Film: styles and genres Books
Wayne State University Press The Politics of Magic
Book SynopsisFrom 1950 to 1989 East Germany's state-sponsored film company, DEFA produced over forty feature-length, live-action fairy-tale films based on nineteenth-century folk and literary tales. In The Politics of Magic, Qinna Shen analyses the films on thematic and formal levels and examines their embedded agendas in relation to the cultural politics of the German Democratic Republic.
£24.71
Wayne State University Press Fearless Vulgarity
Book SynopsisCatalyzed by her notoriously dirty, fabulously successful bestseller Valley of the Dolls, the Jackie Susann Sixties brimmed with camp comedy that now permeates contemporary celebrations of the author, from Pee-wee''s Playhouse to RuPaul''s Drag Race and Lee Daniels''s Star. First christened camp by Gloria Steinem in an excoriating review of Valley of the Dolls and compounded by the publishing juggernauts The Love Machine (1969), Once Is Not Enough (1973), and Dolores (1976), the comedy of Jackie Susann illuminated conflicting positions about gender, sexuality, and aesthetic value. Through a writing formula that Ken Feil calls sleazy realism, Susann veers from gossip to confession and devises comedies of bad manners spun from real celebrities whose occasionally queer and always outré antics clashed with their official personas, the popular genres they were famous for, and the narrow, normative constructiTrade Review“For decades, only the die-hard film nerds and LGBTQIA+ pop culture fanatics recognized Suzann’s impact, but hopefully Feil’s book will open her legacy to a wider audience.” - Library Journal
£63.75
Wayne State University Press Fearless Vulgarity
Book SynopsisCatalyzed by her notoriously dirty, fabulously successful bestseller Valley of the Dolls, the Jackie Susann Sixties brimmed with camp comedy that now permeates contemporary celebrations of the author, from Pee-wee''s Playhouse to RuPaul''s Drag Race and Lee Daniels''s Star. First christened camp by Gloria Steinem in an excoriating review of Valley of the Dolls and compounded by the publishing juggernauts The Love Machine (1969), Once Is Not Enough (1973), and Dolores (1976), the comedy of Jackie Susann illuminated conflicting positions about gender, sexuality, and aesthetic value. Through a writing formula that Ken Feil calls sleazy realism, Susann veers from gossip to confession and devises comedies of bad manners spun from real celebrities whose occasionally queer and always outré antics clashed with their official personas, the popular genres they were famous for, and the narrow, normative constructiTrade Review“For decades, only the die-hard film nerds and LGBTQIA+ pop culture fanatics recognized Suzann’s impact, but hopefully Feil’s book will open her legacy to a wider audience.” - Library Journal
£27.96
Wayne State University Press After Happily Ever After
Book SynopsisIn defiance of the alleged ‘death of romantic comedy’, After ""Happily Ever After"": Romantic Comedy in the Post-Romantic Age edited by Maria San Filippo attests to rom-com's continuing vitality in new modes and forms that reimagine and rejuvenate the genre in ideologically, artistically, and commercially innovative ways.Trade ReviewThe essays in this book document a level of generic activity that belies the death notices so often read out for romantic comedy. Moreover, they do so with analytical skill and rhetorical force. With a fresh focus on rom-coms that make use of alternative distribution practices, disrupt conventional plotlines, or are non-traditional in representational content-featuring queer, ethnically diverse, and/or 'un-couples'-After 'Happily Ever After' cogently illustrates that there is still much to be learned from and about this oft-sidelined genre. A scholarly comedy in two prologues and three acts, this wonderful book starts by resisting the predictions of the doomsayers about the death of comedy and ends up being a song to the vitality, diversity, and apparently endless ability of romantic comedy to shift shape, to adapt, to survive-like life itself if viewed through a comic lens.
£27.96
Wayne State University Press Starring Tom Cruise Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media
Book SynopsisExamines how Tom Cruise's star image moves across genres and forms as a type of commercial product that offers viewers certain pleasures and expectations. Cruise reads as an action hero and romantic lead yet finds himself in homoerotic and homosocial relationships that unsettle and undermine these heterosexual scripts.
£27.96
Duke University Press Dark Borders
Book SynopsisShows how politics and aesthetics merge in American film noirs made between the late 1930s and the mid-1950s; their oft-noted uncanniness betrays the fear that un-American foes lurk within the homeland.Trade Review“This terrific book offers fresh insight into both the genre of film noir and the cultural production of the postwar and early Cold War period. Through rich, historically contextualized readings of a range of noir films, Jonathan Auerbach shows how the genre captured the uncanniness of a time of suspicion and paranoia. By illuminating the uncanny figures (the immigrants, the aliens, the strangers) and spaces (national borders and urban zones) that characterize the noir affect, he shows how these films dramatized the national response to the changing terms of citizenship and subjectivity as the anxious fear of the stranger within.”—Priscilla Wald, author of Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative“While scholars have long attended to film noir as one of the preeminent genres of U.S. cinema, they ironically have rarely studied it in terms of its specific engagements with national self-identity and self-definition. Deftly employing his strong and reputed background in American studies to far-reaching ends, Jonathan Auerbach shows precisely how film noir was central to the country’s self-questioning in the fraught times of the Cold War. This is a groundbreaking study that comes up with trenchant insights about a genre that one might have thought had nothing new to yield to critical inquiry.”—Dana Polan, author of Julia Child’s The French Chef“Auerbach evokes the ever-present sense of fear existing in an early Cold War American public through his analysis of these films. Both insightful and unique in its undertaking, this book speaks openly and convincingly to the relationship between political agenda, disenfranchisement and art.” -- Laura Crawford * Media International Australia *“This insightful study wisely ranges beyond the genre’s usual suspects. Recommended. All readers.” -- M. Yacowar * Choice *“Auerbach provides unique close readings of a select group of films that assist us in seeing film noir in relation to concerns over citizenship and Cold War paranoia. It provides a valuable starting point from which we can hope future scholarship will further delve into such connections.” -- Christopher Robé * Journal of American History *“[A] wholly original, ground-level reconsideration of noir's cultural setting. . . . Auerbach's book augurs . . .a theory-to-come of U.S. film that can leam to disable those old tropes and inspire truly fresh lines of aesthetic and political questioning.” -- Matt Tierney * Film Criticism *“[I]f you have an abiding interest in film noir . . . you will find Dark Borders has a lot to offer. While most books on film noir take a rather broad approach in their examination of the genre, Auerbach chose a core of films to study in order to link the book’s overriding theme. By concentrating on a handful of films, he provides a comprehensive insight to each one, and therein lies the strength of the book.” -- Phil Stufflebean * American Film Noir *“]Auerbach’s] rigorous and creative readings of these films will prove indispensable for serious students of noir. . . . some of the most exciting moments to be noted in Auerbach’s compelling book demonstrate nuanced uses of cultural history to inform his film analysis. Such exciting subjects include Lucky Luciano and the Second World War, Hemingway’s annoyance over inefficient government help during the 1935 hurricane, and the emergence of corporate and managerial structures of power and identity.” -- Sam B. Girgus * American Literature *“Auerbach offers some significant fresh insights into territory one would have thought to now be fully excavated.“ -- Tony Williams * Screening the Past *“The book as a whole is exemplary in its analysis of the interrelation between film noir and the social and political history of the 1940s and early 50s.” -- Martin Fradley * Film Quarterly *Table of ContentsIllustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Un-Americanness of Film Noir 1 1. Gestapo in America: Confessions of a Nazi Spy and Stranger on the Third Floor 27 2. White Collar Murder: Double Indemnity 57 3. Cuba, Gangsters, Vets, and Other Outcasts of the Islands: The Chase and Key Largo 91 4. North From Mexico: Border Incident, Hold Back the Dawn, Secret Beyond the Door, and Out of the Past 123 5. Bad Boy Patriots: This Gun for Hire, Ride the Pink Horse, and Pickup on South Street 155 Postscript: Darkness Visible 185 Notes 205 Bibilography 245 Index 261
£19.79
Fordham University Press NapoliNew YorkHollywood Film between Italy and
Book SynopsisNapoli/New York/Hollywood investigates the work of Italian immigrant performers and the impact of the traditions of the Italian stage within the history of Hollywood cinema and of American media from 1895 to today.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 1. Italian Performers in American Silent Cinema 21 2. Aristocrats, Acrobats, Latin Lovers, and Waiters: Italians in American Silent Cinema 70 3. A Filmic Grand Tour: American Silent Films “Made in Italy” 100 4. American Cinema in Italian: The Formation of Italian American Culture 157 5. Italian Actors in Classical Hollywood Cinema 209 6. Transnational Neorealism: Toward an Italian American Film Hegemony 253 Acknowledgments 297 Notes 301 Index 349
£111.60
Fordham University Press NapoliNew YorkHollywood Film between Italy and
Book SynopsisNapoli/New York/Hollywood investigates the work of Italian immigrant performers and the impact of the traditions of the Italian stage within the history of Hollywood cinema and of American media from 1895 to today.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 1. Italian Performers in American Silent Cinema 21 2. Aristocrats, Acrobats, Latin Lovers, and Waiters: Italians in American Silent Cinema 70 3. A Filmic Grand Tour: American Silent Films “Made in Italy” 100 4. American Cinema in Italian: The Formation of Italian American Culture 157 5. Italian Actors in Classical Hollywood Cinema 209 6. Transnational Neorealism: Toward an Italian American Film Hegemony 253 Acknowledgments 297 Notes 301 Index 349
£35.10
University of Hawai'i Press Tsai MingLiang and a Cinema of Slowness
Book SynopsisHow can we qualify slowness in cinema? What is the relationship between a cinema of slowness and a wider socio-cultural slow movement? A body of films that shares a propensity toward slowness has emerged in many parts of the world over the past two decades. This is the first book to examine the concept of cinematic slowness and address this fascinating phenomenon in contemporary film culture. Providing a critical investigation into questions of temporality, materiality, and aesthetics, and examining concepts of authorship, cinephilia, and nostalgia, Song Hwee Lim offers insight into cinematic slowness through the films of the Malaysian-born, Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang. Through detailed analysis of aspects of stillness and silence in cinema, Lim delineates the strategies by which slowness in film can be constructed. By drawing on writings on cinephilia and the films of directors such as Abbas Kiarostami, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, he makes a passionate case for
£35.96
Texas Christian University Press The Hispanic Roots of the Hollywood Western
Book Synopsis
£19.76
MerwinAsia Women in Japanese Cinema Alternative Perspectives
Book SynopsisBy studying Japanese films and their associated literature, this book reveals the covert stories of Japanese women of various statuses and time periods in an exegesis of their story versus orthodox history. Fifteen films are studied to bring this theme into focus. The five chapters represent categories the public used to code Japanese women in the pre-feminist age.
£27.96
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Film Noir
Book SynopsisFilm Noir offers new perspectives on this highly popular and influential film genre, providing a useful overview of its historical evolution and the many critical debates over its stylistic elements.Trade Review“It is the most comprehensive and lucid study of the genre I have read … I was also impressed with Luhr's handling of the shift in Hollywood from the 1930s to 1940s. The morally compromised "heroes" of the 1940s were unthinkable in the 1930s. Like all good film critics, Luhr makes me want to see my favorite films again because he has shown me things I missed. And then there are all those films I didn't see that are now on my list because of William Luhr.” (Carl Rollyson, 16 June 2012) Table of ContentsList of Plates ix Acknowledgments xiii 1 Introduction 1 2 Historical Overview 20 3 Critical Overview 50 4 Murder, My Sweet 73 5 Out of the Past 100 6 Kiss Me Deadly 123 7 The Long Goodbye 146 8 Chinatown 171 9 Seven 191 Afterword 215 References 217 Further Reading 223 Index 225
£30.35
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Fantasy Film
Book SynopsisThe Fantasy Film provides a clear and compelling overview of this revitalized and explosively popular film genre. Providing in-depth historical and critical overviews of the genre, The Fantasy Film explores the boundaries of fantasy throughout history and the expansion of this important genre in contemporary film.Trade Review"In true reflection of its straightforward—if generic—title, The Fantasy Film presents a useful foundation for deeper reflection on the complexities of the fantastic in film." (Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 1 February 2014) "Written in prose that is careful and cogent, the book provides a defence of what Fowkes calls the "orphan" genre (unloved; neglected; even, perhaps, of questionable legitimacy), one which she argues has long been excluded from serious analysis by "dogmas of realism" that privilege "codes of . . . mimesis." (Times Literary Supplement, 18 February 2011)Table of ContentsList of Plates ix Acknowledgements xi 1 What’s in a Name: Defining the Elusive Fantasy Genre 1 2 Once upon a Time: A Brief Historical Overview 15 3 A Brief Critical Overview: Literary and Film Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror 38 4 The Wizard of Oz (1939): Over the Rainbow 55 5 Harvey (1950): A Happy Hallucination? 68 6 Always (1989): Spielberg’s Ghost from the Past 81 7 Groundhog Day (1993): No Time Like the Present 92 8 Big (1988): Body and Soul/‘‘Hearts and Souls’’ 104 9 Shrek (2001): Like an Onion 114 10 Spider-Man (2002): The Karmic Web 124 11 The Lord of the Rings (2001–3): Tolkien’s Trilogy or Jackson’s Thrillogy? 134 12 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005): A Joyful Spell 145 13 Harry Potter I–VI (2001–9): Words are Mightier than the Sword 156 14 Conclusion: Imagine That! 171 References 175 Index 186
£29.40
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Hollywood War Film
Book SynopsisThe Hollywood War Film introduces the theory, history, stars, and major films constituting this evergreen genre. From untested young recruits and battle-hardened warriors to ferocious drill instructors and stereotypical enemies, this volume offers readers lively entry into the major conventions of the war film genre.Trade Review"Free of theoretical jargon and labyrinthine argumentation, with long-winded yet stimulating plot summaries, The Hollywood War Film is first and foremost recommended to students of film and cinema buffs who are getting acquainted with critical perspectives on the genre." (Hollywood Enlisted, 2010)Table of ContentsList of Plates. Acknowledgments. Introduction. 1. Historical Overview. 2. Critical Issues. 3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). 4. Destination Tokyo (1943) and Retaliation Films. 5. Platoon (1986) and Full Metal Jacket (1987). 6. Glory (1989). 7. The Iraq Wars on Film. 8. Iwo Jima. Notes. Index.
£29.40
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Hollywood Film Musical
Book SynopsisThe Hollywood Film Musical examines the cross-fertilization between the genre and the popular music industry, tracing the function of this relationship in aesthetic, ideological and industrial terms, and outlining the influence of minstrel shows, vaudeville, the Broadway stage, the recording industry, and stardom.Trade Review“Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.” (Choice, 1 November 2012)Table of ContentsList of Plates ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1 Historical Overview 7 2 Critical Overview 38 3 Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) 55 4 Top Hat (1935) 70 5 The Pirate (1948) 85 6 West Side Story (1961) and Saturday Night Fever (1977) 99 7 Woodstock (1970) 116 8 Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 131 9 Pennies from Heaven (1981) and Across the Universe (2007) 146 References 165 Index 171
£29.40
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Hollywood Romantic Comedy
Book SynopsisThe most up-to-date study of the Hollywood romantic comedy film, from the development of sound to the twenty-first century, this book examines the history and conventions of the genre and surveys the controversies arising from the critical responses to these films.Trade Review“Grindon’s contribution to the romantic comedy film bibliography is a valuable addition to the limited number of similar scholarly endeavors, and it seems well-designed for classroom use—not just for teaching the particular films he discusses, but also for teaching methodology. The romantic comedy genre has rarely received the sort of academic recognition it deserves, but students, film scholars, romance scholars, and rom-com enthusiasts all over the world will find The Hollywood Romantic Comedya fine introduction to this culturally and politically significant film genre.” (Journal of Popular Romance Studies, 1 October 2012) "The romantic comedy genre has rarely received the sort of academic recognition it deserves, but students, film scholars, romance scholars, and rom-com enthusiasts all over the world will find The Hollywood Romantic Comedy a fine introduction to this culturally and politically significant film genre." (Journal of Popular Romance Studies, 15 October 2012) "Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers." (Choice, 1 September 2011)Table of ContentsList of Plates ix Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction 1 2 History, Cycles, and Society 25 3 Thinking Seriously About Laughter and Romance 67 4 Trouble in Paradise (1932): What is the Trouble in Paradise? 84 5 His Girl Friday (1940): Jailbreak! 96 6 The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944): The Home Front Romantic Comedy 106 7 Adam’s Rib (1949): Anatomy Lesson 117 8 Some Like It Hot (1959): Riding Sidesaddle 129 9 The Graduate (1967): Counter-Conventions and Cultural Change 139 10 Annie Hall (1977): The Trials of Partnership 150 11 When Harry Met Sally (1989): Friendship, Sex, and Courtship 160 12 There’s Something About Mary (1998): Parody and the Grotesque 171 13 Waitress (2007): Women’s Ambivalence 181 A Chronology of Prominent Hollywood Romantic Comedies 191 References 195 Index 201
£25.60
John Wiley and Sons Ltd Cinema Wars
Book SynopsisCinema Wars explores the intersection of film, politics, and US culture and society through a bold critical analysis of the films, TV shows, and documentaries produced in the early 2000s Offers a thought-provoking depiction of Hollywood film as a contested terrain between conservative and liberal forces Films and documentaries discussed include: Black Hawk Down, The Dark Knight, Star Wars, Syriana, WALL-E, Fahrenheit 9/11 and other Michael Moore documentaries, amongst others Explores how some films in this era supported the Bush-Cheney regime, while others criticized the administration, openly or otherwise Investigates Hollywood's treatment of a range of hot topics, from terrorism and environmental crisis to the Iraq war and the culture wars of the 2000s Shows how Hollywood film in the 2000s brought to life a vibrant array of social protest and helped create cultural condiTrade Review"Notwithstanding the lack of surprise, Kellner is always challenging and provocative, and for that reason alone, Cinema Wars is worth reading." (Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 1 June 2011) "This volume will be a valuable source ... .The provocative political stances taken and wide range of films discussed here will stimulate debate for academics and students alike." (Times Higher Education, February 2010) Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii List of Plates ix Introduction: Film, Politics, and Society 1 Hollywood Film as a Contested Terrain 2 Cinema, Politics, and Social History: From Cinematic Realism to Allegory 13 Hollywood Film and the Contemporary Moment: Signs of the Times 18 Reading Film Diagnostically: Imagining Obama 34 In This Book 40 1 Confronting the Horrors of the Bush-Cheney Era: From Documentary to Allegory 51 The Golden Age of Documentary 52 Real Disaster Films: From An Inconvenient Truth and Environmental Documentaries to Animated Allegories 71 Allegories of Catastrophe: Social Apocalypse in Disaster, Horror, and Fantasy Films 80 2 Hollywood’s 9/11 and Spectacles of Terror 98 9/11 as Disaster Film and Spectacle of Terror 99 Representations of 9/11 in Hollywood Film: United 93 and World Trade Center 101 Disney Television Republican Propaganda: The Path to 9/11 108 Hollywood’s Terror War 118 3 Michael Moore’s Provocations 132 Michael Moore, Emile de Antonio, and the Politics of Documentary Film 133 Roger and Me and the Documentary of Personal Witnessing 136 Bowling For Columbine and Exploratory Documentary Montage 140 Fahrenheit 9/11 and Partisan Interventionist Cinema 146 Sicko and the Michael Moore Genre 155 4 Hollywood Political Critiques of the Bush-Cheney Regime: From Thrillers to Fantasy and Satire 163 The Hollywood Political Thriller Against the Bush-Cheney Regime 165 Star Wars Prequels as Anti-Bush-Cheney Allegory 173 From Satire to Dystopia 183 5 The Cinematic Iraq War 199 Documenting Iraq 200 Interpreting the Iraq Fiasco 208 Iraq and Its Aftermath in Fiction Films 219 Conclusion: Hollywood Cinema Wars in the 2000s 239 Critical Representations 240 History Lessons 250 Final Reflections 258 References 262 Index 269
£31.30
John Wiley and Sons Ltd A Companion to the Historical Film
Book SynopsisBroad in scope, this interdisciplinary collection of original scholarship on historical film features essays that explore the many facets of this expanding field and provide a platform for promising avenues of research.Trade ReviewOverall, this work offers a serious and scholarly overview of several genres of historical film and would make a useful addition to academic collections in particular. (Reference Reviews, 1 June 2014) Ultimately, this important collection will prove a useful and accessible resource for researchers and pedagogues both and deserves to be a fixture in the reading lists of students of history as well as film and cultural studies. It would certainly be useful to hear what historians have to say about these analyses and how those in that discipline are coping with the idea that dramatic recreations, fictions and documentaries might be treated seriously for the theses they present on the experience and understanding of the past. (Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 1 March 2014) Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. (Choice, 1 August 2013)Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors viii Introduction 1Robert A. Rosenstone and Constantin Parvulescu Part 1 History and the Medium of Film 1 Politics and the Historical Film: Hotel Rwanda and the Form of Engagement 11Alison Landsberg 2 History as Palimpsest: Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975) 30Maria Pramaggiore 3 Flagging up History: The Past as a DVD Bonus Feature 53Debra Ramsay 4 The History Film as a Mode of Historical Thought 71Robert A. Rosenstone Part 2 Filmmakers as Historians 5 Julia’s Resistant History:Women’s Historical Films in Hollywood and the Legacy of Citizen Kane 91J. E. Smyth 6 Mark Donskoi’s Gorky Trilogy and the Stalinist Biopic 110Denise J. Youngblood 7 The Subjects of History: Italian Filmmakers as Historians 133Marcia Landy 8 Andrzej Wajda as Historian 154Piotr Witek Part 3 Telling Lives: The Biopic 9 Oliver Stone’s Nixon: The Rise and Fall of a Political Gangster 179Willem Hesling 10 Authorial Histories: The Historical Film and the Literary Biopic 199Hila Shachar 11 The Biopic in Hindi Cinema 219Rachel Dwyer 12 The Lives and Times of the Biopic 233Dennis Bingham Part 4 Cinema and the Nation 13 Gang Wars: Warner Brothers’ The Roaring Twenties Stars, News, and the New Deal 257Paula Rabinowitz 14 State Terrorism on Film: Argentine Cinema during the First Years of Democracy (1983–1990) 283Mario Ranalletti 15 Fossil Frontiers: American Petroleum History on Film 301Georgiana Banita 16 Sounding the Depths of History: Opera and National Identity in Italian Film 328Roger Hillman Part 5 Wars and Revolutions 17 Generational Memory and Affect in Letters from Iwo Jima 349Robert Burgoyne 18 Post-Heroic Revolution: Depicting the 1989 Events in the Romanian Historical Film of the Twenty-First Century 365Constantin Parvulescu 19 In Country: Narrating the Iraq War in Contemporary US Cinema 384Guy Westwell Part 6 Premodern Times 20 Heart and Clock: Time and History in The Immortal Heart and Other Films about the Middle Ages 407Bettina Bildhauer 21 The Anti-Samurai Film 425Thomas Keirstead Part 7 Slavery and the Postcolonial World 22 The Politics of Cine-Memory: Signifying Slavery in the History Film 445Michael T. Martin and David C. Wall 23 The African Past on Screen: Moving beyond Dualism 468Vivian Bickford-Smith 24 Colonial Legacies in Contemporary French Cinema: Jews and Muslims on Screen 490Catherine Portuges 25 ‘‘What’s Love Got to Do with It?’’: Sympathy, Antipathy, and the Unsettling of Colonial American History in Film 513Louis Kirk McAuley Index 540
£176.65
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
