Film: styles and genres Books
John Wiley and Sons Ltd A Companion to Film Comedy
Book SynopsisThis wide-ranging celebration of the variety and complexity of international film comedy covers work from the days of silent movies to the present on a global scale, including Europe, the Middle East and Asia as well as the United States.Trade Review“And of course, it very much is. An important subject needs an important companion. This is it. That’s all, folks.” (Reference Reviews, 1 January 2014) “This work is indispensible for any student or scholar who, in the spirit of Rabelais, Swift, and Chesterton, will laugh while studying film images. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.” (Choice, 1 July 2013) Table of ContentsNotes on Editors and Contributors ix Comic Introduction: ‘‘Make ’em Laugh, make ’em Laugh!’’ 1 Part I Comedy Before Sound, and the Slapstick Tradition 1 The Mark of the Ridiculous and Silent Celluloid: Some Trends in American and European Film Comedy from 1894 to 1929 15 Frank Scheide 2 Pie Queens and Virtuous Vamps: The Funny Women of the Silent Screen 39 Kristen AndersonWagner 3 ‘‘Sound Came Along and OutWent the Pies’’: The American Slapstick Short and the Coming of Sound 61 Rob King Part II Comic Performers in the Sound Era 4 MutiniesWednesdays and Saturdays: Carnivalesque Comedy and the Marx Brothers 87 Frank Krutnik 5 Jacques Tati and Comedic Performance 111 KevinW. Sweeney 6 Woody Allen: Charlie Chaplin of New Hollywood 130 David R. Shumway 7 Mel Brooks, Vulgar Modernism, and Comic Remediation 151 Henry Jenkins Part III New Perspectives on Romantic Comedy and Masculinity 8 Humor and Erotic Utopia: The Intimate Scenarios of Romantic Comedy 175 Celestino Deleyto 9 Taking Romantic Comedy Seriously in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Before Sunset (2004) 196 Leger Grindon 10 The View from the Man Cave: Comedy in the Contemporary ‘‘Homme-com’’ Cycle 217 Tamar Jeffers McDonald 11 The Reproduction of Mothering: Masculinity, Adoption, and Identity in Flirting with Disaster 236 Lucy Fischer Part IV Topical Comedy, Irony, and Humour Noir 12 It’s Good to be the King: Hollywood’s Mythical Monarchies, Troubled Republics, and Crazy Kingdoms 251 Charles Morrow 13 No Escaping the Depression: Utopian Comedy and the Aesthetics of Escapism in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take it with You (1938) 273 William Paul 14 The Totalitarian Comedy of Lubitsch’s To Be or Not To Be 293 Maria DiBattista 15 Dark Comedy from Dr. Strangelove to the Dude 315 Mark Eaton Part V Comic Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity 16 Black Film Comedy as Vital Edge: A Reassessment of the Genre 343 Catherine A. John 17 Winking Like a One-Eyed Ford: American Indian Film Comedies on the Hilarity of Poverty 365 Joshua B. Nelson 18 Ethnic Humor in American Film: The Greek Americans 387 Dan Georgakas Part VI International Comedy 19 Alexander Mackendrick: Dreams, Nightmares, and Myths in Ealing Comedy 409 Claire Mortimer 20 Tragicomic Transformations: Gender, Humor, and the Plastic Body in Two Korean Comedies 432 Jane Park 21 Comedy ‘‘Italian Style’’ and I soliti ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958) 454 Roberta Di Carmine 22 ‘‘Laughter that Encounters a Void?’’: Humor, Loss, and the Possibility for Politics in Recent Palestinian Cinema 474 Najat Rahman Part VII Comic Animation 23 Laughter is Ten Times More Powerful than a Scream: The Case of Animated Comedy 497 Paul Wells 24 Theatrical Cartoon Comedy: From Animated Portmanteau to the Risus Purus 521 Suzanne Buchan Index 545
£167.36
University of Texas Press Notions of Genre
Book SynopsisWith articles by such luminaries as Susan Sontag, Dwight Macdonald, Siegfried Kracauer, James Agee, André Bazin, Robert Warshow, and Claude Chabrol, this anthology is the only single-volume source for important early writing on genre films.Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction (Barry Keith Grant and Malisa Kurtz) Part I. Comedy 1. Comedy’s Greatest Era (James Agee) 2. Silent Film Comedy (Siegfried Kracauer) 3. Uncle Sam’s Funny Bone (Allen Eyles) 4. Whatever Happened to Hollywood Comedy? (Dwight Macdonald) 5. The Evolution of the Chase in the Silent Screen Comedy (Donald W. McCaffrey) 6. From Kops to Robbers: Transformation of Archetypal Figures in the American Cinema of the 1920s and '30s (Carolyn and Harry Geduld) Part II. The Western 7. The Psychological Appeal of the Hollywood Western (Frederick Elkin) 8. The Western, or the American Film Par Excellence (André Bazin) 9. The Olympian Cowboy (Harry Schein) 10. The Changing Cowboy: From Dime Novel to Dollar Film (George Bluestone) 11. Sociological Symbolism of the "Adult Western" (Martin Nussbaum) 12. Puritanism Revisited: An Analysis of the Contemporary Screen-Image Western (Peter Homans) Part III. The Fantastic 13. Supernaturalism in the Movies (Parker Tyler) 14. Reflections on Horror Movies (Robert Brustein) 15. A Brief, Tragical History of the Science Fiction Film (Richard Hodgens) 16. The Imagination of Disaster (Susan Sontag) 17. Extrapolative Cinema (Ivor A. Rogers) 18. Even a Man Who Is Pure at Heart: Poetry and Danger in the Horror Film (R. H. W. Dillard) Part IV. Crime and Punishment 19. The Gangster as Tragic Hero (Robert Warshow) 20. Evolution of the Thriller (Claude Chabrol) 21. Toward a Definition of Film Noir (Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton) 22. Paint It Black: The Family Tree of the Film Noir (Raymond Durgnat) 23. Introduction to The Gangster Film (John Baxter) Index
£62.90
University of Texas Press Notions of Genre
Book SynopsisWith articles by such luminaries as Susan Sontag, Dwight Macdonald, Siegfried Kracauer, James Agee, André Bazin, Robert Warshow, and Claude Chabrol, this anthology is the only single-volume source for important early writing on genre films.Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction (Barry Keith Grant and Malisa Kurtz) Part I. Comedy 1. Comedy’s Greatest Era (James Agee) 2. Silent Film Comedy (Siegfried Kracauer) 3. Uncle Sam’s Funny Bone (Allen Eyles) 4. Whatever Happened to Hollywood Comedy? (Dwight Macdonald) 5. The Evolution of the Chase in the Silent Screen Comedy (Donald W. McCaffrey) 6. From Kops to Robbers: Transformation of Archetypal Figures in the American Cinema of the 1920s and '30s (Carolyn and Harry Geduld) Part II. The Western 7. The Psychological Appeal of the Hollywood Western (Frederick Elkin) 8. The Western, or the American Film Par Excellence (André Bazin) 9. The Olympian Cowboy (Harry Schein) 10. The Changing Cowboy: From Dime Novel to Dollar Film (George Bluestone) 11. Sociological Symbolism of the "Adult Western" (Martin Nussbaum) 12. Puritanism Revisited: An Analysis of the Contemporary Screen-Image Western (Peter Homans) Part III. The Fantastic 13. Supernaturalism in the Movies (Parker Tyler) 14. Reflections on Horror Movies (Robert Brustein) 15. A Brief, Tragical History of the Science Fiction Film (Richard Hodgens) 16. The Imagination of Disaster (Susan Sontag) 17. Extrapolative Cinema (Ivor A. Rogers) 18. Even a Man Who Is Pure at Heart: Poetry and Danger in the Horror Film (R. H. W. Dillard) Part IV. Crime and Punishment 19. The Gangster as Tragic Hero (Robert Warshow) 20. Evolution of the Thriller (Claude Chabrol) 21. Toward a Definition of Film Noir (Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton) 22. Paint It Black: The Family Tree of the Film Noir (Raymond Durgnat) 23. Introduction to The Gangster Film (John Baxter) Index
£19.79
University of Texas Press Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before
Book SynopsisWith in-depth explorations of six contemporary American and British films and shows, this pioneering volume spotlights black female characters who play central, subversive roles in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.Trade ReviewWhere No Black Woman Has Gone Before does not pretend to be a comprehensive account of black women in speculative film and television, as Mafe makes clear, but it is the first book-length study of black femininity in this area...By attending to the visual and linguistic coding of black and female characters, Mafe exposes biases less explicit than plain exclusion. * Times Literary Supplement *Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before initiates a dialogue about black women in speculative film and television...a compelling contribution to the scholarship on speculative cinema and television, and will serve well scholars, students, and teachers in the field. * Journal of American Culture *Mafe's coda strikes a good balance between reflection and optimism while pointing to possible future directions black women in television and film may go. Mafe's goal of bringing light to subversive portrayals in speculative film and television is laudable and well executed. * Popular Culture Studies Journal *Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before makes a genuine contribution as a pioneering effort in the study of race and gender in sf film and television. * Science Fiction Studies *Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before is concise and accessible with five well-written and theorized chapters…Mafe's narrow focus on representations of black women in non 'obvious block buster films' and in supporting roles raises insightful and useful points about the difference between superficial dismissible black female characters versus complex well-rounded black female characters...Mafe's arguments are sound and her reading of the texts convincing. * Journal of Popular Culture *Ambitious...Mafe’s argument highlights the need for more black female characters in speculative fiction...this text is a first step in the analysis of black female characters in speculative fiction and how difficult it is to find representation when the examples are few and far between. * Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts *[Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before] contributes to the discourse of race and genre in scholarship by expanding upon the complex position of black female characters in film and television that come under the broad banner of 'speculative fiction'...The strength of Mafe's book…lies in her way of reading these films and the black female characters in them. She endorses a mode of spectatorship that allows the conservative and radical tendencies of these films to exist side by side. By doing so, she suggests ways in which black female protagonists can be deconstructive figures, but also open spaces for new styles and tropes in sf. * Science Fiction Film and Television *Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: To Boldly Go Chapter 1. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World: 28 Days Later Chapter 2. Last One Standing: Alien vs. Predator Chapter 3. The Black Madonna: Children of Men Chapter 4. Thank Heaven for Little Girls: Beasts of the Southern Wild Chapter 5. Intergalactic Companions: Firefly and Doctor Who Coda: Final Frontiers Notes Works Cited Index
£63.00
University of Texas Press The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz
Book SynopsisLeading film studies scholars explore the astonishing range of Michael Curtiz, the most prolific director of studio-era Hollywood, whose nearly one hundred films include Casablanca, White Christmas, and Mildred Pierce.Trade Review2018 brings an aptly titled essay collection, The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz. . . Perhaps pointedly, none of the essayists focus on Casablanca (1942). Instead, The Many Cinemas examine genres Curtiz worked in, his handling of political messages and his relations with actors. * Shepherd Express *The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz goes a long way to explaining and clarifying how and why the uncanny medium of cinema makes it a fair claim that filmmakers such as Michael Curtiz were actually painters with light and sound. It’s just that their paintings spoke and moved like living things, because that’s what they were: darkly shining reflections from behind the mirror. * Critics at Large *The twenty essays here amply demonstrate how rich and productive readings of a director's work can be when due attention is paid to easing out the complex webs of collaboration, studio/commercial pressures, external factors (such as censorship), and cultural discourse that contribute to the shaping of film content and reception. * Western Historical Quarterly *Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction. The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz (R. Barton Palmer and Murray Pomerance) 1. Bending It Like Curtiz: Gender and Genre in The Scarlet Hour and The Helen Morgan Story (Rebecca Bell-Metereau) 2. Making a Life with Father (David Desser) 3. The Jewish Jazz Singer Remakes His Voice: Michael Curtiz's Update of the Warner Bros. Classic (Seth Friedman) 4. "Don't Fence Me In": The Making of Night and Day (Mark Glancy) 5. Long Love the Queen: Bette Davis, Curtiz, and Female Melodrama (David Greven) 6. Double-Time in America: Yankee Doodle Dandy (Julie Grossman ) 7. Mildred Pierce: From Script to Screen (Kristen Hatch) 8. Curtiz at Sea: Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, The Sea Wolf, and The Breaking Point (Nathan Holmes) 9. Curtiz in the White House (Bill Krohn) 10. The Spectacle of the Ages: Noah's Ark (Katharina Loew ) 11. Jazz Me Blues: Lo-Fi, Fantasy, Audiovisuality in Young Man with a Horn (Robert Miklitsch) 12. A Setting Sun: The Egyptian (Deron Overpeck) 13. King Creole: Michael Curtiz and the Great Elvis Presley Industry (Landon Palmer) 14. Michael Curtiz's Political Cinema of Sorts (R. Barton Palmer) 15. Curtiz's New Western Aesthetic (Homer B. Pettey) 16. Michael Curtiz's Gamble for Christmas (Murray Pomerance) 17. Film Performance before and after the Code: Mandalay and Stolen Holiday (Steven Rybin) 18. "A Mass of Contradictions": Michael Curtiz and the Women's Film (Michele Schreiber) 19. Devil-May-Care: Curtiz and Flynn in Hollywood (Constantine Verevis) 20. Uncanny Effigies: Early Sound Cinema and Mystery of the Wax Museum (Colin Williamson) Michael Curtiz Filmography Contributors Index
£62.90
University of Texas Press The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz
Book SynopsisLeading film studies scholars explore the astonishing range of Michael Curtiz, the most prolific director of studio-era Hollywood, whose nearly one hundred films include Casablanca, White Christmas, and Mildred Pierce.Trade Review2018 brings an aptly titled essay collection, The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz. . . Perhaps pointedly, none of the essayists focus on Casablanca (1942). Instead, The Many Cinemas examine genres Curtiz worked in, his handling of political messages and his relations with actors. * Shepherd Express *The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz goes a long way to explaining and clarifying how and why the uncanny medium of cinema makes it a fair claim that filmmakers such as Michael Curtiz were actually painters with light and sound. It’s just that their paintings spoke and moved like living things, because that’s what they were: darkly shining reflections from behind the mirror. * Critics at Large *The twenty essays here amply demonstrate how rich and productive readings of a director's work can be when due attention is paid to easing out the complex webs of collaboration, studio/commercial pressures, external factors (such as censorship), and cultural discourse that contribute to the shaping of film content and reception. * Western Historical Quarterly *Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction. The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz (R. Barton Palmer and Murray Pomerance) 1. Bending It Like Curtiz: Gender and Genre in The Scarlet Hour and The Helen Morgan Story (Rebecca Bell-Metereau) 2. Making a Life with Father (David Desser) 3. The Jewish Jazz Singer Remakes His Voice: Michael Curtiz's Update of the Warner Bros. Classic (Seth Friedman) 4. "Don't Fence Me In": The Making of Night and Day (Mark Glancy) 5. Long Love the Queen: Bette Davis, Curtiz, and Female Melodrama (David Greven) 6. Double-Time in America: Yankee Doodle Dandy (Julie Grossman ) 7. Mildred Pierce: From Script to Screen (Kristen Hatch) 8. Curtiz at Sea: Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, The Sea Wolf, and The Breaking Point (Nathan Holmes) 9. Curtiz in the White House (Bill Krohn) 10. The Spectacle of the Ages: Noah's Ark (Katharina Loew ) 11. Jazz Me Blues: Lo-Fi, Fantasy, Audiovisuality in Young Man with a Horn (Robert Miklitsch) 12. A Setting Sun: The Egyptian (Deron Overpeck) 13. King Creole: Michael Curtiz and the Great Elvis Presley Industry (Landon Palmer) 14. Michael Curtiz's Political Cinema of Sorts (R. Barton Palmer) 15. Curtiz's New Western Aesthetic (Homer B. Pettey) 16. Michael Curtiz's Gamble for Christmas (Murray Pomerance) 17. Film Performance before and after the Code: Mandalay and Stolen Holiday (Steven Rybin) 18. "A Mass of Contradictions": Michael Curtiz and the Women's Film (Michele Schreiber) 19. Devil-May-Care: Curtiz and Flynn in Hollywood (Constantine Verevis) 20. Uncanny Effigies: Early Sound Cinema and Mystery of the Wax Museum (Colin Williamson) Michael Curtiz Filmography Contributors Index
£21.59
University of Texas Press Labors of Fear
Book SynopsisHow work and capitalism inspire horror in modern film. American ideals position work as a source of pride, opportunity, and meaning. Yet the ravages of labor are constant grist for horror films. Going back decades to the mad scientists of classic cinema, the menial motel job that prepares Norman Bates for his crimes in Psycho, and the unemployed slaughterhouse workers of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, horror movies have made the case that work is not so much a point of pride as a source of monstrosity. Editors Aviva Briefel and Jason Middleton assemble the first study of horror’s critique of labor. In the 1970s and 1980s, films such as The Shining and Dawn of the Dead responded to deindustrialization, automation, globalization, and rising numbers of women in the workforce. Labors of Fear explores these critical issues and extends them in discussions of recent works such as The Autopsy of Jane Doe, MidsommarTrade ReviewAn intriguing array of essays that consider horror and various forms of labor and work. . . By analyzing and reflecting on these films—and how labor and work in all their forms relate to the terror of the contemporary—this collection illuminates the fears and frights to be found not only in the cinema but also in one's own occupations. * CHOICE *Labors of Fear makes a strong case that the horror genre has, in fact, understood that work is a monstrous presence in most of our lives all along, and the genre has been offering the resources to help us rethink what work can and should be . . . Thus, one of the main accomplishments of Labors of Fear is the simple act of lingering on aspects of work . . . It’s all presented in clear, readable prose, with a minimum of footnotes—well suited for both academics looking to use these essays as jumping-off points for their own work and for horror viewers wanting to find new ways to pay attention to their favorite films. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction (Jason Middleton and Aviva Briefel) Part I. How Horror Works: Killing, Dying, Surviving Chapter 1. Tools of the Trade: A Statistical Analysis of Slasher Hardware (Marc Olivier) Chapter 2. Every Ritual Has Its Purpose: Laboring Bodies in The Autopsy of Jane Doe (David Church) Chapter 3. George A. Romero and the Work of Survival (Adam Lowenstein) Part II. Working from Home: Domestic, Gendered, and Emotional Labor Chapter 4. Sonic Gothic: Listening to the Exhaustion of Gendered Domestic Labor in The Babadook and The Swerve (Lisa Coulthard) Chapter 5. No Drama: Emotion Work in Midsommar (Jason Middleton) Chapter 6. Reproductive Technics and Time: Ectogestational Labor, Biotechnological Horror, Social Reproduction (Alanna Thain) Part III. Stolen Work, Stolen Play: Race and Racialized Labor Chapter 7. “We Want to Take Our Time”: The Hard Work of Leisure in Jordan Peele’s Us (Aviva Briefel) Chapter 8. Racing Work and Working Race in Buppie Horror (Mikal J. Gaines) Chapter 9. The Horror of Stagnation; or, The Perspectival Dread of It Follows (Joel Burges) Chapter 10. Fieldwork: Anthropology and Intellectual Labor in Ari Aster’s Midsommar (Anjuli Fatima Raza Kolb) Afterword: The Work of Horror after Get Out (Catherine Zimmer) List of Contributors Index
£40.50
University of Toronto Press Wayward Feeling
Book SynopsisWayward Feeling asks what contemporary audio-visual culture and aesthetic activisms might tell us about the affective afterlives of historical injustice in post-rainbow South Africa.Table of ContentsIntroduction Bewildering Times (An)aesthetics Wayward Feeling 1. Troubling the Rainbow Promise Spectacles of Promise and Disappointment Quotidian Aesthetics in Video Installations by Berni Searle and Zanele Muholi Wayward Politics 2. Moody, Expectant Teens Visual Youth Autobiography Mood Expectation and Social (Im)mobility: Sarah Chu’s Made in China and Evelyn Maruping’s Where is the Love Surviving Disappointment 3. Managing Public Feeling The Marikana Massacre Pre-emptive Securitisation Accelerated Mourning Counter-affective Lingering in Rehad Desai’s Miners Shot Down Creative Activism 4. Feeling the Fall Feeling Thought, Thinking Feeling Affective Cartographies Towards a Wayward Aesthetics of Commemoration 5. Feminist Resonance Resonant Rage Feminist Acoustics in Gabrielle Goliath’s Personal Accounts, Elegy, and This song is for… Listen Conclusion: Shutting Down Breathe
£41.40
University of Toronto Press Ransom Kidnapping in Italy
Book SynopsisFor over thirty years, modern Italy was plagued by ransom kidnappings perpetrated by bandits and organized crime syndicates. Nearly 700 men, women, and children were abducted from across the country between the late 1960s and the late 1990s, held hostage by members of the Sardinian banditry, Cosa Nostra, and the ’Ndrangheta. Subjected to harsh captivities and psychological abuse, the victims spent months and even years in isolation while law enforcement and the state struggled to find them. Ransom Kidnapping in Italy examines this Italian criminal phenomenon. Alessandra Montalbano argues that abduction is a key vantage point from which to understand modern Italy: it troubled the law, terrified society, ignited juridical and parliamentary debates, and mobilized citizens. Bringing together archival and media materials with the victims’ accounts and diverse forms of cultural response, the book examines ransom kidnapping through the lenses of historiographyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Italy’s Extraterritorialities: Tracing the History of Ransom Kidnapping 2. The Kidnapping of the Golden Hippy 3. The Day Cristina’s Body Was Found 4. Troubling the Rule of Law 5. Trauma and Language in the Kidnapping Victim Memoir 6. The Anatomy of Captivity Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index
£25.19
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi Superheroes on World Screens
Book SynopsisSuperheroes such as Superman and Spider-Man have spread all over the world. As this edited volume shows, many national cultures have created or reimagined the idea of the superhero, while the realm of superheroes now contains many icons whose histories borrow from local folklore and legends. Consequently, the superhero needs reconsideration, to be regarded as part of both local and global culture.
£22.46
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi The Writing Dead
Book SynopsisFeatures original interviews with the writers of today's most frightening and fascinating shows. The Writing Dead features thought-provoking, never-before-published interviews with the top writers and gives the creators an opportunity to delve more deeply into the subject of television horror than anything found online.Trade Review“All the interviews are excellent … Essential for any fans of modern fantastic television.” - Steve Earles, Destructive Music
£26.06
University Press of Mississippi Gender and the Superhero Narrative
Book SynopsisPresents ten essays that explore the point where social justice meets the Justice League. Ranging from comics to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research, engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight and thus inspire change.
£77.35
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi William Friedkin Interviews
Book SynopsisPresents fifteen articles, interviews, and seminars spanning William Friedkin's career. He discusses early influences, early successes, awards, and current projects. The volume provides coverage of his directorial process, beliefs, and anecdotes from his time serving as the creative force of some of the biggest films of the 1970s and beyond.
£81.75
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi See Hear Cut Kill Experiencing Friday the 13th
Book SynopsisThe Friday the 13th franchise is one of the most successful horror film franchises in history. In SEE! HEAR! CUT! KILL!, Wickham Clayton explores several aspects of the films including how the technical aspects relate to the audience, their influence on filmmaking, and the cultural impact of the franchise
£81.75
University Press of Mississippi See Hear Cut Kill
Book SynopsisSean S. Cunningham and Victor Miller's Friday the 13th franchise is one of the most successful horror film franchises in history. To date, it includes twelve movies, a television show, comic books, and video games, among other media. In SEE! HEAR! CUT! KILL! Experiencing 'Friday the 13th,' Wickham Clayton explores several aspects of the films including how the technical aspects relate to the audience, their influence on filmmaking, and the cultural impact of the franchise.Clayton looks at how perspective is established and communicated within the Friday the 13th films, which is central to the way the audience experiences and responds emotionally to these movies. Then he considers how each sequel gives viewers, whether longtime fans or new audiences, a 'way in' to the continuous story that runs through the series. Clayton also argues that the series has not developed in isolation. These films relate to contemporary slasher films, the modern horror genre, and critically suc
£26.10
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi Bloodstained Narratives The Giallo Film in Italy
Book SynopsisThe giallo (yellow) film cycle, characterized by its bloody murders and blending of high art and cinematic sleaze, rose to prominence in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. In Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad, contributors explore understudied aspects of gialli.
£73.80
University Press of Mississippi Bloodstained Narratives
Book SynopsisThe giallo (yellow) film cycle, characterized by its bloody murders and blending of high art and cinematic sleaze, rose to prominence in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s. In Bloodstained Narratives: The Giallo Film in Italy and Abroad, contributors explore understudied aspects of gialli.
£22.46
University Press of Mississippi Imperiled Whiteness
Book SynopsisIn Imperiled Whiteness, Penelope Ingram examines the role played by media in the resurgence of white nationalism and neo-Nazi movements in the Obama-to-Trump era. As politicians on the right stoked anxieties about whites losing ground and being left behind, media platforms turned whiteness into a commodity that was packaged and disseminated to a white populace. Reading popular film and television franchises (Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, and The Walking Dead) through political flashpoints, such as debates over immigration reform, gun control, and Black Lives Matter protests, Ingram reveals how media cultivated feelings of white vulnerability and loss among white consumers. By exploring the convergence of entertainment, news, and social media in a digital networked environment, Ingram demonstrates how media''s renewed attention to imperiled whiteness enabled and sanctioned the return of overt white supremacy exhibited by alt-right groups in the Unite
£80.09
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi Imperiled Whiteness
Book SynopsisArgues that in the Obama-to-Trump era, a variety of media platforms, including film, television, news, and social media, turned white identity into a commodity that was packaged and disseminated to a white populace. The book emphasizes how media coopted a postracial narrative, making whiteness a disenfranchised commodity.
£23.70
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi Cloverfield
Book SynopsisInnovative and intense, Cloverfield was blockbuster filmmaking at its best. The film’s franchising followed the path of high-profile Hollywood properties. This volume provides the first comprehensive overview of the franchise, measuring how it steers between the commercial potential, creative risks, and political challenges in Hollywood.Trade ReviewCloverfield: Creatures and Catastrophes in Post-9/11 Cinema is undoubtedly an exciting contribution to the Reframing Hollywood series. Steffen Hantke uses new and worthy sources to achieve a rounded, cross-sectional appreciation of the film." - Ian Scott, author of American Politics in Hollywood Film
£73.80
MP-MPP University Press of Mississippi Cloverfield Creatures and Catastrophes in
Book SynopsisInnovative and intense, Cloverfield was blockbuster filmmaking at its best. The film’s franchising followed the path of high-profile Hollywood properties. This volume provides the first comprehensive overview of the franchise, measuring how it steers between the commercial potential, creative risks, and political challenges in Hollywood.Trade ReviewCloverfield: Creatures and Catastrophes in Post-9/11 Cinema is undoubtedly an exciting contribution to the Reframing Hollywood series. Steffen Hantke uses new and worthy sources to achieve a rounded, cross-sectional appreciation of the film." - Ian Scott, author of American Politics in Hollywood Film
£18.95
Cornell University Press Not According to Plan
Book SynopsisIn Not According to Plan, Maria Belodubrovskaya reveals the limits on the power of even the most repressive totalitarian regimes to create and control propaganda. Belodubrovskaya''s revisionist account of Soviet filmmaking between 1930 and 1953 highlights the extent to which the Soviet film industry remained stubbornly artisanal in its methods, especially in contrast to the more industrial approach of the Hollywood studio system. Not According to Plan shows that even though Josef Stalin recognized cinema as a mighty instrument of mass agitation and propaganda and strove to harness the Soviet film industry to serve the state, directors such as Eisenstein, Alexandrov, and Pudovkin had far more creative control than did party-appointed executives and censors.Trade ReviewNot According to Plan offers a new take on the failures of the Soviet film industry during Stalin's reign. Highly recommended * Choice *Through a robust exploration of the institutions, production mechanisms and professional groups that comprised the film industry under Stalin, Belodubrovskaya offers a fresh perspective on censorship, the relationship between filmmakers and the party-state, and the failure to create a mass communist cinema in the USSR.... By patiently preparing the ground for four chapters before boldly reconceptualizing film censorship under Stalin, Belodubrovskaya succeeds in shifting the dominant paradigm of Soviet filmmaking history. Her counterintuitive insights make Not According to Plan both compelling and original. * Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema *Maria Belodubrovskaya's book is a significant contribution not only to film studies but also to social and political science.... The author disputes the conventional wisdom on Soviet film under Stalin, in particular the myth of Stalin as the 'chief censor' [showing] that a weak institutional policy and environment, not Stalin, were critical in shaping film policy and production in all of its dimensions. * Europe-Asia Studies *Maria Belodubrovskaya has written a thoroughly researched and analytically deep monograph that will impact film and Slavic studies for years to come. * Slavic Review *Table of ContentsTerms and Abbreviations Note on Transliteration Introduction 1. Quantity vs. Quality 2. Templan 3. The Masters 4. Screenwriting 5. Censorship Conclusion Acknowledgments Appendixes Bibliography Index
£40.50
Cornell University Press Not According to Plan
Book SynopsisIn Not According to Plan, Maria Belodubrovskaya reveals the limits on the power of even the most repressive totalitarian regimes to create and control propaganda. Belodubrovskaya''s revisionist account of Soviet filmmaking between 1930 and 1953 highlights the extent to which the Soviet film industry remained stubbornly artisanal in its methods, especially in contrast to the more industrial approach of the Hollywood studio system. Not According to Plan shows that even though Josef Stalin recognized cinema as a mighty instrument of mass agitation and propaganda and strove to harness the Soviet film industry to serve the state, directors such as Eisenstein, Alexandrov, and Pudovkin had far more creative control than did party-appointed executives and censors.Trade ReviewNot According to Plan offers a new take on the failures of the Soviet film industry during Stalin's reign. Highly recommended * Choice *Through a robust exploration of the institutions, production mechanisms and professional groups that comprised the film industry under Stalin, Belodubrovskaya offers a fresh perspective on censorship, the relationship between filmmakers and the party-state, and the failure to create a mass communist cinema in the USSR.... By patiently preparing the ground for four chapters before boldly reconceptualizing film censorship under Stalin, Belodubrovskaya succeeds in shifting the dominant paradigm of Soviet filmmaking history. Her counterintuitive insights make Not According to Plan both compelling and original. * Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema *Maria Belodubrovskaya's book is a significant contribution not only to film studies but also to social and political science.... The author disputes the conventional wisdom on Soviet film under Stalin, in particular the myth of Stalin as the 'chief censor' [showing] that a weak institutional policy and environment, not Stalin, were critical in shaping film policy and production in all of its dimensions. * Europe-Asia Studies *Maria Belodubrovskaya has written a thoroughly researched and analytically deep monograph that will impact film and Slavic studies for years to come. * Slavic Review *Table of ContentsTerms and Abbreviations Note on Transliteration Introduction 1. Quantity vs. Quality 2. Templan 3. The Masters 4. Screenwriting 5. Censorship Conclusion Acknowledgments Appendixes Bibliography Index
£20.89
Cornell University Press The Mysterious Romance of Murder
Book SynopsisFrom Sherlock Holmes to Sam Spade; Nick and Nora Charles to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin; Harry Lime to Gilda, Madeleine Elster, and other femmes fatalescrime and crime solving in fiction and film captivate us. Why do we keep returning to Agatha Christie''s ingenious puzzles and Raymond Chandler''s hard-boiled murder mysteries? What do spy thrillers teach us, and what accounts for the renewed popularity of morally ambiguous noirs? In The Mysterious Romance of Murder, the poet and critic David Lehman explores a wide variety of outstanding books and moviessome famous (The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity), some known mainly to aficionadoswith style, wit, and passion.Lehman revisits the smoke-filled jazz clubs from the classic noir films of the 1940s, the iconic set pieces that defined Hitchcock''s America, the interwar intrigue of Eric Ambler''s best fictions, and the intensity of attraction between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum and Jane GreerTrade ReviewAs one might expect from this distinguished poet and versatile man of letters, his sprightly new book isn't just deeply knowledgeable, it's also a lot of fun. -- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post *The real originality of this book lies less in its critical comments than in its creativity. Lehman, who is also a poet, includes poems, his own and others', inspired by or imitating noir. He even offers a haiku. As if conversing with another aficionado, he compares favorite actors and moments, repeats favorite wisecracks, and tries to recreate the pleasure of the initial experience. In his casual way he also sparks ideas. How often does a critical book actually make one want to read the books it discusses? * The Times Literary Supplement *Lehman's exuberant collection of essays, poems, and annotated lists captures the manifold associations stirred by a lifetime's attention to crime fiction and movies, touching on everything from wisecracks to cigarettes to musical soundtracks to Kenneth Fearing as "the patron saint of poetry noir." * New York Review of Books *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Mysterious Romance of Murder Part I: Killer Style 1. Cracking Wise 2. Paradise of the Damned: Eighteen Notes on Noir 3. Poetry Noir 4. Five Noir Poems "Perfidia" "Laura" "Witness to a Murder" "The Formula" "Just a Couple of Mugs" Part II: The Elements of Crime 5. Here's to Crime! 6. The Last Cigarette 7. Among My Souvenirs Part III: Auteurs 8. The Great British Spymasters 9. The Limits of Logic: Trent's Last Case (E. C. Bentley) 10. Dashiell Hammett's Priceless Patter 11. Paperclip (Raymond Chandler) 12. "Grim Grin" (Graham Greene) 13. Rex Stout: The Emperor of Couronne de Canard 14. Ida Lupino: The First Lady of Noir 15. Black Friday (David Goodis) 16. Orange Noir (Charles Willeford) 17. Ed McBain: The Man from Isola 18. Hitchcock's America Part IV: Dreams That Money Can Buy 19. Straight Down the Line: Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944) 20. Strangers and Mirrors: Orson Welles's The Stranger (1946) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947) 21. An Exchange of Bullets in Belfast: Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947) 22. Blind Accidents: John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (1950) 23. Epitaph for a Genre: Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956) 24. Shadow of Evil: Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (1962) 25. A Reluctant Spy's Conversion: William Holden in The Counterfeit Traitor (1962) 26. Gangsters in Love: Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984) 27. Rogues' Gallery 28. Why Not New York? Part V: The Imp of the Perverse 29. Three Astrological Profiles Barbara Stanwyck (July 16) Graham Greene (October 2) Marlene Dietrich (December 27)
£20.89
University of Minnesota Press Double Visions, Double Fictions: The Doppelgänger
Book SynopsisA fresh take on the dopplegänger and its place in Japanese film and literature—past and present Since its earliest known use in German Romanticism in the late 1700s, the word Doppelgänger (double-walker) can be found throughout a vast array of literature, culture, and media. This motif of doubling can also be seen traversing historical and cultural boundaries. Double Visions, Double Fictions analyzes the myriad manifestations of the doppelgänger in Japanese literary and cinematic texts at two historical junctures: the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s and the present day. According to author Baryon Tensor Posadas, the doppelgänger marks the intersection of the historical impact of psychoanalytic theory, the genre of detective fiction in Japan, early Japanese cinema, and the cultural production of Japanese colonialism. He examines the doppelgänger’s appearance in the works of Edogawa Rampo, Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, and Akutagawa Ryunosuke, as well as the films of Tsukamoto Shin’ya and Kurosawa Kiyoshi, not only as a recurrent motif but also as a critical practice of concepts. Following these explorations, Posadas asks: What were the social, political, and material conditions that mobilized the desire for the doppelgänger? And how does the dopplegänger capture social transformations taking place at these historical moments?Double Visions, Double Fictions ultimately reveals how the doppelgänger motif provides a fascinating new backdrop for understanding the enmeshment of past and present. Trade Review "Double Visions, Double Fictions is a truly fresh contribution to Japanese literary and film studies by way of an ingenious examination of the doppelgänger. For Baryon Tensor Posadas, the doppelgänger functions not merely as a crafty aesthetic device, but as an actual conceptual practice mobilized by some of Japan’s most important modern writers and filmmakers."—Eric Cazdyn, University of Toronto "In Double Visions, Double Fictions, Baryon Tensor Posadas carefully traces the appearance and proliferation of the doppelgänger in Japan across various cultural and intellectual domains, including literature, cinema, and psychoanalysis. In his masterful analysis, the doppelgänger is not merely one figure among others, but rather, in its destabilizing effect on concepts of origin and imitation, one that highlights the core conflicts underlying modernity in Japan, including its fraught relation to the West and its emergence as a colonial power."—Seiji Lippit, author of Topographies of Japanese Modernism "The doppelgänger haunts, not only as a double but also through its multiple iterations. Approaching this uncanny figure as a form of a genre, Double Visions, Double Fictions takes us on an exciting intellectual adventure, tracing its recursions through various media forms and a broad span of historical periods in modern and contemporary Japan."—Tomiko Yoda, Harvard University "Double Visions, Double Fictions is a brilliantly written piece that sheds light on the impression the doppelgänger motif had on Japan’s film and political culture in the early twentieth century. "—Film Matters Table of ContentsContentsIntroduction. A Strange Mirror: The Doppelgänger in Japan1. Stalkers and Crime Scenes: The Detective Fiction of Edogawa Rampo2. Repressing the Colonial Unconscious: Racialized Doppelgängers3. Projections of Shadow: Visual Modernization and Psychoanalysis4. Rampo’s Repetitions: Confession, Adaptation, and the Historical Unconscious5. Compulsions to Repeat: The Doppelgänger at the End of HistoryAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex
£77.60
University of Minnesota Press Double Visions, Double Fictions: The Doppelgänger
Book SynopsisA fresh take on the dopplegänger and its place in Japanese film and literature—past and present Since its earliest known use in German Romanticism in the late 1700s, the word Doppelgänger (double-walker) can be found throughout a vast array of literature, culture, and media. This motif of doubling can also be seen traversing historical and cultural boundaries. Double Visions, Double Fictions analyzes the myriad manifestations of the doppelgänger in Japanese literary and cinematic texts at two historical junctures: the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s and the present day. According to author Baryon Tensor Posadas, the doppelgänger marks the intersection of the historical impact of psychoanalytic theory, the genre of detective fiction in Japan, early Japanese cinema, and the cultural production of Japanese colonialism. He examines the doppelgänger’s appearance in the works of Edogawa Rampo, Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, and Akutagawa Ryunosuke, as well as the films of Tsukamoto Shin’ya and Kurosawa Kiyoshi, not only as a recurrent motif but also as a critical practice of concepts. Following these explorations, Posadas asks: What were the social, political, and material conditions that mobilized the desire for the doppelgänger? And how does the dopplegänger capture social transformations taking place at these historical moments?Double Visions, Double Fictions ultimately reveals how the doppelgänger motif provides a fascinating new backdrop for understanding the enmeshment of past and present. Trade Review "Double Visions, Double Fictions is a truly fresh contribution to Japanese literary and film studies by way of an ingenious examination of the doppelgänger. For Baryon Tensor Posadas, the doppelgänger functions not merely as a crafty aesthetic device, but as an actual conceptual practice mobilized by some of Japan’s most important modern writers and filmmakers."—Eric Cazdyn, University of Toronto "In Double Visions, Double Fictions, Baryon Tensor Posadas carefully traces the appearance and proliferation of the doppelgänger in Japan across various cultural and intellectual domains, including literature, cinema, and psychoanalysis. In his masterful analysis, the doppelgänger is not merely one figure among others, but rather, in its destabilizing effect on concepts of origin and imitation, one that highlights the core conflicts underlying modernity in Japan, including its fraught relation to the West and its emergence as a colonial power."—Seiji Lippit, author of Topographies of Japanese Modernism "The doppelgänger haunts, not only as a double but also through its multiple iterations. Approaching this uncanny figure as a form of a genre, Double Visions, Double Fictions takes us on an exciting intellectual adventure, tracing its recursions through various media forms and a broad span of historical periods in modern and contemporary Japan."—Tomiko Yoda, Harvard University "Double Visions, Double Fictions is a brilliantly written piece that sheds light on the impression the doppelgänger motif had on Japan’s film and political culture in the early twentieth century. "—Film Matters Table of ContentsContentsIntroduction. A Strange Mirror: The Doppelgänger in Japan1. Stalkers and Crime Scenes: The Detective Fiction of Edogawa Rampo2. Repressing the Colonial Unconscious: Racialized Doppelgängers3. Projections of Shadow: Visual Modernization and Psychoanalysis4. Rampo’s Repetitions: Confession, Adaptation, and the Historical Unconscious5. Compulsions to Repeat: The Doppelgänger at the End of HistoryAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndex
£20.69
University of Minnesota Press Star Wars after Lucas: A Critical Guide to the
Book SynopsisPolitics, craft, and cultural nostalgia in the remaking of Star Wars for a new ageA long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away—way back in the twenty-first century’s first decade—Star Wars seemed finished. Then in 2012 George Lucas shocked the entertainment world by selling the franchise, along with Lucasfilm, to Disney. This is the story of how, over the next five years, Star Wars went from near-certain extinction to what Wired magazine would call “the forever franchise,” with more films in the works than its first four decades had produced. Focusing on The Force Awakens (2015), Rogue One (2016), The Last Jedi (2017), and the television series Rebels (2014–18), Dan Golding explores the significance of pop culture nostalgia in overcoming the skepticism, if not downright hostility, that greeted the Star Wars relaunch. At the same time he shows how Disney, even as it tapped a backward-looking obsession, was nonetheless creating genuinely new and contemporary entries in the Star Wars universe.A host of cultural factors and forces propelled the Disney-engineered Star Wars renaissance, and all figure in Golding’s deeply informed analysis: from John Williams’s music in The Force Awakens to Peter Cushing’s CGI face in Rogue One, to Carrie Fisher’s passing, to the rapidly changing audience demographic. Star Wars after Lucas delves into the various responses and political uses of the new Star Wars in a wider context, as in reaction videos on YouTube and hate-filled, misogynistic online rants. In its granular textual readings, broad cultural scope, and insights into the complexities of the multimedia galaxy, this book is as entertaining as it is enlightening, an apt reflection of the enduring power of the Star Wars franchise.Trade Review"Star Wars is almost too big a subject for any one mind to grasp, but Dan Golding’s look at how the franchise maintains its nostalgic glow in the Disney era stays on target, excavating the unique combination of art and commerce that holds Star Wars together."—Adam Rogers, senior tech correspondent at Insider"Star Wars after Lucas is a useful and welcome review of the past four decades of Star Wars, as well as the strategies that corporations are increasingly adopting in order to perpetuate franchises. In particular, Dan Golding aptly describes Lucasfilm's struggles to balance nostalgic appeals with a growing commitment to diversity and inclusivity."—A. D. Jameson, author of I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing: Star Wars and the Triumph of Geek Culture"Dan Golding’s wonderful book strikes a perfect balance between criticism and knowledgeable fandom. Approaching Disney-era Star Wars, his writing provides important insights into the workings of nostalgia culture, transmedia storytelling, and the power of transnational media industries in the age of global capitalism. His readings of individual Star Wars texts are thoughtful, nuanced, and theoretically informed, while at the same time relating them back to the complexities of branding, cross-platform marketing, and global entertainment franchising. Star Wars after Lucas is essential reading for anyone with an interest in media franchising, globalization, media industries, and entertainment in the Disney era."—Dan Hassler-Forest, coeditor of Star Wars and the History of Transmedia Storytelling"Star Wars after Lucas is a spirited and often convincing defense of the saga’s ‘complex and multifaceted’ content. "—Shepherd Express"Anyone fascinated by the post-George Lucas Star Wars universe will find Dan Golding’s Critical Guide to the Future of the Galaxy an essential read. Focusing on The Force Awakens, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, and Star Wars Rebels, Golding crafts an insightful, smart analysis."—The Film Stage"Feminist progressives see in the galaxy a courageous human rights defense that stands for inclusivity, community, and individuality. Star Wars after Lucas demonstrates thoroughly and importantly how the legacy franchise has maintained its reflective glow in the Disney era."—CHOICE"Golding is insightful on the politics of Star Wars. “Despite its political malleability,” he writes, “Star Wars has, for better or worse, gained a general whiff of cultural conservatism.” That stems, he suggests, from the fact that the retro escapism of the original trilogy seemed of a piece with the political winds that gave two White House terms to a former actor who struck a genial, paternal mien while enacting brutally regressive policies."—The Tangential"Golding has managed to provide a book that is clear in its intentions of examining the Star Wars franchise in the years since it made the transition to a giant media conglomerate. The significance of nostalgia is interwoven throughout and provides a detailed yet broad exploration into how it has both impacted and been implemented into the long-running franchise."—Leonardo Reviews"When Golding surrounds the new Star Wars media with the pop culture, political, and digital factors that shaped it, it’s clear to readers that Star Wars is not a fluke, nor an outlier in modern American media: it’s the center of it. Scholars of contemporary film and media studies or any fan of the iconic franchise will enjoy this look into how a down and out narrative circled back to win the hearts of America once again."—CBQ: Communication Booknotes Quarterly"Golding’s book both succeeds as an investigation of Star Wars in the Disney era and performs the limitations such investigations necessarily entail, it provides a useful and necessary account of contemporary, popular entertainment."—SFRA ReviewTable of ContentsContentsIntroduction: Star Wars and the History of Nostalgia1. Before the Empire: The Politics of George Lucas and the Critique of the Original Trilogy2. It Calls to You: Selling Star Wars in 20153. Look How Old You’ve Become: The Force Awakens as Legacy Film4. An Awakening: Diversity as the Politics of The Force Awakens5. Just Like Old Times?: Music, Seriality, and the Fugue of The Force Awakens6. You Have to Start Somewhere: Contrasting Nostalgias in The Force Awakens and Rogue One7. You Think Anybody’s Listening?: Fighting Fascism in Rogue One and Rebels8. I’ve Always Hated Watching You Leave: Death, Han Solo, and Carrie Fisher9. I Will Finish What You Started: Star Wars from The Last Jedi and Beyond
£15.29
University of Minnesota Press The New American War Film
Book SynopsisA look at how post-9/11 cinema captures the new face of war in the twenty-first century While the war film has carved out a prominent space within the history of cinema, the twenty-first century has seen a significant shift in the characteristics that define it. Serving as a roadmap to the genre’s contemporary modes of expression, The New American War Film explores how, in the wake of 9/11, both the nature of military conflict and the symbolic frameworks that surround it have been dramatically reshaped. Featuring in-depth analyses of contemporary films like The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Eye in the Sky, American Sniper, and others, The New American War Film details the genre’s turn away from previously foundational themes of heroic sacrifice and national glory, instead emphasizing the procedural violence of advanced military technologies and the haptic damage inflicted on individual bodies. Unfolding amid an atmosphere of profound anxiety and disillusionment, the new American war film demonstrates a breakdown of the prevailing cultural narratives that had come to characterize conflict in the previous century. With each chapter highlighting a different facet of war’s cinematic representation, The New American War Film charts society’s shifting attitudes toward violent conflict and what is broadly considered to be its acceptable repercussions. Drawing attention to changes in gender dynamics and the focus on war’s lasting psychological effects within these recent films, Robert Burgoyne analyzes how cinema both reflects and reveals the makeup of the national imaginary. Trade Review "Robert Burgoyne offers here an essential reckoning with the changing affective contours of war representation in the twenty-first century. Eloquent and probing in equal measure, he invites us to confront the cinema’s emergent grammars of violence in the context of a forever war both intimate and remote, asking what is left—and what is possible—when the collective fiction of redemptive violence no longer coheres." —Jonna Eagle, author of Imperial Affects: Sensational Melodrama and the Attractions of American Cinema "Robert Burgoyne’s perceptive and engaging new volume provides a roadmap to the contemporary war film in light of the changed nature of conflict today. He illuminates how American culture comes to grips with the impact of endless wars and new geopolitical landscapes, showing how traditional narratives surrounding heroism, military technology, and victimhood have broken down. The New American War Film offers a vital new history of war and media today." —Tanine Allison, author of Destructive Sublime: World War II in American Film and Media Table of Contents Contents Introduction 1. Embodiment and Pathos in the War Film: The Hurt Locker 2. Waiting for Terror: Zero Dark Thirty 3. Intimate Violence: Drone Vision in Eye in the Sky 4. War as Revelation: A Private War 5. Four Elegies of War: Restrepo,Infidel,Into the Korengal, and Sleeping Soldiers—single screen 6. American Pastoral / American Sniper Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Index
£72.00
University of Minnesota Press The New American War Film
Book SynopsisA look at how post-9/11 cinema captures the new face of war in the twenty-first century While the war film has carved out a prominent space within the history of cinema, the twenty-first century has seen a significant shift in the characteristics that define it. Serving as a roadmap to the genre’s contemporary modes of expression, The New American War Film explores how, in the wake of 9/11, both the nature of military conflict and the symbolic frameworks that surround it have been dramatically reshaped. Featuring in-depth analyses of contemporary films like The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Eye in the Sky, American Sniper, and others, The New American War Film details the genre’s turn away from previously foundational themes of heroic sacrifice and national glory, instead emphasizing the procedural violence of advanced military technologies and the haptic damage inflicted on individual bodies. Unfolding amid an atmosphere of profound anxiety and disillusionment, the new American war film demonstrates a breakdown of the prevailing cultural narratives that had come to characterize conflict in the previous century. With each chapter highlighting a different facet of war’s cinematic representation, The New American War Film charts society’s shifting attitudes toward violent conflict and what is broadly considered to be its acceptable repercussions. Drawing attention to changes in gender dynamics and the focus on war’s lasting psychological effects within these recent films, Robert Burgoyne analyzes how cinema both reflects and reveals the makeup of the national imaginary. Trade Review "Robert Burgoyne offers here an essential reckoning with the changing affective contours of war representation in the twenty-first century. Eloquent and probing in equal measure, he invites us to confront the cinema’s emergent grammars of violence in the context of a forever war both intimate and remote, asking what is left—and what is possible—when the collective fiction of redemptive violence no longer coheres." —Jonna Eagle, author of Imperial Affects: Sensational Melodrama and the Attractions of American Cinema "Robert Burgoyne’s perceptive and engaging new volume provides a roadmap to the contemporary war film in light of the changed nature of conflict today. He illuminates how American culture comes to grips with the impact of endless wars and new geopolitical landscapes, showing how traditional narratives surrounding heroism, military technology, and victimhood have broken down. The New American War Film offers a vital new history of war and media today." —Tanine Allison, author of Destructive Sublime: World War II in American Film and Media Table of Contents Contents Introduction 1. Embodiment and Pathos in the War Film: The Hurt Locker 2. Waiting for Terror: Zero Dark Thirty 3. Intimate Violence: Drone Vision in Eye in the Sky 4. War as Revelation: A Private War 5. Four Elegies of War: Restrepo,Infidel,Into the Korengal, and Sleeping Soldiers—single screen 6. American Pastoral / American Sniper Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Index
£19.79
Boydell & Brewer Ltd Forgotten Dreams: Revisiting Romanticism in the
Book SynopsisOffers not only an analytical study of the films of Herzog, perhaps the most famous living German filmmaker, but also a new reading of Romanticism's impact beyond the nineteenth century and in the present. Werner Herzog (b. 1942) is perhaps the most famous living German filmmaker, but his films have never been read in the context of German cultural history. And while there is a surfeit of film reviews, interviews, and scholarly articles on Herzog and his work, there are very few books devoted to his films, and none addressing his entire career to date. Until now. Forgotten Dreams offers not only an analytical study of Herzog's films but also a new reading of Romanticism's impact beyond the nineteenth century. It argues that his films re-envision and help us better understand a critical stream in Romanticism, and places the films in conversation with other filmmakers, authors, and philosophers in order to illuminate that critical stream. The result is a lively reconnection with Romantic themes and convictions that have been partly forgotten in the midst of Germany's postwar rejection of much of Romantic thought, yet are still operative in German culture today. The film analyses will interest scholars of film, German Studies, and Romanticism as well as a broader public interested in Herzog's films and contemporary German cultural debates. The book will also appeal to those interested in the ongoing renegotiation - by Western and other cultures - of relationships between reason and passion, civilization and wild nature, knowledge and belief. Laurie Ruth Johnson is Professor of German, Comparative and World Literature, and Criticism and Interpretive Theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Trade Review[A] worthy addition to any interdisciplinary study of Herzog's films - and the influence of alternative German romanticism as well as formal romanticism on moviemaking . . . . [A]n impressive unravelling of Werner Herzog's valuable contribution to cinema through a viewpoint not previously attempted, shining a light on some intriguing cultural influences and their effects on this fascinating filmmaker. * FILM IRELAND *Laurie Johnson's book expands Herzog criticism in important aspects. * HANS-HELMUT-PRINZLER.DE *Johnson . . . offers a new perspective on the romanticism/Herzog connection. . . . Forgotten Dreams is an in-depth analysis of certain romantic tendencies and how one might read Herzog's films as visual and - to a lesser degree - aural representations of the same. [The book] is an engaging contribution to the philosophical and cultural history of German Romanticism . . . [and shows] how this movement may yield insights into film analysis and history. It is also a worthy resource for Herzog scholars for its discussion of his lesser-known films. Literary, cultural, and film scholars will find many valuable insights in Laurie Ruth Johnson's interdisciplinary study. * MONATSHEFTE *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: Werner Herzog's Films and the Other Discourse of Romanticism Image and Knowledge Surface and Depth Beauty and Sublimity Man and Animal Sound and Silence Conclusion: Herzog's Romantic Cinema Notes Bibliography
£26.34
Liverpool University Press Peeping Tom
Book SynopsisReviled on its release, Peeping Tom (1960) all-but ended the career of director Michael Powell, previously one of Britain's most revered filmmakers. The story of a murderous cameraman and his compulsion to record his killings, Powell's film stunned the same critics who had acclaimed him for the work he'd made with writer-producer Emeric Pressburger (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, 1943; A Matter of Life and Death, 1946), resulting in the film falling out of circulation almost as soon as it was released. It took the 1970s 'Movie Brat' generation to rehabilitate the director, and the film, which is now regarded as a masterpiece. In this Devil's Advocate, published to coincide with the film's 60th anniversary, Kiri Walden charts the origins, production and devastating critical reception of Peeping Tom, comparing it to the treatment meted out to its contemporary horror classic, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).
£21.84
Liverpool University Press Daughters of Darkness
Book SynopsisDaughters of Darkness (1971) is a vampire film like no other. Heralded as psychological high-Gothic cinema, loved for its art-house and erotic flavors, Harry Kümel's 1971 cult classic is unwrapped in intricate detail by writer Kat Ellinger to unravel the many mysteries surrounding just what makes it so appealing. This book, as part of the Devil’s Advocates series, examines the film in the context of its peers and contemporaries, in order to argue its place an important evolutionary link in the chain of female vampire cinema. The text also explores the film's association with fairy tales, the Gothic genre, and fantastic tradition, as well as delving into aspects of the legend of Countess Bathory, traditional vampire lore, and much more. The book contains new and exclusive interviews with director Harry Kümel and actress and star Danielle Ouimet.
£75.00
Liverpool University Press Ex Machina
Book SynopsisEx Machina (2014) impressed critics and audiences alike with its bold ideas and all-too-realistic depiction of the unexpected consequences of constructing a sentient being. In his feature directorial debut, Alex Garland uses efficient storytelling, a compelling narrative, and heady concepts to create a modern science fiction masterpiece that explores gender, scientific advancement, and the very concept of humanity, all in a compelling, suspenseful film. Artificial intelligence has long been a sci-fi staple, but here, Garland posits what would happen if, for once, humans, rather than AI, were the real villains. In exploring Ex Machina’s ideas about consciousness, embodiment, and masculinity, all through the lens of a misogynist mad scientist, Joshua Grimm argues the result is a fascinating, truly unique film that immediately established Garland as a breakout voice in the landscape of science fiction film.
£75.00
Liverpool University Press Stalker
Book SynopsisFew filmmakers could even attempt the fearlessness of Andrei Tarkovsky’s cinema and his most ambitious work, Stalker (1977), is arguably the most thoughtful science-fiction film ever made. Stalker parallels its speculative elements with a harrowing narrative of human fragility and philosophy. It is as much a movie about the complexity of its characters as it is the mysteriousness of its labyrinthine landscape, the ambiguous Zone and its heart, the Room of Desire. It is at once a darkly nihilistic film, ominous and threatening, and yet also profoundly hopeful and at its core a story of true faith. This book attempts to unravel the film’s complexities, from its difficult production and through its many cinematic elements: its composition and cinematography, the many philosophies it engages with, its poetic and literary influences, along with the cultural and historical landscapes that cultivated it, and the enormity of its influence across the following generations. Stalker challenges us to engage with film in a different way: a poetic cinema that asks much more of you as a viewer than most. Most of all, to explore why this film—even forty years since its original release—still affects us as an audience as profoundly as ever.
£75.00
Liverpool University Press Snuff
Book SynopsisSnuff (1976) occupies a unique place in cinematic history, as the first commercially successful film to capitalise upon the myth of the ‘snuff’ movie. By blending cinema verité styling with a media moral panic, savvy producer Allan Shackleton’s blending of a long-forgotten exploitation film with a newly filmed bloody, if unconvincing conclusion, only served to consolidate the belief that somewhere, at some time, someone was killed on camera in an attack that was as much about the sexual gratification of the film’s intended audience, as it was about the commercial rewards for those producing the film. In the years since its release, the film has been routinely cited as ‘evidence’ of the snuff movie’s existence, contributing to a cultural history that exists outside of the film. This book explores the production, distribution and exhibition of the film Snuff, alongside that cultural history, considering how a scarcely seen exploitation film contributed to a popular understanding of the snuff movie. It assesses the cultural, cinematic and political legacy of the film and asks whether the established definition of what might constitute a snuff movie, that was defined 45 years ago, is sufficient in an attention economy that is based upon participatory culture.
£71.25
Liverpool University Press Re-Animator
Book SynopsisSince its release at the mid-point of the 1980s American horror boom, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator (1985) has endured as one of the most beloved cult horror films of that era. Greeted by enthusiastic early reviews, Re-Animator has maintained a spot at the periphery of the classic horror film canon. While Re-Animator has not entirely gone without critical attention, it has often been overshadowed in horror studies by more familiar titles from the period. Eddie Falvey’s book, which represents the first book-length study of Re-Animator, repositions it as one of the most significant American horror films of its era. For Falvey, Re-Animator sits at the intersection of various developments that were taking place within the context of 1980s American horror production. He uses Re-Animator to explore the rise and fall of Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, the revival of the mad science sub-genre, the emergent popularity of both gore aesthetics and horror-comedies, as well as a new appetite for the works of H.P. Lovecraft in adaptation. Falvey also tracks the film's legacies, observing not only how Re-Animator’s success gave rise to a new Lovecraftian cycle fronted by Stuart Gordon, but also how its cult status has continued to grow, marked by sequels, spin-offs, parodies and re-releases. As such, Falvey's book promises to be a book both about Re-Animator itself and about the various contexts that birthed it and continue to reflect its influence.Trade Review'The contextual analysis of Re-Animator in this typically thoughtful Devil’s Advocates study examines it as a pivotal product of the briefly thriving Empire Pictures... Falvey’s analysis hits just the right tone of affection, with pleasing incidental detail.' Steven West, FrightFest'Re-animator is fertile ground for thinking about the role of horror cinema in America, both aesthetically and sociologically, and even politically. That's what Eddie Falvey does with the film in the latest monograph from the Devil's advocates series... The thoroughness of his account is exemplified by the bibliography, which is a great place to start for those who want a deep dive into the significant changes in horror films from the mid -80's to the present.' Douglas Holm, KBOO
£78.38
Liverpool University Press Re-Animator
Book SynopsisSince its release at the mid-point of the 1980s American horror boom, Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator (1985) has endured as one of the most beloved cult horror films of that era. Greeted by enthusiastic early reviews, Re-Animator has maintained a spot at the periphery of the classic horror film canon. While Re-Animator has not entirely gone without critical attention, it has often been overshadowed in horror studies by more familiar titles from the period. Eddie Falvey’s book, which represents the first book-length study of Re-Animator, repositions it as one of the most significant American horror films of its era. For Falvey, Re-Animator sits at the intersection of various developments that were taking place within the context of 1980s American horror production. He uses Re-Animator to explore the rise and fall of Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, the revival of the mad science sub-genre, the emergent popularity of both gore aesthetics and horror-comedies, as well as a new appetite for the works of H.P. Lovecraft in adaptation. Falvey also tracks the film's legacies, observing not only how Re-Animator’s success gave rise to a new Lovecraftian cycle fronted by Stuart Gordon, but also how its cult status has continued to grow, marked by sequels, spin-offs, parodies and re-releases. As such, Falvey's book promises to be a book both about Re-Animator itself and about the various contexts that birthed it and continue to reflect its influence.Trade Review'The contextual analysis of Re-Animator in this typically thoughtful Devil’s Advocates study examines it as a pivotal product of the briefly thriving Empire Pictures... Falvey’s analysis hits just the right tone of affection, with pleasing incidental detail.' Steven West, FrightFest'Re-animator is fertile ground for thinking about the role of horror cinema in America, both aesthetically and sociologically, and even politically. That's what Eddie Falvey does with the film in the latest monograph from the Devil's advocates series... The thoroughness of his account is exemplified by the bibliography, which is a great place to start for those who want a deep dive into the significant changes in horror films from the mid -80's to the present.' Douglas Holm, KBOO
£20.89
Liverpool University Press The Gothic Peckinpah
Book SynopsisThis book argues for the importance of Gothic in understanding one of the key elements within the films of Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984). Although occasionally noted in the past, the Gothic has been generally overlooked when most critics consider the work of Sam Peckinpah with the exception of the Freudian based Crucified Heroes (1979) by Terence Butler. This work not only examines the films made after that date, especially the often dismissed The Osterman Weekend (1983) and the two music videos he made for Julian Lennon, but also places the director within the context of the developing work on Gothic that has since appeared. Peckinpah has been identified as the director of one undisputed masterpiece, The Wild Bunch (1969). By focussing on the key role Gothic plays in most of the director's work, this book offers a way to see Peckinpah beyond The Wild Bunch and the Western, viewing him as a director who had the potential of evolving further, had circumstances permitted, to continue his critique of American life within the developing lens of the Gothic.
£115.00
Liverpool University Press Women and Migration in Contemporary Italian
Book SynopsisWomen and Migration in Contemporary Italian Cinema: Screening Hospitality puts gender at the centre of cinematic representations of contemporary transnational Italian identities. It offers an intersectional feminist analysis of the ways in which transnational migration has been represented, understood, and constructed in the contemporary cinema of Italy. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s notion of hospitality and in dialogue with postcolonial and decolonial theory, queer studies, and feminist critiques, the six chapters of the book focus on a series of exemplary fiction films from the last twenty years, which both reflect and shape the nation’s responses to the growing presence of transnational migrants in Italian society. The book shows how questions of gender, sexual difference, and reproductivity have been central to Italian filmmakers’ approaches to stories of mobility and displacement. Gender is also enmeshed in the rhetoric and poetic of hospitality that filmmakers propose as a critical framework to condemn Italian border policies and politics. Women and Migration in Contemporary Italian Cinema: Screening Hospitality traces an arc that moves from the embrace of a humanitarian rhetoric of infinite hospitality toward migrants, apparent in films produced in the early 2000s, to a more fluid understanding of Italian identities from a transnational perspective.Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsPreface: Representing Migration in the Time of the CoronavirusChapter OneIntroduction: Screening Migrant HospitalityChapter TwoThe Limits of Hospitality: Marco Tullio Giordana’s Quando sei nato non puoi più nasconderti and Ivano De Matteo’s La bella genteChapter ThreeMaternal Hospitality and Liquid Maternity on ScreenChapter FourWomen and the City: Female Forms of Hospitality in Marina Spada’s Come l’ombra and Giulia Ciniselli and Anna Bernasconi’s Via Padova: Istruzioni per l’usoChapter FiveGuest Stars: Performing Hospitality in the Italian Film IndustryChapter SixConclusion: No Longer Guests: G2 Filmmakers and Their StoriesBibliographyFilmography
£95.00
Liverpool University Press Shakespeare and Science Fiction
Book Synopsis
£29.69
Liverpool University Press Ancient Rome at the Cinema: Story and Spectacle
Book Synopsis'Ancient Rome at the Cinema' is a lucid study of the worlds created in Roman historical epics. Based on analysis of the visual and narrative fabric of seven films set in Ancient Rome, 'Ancient Rome at the Cinema' demonstrates how cinematic versions of Ancient Rome have been able to captivate us, and inscribe their versions of the city and its history onto our imagination. Theodorakopoulos uses film theory and criticism to examine the ways in which historical drama creates the past through story-telling and visual effects. Particular emphasis is put on the tension between narrative and spectacle which is an inherent feature of cinema, and a long-standing preoccupation of film critics and theorists from the 1930s to the present. The book also examines the techniques and the rhetoric of realism which feature especially prominently in historical films. 'Ancient Rome at the Cinema' is a companion volume to 'Ancient Greece in Film and Popular Culture' by Gideon Nisbet (9781904675785, 2008, 2nd edition).Trade ReviewTheodorakopoulos ist eine weitgehend koharente Auseinandersetzung mit wichtigen Erzeugnissen des Antikfilmgenres gelungen, wobei gerade die Heterogenitat der Beispiele aus dem Mainstream-Kino und dem Autorenfilm die Untersuchung bereichert. Durch ein gut strukturiertes Theoriekapitel, in dem die Autorin auf wichtige Theorien zum Medium Film, zum Historienfilm sowie zur Thematik der Metahistorie eingeht, werden die Betrachtungen zu den einzelnen Produktionen gut vorbereitet. Die Bezugnahme auf unterschiedliche Theorien aus den verschiedensten interdisziplinaren Bereichen an der Schnittstelle zwischen Medien- und Geschichtswissenshaften macht diese Publikation auch fur den Einsatz im didaktischen Bereich wertvoll. H-Soz-u-KultTable of Contents List of Illustrations vi Introduction 1 1 Narrative and Spectacle, Realism and Illusion, and the Historical Film 9 2 Ben-Hur: ‘Tale of the Christ’ or Tale of Rome? 30 3 Spartacus and the Politics of Story-Telling 51 4 The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Filmmaker as Historian 77 5 Gladiator: Making it New? 96 6 Fellini Satyricon: ‘Farewell to Antiquity’ or ‘Daily Life in Ancient Rome’? 122 7 Titus: Rome and the Penny Arcade 145 Conclusion 168 Notes 173 Further Reading and Viewing 186 Bibliography 190 Filmography 196 Index
£29.69
Liverpool University Press Candyman
Book SynopsisWhen Candyman was released in 1992, Roger Ebert gave it his thumbs up, remarking that the film was “scaring him with ideas and gore, rather than just gore.” Indeed, Candyman is almost unique in 1990s horror cinema in that it tackles its sociopolitical themes head on. As critic Kirsten Moana Thompson has remarked, Candyman is "the return of the repressed as national allegory": the film’s hook-handed killer of urban legend embodies a history of racism, miscegenation, lynching, and slavery, "the taboo secrets of America’s past and present."In this book, Jon Towlson considers how Candyman might be read both as a "return of the repressed" during the George H. W. Bush era, and as an example of nineties neoconservative horror. He traces the project’s development from its origins as a Clive Barker short story ("The Forbidden"); discusses the importance of its gritty real-life Cabrini-Green setting; and analyzes the film’s appropriation (and interrogation) of urban myth. The two official sequels (Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh [1995] and Candyman: Day of the Dead [1999]) are also considered, plus a number of other urban myth-inspired horror movies such as Bloody Mary (2006) and films in the Urban Legend franchise. The book features an in-depth interview with Candyman’s writer-director Bernard Rose.
£16.49
Liverpool University Press Daughters of Darkness
Book SynopsisDaughters of Darkness (1971) is a vampire film like no other. Heralded as psychological high-Gothic cinema, loved for its art-house and erotic flavors, Harry Kümel's 1971 cult classic is unwrapped in intricate detail by writer Kat Ellinger to unravel the many mysteries surrounding just what makes it so appealing. This book, as part of the Devil’s Advocates series, examines the film in the context of its peers and contemporaries, in order to argue its place an important evolutionary link in the chain of female vampire cinema. The text also explores the film's association with fairy tales, the Gothic genre, and fantastic tradition, as well as delving into aspects of the legend of Countess Bathory, traditional vampire lore, and much more. The book contains new and exclusive interviews with director Harry Kümel and actress and star Danielle Ouimet.
£21.84
Liverpool University Press Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
Book SynopsisWhen David Lynch’s film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a prequel to the television series Twin Peaks, premiered at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival it was met with met with outright hostility. Subsequent reviews from critics were almost unanimously negative, and many fans of the show felt betrayed, as their beloved town was suddenly revealed as a personal hell. Yet in the years since the film’s release, there has begun to be a gradual wave of reappraisal and appreciation, one that accelerated with the broadcast of Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017. What has been central to this reevaluation is the realization that what Lynch had created was not a parody of soap opera and detective television but a horror movie.In this Devil’s Advocate, Lindsay Hallam argues that the horror genre aids Lynch’s purpose in presenting the protagonist Laura Palmer’s subjective experience leading to her death as the incorporation of horror tropes actually leads to a more accurate representation of a victim’s suffering and confusion. She goes on to explore how the film was an attempt by Lynch to take back ownership of the material and to examine the initial reaction and subsequent reevaluation of the film, as well as the paratexts that link to it and the influence that Fire Walk with Me now has on contemporary film and across popular culture.Trade ReviewHallam’s analysis of Peaks is spectacularly insightful, particularly her investigation of the film as a study of deep trauma. * Film Stages *
£16.49
Liverpool University Press Blood and Black Lace
Book SynopsisMario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace (1964) is a legendary title, and is commonly considered as the archetypal giallo. A murder mystery about a faceless and menacing killer stalking the premises of a luxurious fashion house in Rome, Blood and Black Lace set the rules for the genre: a masked, black-gloved killer, an emphasis on graphic violence, elaborate and suspenseful murder sequences. But Blood and Black Lace is first and foremost an exquisitely stylish film, full of gorgeous color schemes, elegant camerawork, and surrealistic imagery, testimony of Bava’s mastery and his status as an innovator within popular cinema. This book recollects Blood and Black Lace’s production history, putting it within the context of the Italian film industry of the period and includes plenty of previously unheard-of data. It analyzes its main narrative and stylistic aspects, including the groundbreaking prominence of violence and sadism and its use of color and lighting, as well as Bava’s irreverent approach to genre filmmaking and clever handling of the audience’s expectations by way of irony and pitch-black humor. The book also analyzes Blood and Black Lace’s place within Bava’s oeuvre, its historical impact on the giallo genre, and its influential status on future filmmakers.Trade Review'Curti’s long and wide experience as a historian and analyst of Italian film, in particular horror film, is evident in this well structured, print monograph... Curti’s monograph makes a more concise starting point for both the enthusiast and the academic.'Tina Stockman, Media Education Journal
£16.49
Liverpool University Press Ex Machina
Book SynopsisEx Machina (2014) impressed critics and audiences alike with its bold ideas and all-too-realistic depiction of the unexpected consequences of constructing a sentient being. In his feature directorial debut, Alex Garland uses efficient storytelling, a compelling narrative, and heady concepts to create a modern science fiction masterpiece that explores gender, scientific advancement, and the very concept of humanity, all in a compelling, suspenseful film. Artificial intelligence has long been a sci-fi staple, but here, Garland posits what would happen if, for once, humans, rather than AI, were the real villains. In exploring Ex Machina’s ideas about consciousness, embodiment, and masculinity, all through the lens of a misogynist mad scientist, Joshua Grimm argues the result is a fascinating, truly unique film that immediately established Garland as a breakout voice in the landscape of science fiction film.
£21.84
Liverpool University Press Brainstorm
Book SynopsisThe makers of Brainstorm (1983) spent more than a decade transferring the revolutionary concept of an “empathy machine” from page to screen, only for the famously troubled production to be met with critical and commercial indifference on release. But since 1984 the film has continued to inspire viewers to imagine possibilities for the future. As a result, Brainstorm now seems less like a fixed piece of film history than an idea in evolution. The screen story embodies the ambitions of sci-fi cinema going back to the 1950s, as well as the turbulent culture of the western world in the 1960s and 1970s. It also foreshadows technological breakthroughs around the turn of the twenty-first century, making the film startlingly relevant to our digitally-enhanced information age. To fully appreciate the film’s “ultimate experience,” it helps to understand exactly how the film evolved. This book aims to provide context for such an understanding, beginning with a brief history of science fiction cinema and setting up a careful consideration of multiple drafts of the Brainstorm screenplay by three different screenwriters: Bruce Joel Rubin, Philip F. Messina, and Robert Stitzel. It will also briefly examine the production history of the film (including the tragic death of star Natalie Wood), the career of the director and special effects wizard Douglas Trumbull, the particulars of the completed film, and the film’s influence on future storytellers like James Cameron.
£21.84
Rutgers University Press Documenting the American Student Abroad: The
Book Synopsis1 in 10 undergraduates in the US will study abroad. Extoled by students as personally transformative and celebrated in academia for fostering cross-cultural understanding, study abroad is also promoted by the US government as a form of cultural diplomacy and a bridge to future participation in the global marketplace. In Documenting the American Student Abroad, Kelly Hankin explores the documentary media cultures that shape these beliefs, drawing our attention to the broad range of stakeholders and documentary modes involved in defining the core values and practices of study abroad. From study abroad video contests and a F.B.I. produced docudrama about student espionage to reality television inspired educational documentaries and docudramas about Amanda Knox, Hankin shows how the institutional values of "global citizenship," "intercultural communication," and "cultural immersion" emerge in contradictory ways through their representation. By bringing study abroad and media studies into conversation with one another, Documenting the American Student Abroad: The Media Cultures of International Education offers a much needed humanist contribution to the field of international education, as well as a unique approach to the growing scholarship on the intersection of media and institutions. As study abroad practitioners and students increase their engagement with moving images and digital environments, the insights of media scholars are essential for helping the field understand how the mediation of study abroad rhetoric shapes rather than reflects the field's central institutional idealsTrade Review"Documenting the American Student Abroad is a cutting account of exactly how far off the study abroad industry is from forging a media culture, or what Hankin would call a collective visual grammar, that is ethically aligned with the many noble goals the educational field purports to promote. By placing study abroad practices under the scrutiny of analytical tools from media and cultural studies, Hankin renders the familiar unfamiliar: student-made youtube clips become avenues for fresh analysis of gender and race, and rote study abroad safety precautions become texts for questioning just how comfortable Americans really are with the ideals of global citizenship. For those with an interest in media studies, Documenting the American Student Abroad models the importance of close-reading visual texts as easily dismissed and as 'low brow' as an undergraduate's 'Vlog' sent home from abroad. For those concerned with improving the quality of international education, Hankin will provoke a full-on reckoning. Where institutions of study abroad typically see absence, Hankin finds voice. Where study abroad practitioners see accepted everyday communications strategies, Hankin finds troubling pedagogies and ideological presumptions that undermine the very premise of intercultural education. Documenting the American Student Abroad helps us to understand how it is that an educational practice that has been celebrated for an entire century as America's pathway to global redemption has ultimately done so little to shift some of the most stubborn imperialist ideals that underpin our nation's relationship to the world. "— Talya Zemach-Bersin, Education Studies Senior Capstone Coordinator and a Lecturer, Yale University The American Minute podcast: Kelly Hankin, University of Redlands – The Personal is Professional: The Study Abroad Video Contest— The American Minute podcast “This book offers an original and critical account of an influential domain of media practice—the “study abroad media culture” through which Americans learn about, experience, and document educational travel abroad. Through deft analysis of diverse types of travel media, including study abroad video contests, “homestay movies,” and student vlogs, Kelly Hankin traces how visions of the “globally engaged student” have emerged from a web of media histories, technologies, institutions, and stakeholders. Media, Hankin convincingly shows us, are central to understanding the fraught politics and transformative potential of international education.”— Katie Day Good, author of Bring The World to the Child: Technologies of Global Citizenship in American Education “Kelly Hankin’s wide-ranging and deftly argued analysis of the ‘study abroad gaze’ is a welcome addition to current debates about tourism, travel, and intercultural exchange. She expertly guides us through such diverse topics as theories of mediated travel, reality television and vlogs, the foreign homestay, and the risks and rewards of overseas experiences. The result is an innovative reading of how this formative, multi-layered educational experience for contemporary American students is continually reframed through film and television.”— Ben McCann, University of Adelaide, Australia "NAB Podcast: Kelly Hankin on Media Cultures of Study Abroad in Higher Education"— The New American Baccalaureate ProjectTable of ContentsContents Introduction: The Media Cultures of Study Abroad The Personal is Professional: First-Person Travelogues and The Study Abroad Video Contest Intercultural Communication Among “Intimate Strangers”: Reality Television and Documentary Study Abroad House Hunters International: Homestay Movies in the Digital Era Study Abroad’s Diversity Problem: Vlogs as Necessary Media Spy Kids: The Consequences of Global Citizenship in Game of Pawns Study Abroad and The Female Traveler in the “Amanda Knoxudramas” Acknowledgments Bibliography
£107.20
