but also subject to critique. West/Border/Road is a welcome and significant addition to the scholarly body of work that Roberts synthesizes and expands." Canadian Literature"Through her nuanced awareness of the complexities of an asymmetrical relation between US and Canadian culture, Roberts goes beyond the few existing previous studies of the Western genre in Canada that worked largely contrastively and dismissed US culture as un- Canadian. Roberts begins to show that the engagement with US genres in Canadian culture, as in Vanderhaeghe's works, goes beyond a parodic rejection and warrants a more careful examination." Western American Literature
£77.35
University of British Columbia Press Cinematic Howling
Book SynopsisFeminist film theory has flourished since the 1970s, but faces a double impasse. This work shows how studying women's filmmaking is more effective than criticizing mainstream movies from feminist perspectives. It analyzes films and screenplays by women to consider how women theorize the process and function of storytelling in cinema.Trade ReviewWhat a pleasant surprise that Cinematic Howling: Women’s Films, Women’s Film Theories, a new book for film and cultural studies, has all the elements of a good story with its unconventional title, engaging first person narrative and refreshing writing style! Yet Cinematic Howling is much more than a story about women’s films and feminist theory - it is an innovative theoretical work about gender identity and transnational culture with close readings that focus on the importance of storytelling in selected films by women filmmakers. ... Cheu has written an intriguing academic reference on women filmmakers....Cinematic Howling will prove very useful for feminist film analysis and cultural studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels. While the author of Cinematic Howling reminds us that there are many voices involved in the field of women’s films, some of these voices might need more room for expression in film studies classes, alongside Cheu’s thoughtful book. -- Judith Plessis * Canadian Literature, No. 195, Winter 2007 *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 1 Feminist Film Theory and the Postfeminist Era: Disney'sMulan 2 Howling for Multitudes: Angela Carter's The Company ofWolves 3 The Female Authorial Voice: Marguerite Duras' Hiroshimamon amour 4 Beyond Freud and Lacan: Susan Streitfeld's FemalePerversions 5 Cathartic Meta-narrative: Léa Pool's Lost andDelirious and Barbara Sweet's Perfect Pie (TwoScripts by Judith Thompson) 6 Diasporic Imagination and Transcultural Identity: Clara Law'sThe Goddess of 1967 7 Representing Representation: Agnès Varda's Sans toit niloi (Vagabond) 8 From Text to Context: Metadocumentary and Skyworks 9 Filling the Theory Vacuum: Marleen Gorris'Antonia Notes Bibliography Index
£73.95
University of British Columbia Press Cinematic Howling
Book SynopsisFeminist film theory has flourished since the 1970s, but faces a double impasse. This title shows how studying women's filmmaking is more effective than criticizing mainstream movies from feminist perspectives. It analyzes films and screenplays by women to consider how women theorize the process and function of storytelling in cinema.Trade ReviewWhat a pleasant surprise that Cinematic Howling: Women’s Films, Women’s Film Theories, a new book for film and cultural studies, has all the elements of a good story with its unconventional title, engaging first person narrative and refreshing writing style! Yet Cinematic Howling is much more than a story about women’s films and feminist theory - it is an innovative theoretical work about gender identity and transnational culture with close readings that focus on the importance of storytelling in selected films by women filmmakers. ... Cheu has written an intriguing academic reference on women filmmakers....Cinematic Howling will prove very useful for feminist film analysis and cultural studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels. While the author of Cinematic Howling reminds us that there are many voices involved in the field of women’s films, some of these voices might need more room for expression in film studies classes, alongside Cheu’s thoughtful book. -- Judith Plessis * Canadian Literature, No. 195, Winter 2007 *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 1 Feminist Film Theory and the Postfeminist Era: Disney'sMulan 2 Howling for Multitudes: Angela Carter's The Company ofWolves 3 The Female Authorial Voice: Marguerite Duras' Hiroshimamon amour 4 Beyond Freud and Lacan: Susan Streitfeld's FemalePerversions 5 Cathartic Meta-narrative: Léa Pool's Lost andDelirious and Barbara Sweet's Perfect Pie (TwoScripts by Judith Thompson) 6 Diasporic Imagination and Transcultural Identity: Clara Law'sThe Goddess of 1967 7 Representing Representation: Agnès Varda's Sans toit niloi (Vagabond) 8 From Text to Context: Metadocumentary and Skyworks 9 Filling the Theory Vacuum: Marleen Gorris'Antonia Notes Bibliography Index
£26.99
University of British Columbia Press Diasporic Chineseness after the Rise of China
Book SynopsisAs China rose to its position of global superpower, Chinese groups in the West watched with anticipation and trepidation. For members of China's diasporic community, the rise of China created ripples of change, influencing communities, culture, and communication, and even challenging the very concept of diaspora. Diasporic Chineseness after the Rise of China examines how artists, writers, filmmakers, and intellectuals from the Chinese diaspora responded to China's ascendancy by representing it to global audiences with a new-found vitality and self-assurance. The chapters, often personal in nature, cover locations as varied as Australia, North America, and Tibet. And yet, the focus of each is the nexus between the political and economic rise of China and the cultural products this period produced, a place where new ideas of nation, identity, and diaspora were forged.Table of Contents1 China Rising: A View and Review of China’s Diasporas since the 1980s / Julia Kuehn, Kam Louie, and David M. Pomfret2 No Longer Chinese? Residual Chineseness after the Rise of China / Ien Ang3 Twenty-Three Years in Migration, 1989-2012: A Writer’s View and Review / Ouyang Yu4 Globe-Trotting Chinese Masculinity: Wealthy, Worldly, and Worthy / Kam Louie5 Textual and Other Oxymorons: Sino-Anglophone Writing of War and Peace in Maxine Hong Kingston’s Fifth Book of Peace / Shirley Geok-lin Lim6 The Autoethnographic Impulse: Two New Zealand Chinese Playwrights / Hilary Chung7 The Provocation of Dim Sum; or, Making Diaspora Visible on Film / Rey Chow8 Performing Bodies, Translated Histories: Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, Transnational Cinema, and Chinese Diasporas / Cristina Demaria9 Dancing in the Diaspora: “Cultural Long-Distance Nationalism” and the Staging of Chineseness by San Francisco’s Chinese Folk Dance Association / Sau-ling C. Wong10 Tyranny of Taste: Chinese Aesthetics in Australia and on the World Stage / Yiyan Wang11 Reconfiguring the Chinese Diaspora through the Eyes of Ethnic Minorities / Kwai-Cheung LoNotes; Bibliography; Contributors; Index
£73.80
University of British Columbia Press Diasporic Chineseness after the Rise of China
Book SynopsisAs China rose to its position of global superpower, Chinese groups in the West watched with anticipation and trepidation. For members of China's diasporic community, the rise of China created ripples of change, influencing communities, culture, and communication, and even challenging the very concept of diaspora. Diasporic Chineseness after the Rise of China examines how artists, writers, filmmakers, and intellectuals from the Chinese diaspora responded to China's ascendancy by representing it to global audiences with a new-found vitality and self-assurance. The chapters, often personal in nature, cover locations as varied as Australia, North America, and Tibet. And yet, the focus of each is the nexus between the political and economic rise of China and the cultural products this period produced, a place where new ideas of nation, identity, and diaspora were forged.Table of Contents1 China Rising: A View and Review of China’s Diasporas since the 1980s / Julia Kuehn, Kam Louie, and David M. Pomfret2 No Longer Chinese? Residual Chineseness after the Rise of China / Ien Ang3 Twenty-Three Years in Migration, 1989-2012: A Writer’s View and Review / Ouyang Yu4 Globe-Trotting Chinese Masculinity: Wealthy, Worldly, and Worthy / Kam Louie5 Textual and Other Oxymorons: Sino-Anglophone Writing of War and Peace in Maxine Hong Kingston’s Fifth Book of Peace / Shirley Geok-lin Lim6 The Autoethnographic Impulse: Two New Zealand Chinese Playwrights / Hilary Chung7 The Provocation of Dim Sum; or, Making Diaspora Visible on Film / Rey Chow8 Performing Bodies, Translated Histories: Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution, Transnational Cinema, and Chinese Diasporas / Cristina Demaria9 Dancing in the Diaspora: “Cultural Long-Distance Nationalism” and the Staging of Chineseness by San Francisco’s Chinese Folk Dance Association / Sau-ling C. Wong10 Tyranny of Taste: Chinese Aesthetics in Australia and on the World Stage / Yiyan Wang11 Reconfiguring the Chinese Diaspora through the Eyes of Ethnic Minorities / Kwai-Cheung LoNotes; Bibliography; Contributors; Index
£26.99
MB - Cornell University Press Collaborations with the Past
Book Synopsis"Like the artists studied here, we pick and choose our Shakespeares, and through that labor another story emerges. Frozen in time on the page or screen, some of those collaborations continue to speak, but denuded of their immediate moment and...Trade ReviewCollaborations with the Past is a thought-provoking analysis of Shakespeare's role in key periods of English cultural history, from the Romantics, represented by Sir Walter Scott, through to present-day film, television, and stage productions of The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V. * Review of English Studies *The most probing and productive collaborations with Shakespeare, the English past, and the 'woman's part’ recorded in these pages are arguably those undertaken by Diana E. Henderson herself, in a performance made the more compelling by the unusual blend of intelligence and sheer scholarly panache with which it is tendered. * Comparative Drama *Table of ContentsShake-shifting: An IntroductionPart One: Novel Transformations1. Bards of the Borders: Scott's Kenilworth, the Nineteenth Century’s Shakespeare, and the Tragedy of Othello2. A Fine Romance: Cymbeline, [Jane Eyre], and Mrs. DallowayPart Two: Media Crossings3. The Return of the Shrew: New Media, Old Stories, and Shakespearean Comedy4. What’s Past Is Prologue: Shakespeare’s History and the Modern Performance of Henry VBibliography Index
£55.25
Cornell University Press Moscow Prime Time How the Soviet Union Built the
Book SynopsisA portrait of the Soviet mass media from the end of World War II through the 1970s.Trade ReviewKristin Roth-Ey's Moscow Prime Time interweaves an analysis of Soviet cinema 'as an industry' with the much-less studied phenomena of Soviet radio and television.... Roth-Ey successfully connects the history of post-Stalinist mass media to the broader struggle for power and influence during the cold war.... Moreover, Roth-Ey's book contributes positively to the growing historiography on the Soviet Union after Stalin with its focus on mid-level institutional actors within the Soviet system, which thankfully takes us beyond the traditional dissident/repressive-state dichotomy of scholarship on this period. -- Joshua First * Technology and Culture *Not only does Kristin Roth-Ey provide a wealth of fascinating details about subjects such as Soviet ticket sales for domestic and foreign feature films, she also analyzes the multiple tensions that constrained post-Stalinist mass media production, and develops a consistent, powerful argument. Moscow Prime Time is a meticulous, well-written, and original book, a fascinating read. * Russian Review *This insightful study is a strong addition to the growing body of work concerning Soviet media culture during the Cold War.... It is a compelling, well-documented, articulate examination of the processes, products, and effects of the Soviet film, radio, and television industries. Roth-Ey argues that the Soviets' success at creating an indigenous popular culture became a major part of the USSR's eventual downfall, since the media in which the culture was expressed were inherently skewed toward a non-Soviet worldview. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Soviet Culture in the Media Age 1. The Soviet Film Industry: Defining Cinematic Success after Stalin 2. The New Soviet Movie Culture 3. What Was Said When the Muses Were Heard: Foreign Radio in Soviet Contexts 4. Finding a Home for Television in the USSR 5. Television and Authority in Soviet Culture EpilogueSelected Bibliography Acknowledgments Index
£37.80
Cornell University Press The Cinema of Globalization
Book SynopsisTom Zaniello's fascinating new guide to films about globalization—its origins, its relationship with colonialism, neocolonialism, the growth of migratory labor, and movements to counter or protest its adverse effects—offers readers and viewers the...Trade ReviewA clear and easy-to-navigate survey of films dealing with different aspects of globalization.... Strongly geared to educators, programmers and other concerned citizens, the main value of The Cinema of Globalization is simply in alerting the reader to the wealth of material that is out there awaiting discovery. The individual entries are generally informative on the content of films and the key issues covered.... It is a wonderful resource for dipping into and finding what you didn't know you were looking for. -- Catherine Lupton * Vertigo *It was bound to happen. A societal trend gathers enough steam to warrant not just one movie or a handful of films, but an entire genre. Just so you think the genre didn't begin and end with Dirty Pretty Things, Tom Zaniello, has assembled an eminently workable guide to more than 200 films where globalization and the mobile market for human capital registers in the plot. Zaniello doesn't offer his own thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Rather, he gives a rather dispassionate plot summary and includes at least one article on the film-often, a published critical review-that prospective viewers can read for further context and insight. Zaniello points to additional literature on the broad subject areas of the filmmakers, as well as a topical index at book's end. Not surprisingly, Wal-Mart merits its own citation, one of the largest in the index. This could be an indispensable reference work for an eyes-open labor studies program. A credit course would be feasible, either on globalization films, or on labor films, based on Zaniello's earlier work. Or these could be extra-credit options. This would also serve as a terrific resource if students wanted to start a film discussion group, since distribution details for virtually every film listed are included. * Labor Studies Journal *
£22.94
Cornell University Press Collaborations with the Past
Book SynopsisLike the artists studied here, we pick and choose our Shakespeares, and through that labor another story emerges. Frozen in time on the page or screen, some of those collaborations continue to speak, but denuded of their immediate moment and surroundings; we are left to supplement the traces. In recovering that past, the present takes on greater clarity and contrast. But the proof must be in the telling. A writer lifts a pen. Enter the multiple forcespolitical and economic, psychological, formal, and technicalthat serendipitously transform imagination into memory. Let the collaborative play begin.from the IntroductionFocusing on key writers, actors, theater directors, and filmmakers who have kept Shakespeare at the center of their endeavors over the past two hundred years, Collaborations with the Past illuminates not only the playwright''s work but also the choices and responsibilities involved in re-creating culture, and the ingenuity and peril of the artistic processTrade ReviewCollaborations with the Past is a thought-provoking analysis of Shakespeare's role in key periods of English cultural history, from the Romantics, represented by Sir Walter Scott, through to present-day film, television, and stage productions of The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V. * Review of English Studies *The most probing and productive collaborations with Shakespeare, the English past, and the 'woman's part’ recorded in these pages are arguably those undertaken by Diana E. Henderson herself, in a performance made the more compelling by the unusual blend of intelligence and sheer scholarly panache with which it is tendered. * Comparative Drama *Table of ContentsShake-shifting: An IntroductionPart One: Novel Transformations1. Bards of the Borders: Scott's Kenilworth, the Nineteenth Century’s Shakespeare, and the Tragedy of Othello2. A Fine Romance: Cymbeline, [Jane Eyre], and Mrs. DallowayPart Two: Media Crossings3. The Return of the Shrew: New Media, Old Stories, and Shakespearean Comedy4. What’s Past Is Prologue: Shakespeare’s History and the Modern Performance of Henry VBibliography Index
£25.19
Cornell University Press Moscow Prime Time
Book SynopsisA portrait of the Soviet mass media from the end of World War II through the 1970s.Trade ReviewKristin Roth-Ey's Moscow Prime Time interweaves an analysis of Soviet cinema 'as an industry' with the much-less studied phenomena of Soviet radio and television.... Roth-Ey successfully connects the history of post-Stalinist mass media to the broader struggle for power and influence during the cold war.... Moreover, Roth-Ey's book contributes positively to the growing historiography on the Soviet Union after Stalin with its focus on mid-level institutional actors within the Soviet system, which thankfully takes us beyond the traditional dissident/repressive-state dichotomy of scholarship on this period. -- Joshua First * Technology and Culture *Not only does Kristin Roth-Ey provide a wealth of fascinating details about subjects such as Soviet ticket sales for domestic and foreign feature films, she also analyzes the multiple tensions that constrained post-Stalinist mass media production, and develops a consistent, powerful argument. Moscow Prime Time is a meticulous, well-written, and original book, a fascinating read. * Russian Review *This insightful study is a strong addition to the growing body of work concerning Soviet media culture during the Cold War.... It is a compelling, well-documented, articulate examination of the processes, products, and effects of the Soviet film, radio, and television industries. Roth-Ey argues that the Soviets' success at creating an indigenous popular culture became a major part of the USSR's eventual downfall, since the media in which the culture was expressed were inherently skewed toward a non-Soviet worldview. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Soviet Culture in the Media Age 1. The Soviet Film Industry: Defining Cinematic Success after Stalin 2. The New Soviet Movie Culture 3. What Was Said When the Muses Were Heard: Foreign Radio in Soviet Contexts 4. Finding a Home for Television in the USSR 5. Television and Authority in Soviet Culture EpilogueSelected Bibliography Acknowledgments Index
£26.59
Cornell University Press Telling October
Book SynopsisAll revolutionary regimes seek to legitimize themselves through foundation narratives that, told and retold, become constituent parts of the social fabric, erasing or pushing aside alternative histories. Frederick C. Corney draws on a wide range of...Trade ReviewA brief review can hardly do justice to this rich study, which combines extensive archival research with an innovative methodology. Arguing that memory is not innate but rather shaped in the ongoing process of its recollection and narration. Corney places the dynamic production of memory at center stage. The approach and argument are largely persuasive.... Telling October deserves a wide readership not only among historians of Russia but also among scholars interested in the history of revolutions and the problem of memory more broadly. It could also be usefully integrated into advanced undergraduate and graduate teaching on the Russian revolution. * Slavic Review *In this path-breaking and most stimulating book, Corney examines the history of the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution from a new perspective. Instead of focusing his attention on the events of that year and those leading up to it, the author explores how these events were interpreted during the first decade after 1917.... This theoretically sophisticated book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject and pays special attention to ritual practices, how language was used, and other aspects of memory culture. * Choice *The events of October 1917 did not become 'the October Revolution' until the Bolshevik revolutionaries who came to power undertook a concerted effort to make it so. This is the thesis of Frederick C. Corney's excellent new book, Telling October.... This is an important book and one well worth reading. The institutionalization of the memories of October had to be carefully managed, as Corney shows. His book is an excellent antidote to both Soviet and Western accounts which simply focus on the Military Revolutionary Committee, as if the Bolshevik party make the October Revolution in ten days. Rather, as the reader will find out, it was the memories of the October Revolution that had to be carefully crafted. * The Russian Review *
£26.59
Johns Hopkins University Press Filmmaking by the Book Italian Cinema and
Book SynopsisEach of the filmmakers studied here define their own authorial task in relation to that of the literary precursor, and insert "umbilicalscenes or "allegories of adaptationto teach viewers how to read their cinematic rewriting of literary sources.Trade ReviewMarcus' approach to her subject is extremely interesting. The result is a challenging book, packed full of new and original ideas... It is exciting, and it confirms Marcus' reputation as one of the most innovative Italianists working today. Italian Studies An important and original book that breaks new ground and provides compelling interpretations of Italy's most important directors and their experiences with adaptations of literary works. -- Peter Bondanella MLNTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Literature and Filme: Negotiating the TermsChapter 1. Visonti's La terra trema: The Typology of AdaptationChapter 2. Visonti's Leopard: The Politics of AdaptationChapter 3. De Sica's Two Women: Realigning the GazeChapter 4. De Sica's Garden of the Finzi-Continis: An Escapist Paradise LostChapter 5. Pasolini's Gospel According to St. Matthew: The Gaze of FaithChapter 6. Pasolini's Decameron: Writing With BodiesChapter 7. The Tavianis' Padre padrone: The Critical Acquisition of CodesChapter 8. The Tavianis' Kaos: The Poetics of AdaptationChapter 9. Fellini's Casanova: Adaptation by Self-ProjectionChapter 10. Fellini's La voce della luna: Resisting PostmodernismAppendix: Film Synopsis and CreditsNotesIndex
£24.75
University of Nebraska Press Picturing Indians
Book SynopsisLiza Black critically examines the inner workings of post–World War II American films and production studios that cast American Indian extras and actors as Native people, forcing them to come face to face with mainstream representations of “Indianness.” Trade Review“A refreshing take on an old story, one that has too often emphasized settler colonial tropes at the expense of Indigenous experiences. . . . Picturing Indians is an important and impressive contribution to a growing body of historical literature that asks us ‘to look at the movies as a site of work as well as art.’ . . . More importantly, [Black] demands that we reckon with the physical presence of Native people in the movie industry, where they exercised their own judgment and made their own meanings for the work they performed within the constraints of the studio system.”—Andrew Fisher, American Historical Review “A significant contribution to the growing Indigenous studies scholarship in the area of film and media studies.”—Angelica Lawson, Western Historical Quarterly “Fresh and original. . . . Picturing Indians represents a critical contribution to the field of Native American representations in film with its study of labor history and analysis.”—Michelle Raheja, Film Quarterly"In both method and content, this book charts a new movement in Indigenous film studies in particular and film studies in general. It is welcome, indeed."—Jennifer L. Jenkins, Southwestern Historical Quarterly“Black’s study of the lives, labor, and organized guilds of Native American and (faux) Native American actors within the Hollywood film industry is not a recuperative gesture, but instead it is a radical intervention that turns the tables on the simple vilification of the Hollywood Indian and the settler colonialist ideology imbued within the films.”—Andre Seewood, American Indian Quarterly "This book is necessary reading to anyone interested in studying Native American visual representation."—Steve Pelletier, American Indian Culture and Research Journal“Meticulously researched, this engrossing volume fills a deep void in both film studies and Native American history.”—Karla Strand, Ms. Magazine “Liza Black systematically studies Indian characters in the Hollywood films of the l940s and l950s and shows how film created a single type of Indian for Native and non-Native actors, though the latter often received higher pay. Black disables this construct, and she offers a stunning history of the experiences of Native American actors who worked in the film industry during these years.”—Lisbeth Haas, author of Saints and Citizens: Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California“Liza Black’s exhaustively researched study of American Indian actors fills a gap in scholarship on Native American performance by focusing on the most influential and damaging period for Hollywood’s representations of Native peoples. Highlighting their efforts to make a living in the film industry and negotiate its expectations, Black powerfully demonstrates Native people’s survival and agency, as well as the ways popular culture created and abetted narratives that continue to support indigenous erasure and dispossession.”—Nicolas G. Rosenthal, author of Reimagining Indian Country: Native American Migration and Identity in Twentieth-Century Los AngelesTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. “Just Like a Snake You’ll Be Crawling in Your Own Shit”: American Indians and White Narcissism 2. “Indians Agree to Perform and Act as Directed”: Urban Indian (and Non-Indian) Actors 3. “Not Desired by You for Photographing”: The Labor of American Indian (and Non-Indian) Extras 4. “White May Be More Than Skin Deep”: Whites in Redface 5. “A Bit Thick”: The Transformation of Indians into Movie Indians 6. “Dig Up a Good Indian Historian”: The Search for Authenticity Epilogue Notes Bibliography Filmography Index
£48.60
Stanford University Press Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai 192243
Book SynopsisThis volume aims both to establish cinema as a vital force in Shanghai culture and to direct attention to early Chinese cinema, a crucial chapter in Chinese cultural history long neglected by Western scholars. The book will appeal to scholars whose interests lie not just in film studies and Chinese history, but in the fields of modernity, urban studies, and popular culture.Trade Review"This landmark volume on early Chinese cinema is testament to the burgeoning of high-quality American-based research on Chinese cinema in general . . . .A substantial contribution to scholarship both on Chinese cinema and Republican China . . . .The achievements of the essays are threefold. They produce new empirical knowledge about areas hitherto neglected. They correct existing misapprehensions. And they open up important debates for further consideration." -- Journal of Asian HistoryTable of ContentsList of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Note on romanization; List of contributors; 1. Introduction: cinema and urban culture in republican Shanghai Yingjin Zhang; Part I. Screening Romance: Teahouse, Cinema, Spectator: 2. Teahouse, shadowplay, bricolage: laborer's love and the question of early Chinese cinema Zhen Zhang; 3. The Romance of the Western Chamber and the classical subject film in 1920s Shanghai Kristine Harris; 4. The urban Milieu of Shanghai cinema, 1930-40: some explorations of film audience, film culture, and narrative conventions Leo Ou-fan Lee; Part II. Imaging Sexuality: Cabaret Girl, Movie Star, Prostitute: 5. Selling souls in sin city: Shanghai singing and dancing hostesses in print, film, and politics, 1920-49 Andrew D. Field; 6. The good, the bad and the beautiful: movie actress and public discourse in Shanghai, 1920s-1930s Michael G. Chang; 7. Prostitution and urban imagination: negotiating the public and the private in Chinese films of the 1930s Yingjin Zhang; Part III. Constructing identity: Nationalism, Metropolitanism: 8. Constructing a new national culture: film censorship and the issues of Cantonese dialect, superstition, and sex in the Nanjing decade Zhiwei Xiao; 9. Metropolitan sounds: music in Chinese films of the 1930s Sue Tuohy; 10. 'Her traces are found everywhere': Shanghai, Li Xianglan, and the 'Greater East Asia film sphere' Shelley Stephenson; Filmography; Notes; Selected bibliography; Character list; Index.
£28.80
Stanford University Press The Matrix of Visual Culture
Book SynopsisThis book explores Gilles Deleuze''s contribution to film theory. According to Deleuze, we have come to live in a universe that could be described as metacinematic. His conception of images implies a new kind of camera consciousness, one that determines our perceptions and sense of selves: aspects of our subjectivities are formed in, for instance, action-images, affection-images and time-images. We live in a matrix of visual culture that is always moving and changing. Each image is always connected to an assemblage of affects and forces. This book presents a model, as well as many concrete examples, of how to work with Deleuze in film theory. It asks questions about the universe as metacinema, subjectivity, violence, feminism, monstrosity, and music. Among the contemporary films it discusses within a Deleuzian framework are Strange Days, Fight Club, and Dancer in the Dark.Trade Review“...a rigorous, progressive, and thought-provoking study.”—Leonardo ReviewsTable of ContentsContents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
£22.49
Stanford University Press Disintegration in Frames
Book SynopsisDisintegration in Frames explores the relationship between aesthetics and ideology in the Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav cinema, with emphasis on issues of nationalism, internationalism, and interethnic relations.Trade Review"As Catherine Portugues put it in her evaluation of the book, Disintegration in Frames will find its audience among both academics and curious readers. On the other hand, Levi's volume could be used as a very informative handbook for various types of college courses. On the other hand, the book will allow those who simply enjoy watching the movies that Levi analyzes to begin to see them as a product of the times in which they were made." -- Bojan Belic * University of Washington *"Disintegration in Frames alerts readers to the vibrancy and genius of Yugoslav/post-Yugoslav cinema and will make them want to rush to the nearest video store." -- CHOICE"Disintegration in Frames foregrounds the politics and aesthetics of Balkan cinema for both an academic audience and a more general readership. Levi's impressive command of contemporary cultural studies—its reading practices and theoretical perspectives—at once deepens and amplifies the work of other contemporary film scholars of Balkan cinema, providing a fresh perspective grounded in historiography." -- Catherine Portuges * University of Massachusetts, Amherst *"Although the post-Yugoslav war is today half-forgotten, it was never really accounted for: its murderous violence continues to haunt us all. Levi's analysis is one of the few serious attempts at understanding its ideological roots and investments. He does not approach the catastrophe directly, but through its echoes in Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav cinema. However, far from using cinema just as an external illustration, Levi provides an immanent analysis at the highest theoretical level, detecting ideological dimensions in stylistic shifts and formal procedures. The results are breathtaking. The complicity and involvement of many Yugoslav cineasts celebrated in the West, Emir Kusturica the first among them, is fully demonstrated. In this book, contemporary cinema has definitely lost its political innocence. A book not only for all those interested in today's cinema, but, perhaps even more, for all who want to understand explosions of ethnic violence—and our co-responsibility for it. There are no innocent bystanders in Levi's book!" * Slavoj Zizek *Table of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Acknowledgments XXX @toc2:Introduction 1 @toc2:1. The Black Wave and Marxist Revisionism 000 @toc3:New Yugoslav Film 000 Sex and the Socialist Revolution 000 Montage: Praxis 000 The Raw Image 000 Tito and Jesus 000 @toc2:2. Yugoslavism Without Limit 000 @toc3:New Primitivism 000 Sarajevo Surrealists 000 "Sucking the Wooden Pole" 000 From the War-Torn Sarajevo 000 @toc2:3. Aesthetics of Nationalist Pleasure 000 @toc3:The Father 000 An Aesthetic of the Genitofugal Libido 000 Yugoslavism with (Ethnocentric) Reserve 000 The Question of Responsibility 000 Enjoyment as Danse Macabre 000 @toc2:4. Hatred Explained, Hatred Legitimized 000 @toc3:"Inevitable Wars" 000 War Veteran as Filmmaker 000 Collective Belief 000 Croats as Serb Extremists 000 Transvestites, Punks, and (Once Again) New Primitivs 000 Joke, and Its Relation to War 000 @toc2:5. Of Ethnic Enemy as Acousmetre 000 @toc3:Politics and Noise 000 Ogre in a Boar's Head 000 Contra Essentialism 000 @toc2:Post Scriptum 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Bibliography 000 Index 000
£45.00
Stanford University Press Becoming Visionary
Book SynopsisBecoming Visionary: Brian De Palma's Cinematic Education of the Senses is an examination of the logic governing the work of a major American artist that is, at the same time, a general philosophical examination of the logic of meaning governing all the major filmic categories—frame, camera movement, editing cut, close-up, and the relations between vision and sound.Trade Review"This book's analysis of individual films are among the deepest known to me, tireless and surprising to the end, unswervingly following the experience or conviction that film, in its high instances (more numerous than a hasty glance announces) deserves the attention due to, rewarded by, a great art. If there is such a field in the offing as Film and Philosophy, Peretz's book must form a notable piece of its curriculum."—Stanley Cavell, Harvard University"Modestly framed as an attempt to lift Brian de Palma from the category of Hitchcock imitator and restore his unique vision, and as a rethinking of the function of the frame in film, Becoming Visionary opens into a brilliant speculation on cinema itself, on cinema as an apparatus of sensation. A certain mirror paradox—how can what is limited contain the reflection of what is infinitely more vast?—thus defines the method and argument of this stunning, breakaway book. Philosophy and film have never seemed more suited for mutual enlightenment than in Peretz's deft analysis." -- Joan Copjec * SUNY Buffalo *Table of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:FOREWORD: On Eyal Peretz's Becoming Visionary BY STANLEY CAVELL 000 @toc2:INTRODUCTION: THE REALM OF THE SENSES AND THE VISION OF THE BEYOND--TOWARD A NEW THINKING OF THE IMAGE 000 CHAPTER ONE: CARRIE--FILM AND THE WOUNDING OF REPRESENTATION 000 CHAPTER TWO: BETWEEN PARANOIA AND PASSION--QUESTIONING THE FRAME AND THE SCREEN IN THE FURY 000 CHAPTER THREE: FILM AND THE MEMORY OF THE OUTSIDE: OR, CINEMA AS TECHNOLOGY, CINEMA AS PORNOGRAPHY, CINEMA AS SCREAM--BLOW OUT 000 CODA: FOR A NEW ENLIGHTENMENT: FEMME FATALE, A PARADOXICAL HAPPY ENDING; OR, THE IDEA OF A FUTURE 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Index 000
£18.89
Stanford University Press The Impertinent Self
Book SynopsisThis book is about the heroic, ambivalent concept of the self within modernity as outlined in philosophy and exemplified in the filmic genres of the Western and crime and science fiction movies.Trade Review"Much negative (and sometimes positive) excitement was triggered by a pseudo-philosophical phrase about "the Death of the Subject" during the final decades of the 20th century. Today, we tend to see similar transformations in the ways that humans think and speak about themselves, in more sober—and sometimes even more sarcastic—terms. If Gianni Vattimo's "weak Subject" functioned for a long time as a modest alternative to a discourse of self-reflexive negativity, Josef Früchtl's "Impertinent Self" now offers a both realistic and entertaining option of Nietzschean flavor. His combination of profound scholarship and intellectual provocation will certainly appeal to the American reader." —Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Stanford University"In this interesting book, Früchtl argues that the impertinent self collapses the distinction between the private and public, feeling free to announce publicly matters that once were considered intensely private. He is referring to the self as presented in memoirs, so-called reality shows, and talk shows.... The Impertinent Self will be useful for those with interests in cultural studies, film, and/or philosophy.... Recommended."—J. M. Fritzman, Choice
£17.99
Stanford University Press Cinematic Thinking
Book SynopsisThis anthology of philosophical essays explores the interpersonal and political contexts in and against which the films of ten major postwar filmmakers were made.Trade Review"The quality of the writing is uniformly excellent, and all of the contributors focus on philosophical theories that are germane to the films of the director in question." —CHOICE"It's a gala event whenever a group of committed philosophers, particularly ones as innovative as these, collectively writes about film. The unusual liveliness of this indispensable volume arises in part from the fact that these philosophers, in writing about a broad swathe of important cinema from the 1960's to the present, necessarily step into the role of critics, as writers including Benjamin, Barthes, and Blanchot defined this vocation. The collective authors of this useful as well as inspiring book rise to the multifaceted challenges of interdisciplinary cultural critique." -- Henry Sussman"Finally! Useful and intelligent film theory! This collection is a careful and serious negotiation between philosophy and the metaphysical and conceptual worlds produced by the cinema." -- Felicity Colman * University of Melbourne *Table of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Contributors iii @toc2:Introduction: What Can Cinema Do? @tocca:James Phillips 000 @toc2:1 Alfred Hitchcock: Fowl Play and the Domestication of Horror @tocca:Kelly Oliver 000 @toc2:2 Luchino Visconti: Insights into Flesh and Blood @tocca:Alexander Garc!a D'ttmann 000 @toc2:3 Michelangelo Antonioni: The Aestheticization of Time and Experience in The Passenger @tocca:Alison Ross 000 @toc2:4 Robert Altman: The West as Countermemory @tocca:Michael J. Shapiro 000 @toc2:5 Carlos Saura: Cinematic Poiesis @tocca:Krzysztof Ziarek 000 @toc2:6 Glauber Rocha: Hunger and Garbage @tocca:James Phillips 000 @toc2:7 Margarethe von Trotta: Leviathan in Germany @tocca:Cecilia Sj'holm 000 @toc2:8 Rainer Werner Fassbinder: The Subject of Film @tocca:Andrew J. Mitchell 000 @toc2:9 Wim Wenders: The Role of Memory @tocca:Jeff Malpas 000 @toc2:10 Claire Denis: Icon of Ferocity @tocca:Jean-Luc Nancy 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Index 000
£17.99
Stanford University Press Police Aesthetics
Book SynopsisTaking advantage of the partial opening of secret police archives in Russia and Romania, Police Aesthetics explores the intersections between culture and policing in Soviet times.Trade Review"Police Aesthetics is an important study that should be read by anyone interested not only in Soviet Studies but in the question of policing in the world at large, a question that has become increasingly central in the last decade. One can only hope that the publication of this fascinating and well-written book marks the beginning of a wave of studies on 'police aesthetics' in the Soviet era and beyond." -- Eric Laursen * Slavic and East European Journal *"Rarely have I encountered a book that managed to incorporate original archival research (and what findings!), new work in history, literary, and film theory, and close analysis in such a clear and compelling way." -- John MacKay * Yale University *"This is a very important, groundbreaking book, one of the most original and illuminating works I have seen in recent years in comparative Slavic studies. Police Aesthetics will unquestionably position Cristina Vatulescu as one of the foremost scholars of Soviet culture." -- Catharine Nepomnyashchy * Columbia University *"Analyzing Soviet literature, film, and aesthetic theory through the long-obscured prism of the personal police file, Vatulescu insightfully draws upon archival material from both Russia and Romania to shed valuable light on the way the secret police informed—or in formed on, as the case may be—artists of the era . . . Although her subject matter lies in a shadowy, politicized realm located somewhere between 'subversion and complicity,' Vatulescu provides her readers with much needed illumination of that murky penumbral realm." -- Tim Harte * Slavic Review *"[A] most fascinating read . . . Police Aesthetics most deservedly received the Barbara Heldt Prize in 2011: Vatulescu opens up new lines of investigation (to stay within the police jargon) for a reading of the relationship between fact and fiction in Stalinist culture." -- Birgit Beumers * Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema *"Vatulescu's book is undeniably one of the most conceptually original to emerge in Russian cultural studies in the past decade. If forces the reader to think about familiar works in new ways and will doubtless spark debate and future work to test her thesis. It is highly recommended to scholars interested in Russian culture of the 1920s and 1930s in particular and in the aesthetics of authoritarian regimes in general." -- Denise J. Youngblood * Clio *
£81.90
Stanford University Press Releasing the Image
Book SynopsisFrom painting to poetry to new media technologies, this book theorizes "the image" beyond the logic of representationalism and provokes new ways of engaging topics of embodiment, agency, history, and technology.Trade Review"Releasing the Image: From Literature to New Media is essential reading for those wishing to track the continued growth of the image as an unsettled figure in current philosophy and media theory. Dynamically viewed through the different perspectives of this book, the image appears multifaceted, protean, alive, and proliferating—as far from the classical framework of the image-as-static-representation as can be."—Chris Burnett, Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism"Releasing the Image is a stunning collection of essays by leading philosophers and media theorists who break with notions of the image as frozen or static, and refocus the debate around topics of embodiment, agency, virtuality and temporality. A brilliantly orchestrated work of intelligence and scope."—Tim Lenoir, Duke University
£81.90
Stanford University Press Releasing the Image
Book SynopsisFrom painting to poetry to new media technologies, this book theorizes "the image" beyond the logic of representationalism and provokes new ways of engaging topics of embodiment, agency, history, and technology.Trade Review"Releasing the Image: From Literature to New Media is essential reading for those wishing to track the continued growth of the image as an unsettled figure in current philosophy and media theory. Dynamically viewed through the different perspectives of this book, the image appears multifaceted, protean, alive, and proliferating—as far from the classical framework of the image-as-static-representation as can be."—Chris Burnett, Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism"Releasing the Image is a stunning collection of essays by leading philosophers and media theorists who break with notions of the image as frozen or static, and refocus the debate around topics of embodiment, agency, virtuality and temporality. A brilliantly orchestrated work of intelligence and scope."—Tim Lenoir, Duke University
£19.79
Stanford University Press The Beauty of the Real What Hollywood Can Learn
Book SynopsisThe Golden Age of women's films is happening right now-not here, but in France-and Mick LaSalle is your guide.Trade Review[T]he author identifies in French cinema a far greater fluidity about the portrayal of different phases of a woman's life. . . [I]t is written with infectious enthusiasm, and best enjoyed as a companion to the films it so highly recommends."—Muriel Zagha, Times Literary Supplement"LaSalle understands how women in French movies are allowed to be deeper, older, and more real than most Hollywood characters."—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times"France, a country that is serious about love, has a cinema that adores its women. In this fascinating exploration of contemporary French actresses, Mick LaSalle gives riveting interviews with both headliners and the lesser-known stars and offers astute analysis of how they've evolved in the rich soil of their native cinema. He provides a mouthwatering list of films—mostly unseen in this country. The unfavorable comparison with Hollywood and timid American distributors is inevitable. How can it be, how can we have let this happen? I want to see them all, and LaSalle's compendium is both a splendid reference book and a call to arms."—Molly Haskell, author and critic"Of special note are the profiles of French actresses based upon personal interviews and critiques of their films by LaSalle. Not to be missed are the appendices on 'How to See French Films in the United States'. The Beauty of the Real is a welcome and unique contribution to the growing body of cinematic studies literature."—The Midwest Book Review"Mick LaSalle's informal, lucid prose brings alive the magic of French cinema and its brilliant array of female actors, contrasting them with their American equivalents and, in so doing, revealing the distinctive character of French filmmaking. This book is especially valuable for its first-hand interviews with some of France's greatest screen actresses."—Peter Cowie, Film historian, author, and founding editor of the International Film Guide
£22.49
Stanford University Press Postsocialist Modernity
Book SynopsisThis book examines Chinese culture under the condition of postsocialist modernity, in which market reforms have fundamentally altered the fields of film, literature, and cultural debate.Trade Review"This timely, informative study is remarkable in its narrative flow and clarity of argument. McGrath clearly delineates both the problems with market-driven cultural production and the pluralistic gains in freedom and openness by self-initiated, enterprising artists and writers." -- Ban Wang"Postsocialist Modernity is an engaging and well-written analysis that employs an array of primary sources to illustrate the ways literature, culture, and cinema connect to national transformation in an international context. Additionally, McGrath provides accurate and helpful translations of Chinese cultural terminology affiliated with this particular era. The book is strongly recommended to researchers, graduate students, upper-division undergraduates, and anyone interested in contemporary Chinese cinema, literature, and culture." -- Yilian Liao * China Review International *"This is the most lucid, engaging, and theoretically acute account of contemporary Chinese cultural production to have emerged in recent years from the Western academy." -- Andrew F. Jones, University of California"This thoughtful...study explores facets of Chinese culture resulting from China's recent transition from a socialist to a primarily market economy . . . Addressing a select group of texts, including commercial and avant-garde films and literature, McGrath shows that despite China's rapid rise in the global economy the cultural products of this period display a more hesitant, anxious attitude toward modernity." —CHOICE"This clearly written, engaging study of literature, film, debate and theory in contemporary culture beings with the insight that postsocialist Chinese modernity must be understood in the context of global modernity and, more specifically, the global capitalist system." -- China Quarterly
£22.49
Stanford University Press Police Aesthetics
Book SynopsisTaking advantage of the partial opening of secret police archives in Russia and Romania, Police Aesthetics explores the intersections between culture and policing in Soviet times.Trade Review"Police Aesthetics is an important study that should be read by anyone interested not only in Soviet Studies but in the question of policing in the world at large, a question that has become increasingly central in the last decade. One can only hope that the publication of this fascinating and well-written book marks the beginning of a wave of studies on 'police aesthetics' in the Soviet era and beyond." -- Eric Laursen * Slavic and East European Journal *"Rarely have I encountered a book that managed to incorporate original archival research (and what findings!), new work in history, literary, and film theory, and close analysis in such a clear and compelling way." -- John MacKay * Yale University *"This is a very important, groundbreaking book, one of the most original and illuminating works I have seen in recent years in comparative Slavic studies. Police Aesthetics will unquestionably position Cristina Vatulescu as one of the foremost scholars of Soviet culture." -- Catharine Nepomnyashchy * Columbia University *"Analyzing Soviet literature, film, and aesthetic theory through the long-obscured prism of the personal police file, Vatulescu insightfully draws upon archival material from both Russia and Romania to shed valuable light on the way the secret police informed—or in formed on, as the case may be—artists of the era . . . Although her subject matter lies in a shadowy, politicized realm located somewhere between 'subversion and complicity,' Vatulescu provides her readers with much needed illumination of that murky penumbral realm." -- Tim Harte * Slavic Review *"[A] most fascinating read . . . Police Aesthetics most deservedly received the Barbara Heldt Prize in 2011: Vatulescu opens up new lines of investigation (to stay within the police jargon) for a reading of the relationship between fact and fiction in Stalinist culture." -- Birgit Beumers * Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema *"Vatulescu's book is undeniably one of the most conceptually original to emerge in Russian cultural studies in the past decade. If forces the reader to think about familiar works in new ways and will doubtless spark debate and future work to test her thesis. It is highly recommended to scholars interested in Russian culture of the 1920s and 1930s in particular and in the aesthetics of authoritarian regimes in general." -- Denise J. Youngblood * Clio *
£20.89
LSU Press The Elephant of Silence
Book SynopsisA poem is an act of faith because the poet believes in it, contends John Wall Barger in The Elephant of Silence, a collection of essays exploring forms of knowing (and not knowing) that awaken a poetic mind.Trade ReviewWhat a pleasure to follow poet John Wall Barger's singular, brilliant, unpretentious, generous mind, as he writes in an utterly natural and precise way about subjects notoriously difficult to discuss: poetry, film, writing, marriage, even silence." - Matthew Zapruder, author of Story of a Poem"If you can't go to the movies with Barger, do the next best thing and enjoy these sensitive, playful essays on what he's watched, read, and observed, with a poet's blend of thought and feeling." - Adrienne Su, author of Peach State"Barger's essays are all, in some way, about the creative process itself and the audience's role as a vital participant in that process. An author has defined a set of parameters, yet it is up to us, the viewer, to bring our own lived experience to bear it out. Barger navigates this terrain with the ease and imagination of an expert tour guide, a 'Stalker'—in the spirit of Tarkovsky—who understands our own pivotal involvement in helping to create this world we inhabit." - Bill Morrison, director of Dawson City: Frozen Time
£20.85
MP-NCA Uni of North Carolina Forgeries of Memory and Meaning Blacks and the Regimes of Race in American Theater and Film before World War II
Book SynopsisOffers an understanding of race in America through an analysis of theater and film of the early twentieth century. This work argues that economic, political, and cultural forces present in the eras of silent film and the early ""talkies"" firmly entrenched limited representations of African Americans.
£37.95
Northwestern University Press Double Lives Second Chances The Cinema of
Book SynopsisKrzysztof Kieslowski (1941 - 1996) is widely recognised as one of the greatest filmmakers of the latter half of the twentieth century. The first comprehensive analysis of Kieslowski’s entire body of work to be published in English, Annette Insdorf’s book still stands as the best introduction to a uniquely gifted artist.Trade Review“An invaluable introduction to one of the greatest of all filmmakers.” —Roger Ebert“Perceptive, empathetic, enigmatic, Krzysztof Kieslowski was perhaps the great filmmaker of our time, and in Annette Insdorf—who knew him, translated for him, and thoroughly understands his work—he has been rewarded with a writer who couldn’t be better suited . . .” —Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
£21.21
Univ of Chicago Behalf Northwestern Univ Pres Intimations The Cinema of Wojciech Has
Book SynopsisIn this first study in English of a master of Polish cinema, Annette Insdorf explores Wojciech Has's thirteen feature films with the same deep insight of her groundbreaking book on Krzysztof Kieslowski, Double Lives, Second Chances (Northwestern, 2013). Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has is the definitive guide in English to his work.Trade ReviewLike most westerners, I came to Wojciech Has by way of The Saragossa Manuscript, a picture I’ve always loved. It was many years before I was able to catch up with other Has films, for instance, The Hourglass Sanatorium, which came as a revelation. Annette Insdorf’s book provides welcome historical context and insight into the achievement of this singular filmmaker. A critical study of Has is long overdue, and no one but Insdorf could have written it." —Martin Scorsese"Has is a completely unrecognized genius, probably the most talented Polish director since the war with his own sensibility and vision." —Pawel Pawlikowski, director of Oscar-winning film Ida"...Wojciech Has's singular films are long overdue for reappraisal inside and outside his native land. Annette Insdorf's new book is a slim but informative survey of all 14 of his features, emphasizing their diverse aesthetics and influences with concise prose... Tantalizing... Insdorf provides scholarship for others to build on." —Film Comment"... we can now welcome the publication of a monograph by a scholar whose knowledge of Polish film history is as thorough as it is intimate... Insdorf never relinquishes her sharp attention to detail... an exemplary monograph on a great filmmaker." —Cineaste"Insdorf is an exemplary critic whose clear, compact analyses are equally insightful on narrative, thematic, and audio visual levels. Almost every page of Intimations reveals something fresh about the 14 features on which Has’s reputation chiefly rests." —Quarterly Review of Film and VideoTable of Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction Chapter 2 - The Noose (Petla, 1957) Chapter 3 - Farewells (Pozegnania, 1958) Chapter 4 - One Room Tenants (WspÓlny pokÓj, 1960) Chapter 5 - Partings (Rosztanie, 1961) Chapter 6 - Gold Dreams (Zloto, 1962) Chapter 7 - How to Be Loved (Jak byc kochana, 1963) Chapter 8 - The Saragossa Manuscript (Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie, 1964) Chapter 9 - Codes (Szyfry, 1966) Chapter 10 - The Doll (Lalka, 1968) Chapter 11 - The Sandglass (Sanatorium pod klepsydra, 1973) Chapter 12 - An Uneventful Story (Nieciekawa historia, 1983) Chapter 13 - Write and Fight (Pismak, 1985) Chapter 14 - The Memoirs of a Sinner (Osobisty pamietnik grzesznika przez niego samego spisany, 1986) Chapter 15 - The Tribulations of Balthazar Kober (Niezwykla podrÓz Baltazara Kobera, 1988) Chapter 16 - Epilogue: Lodz Film School Appendix: Early Shorts Appendix: Lodz Film School Projects Appendix: The Saragossa Manuscript DVD Liner Notes Notes Photo Captions Filmography Bibliography Index
£22.46
Northwestern University Press Godard and the Essay Film
Book SynopsisOffers a history and analysis of the essay film, one of the most significant forms of intellectual filmmaking since the end of World War II. Warner incisively reconsiders the defining traits and legacies of this still-evolving genre through a groundbreaking examination of the vast and formidable oeuvre of Jean-Luc Godard.Trade Review“Godard and the Essay Film is a first-rate piece of scholarship that makes substantial contributions on a variety of topics, including the essay as literary and cinematic form, film and philosophy, and the study of the indispensable oeuvre of Jean-Luc Godard." —Michael Renov, author of The Subject of Documentary"Godard and the Essay Film is an exceptionally innovative and fresh study that manages to rethink one of the most important and challenging filmmakers in cinema history. In the process, Warner has also engaged one of the most important and prominent waves in modern filmmaking, the essay film. While there is a growing body of scholarship on this subject, Warner's more focused engagement offers keen new insights that extend beyond Godard's work." —Timothy Corrigan, author of The Essay Film: From Montaigne, after MarkerTable of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One: Research in the Form of a Spectacle Chapter Two: A Critical Poetics of Citation Chapter Three: Refiguring the Couple: Love, Dialogue, and Gesture Chapter Four: To Show and Show Oneself Showing: Essayistic Self-Portrayal Coda Stereoscopic Essays for the New Century Notes Index
£999.99
Northwestern University Press Godard and the Essay Film
Book SynopsisOffers a history and analysis of the essay film, one of the most significant forms of intellectual filmmaking since the end of World War II. Warner incisively reconsiders the defining traits and legacies of this still-evolving genre through a groundbreaking examination of the vast and formidable oeuvre of Jean-Luc Godard.Trade Review“Godard and the Essay Film is a first-rate piece of scholarship that makes substantial contributions on a variety of topics, including the essay as literary and cinematic form, film and philosophy, and the study of the indispensable oeuvre of Jean-Luc Godard." —Michael Renov, author of The Subject of Documentary"Godard and the Essay Film is an exceptionally innovative and fresh study that manages to rethink one of the most important and challenging filmmakers in cinema history. In the process, Warner has also engaged one of the most important and prominent waves in modern filmmaking, the essay film. While there is a growing body of scholarship on this subject, Warner's more focused engagement offers keen new insights that extend beyond Godard's work." —Timothy Corrigan, author of The Essay Film: From Montaigne, after MarkerTable of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One: Research in the Form of a Spectacle Chapter Two: A Critical Poetics of Citation Chapter Three: Refiguring the Couple: Love, Dialogue, and Gesture Chapter Four: To Show and Show Oneself Showing: Essayistic Self-Portrayal Coda Stereoscopic Essays for the New Century Notes Index
£74.25
