Films, cinema Books

Book SynopsisThe story of an all-female caving expedition gone horribly wrong, The Descent (2005) is arguably the best of the mid-2000s horror entries to return verve and intensity to the genre. Unlike its peers (Saw [2004], Hostel [2011], etc.), The Descent was both commercially and critically popular, providing a genuine version of what other films could only produce as pastiche. For Mark Kermode, writing in the Observer, it was "one of the best British horror films of recent years," and Derek Elley in Variety described it as "an object lesson in making a tightly-budgeted, no-star horror pic." Time Out's critic praised "this fiercely entertaining British horror movie;" while Rolling Stone's Peter Travers warned prospective viewers to "prepare to be scared senseless." Emphasizing female characters and camaraderie, The Descent is an ideal springboard for discussing underexplored horror themes: the genre's engagement with the lure of the archaic; the idea of birth as the foundational human trauma and its implications for horror film criticism; and the use of provisional worldviews, or "rubber realities," in horror.Trade ReviewExcellent. * Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts *Table of ContentsForewordIntroductionThe DescentThe Shock of the OldGoing UndergroundOne Million Years BCReturn to the SourceChicks with PicksNightmares in a Damaged BrainFamilyConclusionBibliography

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Book SynopsisBrian De Palma's adaptation of Stephen King's debut novel, Carrie (1976), is one of the defining films of 1970s "New Hollywood" style and a horror classic. The story of a teenage social outcast who discovers she possesses latent psychic powers that allow her to deliver retribution to her peers, teachers, and abusive mother, Carrie was an enormous commercial and critical success and is still one of the finest screen adaptations of a King novel. This contribution to the Devil's Advocates series not only breaks the film down into its formal componenets--its themes, stylistic tropes, technical approaches, uses of color and sound, dialogue, and visual symbolism--but also considers a multitude of other factors contributing to the work's classic status. The act of adapting King's novel for the big screen, the origins of the novel itself, the place of Carrie in De Palma's oeuvre, the subsequent versions and sequel, and the social, political, and cultural climate of the era (including the influence of second wave feminism, loosening sexual norms, and changing representations of adolescence), as well as the explosion of interest in and the evolution of the horror genre during the decade, are all shown to have played an important part in the film's success and enduring reputation.Trade Review... Mitchell cogently and clearly documents the making of the movie, its themes, and its continuing impact. * Canberra Times *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Birth of a Monster2. From Page to Screen: Bringing Carrie to Life313. Carrie: An Analysis4. Life After Death: Carrie's legacyBibliography

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Book SynopsisEver since its inception, British cinema has been obsessed with crime and the criminal. One of the first narrative films to be produced in Britain, the Hepworth's 1905 short Rescued by Rover, was a fast-paced, quick-edited tale of abduction and kidnap, and the first British sound film, Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1930), centered on murder and criminal guilt. For a genre seemingly so important to the British cinematic character, there is little direct theoretical or historical work focused on it. The Britain of British cinema is often written about in terms of national history, ethnic diversity, or cultural tradition, yet very rarely in terms of its criminal tendencies and dark underbelly. This volume assumes that, to know how British cinema truly works, it is necessary to pull back the veneer of the costume piece, the historical drama, and the rom-com and glimpse at what is underneath. For every Brief Encounter (1945) there is a Brighton Rock (2010), for every Notting Hill (1999) there is a Long Good Friday (1980).Table of ContentsIntroduction: Rounding Up the Usual Suspects1. Gangland UK2. The Post-Millennial Gangster Film3. The Heist4. Bent Coppers5. Working Girls6. Serial Killers7. Juvenile Delinquency

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Book SynopsisConsigned to the deep freeze of critical and commercial reception upon its release in 1982, The Thing has bounced back spectacularly to become one of the most highly regarded productions from the 1980s 'Body Horror' cycle of films, experiencing a wholesale and detailed reappraisal that has secured its place in the pantheon of modern cinematic horror. Thirty years on, and with a recent prequel reigniting interest, Jez Conolly looks back to the film's antecedents and to the changing nature of its reception and the work that it has influenced. The themes discussed include the significance of The Thing's subversive antipodal environment, the role that the film has played in the corruption of the onscreen monstrous form, the qualities that make it an exemplar of the director's work and the relevance of its legendary visual effects despite the advent of CGI. Topped and tailed by a full plot breakdown and an appreciation of its notoriously downbeat ending, this exploration of the events at US Outpost 31 in the winter of 1982 captures The Thing's sub-zero terror in all its gory glory.Trade Review‘Jez Conolly’s footnotes are just as fascinating as his main text. Among the various subjects that he touches on is comparisons of The Thing with Scott and polar explorations in general, comparison of the film to The Shining, how subsequent fandom for the thing works and evolved, and various crazy things that served his inspirations for the film plus a lot of detail about the special effects and the team that created them.’ Douglas Holm, Film at 11Table of Contents'Now I'll show you what I already know''I know how this one ends''First goddamn week of winter''What is that...is that a man in there... or something?''What the hell are you looking at me like that for?''Weird and pissed off whatever it is''It's not dead yet!''Why don't we just...wait here for a little while... see what happens...'NotesBibliography

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Book SynopsisUnquestionably the first cinematic phenomenon of the twenty-first century, Peter Jackson's trilogy was a project of enormous artistic vision and financial risk. It is also a rich text for those studying film and media, perhaps for the first time. Studying The Lord of the Rings is the first book to consider the films in these terms, looking in turn at each of the major concepts: their complex origins and narrative structure; issues of representation masculinity, femininity and race; their generic patterns (to which genre do the films belong?) and thematic concerns; their industrial context from theatrical release to DVD extended editions; film language fusing classical mise-en-scène with cutting-edge technological practice. The aim throughout is to highlight critical debates and key terms, to relate these to the texts and to explore their stylistic and cultural impact. This Student Edition (a previously published Instructor's Edition is available) brings the story up to date with reflections on The Hobbit films.Trade Review‘Iconic, beloved, celebrated, acclaimed – all these words can be applied to The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and Anna Dawson’s book certainly increases one’s appreciation of the masterful adaptations. [...] The book is clearly aimed at those who are early in their studies of the artform and as such, it succeeds admirably as a fascinating and accessible text for one to sink their teeth into the art of studying film.’ Samuel Love, FilmJuice

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Book SynopsisDespite its reputation as one of the greatest and most influential of all horror films, there is surprisingly little literature dedicated to Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960), and this contribution to the Devil's Advocates series is the first single book dedicated to it. Martyn Conterio places the film in the historical context of being one of the first sound Italian horror films and how its success kick-started the Italian horror boom. The author considers the particularly Italian perspective on the gothic that the film pioneered and its fresh and pioneering approach to horror tropes such as the vampire and the witch and considers how the casting of British 'Scream Queen' Barbara Steele was crucial to the film's effectiveness and success.Trade ReviewThroughout, Conterio's approach, while immensely in-depth, is conversational in tone and very accessible. His humour (he describes one character as Asa's bitch) and breathtaking insight ensure this monograph is an invaluable read for anyone with an interest, not only in Bava's work, but in the history of Italian horror cinema. Essential. * Exquisite Terror *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Context2. The Birth of Italian Horror3. Production and Reception4. Influences and Adaptation5. Analysis6. Black Sunday's LegacyConclusionBibliography

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Book SynopsisFew films have had the influence and impact of The Blair Witch Project (1999). Its arrival was a horror cinema palette cleanser after a decade of serial killers and postmodern intertextuality, a bare bones 'found footage' trend setter. In this Devil's Advocate, Peter Turner tells the story of the film from his conception and production then provides a unique analysis of the techniques used, their appeal to audiences and the themes that helped make the film such an international hit, including the pionerring internet marketing.Trade ReviewI could have read another 200 pages on how The Blair Witch Project was made... but Turner still manages to make excellent use of his 83, allotting enough space for the film's unique origins, creation, meaning, marketing, and legacy to satisfy. * Psychobabble (Best Of) *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. The Making of The Blair Witch Project2. The Aesthetics of Artificial Authenticity3. Who Am I? Positioning the Spectator and Identification4. Fear of the Dark: Witches, Women and the Woods5. Marketing, Reception and LegacyBibliography

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Book SynopsisCritics abhorred it, audiences loved it, and Hammer executives where thrilled with the box office returns: The Curse of Frankenstein was big business. The 1957 film is the first to bring together in a horror movie the 'unholy two', Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, together with the Hammer company, and director Terence Fisher, combinations now legendary among horror fans. In his Devil's Advocate, Marcus Harmes goes back to where the Hammer horror production started, looking at the film from a variety of perspectives: as a loose literaryadaptation of Mary Shelley's novel; as a film that had, for legal reasons, to avoid adapting from James Whale's 1931 film for Universal Pictures; and as one which found immediate sources of inspiration in the Gainsborough bodice rippers of the 1940s and the poverty row horrors of the 1950s. Later Hammer horrors may have consolidated the reputation of the company and the stars, but these works had their starting point in the creative and commercial choices made by the team behind The Curse of Frankenstein. In the film sparks fly, new life is created and horrors unleashed but the film itself was a jolt to 1950s cinema going that has never been entirely surpassed.Trade ReviewWell-written and thoroughly researched, Marcus K. Harmes' excellent study is a testament to the enduring appeal and enthusiasm for The Curse of Frankenstein, and leaves room for other individual examinations of Hammer's classic output from the late 1950s and early 1960s. * Exquisite Terror *Harmes definitively establishes the decades-long impact of The Curse of Frankenstein on the gothic horror film genre. * Sydney Morning Herald *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Film and its Critics2. Adapting and Transgressing 3. The Book: Adapting Shelley4. Cinema Part 1: Horror before Hammer5. Cinema Part 2: Heritage and HorrorConclusionBibliography

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Book SynopsisShard Cinema tells an expansive story of how moving images have changed in the last three decades and how they changed us along with them, rewiring the ways we watch, fight, and navigate an unsteady world. With a range that spans film, games, software, architecture, and military technologies, the book crosses the twentieth century into our present to confront a new order of seeing and making that took slow shape: the composite image, where no clean distinction can be made between production and post-production, filmed and animated, material and digital. Giving equal ground to costly blockbusters and shaky riot footage, Williams leads us from computer-generated shards of particles and debris to the broken phone screen on which we watch those digital storms, looking for the unexpected histories lived in the interval between.

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Book SynopsisThis collection re-imagines the study of English and media in a way that decentralises the text (e.g. romantic poetry or film noir) or media formats/platforms (e.g. broadcast media/new media). Instead, the authors work across boundaries in meaningful thematic contexts that reflect the ways in which people engage with reading, watching, making, and listening in their textual lives. In so doing, this project recasts both subjects as combined in a more reflexive, critical space for the study of our everyday social and cultural interactions. Across the chapters, the authors present applicable learning and teaching strategies that weave together art works, films, social practices, creativity, 'viral' media, theater, TV, social media, videogames, and literature. The culmination of this range of strategies is a reclaimed 'blue skies' approach to progressive textual education, free from constraining shackles of outdated ideas about textual categories and value that have hitherto alienated generations of students and both English and media from themselves.Table of ContentsPreface, by Nick Peim 1. Doing Text, by Julian McDougall 2. Reading Text, by Steph Hendry 3. Wearing Text, by Claire Pollard 4. Writing Text, by Pritpal Singh Sembi 5. Playing Text, by Barney Oram 6. Making Text, by Emma Walters 7. Performing Text, by Mark Parsons 8. Connecting Text, by Chris Waugh 9. Eating Text, by Gill Burbridge 10. After the Subject, by Pete Bennett Index

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Book SynopsisChristopher Nolan's Inception (2010) is a difficult film to categorize. It partakes of various genres, blurring the distinctions between them. It is science fiction, but it does not contain many of the ingredients associated with that genre. It can also be identified as a kind of heist film, and there are shades of film noir as well, not only because of the heist motifs but also due to its character types. It can also be described as psychological thriller, telling the story of one man's attempt to flee his past and regain access to his family, of his coming to terms with the death of his wife. In addition, it plays with time, questioning the certainty of consciously experienced real time, and revealing that the personal experience of the passing of time is variable. The film also explores the nature of the mind and how dreams are related to the conscious and unconscious mind. David Carter's contribution to the Constellation series covers all of these facets of a complex yet highly successful film, as well as considering it in the context of the director's other work.

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Book SynopsisOn its release in 2008, Ari Folman's animated documentary Waltz with Bashir was heralded as a brilliant and original exploration of trauma, and trauma's impact on memory and the recording of history. But it is surprising that although the film is seen through the eyes of one particular soldier, a viewpoint portrayed using highly experimental forms of animation, this has not prevented Waltz with Bashir from being regarded as both an "autobiographical" and "honest" account of the director's own experiences in the 1982 Lebanon war. In fact, the film won several documentary awards, and even those critics focusing on the representation of trauma suggest that this trauma must be authentic. In this sense, it is the documentary form rather than the animation that has had the most influence upon critics.As Studying Waltz with Bashir will show, it is the tension between the two forms that makes the film so complex and interesting, allowing for multiple themes and discourses to coexist, including Israel's role during the Lebanon War and the impact of trauma upon narrative, but also the representation of Holocaust memory and its role in the formation of Israeli identity. In addition to these themes that coexist by virtue of the film's unusual animated documentary format, Waltz with Bashir can also be discussed in relation to a broad range of contexts; for example, the representation of war in film, the history of Israeli Holocaust cinema, and recent trends in experimental animation, such as Richard Linklater's Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006), as well as Folman's most recent live action/animation work The Congress (2013).

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Book SynopsisIs Michael Mann an auteur? Mann is a formidable filmmaking personality, no doubt, but the notion that today's celebrity cult of director immediately correlates with the mysterious sect of 'auteur' is questionable and deserves to be investigated. In doing so this book strives to emulate the methodology of the man himself, by ranging over not only the films he has made, from 1979’s The Jericho Mile to 2015's Blackhat, but also the scope of intellectual interests that they exemplify in an attempt to mine the commonalities, themes and traits that may suggest the presence of an auteur. Through his investigation of Mann's filmography and the personality that flows through it, author Deryck Swan provides the reader with accessible and new ways of thinking about his films to date, including, amongst myriad other things, references to painter Morris Louis, desert modernism, West Coast prison culture, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Strain Theory, journalist Mike Royko, Chicago's Auditorium building and a largely forgotten Charles Bronson film.

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Book SynopsisInterest in the ancient, the occult, and the "wyrd" is on the rise. The furrows of Robin Hardy (The Wicker Man), Piers Haggard (Blood on Satan's Claw), and Michael Reeves (Witchfinder General) have arisen again, most notably in the films of Ben Wheatley (Kill List), as has the Spirit of Dark of Lonely Water, Juganets, cursed Saxon crowns, spaceships hidden under ancient barrows, owls and flowers, time-warping stone circles, wicker men, the goat of Mendes, and malicious stone tapes.Folk Horror: Hours Dreadful And Things Strange charts the summoning of these esoteric arts n the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond, using theories of psychogeography, hauntology, and topography to delve into the genre's output in film, television, and multimedia as its "sacred demon of ungovernableness" rises yet again in the twenty-first century.Trade ReviewAdam Scovell’s Folk Horror is an excellent primer on the cultural mode . . . Folk Horror well reflects the emerging ‘newness’ of the discipline, still pliable and open to interpretation. * Gramarye *

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Book SynopsisAimed at newcomers to literature and film, this book is a guide for the analysis of Shakespeare on film. Starting with an introduction to the main challenge faced by any director-the early-modern language-there follows exemplars for examining how that challenge is met using as case studies twelve films most often used in classroom teaching, including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and The Tempest. The first chapter explores how a director can tell the story in a setting that embraces the expectations of realism in cinema, but still pays homage to the theatrical origins of the work. The second chapter discusses films in which the setting provides a visual analogy with the preoccupations of the story, but not at the expense of Shakespeare's language. The third chapter extends this to show how some films use recent history as a setting, adding a further layer of meaning to the story from the cultural resonances associated with that historical past. These films also rely on an assumption that Shakespeare is so well-known as to form a distinctive, easily-recognized brand in the cinema marketplace. Thus, his work can be reimagined in completely different genres such as those films that are the subject of the final chapter.

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Book SynopsisTaking a fresh look at The Shining (1980), this book situates the film within the history of the horror genre and examines its rightful status as one of the greatest horror movies ever made. It explores how Stanley Kubrick's filmmaking style, use of dark humor, and ambiguous approach to supernatural storytelling complements generic conventions, and it analyzes the effective choices made in adapting King's book for the screen-stripping the novel's backstory, rejecting its clear explanations of the Overlook Hotel's hauntings, and emphasizing the strained relationships of the Torrance family. The fractured family unit and patriarchal terror of Kubrick's film, alongside its allusions to issues of gender, race, and class, connect it to themes prevalent in horror cinema by the end of the 1970s, and are shown to offer a critique of American society that chimed with the era's political climate as well as its genre trends. The film's impact on horror cinema and broader pop culture is ever apparent, with homages in everything from Toy Story to American Horror Story. The Shining showed that popular, commercial horror films could be smart, artistic, and original.

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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.

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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.

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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 *

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Book SynopsisThese beautifully translated works demonstrate why Chekhov's short fiction has achieved universal acclaim.

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1970, the artist Les Levine arrived at the University of Toronto to take part in the installation of site-specific work on the quadrangle in front of the University's Hart House. The intended piece-construction materials hung from high-tension rope between campus buildings-was quickly stymied as Levine encountered a series of bureaucratic impediments on the part of the University staff. What ensued was played into the conceptual conceit the artist had envisioned for the project. By collating the correspondence, telephone transcripts, and visual documentation of the eventual installation process, Levine used the work to demonstrate how the university itself functioned as a system. Red Tape publishes this project, which had existed only as a dossier in the artist's archive, for the first time. ?Red Tape is being published on the occasion of the exhibition "Les Levine: Bio-Tech Rehearsals 1965-1975," curated by Felicity D. Scott and Mark Wasiuta, at Columbia University's Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery.

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Book SynopsisHistorians investigate the relationships between film, culture, and energy.American Energy Cinema explores how Hollywood movies have portrayed energy from the early film era to the present. Looking at classics like Giant, Silkwood, There Will Be Blood, and Matewan, and at quirkier fare like A Is for Atom and Convoy, it argues that films have both reflected existing beliefs and conjured new visions for Americans about the role of energy in their lives and their history. The essays in this collection show how film provides a unique and informative lens to understand perceptions of energy production, consumption, and infrastructure networks. By placing films that prominently feature energy within historical context and analyzing them as historical objects, the contributing authors demonstrate how energy systems of all kinds are both integral to the daily life of Americans and inextricable from larger societal changes and global politics.Trade Review"A rich and compelling collection of essays covering a broad range of moments and films in the histories of oil, coal, nuclear power, and energy in America."—Toby Jones, Rutgers University"Movies are a fun escape from reality, cultural snapshots in time, and valuable historical documents. That's the key thesis and value of this book: it gives readers an engaging way to learn the history of energy—rather, the history of American society—with a century of thrillers, dramas, comedies, and whodunits. Addressing a range of genres, story lines, and themes, this collection of essays will be captivating and informative for movie lovers, energy enthusiasts, and historians alike."—Michael E. Webber, host and creator of the PBS special Energy at the MoviesTable of Contents List of Illustrations Introduction Part 1: When Disaster Strikes 1. Blackouts, Bad Guys, and Belly Laughs: Exploring America’s First Cascading Power Failure in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968) Julie A. Cohn 2. Meltdown: Nuclear Cinema and the Martha Mitchell Effect in The China Syndrome (1979) and Silkwood(1983) Caroline Peyton 3. “The Juice”: The Road Warrior (1981) and the Cultural Logic of Energy Denial in the Early Days of Modern Globalization Christopher R. W. Dietrich 4. Built for Pyro: A Perfect Inferno on the Deepwater Horizon (2016) Tyler Priest 5. Chernobyl (2019): A Soviet Propaganda Win Delivered Thirty-Three Years Late Kate Brown Part 2: Energy and Nature 6. Wings (1927): Aviation, War, and Energy Conevery Bolton Valencius 7. Derricks and Skulls: Filming and Promoting the Extractive Landscapes of Boom Town (1940) Michaela Rife 8. Petrodocumentary in the 1940s: The Standard Oil Photography Project, Louisiana Story (1948), and the Domestication of the US Oil Industry Emily Roehl 9. TVA and the Price of Progress: Elia Kazan’s Wild River (1960) Donald C. Jackson 10. Do Action Movies and an Environmental Message Mix? About as Much as Oil and Water: On Deadly Ground (1994) Teresa Sabol Spezio Part 3: Critiquing the Western 11. Selling the American “Oil Frontier”: Tulsa (1949), Giant (1956), and American Resource Politics during the Early Cold War Sarah Stanford-McIntyre 12. Ranches to Oil Wells: Reconfiguring the Western Hero in Hellfighters (1968) anFires of Kuwait (1992) Ila Tyagi 13. Revisiting Matewan (1987): Upending the Appalachian “Western” and Broadening an Old Labor Tale James R. Allison III 14. “This Is the Third World”: Coal-Fired America in Montana (1990) and Powwow Highway (1989) Ryan Driskell Tate 15. Hydrocarbon Nostalgia and Climate Disaster: An Environmental History of Hell or High Water (2016) Mark Boxell Part 4: Energy and Morality 16. Control of the Industry: Nineteenth-Century Oil and Capitalism in High, Wide and Handsome (1937) Alexander Finkelstein 17. The Formula (1980): Corporate Villains, Synthetic Fuel, and Environmental Fantasies Raechel Lutz 18. “Keep Moving”: Convoy (1978), Car Films, and Petropopulism in the 1970s Caleb Wellum 19. There Will Be Petroleum Cinema: Portraying the Corrosion of Oil Addiction in There Will Be Blood (2007) Brian C. Black Part 5: Energy and the State 20. There’s No Business Like Oil Business: The Allure of Tax-Sheltered Oil Income to Hollywood’s Wealthy Yuxun Willy Tan 21. “Limitless Power at Man’s Command” A Is for Atom (1953), the Cold War, and Visions of the Nuclear Future in the 1950s Sarah E. Robey 22. Syriana (2005): The Oil Curse and Hollywood’s 9/11 Film Robert Lifset 23. Hoover Dam in Hollywood: Energy Anxiety in Superman (1978), Transformers (2007), and San Andreas (2015) Daniel Macfarlane Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisAfter Authority explores the tendency in art cinema to respond to political transition by turning to ambiguity, a system that ideally stems the reemergence of authoritarian logics in art and elsewhere. By comparing films from Italy, Hungary, South Korea, and the United States, this book contends that the aesthetic tradition of ambiguity in art cinema can be traced to post-authoritarian conditions and that it is in the context of a transition away from authoritarianism where art cinema aesthetics become legible. Art cinema, then, can be seen as a mode of cinematic practice that is at its core political, as its constitutive ambiguity finds its roots in the rejection of centralized and hierarchical configurations of authority. Ultimately, After Authority proposes a history of art cinema predicated on the potentials, possibilities, and politics of ambiguity.Trade Review“Confident, convincing, and timely, After Authority is a challenging and provocative work. Highly original, it adds significantly to current debates on cinema and politics.” -- Richard Rushton * author of The Politics of Hollywood Cinema: Popular Film and Contemporary Political Theory *"Kalling Heck makes the provocative claim that there is no apolitical art. More to the point, he affirms the possibility of politics and aesthetics without the determining role of authority. And therein lies the power of his magnificent engagements with the films he discusses: the possibility of a theory of political criticism emergent of the experience and affective dynamics of ambiguity." -- Davide Panagia * author of Rancière’s Sentiments *"The book is well researched and well written, and offers readers a new critical perspective Recommended." * Choice *Table of ContentsAuthority year zero : on Germany year zero The image that waits : on Satantango The end of authority, the end of democracy : on woman on the beach Force, hope, and death : on medium cool Coda : political modernism and the possibility for action

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Book SynopsisAfter Authority explores the tendency in art cinema to respond to political transition by turning to ambiguity, a system that ideally stems the reemergence of authoritarian logics in art and elsewhere. By comparing films from Italy, Hungary, South Korea, and the United States, this book contends that the aesthetic tradition of ambiguity in art cinema can be traced to post-authoritarian conditions and that it is in the context of a transition away from authoritarianism where art cinema aesthetics become legible. Art cinema, then, can be seen as a mode of cinematic practice that is at its core political, as its constitutive ambiguity finds its roots in the rejection of centralized and hierarchical configurations of authority. Ultimately, After Authority proposes a history of art cinema predicated on the potentials, possibilities, and politics of ambiguity.Trade Review“Confident, convincing, and timely, After Authority is a challenging and provocative work. Highly original, it adds significantly to current debates on cinema and politics.” -- Richard Rushton * author of The Politics of Hollywood Cinema: Popular Film and Contemporary Political Theory *"Kalling Heck makes the provocative claim that there is no apolitical art. More to the point, he affirms the possibility of politics and aesthetics without the determining role of authority. And therein lies the power of his magnificent engagements with the films he discusses: the possibility of a theory of political criticism emergent of the experience and affective dynamics of ambiguity." -- Davide Panagia * author of Rancière’s Sentiments *"The book is well researched and well written, and offers readers a new critical perspective Recommended." * Choice *Table of ContentsAuthority year zero : on Germany year zero The image that waits : on Satantango The end of authority, the end of democracy : on woman on the beach Force, hope, and death : on medium cool Coda : political modernism and the possibility for action

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Book SynopsisStellar Transformations: Movie Stars of the 2010s circles around questions of stardom, performance, and their cultural contexts in ways that remind us of the alluring magic of stars while also bringing to the fore the changing ways in which viewers engaged with them during the last decade. A salient idea that guides much of the collection is the one of transformation, expressed in these pages as the way in which post-millennial movie stars are in one way or another reshaping ideas of performance and star presence, either through the self-conscious revision of aspects of their own personas or in redirecting or progressing some earlier aspect of the culture. Including a diverse lineup of stars such as Oscar Isaac, Kristen Stewart, Tilda Swinton, and Tyler Perry, the chapters in Stellar Transformations paint the portrait of the meaning of star images during the complex decade of the 2010s, and in doing so will offer useful case studies for scholars and students engaged in the study of stardom, celebrity, and performance in cinema.Trade Review"Taking up stardom in the tumultuous teens, this volume shows that as 'the pictures got small' and film stars were experienced via streaming services and social media as much if not more than on cinema screens—and as the death of cinema was proclaimed again and again—stardom enlarged to include more diverse actors who could speak to both niche and global audiences in well-crafted actorly performances in films ranging from small independent features to global blockbusters." -- Pamela Robertson Wojcik * co-editor of Media Crossroads: Intersections of Space and Identity in Screen Cultures *“This is a brilliant collection featuring important performances during the 2010s, a decade marked by the emergence of an astounding number of ambiguously gendered and varied characters and performances. With readable, insightful analysis this volume strikes a balance between readability and in-depth analysis of celebrity, stardom and performance. A pleasure to read, this work is bound to attract both scholars and students who are fascinated with celebrity culture and its connection to the mysterious processes of embodiment and acting.” -- Rebecca Bell-Metereau * author of Transgender Cinema *"This illuminating volume examines a diverse selection of contemporary stars with varied career paths and personas, exploring how stardom is constructed, negotiated, and maintained in a rapidly changing industry." -- David R. Coon * author of Turning the Page: Storytelling as Activism in Queer Film and Media *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Introduction: Stardom in the 2010s Steven Rybin Chapter 1: Joaquin Phoenix: Ascendant Brenda Austin-Smith Chapter 2: Amy Adams and Emma Stone: Leaving the Ingénue Behind Karen Hollinger Chapter 3: Oscar Isaac: Melancholy By Degrees Rick Warner Chapter 4: Armie Hammer: The Elusive Appeal of a New Star David Greven Chapter 5: The Multiple Trajectories of Transnational Hollywood Stars: Marion Cotillard, Kristen Stewart, Diane Kruger Celestino Deleyto Chapter 6: Tilda Swinton: From Avant-Garde Androgyne to The Avengers Jennifer O’Meara Chapter 7: Tyler Perry: Madea Goes to Hollywood Danielle E. Williams Chapter 8: Jessica Chastain and Michelle Williams: Open Windows Daniel Varndell Chapter 9: The Predicaments of Queer Stardom: Ben Wishaw, Ezra Miller, Zachary Quinto Kyle Stevens Chapter 10: Timothée Chalamet: Refashioning Hollywood Masculinity Matt Connolly Chapter 11: Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan: Twenty-First Century Stars Cynthia Baron Chapter 12: Natalie Portman: Smart Star Steven Rybin In the Wings Works Cited Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisStellar Transformations: Movie Stars of the 2010s circles around questions of stardom, performance, and their cultural contexts in ways that remind us of the alluring magic of stars while also bringing to the fore the changing ways in which viewers engaged with them during the last decade. A salient idea that guides much of the collection is the one of transformation, expressed in these pages as the way in which post-millennial movie stars are in one way or another reshaping ideas of performance and star presence, either through the self-conscious revision of aspects of their own personas or in redirecting or progressing some earlier aspect of the culture. Including a diverse lineup of stars such as Oscar Isaac, Kristen Stewart, Tilda Swinton, and Tyler Perry, the chapters in Stellar Transformations paint the portrait of the meaning of star images during the complex decade of the 2010s, and in doing so will offer useful case studies for scholars and students engaged in the study of stardom, celebrity, and performance in cinema.Trade Review"Taking up stardom in the tumultuous teens, this volume shows that as 'the pictures got small' and film stars were experienced via streaming services and social media as much if not more than on cinema screens—and as the death of cinema was proclaimed again and again—stardom enlarged to include more diverse actors who could speak to both niche and global audiences in well-crafted actorly performances in films ranging from small independent features to global blockbusters." -- Pamela Robertson Wojcik * co-editor of Media Crossroads: Intersections of Space and Identity in Screen Cultures *“This is a brilliant collection featuring important performances during the 2010s, a decade marked by the emergence of an astounding number of ambiguously gendered and varied characters and performances. With readable, insightful analysis this volume strikes a balance between readability and in-depth analysis of celebrity, stardom and performance. A pleasure to read, this work is bound to attract both scholars and students who are fascinated with celebrity culture and its connection to the mysterious processes of embodiment and acting.” -- Rebecca Bell-Metereau * author of Transgender Cinema *"This illuminating volume examines a diverse selection of contemporary stars with varied career paths and personas, exploring how stardom is constructed, negotiated, and maintained in a rapidly changing industry." -- David R. Coon * author of Turning the Page: Storytelling as Activism in Queer Film and Media *"Taking up stardom in the tumultuous teens, this volume shows that as 'the pictures got small' and film stars were experienced via streaming services and social media as much if not more than on cinema screens—and as the death of cinema was proclaimed again and again—stardom enlarged to include more diverse actors who could speak to both niche and global audiences in well-crafted actorly performances in films ranging from small independent features to global blockbusters." -- Pamela Robertson Wojcik * co-editor of Media Crossroads: Intersections of Space and Identity in Screen Cultures *“This is a brilliant collection featuring important performances during the 2010s, a decade marked by the emergence of an astounding number of ambiguously gendered and varied characters and performances. With readable, insightful analysis this volume strikes a balance between readability and in-depth analysis of celebrity, stardom and performance. A pleasure to read, this work is bound to attract both scholars and students who are fascinated with celebrity culture and its connection to the mysterious processes of embodiment and acting.” -- Rebecca Bell-Metereau * author of Transgender Cinema *"This illuminating volume examines a diverse selection of contemporary stars with varied career paths and personas, exploring how stardom is constructed, negotiated, and maintained in a rapidly changing industry." -- David R. Coon * author of Turning the Page: Storytelling as Activism in Queer Film and Media *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Introduction: Stardom in the 2010s Steven Rybin Chapter 1: Joaquin Phoenix: Ascendant Brenda Austin-Smith Chapter 2: Amy Adams and Emma Stone: Leaving the Ingénue Behind Karen Hollinger Chapter 3: Oscar Isaac: Melancholy By Degrees Rick Warner Chapter 4: Armie Hammer: The Elusive Appeal of a New Star David Greven Chapter 5: The Multiple Trajectories of Transnational Hollywood Stars: Marion Cotillard, Kristen Stewart, Diane Kruger Celestino Deleyto Chapter 6: Tilda Swinton: From Avant-Garde Androgyne to The Avengers Jennifer O’Meara Chapter 7: Tyler Perry: Madea Goes to Hollywood Danielle E. Williams Chapter 8: Jessica Chastain and Michelle Williams: Open Windows Daniel Varndell Chapter 9: The Predicaments of Queer Stardom: Ben Wishaw, Ezra Miller, Zachary Quinto Kyle Stevens Chapter 10: Timothée Chalamet: Refashioning Hollywood Masculinity Matt Connolly Chapter 11: Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan: Twenty-First Century Stars Cynthia Baron Chapter 12: Natalie Portman: Smart Star Steven Rybin In the Wings Works Cited Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThe Work of Reading: Literary Criticism in the 21st Century is a sustained critical examination of the developments in the field of literary studies from the early 2000s onwards within the context of the systematic problems in the humanities. This volume analyzes the origins of the current methods—including New Historicism, empiricism, New Formalism, postcritique, and others—and posits alternatives to the present state of literary studies. At a time when many aspects of current methods show a desire to adopt values from other disciplines to solve internal crises, this volume advocates a renewed focus on questions of form by means of the praxis of aesthetic study, close reading, and other modes of engaging directly with literary texts. Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction: “Criticism Today: Form, Critique, and the Experience of Literature”, Derek Attridge.- Chapter 2: “Is the Author Still Dead?”, Henry Staten.- Chapter 3: “Criticism and Attachment in the Neoliberal University”, Mir Ali Hosseini.- Chapter 4: “Darkness Visible: The Contingency of Critique”, Ellen Rooney.- Chapter 5: “Reading by Example: Disciplinary History for a Polemical Age”, Doug Battersby.- Chapter 6: “Does Knowledge Still Have a Home in the Humanities?”, William Rasch.- Chapter 7: “‘Our Beloved Codex’: Frank Kermode’s Modesty”, Ronan McDonald.- Chapter 8: “Polonius as Anti-Close-Reader: Towards a Poetics of the Putz”, Rachel Eisendrath.- Chapter 9: “What Kind of Person Should the Critic Be?”, Simon Grimble.- Chapter 10: “‘Slow time,’ ‘a Brooklet, scarce espied’: Close Reading, Cleanth Brooks, John Keats”, Susan J. Wolfson.- Chapter 11: “Poem as Field, Canon as Crystal”, Anirudh Sridhar.- Chapter 12: “Criticism and the Non-I, or, Rachel Cusk’s Sentences”, Tom Eyers.- Chapter 13: “Ecocide and Objectivity: Literary Thinking in How the Dead Dream”, Anna Kornbluh.- Chapter 14: Afterword, Heather Dubrow.

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Book SynopsisIf films drawing on Middle East tropes often highlight white Westerners, figures such as Sinbad and the Thief of Bagdad embody a counter-tradition of protagonists, derived from Islamic folklore and history, who are portrayed as ‘Other’ to Western audiences. In Muslim Heroes on Screen, Daniel O’Brien explores the depiction of these characters in Euro-American cinema from the silent era to the present day. Far from being mere racial masquerade, these screen portrayals are more complex and nuanced than is generally allowed, not least in terms of the shifting concepts and assumptions that inform their Muslim identity. Using films ranging from Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, El Cid, Kingdom of Heaven and The Message to The Wind and the Lion, O’Brien considers how the representational strategies of Western filmmakers may transcend such Muslim stereotypes as fanatic antagonists or passive victims. These figures possess a cultural significance which cannot be fully appreciated by Euro-American audiences without reference to their distinction as Muslim heroes and the implications and resonances of an Islamicized protagonist.Trade Review“The book is a sound contribution to the literature on the study of Islam and Muslim societies in film.” (Ahmad Nuril Huda, Journal of Religion & Film, Vol. 27 (2), October, 2023)Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Thieves of Bagdad: The Cinematic Metamorphosis of an Islamicized Hero.- Chapter 3. The Voyages of Sinbad: From Hollywood Cartoon Stooge to Global Fantasy Icon.- Chapter 4. Moutamin and the Mahdi: The Honourable Muslim Ally/Enemy in El Cid and Khartoum.- Chapter 5. Saladin: The West’s Favourite Muslim?.- Chapter 6. Representing the Unrepresentable: Muhammad, The Message, and South Park. Chapter 7. Epilogue: ‘The baraka has not deserted me’—American Expansionism and Muslim Resilience in The Wind and the Lion./

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Book SynopsisNeo-Victorian Things: Re-Imagining Nineteenth-Century Material Cultures in Literature and Film is the first volume to focus solely on the replication, reconstruction, and re-presentation of Victorian things. It investigates the role of materiality in contemporary returns to the past as a means of assessing the function of things in remembering, revisioning, and/or reimagining the nineteenth century. Examining iterations of material culture in literature, film and popular television series, this volume offers a reconsideration of nineteenth-century things and the neo-Victorian cultural forms that they have inspired, animated, and even haunted. By turning to new and relatively underexplored strands of neo-Victorian materiality—including opium paraphernalia, slave ships, clothing, and biographical objects—and interrogating the critical role such objects play in reconstructing the past, this volume offers ways of thinking about how mis/apprehensions of material culture in the nineteenth century continue to shape our present understanding of things.Table of Contents1. Introduction: Stuff and Things: Introducing Neo-Victorian Materialities2. Objects and Memorabilia in Deborah Lutz’s The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects3. “Around the Mizzenpole”: Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage and African Americanizing the Neo-Victorian-at-sea4. Touching, Writing, Collecting: Opium Paraphernalia and Neo-Victorian Material Culture5. An Instrumental Thing: Pianos Extending and Becoming Postcolonial Bodies in Jane Campion’s The Piano and Daniel Mason’s The Piano Tuner6. “Wilful Phantoms”: Haunted Dress, Memory, and Agentic Materiality in Colm Tóibín’s The Master7. The Thing About Haunted Houses: In The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents and The Haunting of Hill House8. There’s Something in the Tea: Murder and Materiality in Dark Angel9. Criminal Things: Sherlock Holmes’ Details of Detection and Their Neo-Victorian Revisions10. The Sleight of Hand: Appearance and Disappearance of Things in Neo-Victorian Magic

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Book SynopsisThis book analyses photographic and cinematographic representations of war and its memorialisation rituals in the period of late modernity from the perspectives of cultural sociology, philosophy, art theory and film studies. It reveals how the experience of war trauma takes root in everydayness and shows how artists try to question the ‘normality’ of the everyday, to actualise the memory of war trauma, to rethink the contrasting experiences of the time of war and everydayness, and to oppose the imposed historical narratives. The new representations are analysed by developing theories of war as a ‘magic spectacle’, also by using such concepts as spectres, triumph and trauma, collective social catastrophes, forensic architecture and others.Table of Contents1. ​Introduction.2. Cold War Cinema and the Traumatic Turn in Europe.3. The Holocaust in the Screen Memory of the USSR.4. The Conflict of Photographic and Cinematographic Representations of War in Soviet Lithuania.5. The Architecture of Lingering War in Everyday Life: Photography and the Double Time of Military Apparatus.- 6. The Erasure of Trauma and its Visualisation in Post-Soviet East European Cinema.7. Manifestations of Specters of War: Deimantas Narkevičius’ Legend Coming True and Sergei Loznitsa’s Reflections.8. War Machine, Visuality and Hypernormalization of Humans and Non-Human Lives in Works by Harun Farocki and Hito Steyerl.9. From Sites of Atrocities to Film of Death and Vice Versa.

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Book SynopsisThis open access book examines how TV professionals in Germany have negotiated quality TV drama from 2015 to the present.

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Book SynopsisChapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. The cinepoetry of Shirin Neshat's Women Without Men: Female histories and the cinematic space of the Garden.- Chapter 3. Transnational Iranian poetics of resistance: The Green Movement and Iranian women's agency in Sepideh Farsi's Red Rose.- Chapter 4. The transnational cultural space of Iranian youth: Diasporic fantasy in Maryam Keshavarz's Circumstance.- Chapter 5. Transgressing boundaries: The politics of resignification and Iranian diasporic imaginary in Ana Lily Amirpour's A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.- Chapter 6. Beyond diaspora: The spaces in-between and the cinematic self in Desiree Akhavan's Appropriate Behaviour.

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Book SynopsisTokyo during the 1960s was in a state of uproar, full of protests, riots, and insurrection. Tatsumi Hijikata—the initiator of the “Butoh” performance art and the seminal figure in Japan’s experimental arts culture of the 1960s—created his most famous works in the context of that turmoil, his experimental film projects and his horror and erotic films uniquely invoking the intensity of the decade. Based on original interviews with Hijikata’s collaborators as well as new research, Film’s Ghosts illuminates Hijikata’s work against the backdrop of 1960s urban culture in Tokyo. This will be an essential book for readers engaged with film and performance, urban cultures and architecture, and Japan’s experimental art and its histories.

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Responding to a lack of studies on the film festival’s role in the production of cultural memory, this book explores different parameters through which film festivals shape our reception and memories of films. By focusing on two Asian American film festivals, this book analyzes the frames of memory that festivals create for their films, constructed through and circulated by the various festival media. It further establishes that festival locations—both cities and screening venues—play a significant role in shaping our experience of films. Finally, it shows that festivals produce performances which help guide audiences towards certain readings and direct the film’s role as a memory object. Bringing together film festival studies and memory studies, 'Asian American Film Festivals' offers a mixed-methods approach with which to explore the film festival phenomenon, thus shedding light on the complex dynamics of frames, locations, and performances shaping the festival’s memory practices. It also draws attention to the understudied genre of Asian American film festivals, showing how these festivals actively engage in constructing and performing a minority group’s collective identity and memory.

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Book SynopsisDieser Band nimmt eine komplementäre Akzentsetzung zu den in jüngster Zeit erschienenen Büchern zur Filmmusik vor und rückt insbesondere auch bislang weniger beachtete Aspekte der Filmmusik wie die Tradition der Ouvertüre oder die Rolle der Stimme in den Fokus. Einige Autoren verschränken gezielt Perspektiven aus Wissenschaft und Praxis, indem sie z. B. Produktionsbedingungen und Kompositionsprozesse erläutern. Trade Review“... Alle Beiträge haben ein ungewöhnlich hohes Niveau, ich nenne elf, die ich besonders gut finde. ... Nicht nur für Experten der Filmmusik ein sehr lesenswertes Kompendium.” (Hans Helmut Prinzler, hhprinzler.de, 4. August 2018)Table of ContentsVorwort.- Technische Verfahren in der Filmmusik.- Akteure und Einflussfaktoren bei der Realisierung von Filmmusik.- Filmmusik und die multimedialen Künste des 19. Jh.- Zur Rekonstruktion von Stummfilm-Musik.- Musik und Zwischentitel im Stummfilm.- Die Filmmusikouvertüre.- Narratologie und Filmmusik.- Besonderheiten der Musik von US-Fernsehserien.- Psychologie der Filmmusik.- Filmstimme.- Sound Design.- Die audiovisuelle Gestaltung digitaler Spiele.- Musik, Soundscapes und Soundmix in afrikanischen Filmen.- Filmmusik jenseits des Films.- Filmmusik-Recherche im Internet.

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Book SynopsisDas Buch bietet mit einer mehr als 40 Jahre Migrationskino thematisierenden Bandbreite an Aufsätzen, Interviews und Filmographien ein umfassendes Nachschlagewerk zum deutsch-türkischen Kino an. Mit diesem erhalten Lehrende, Forschende und Studierende der Film-, Medien- und Kulturwissenschaften erstmalig einen Überblick über die Diversität des deutsch-türkischen Kinos, die von der Repräsentation der Emigration im türkischen „Yeşilçam“-Kino der 1960er bis zu den kulturell hybriden Identitätsangeboten des neuen deutsch-türkischen Migrationskinos reicht.Table of ContentsVERMESSUNGEN- Das Kino der ‚Pleasures of Hybridity‘, Neuer Deutscher Film und türkisches Kino- Der deutsch-türkische Film und das Feld des Dokumentarischen RAHMUNGEN- Visuelle Kultur- Globalisierung(RE-)JUSTIERUNGEN- Medium- Produktion- Repräsentation- DiskursBEFRAGUNGEN

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Book SynopsisDas Buch analysiert die Hintergründe der BBC-TV-Serie Sherlock und versucht dabei verschiedene Themengebiete abzustecken: Psychoanalytisch, gendertheoretisch, literaturwissenschaftlich und filmwissenschaftlich wird der Versuch unternommen, den ungeheuren Reiz dieses einzigartigen und sehr populären Updates zu analysieren.Ausgehend von den strukturellen Vorgaben von Doyles’ Geschichten wird so der Weg ihrer Umschreibung zum Comedy-Thriller für das TV im 21. Jahrhundert sichtbar. Dabei bekam der eigenwillige Detektiv nun nicht nur einen stärkeren Watson zur Seite gestellt, auch seine latente Frauenfeindlichkeit und ihre Hintergründe wurden erstmals problematisiert. Table of ContentsEinleitung: Zur Rezeption - "The Game is on!".- Die Sherlock-Holmes.Geschichten und die Psychoanalyse.- Düstere Vorbilder: E.A. Poe.- Denkbewegungen.- Charakteränderungen.- Philosophische Betrachtungen des Mordes.- Resümee: "It´s not a game anymore" - Die vierte Staffel von Sherlock.

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Book SynopsisVorwort.- Psychoanalyse und Begriffsgeschichte.- Subjektkrise und populärer Mythos in der Literatur.- Literarische Anverwandlungen in französischer Sprache.- Medienvergleich und ästhetische Kopplung von Literatur und Film.- Doppelgänger in Film und Fernsehserie.

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Book SynopsisDisney – This name stands not only for a company that has had global reach from its early days, but also for a successful aesthetic programme and ideological positions that have had great commercial success but at the same time have been frequently criticised. Straddling traditionalism and modernism, Disney productions have proven adaptable to social discourses and technical and media developments throughout its history. This volume brings together scholars from several European countries to explore various dimensions that constitute ‘Disney.’ In line with current media and cultural studies research, the chapters deal with human-human and human-animal relations, gender and diversity, iconic characters and narratives, Disney’s contribution to cultural and visual heritage, and transmedial and transfictional spaces of experience and practices of participation associated with Disney story worlds.Table of Contents​Human-Human and Human-Animal Relations.- Gender and Diversity.- Aspects of Cultural Heritage.- Iconic Characters and Narratives.- Immersive Experience, Reflexive Engagement.

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Book SynopsisIn his 1929 Hollywood production The Case of Lena Smith, director Josef von Sternberg vividly brought to life his youthful memories of the turn of the 20th century through the story a young woman fighting the oppressive class system of Imperial Vienna. Critic Dwight Macdonald called it “the most completely satisfying American film I have seen.” And yet, only a short fragment survives. Assembling 150 original stills and set designs, numerous script and production documents and essays by eminent film historians, the book reconstructs one of the legendary lost masterpieces of the American cinema. It also includes essays by Janet Bergstrom, Gero Gandert, Franz Grafl, Alexander Horwath, Hiroshi Komatsu and Michael Omasta, a preface by Meri von Sternberg, as well as contemporary reviews and excerpts from Viennese literature of the era.Trade ReviewThese images show that Sternberg was already at the absolute zenith of his shimmery mise-en-scène powers...and that should be enough to embolden readers to plummet into these dreamy pages with the conviction they're going to a better place. -- Guy Maddin, Film CommentA treasury of a book. -- Film QuarterlyA must for any serious film library. -- H-NetA fascinating anthology. -- Moving Image SourceThe treasure trove goes on and on, attractively and cleanly displayed. -- Sight & Sound

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Book SynopsisBorn in a small town in Lower Austria, Michael Pilz has realized over 100 films since the 1960s. His breakthrough came with a veritable massif central of European documentary cinema: Heaven and Earth (1979-82), an epic work about the Styrian mountain village of St. Anna. Since then, he has been a "solitary man", crossing the borders between film forms just as easily as those between art, cinema, life. This richly illustrated book is the first monograph about Michael Pilz. It includes several essays dealing with his work, an extensive conversation, selected texts and film treatments written by him, and a complete annotated filmography.Trade ReviewAn exceptional volume on an exceptional filmmaker whose presence can be felt every step along the way. * Kolik Film magazine *

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Book SynopsisFrom moving images on the Internet to giant IMAX displays: The number of screens in the public and private sphere has increased significantly during the last two decades. While this is often taken to indicate the "death of cinema," this volume attempts to reconsider the limits and specifics of film and the traditional movie theater. It analyzes notions of spectatorship, the relationship between cinema and the "uncinematic," the contested place of installation art in the history of experimental cinema, and the characteristics of the high definition image. Further contributions discuss the ways in which cinema interacts with other arts and media such as theater and television. Contributors include Raymond Bellour, Victor Burgin, Vinzenz Hediger, Tom Gunning, Ute Holl, Ekkehard Knörer, Thomas Morsch, Jonathan Rosenbaum and the editors.Trade Review...a wide-ranging survey perfect for college-level film holdings. * Midwest Book Review *Screen Dynamics is an excellent edited collection that contributes to the expanding field of screen studies in the context of cinema's relocations and transformations. The volume is intelligently organized into four sections that effectively develop an organic (non-taxonomic) discussion of cinema’s shifting borders. -- ScreenScreen Dynamics is a thorough and provocative survey of the fields with which the generations growing up with these technologies will engage. -- Film International

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Book SynopsisDominik Graf, an exception in the film/television business, is a man of many parts. This is precisely what makes him so fascinating. He is a genre filmmaker, who guilefully attained freedom from within the rigid confines of television, and wrote (German) TV history with his episodes of Der Fahnder and Tatort. His sole commercial hit in theatres, Die Katze, has developed into a veritable "generational text". He is an auteur filmmaker in the spirit of the nouvelle vague or New Hollywood, who made waves with such masterpieces as Spieler, Der Felsen, Die Freunde der Freunde, or Das Gelübde. He is also a wonderful writer on film – and a polemical commentator of recent German history. However, these parts cannot be separated so clearly, something which this book explains through an essay by Christoph Huber, an richly annotated filmography by Olaf Müller and an in-depth interview with Dominik Graf by both authors.

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