Performing arts Books
The University of Chicago Press This Wide and Universal Theater Shakespeare in
Book SynopsisExplores how Shakespeare's plays were produced both in his own time and in succeeding centuries. This book explains how the Elizabethan playhouse conveyed a sense of place using minimal scenery, from the Forest of Arden in As You Like It to the tavern in Henry IV, Part I.Trade Review"An eminent Shakespeare scholar and author, Bevington offers a concise, lucid, and unique overview of the history of Shakespeare in various modes of performance, from stage to film to television." - Choice "Bevington makes interesting, nuanced and original points about staging and interpretation that reveal the dynamism and complexity of Shakespeare's canon." - Financial Times "Even veteran Shakespeareans will profit from the varied reminders of how important performance and staging have always been to the interpretation of the plays." - Renaissance Quarterly"
£22.80
The University of Chicago Press Contesting Tears The Hollywood Melodrama of the
Book SynopsisStanley Cavell explores a genre, which he calls "the melodrama of the unknown woman," through close readings of four melodramas he finds definitive of the genre: "Letter from an Unknown Woman", "Gaslight", "Now Voyager", and "Stella Dallas".
£21.85
The University of Chicago Press The Traffic in Womens Work
Book SynopsisWelcome to the European family! When East European countries joined the European Union under this banner after 1989, they agreed to the free movement of goods, services, capital, and persons. In this book, the author analyzes an important niche in this imagined European kinship: the traffic in women.Trade Review"A compelling case for the role of Eastern European women in the creation of a 'new Europe.' [Thanks to the invisible labor of cleaners, housewives, sex workers, caregivers, and other women on the move, the map of Europe is being radically redrawn.] Parvulescu's substantial and sophisticated arguments are essential reading for scholars in European studies, gender studies, and transnational studies-as well as anyone interested in bold and boundary-pushing thought." (Rita Felski, University of Virginia)"
£24.70
The University of Chicago Press Scorsese by Ebert
Book SynopsisChronicles various feature films in Martin Scorsese's oeuvre, from his debut to his 2008 release, the "Rolling Stones" documentary "Shine a Light". This title includes Scorsese's own insights on both his accomplishments and disappointments. It also provides a framework for understanding both Scorsese and his profound impact on American cinema.Trade Review"Given their career-long back-and-forth, this collection makes perfect sense.... In these reconsiderations, Ebert invites us into his thought processes, letting us see not just what he thinks, but how he forms his opinions. Ebert's insights into Scorsese are terrific, but this book offers the bonus of further insights into Ebert himself." - Time Out Chicago "Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, is an unabashed fan of Scorsese, whom he considers 'the most gifted director of his generation.'... Of special note are interviews with Scorsese over a twenty-five-year period, in which the director candidly discusses his body of work." - Publishers Weekly "A film-by-film chronicling of the professional, yet passionate, Ebert-Scorsese relationship.... A work of obvious affection, even adoration, what might surprise readers most is how Scorsese by Ebert emerges as a work of profound identification." - Time"
£15.74
The University of Chicago Press Fire and Desire MixedRace Movies in the Silent
Book SynopsisThis work looks at the black independent film movement during the silent period. It traces the profound influence that D.W. Griffith's racist epic The Birth of a Nation exerted on black filmmakers such as Oscar Micheaux, the director of the newly recovered Within Our Gates.
£30.40
University of Chicago Press The Adventure of the Real Jean Rouch and the
Book SynopsisThough relatively unsung in the English-speaking world, Jean Rouch (1917-2004) was a towering figure of ethnographic cinema. This book analyses his practical filmmaking methods.Trade Review"This is a splendid book - well researched, original, and lucidly written. I have no doubt it will become a classic: the single indispensable book on Rouch and his work. Henley provides a vast amount of information, detailed analyses of many of Rouch's films, and above all a subtle and probing discussion of Rouch's 'praxis.' The book is particularly illuminating as to Rouch's working methods, which only a practicing filmmaker with a gift for analysis and a fund of personal experience could have carried off - a rare combination." - David MacDougall, Australian National University"
£96.90
The University of Chicago Press The Adventure of the Real
Book SynopsisThough relatively unsung in the English-speaking world, Jean Rouch (1917-2004) was a towering figure of ethnographic cinema. This book analyses his practical filmmaking methods.Trade Review"This is a splendid book - well researched, original, and lucidly written. I have no doubt it will become a classic: the single indispensable book on Rouch and his work. Henley provides a vast amount of information, detailed analyses of many of Rouch's films, and above all a subtle and probing discussion of Rouch's 'praxis.' The book is particularly illuminating as to Rouch's working methods, which only a practicing filmmaker with a gift for analysis and a fund of personal experience could have carried off - a rare combination." - David MacDougall, Australian National University"
£38.00
The University of Chicago Press When Movies Mattered
Book Synopsis
£21.00
The University of Chicago Press Screening Modernism European Art Cinema 19501980
Book SynopsisA study of European art cinema's postwar heyday. This book presents an argument that cinematic modernism was not a unified movement. It traces the emergence of art cinema as a historical category. It explains the main formal characteristics of modern styles and forms as well as their intellectual foundation.Trade Review"Andras Balint Kovacs has written a monumental work. Impressive in its scope, erudition, originality, critical acumen, and philosophical sophistication, Screening Modernism is a landmark historical study of modernist cinema that makes a permanent contribution to the field." - William Rothman, University of Miami"
£26.60
The University of Chicago Press The Resurrection of the Body
Book SynopsisItalian novelist, poet, and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini was brutally killed in Rome in 1975, a macabre end to a career that often explored humanity's capacity for violence and cruelty. This title interprets his final works: the screenplay 'Saint Paul', the scenario for "Porn-Theo-Colossal", and the immense and unfinished novel "Petrolio".Trade Review"This is a book of striking originality - in its approach to Pasolini and in its reconfiguring of his oeuvre in light of Maggi's 'sodomitical' reading of four key late works. It is packed with insights gleaned both from Maggi's detailed and powerfully argued close analyses and from his highly stimulating forays beyond the four core texts." - Robert Gordon, University of Cambridge"
£52.25
The University of Chicago Press Mother Camp Female Impersonators in America
Book SynopsisThe second edition of "The Comic Mind" treats the comic developments of the 1970s in terms of the traditions of film comedy set forth in the first edition, including a discussion of the evolution of Jacques Tati and the emergence of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen as the two greatest American comic stylists of the seventies.
£31.35
University of Chicago Press Inwardness Theatre in the English Renaissance
Book SynopsisThis text explores the perceived discrepancy between outward appearance and inward disposition which, it argues, influenced the work of many English Renaissance dramatists and poets. The author examines various connections between religious, legal, sexual and theatrical ideas of inward truth.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 1: Introduction: Inwardness and Spectatorship 2: Machiavels and Family Men 3: Heretical Conscience and Theatrical Rhetoric: The Case of Christopher Marlowe 4: Proof and Consequences: Othello and the Crime of Intention 5: Prosecution and Sexual Secrecy: Jonson and Shakespeare 6: A Womb of His Own: Male Renaissance Poets in the Female Body 7: Conclusion Index
£80.00
University of Chicago Press Inwardness and Theater in the English Renaissance
Book SynopsisThis text explores the perceived discrepancy between outward appearance and inward disposition which, it argues, influenced the work of many English Renaissance dramatists and poets. The author examines various connections between religious, legal, sexual and theatrical ideas of inward truth.
£24.70
University of Chicago Press Screening Out the Past The Birth of Mass Culture
Book Synopsis
£21.85
The University of Chicago Press DAlbuquerques Children Performing Tradition in
Book SynopsisThis work examines the musical influences of a Malaysia's Portuguese community, whose roots lie in the conquest of Malacca in 1511 by the Portuguese seafarer Afonse D'Albuquerque.
£28.50
The University of Chicago Press Its So French
Book SynopsisExplores the affinity between the French and American film industries, breaking down myths of American imperialism and French cultural protectionism. This book illuminates the vital role that cinema has played in the globalization of culture. It also probes the profitable influences that Hollywood and Paris exerted on each other.Trade Review"It is difficult to say whether Vanessa Schwartz's work provides more brilliant analyses and stimulating perspectives to the history of culture or to the history of the cinema. Undoubtedly to both, since the connections she makes between filmmaking and the creation of urban imaginaires are original and convincing. Neither Hollywood, obviously, nor Paris, as well, would exist without films, at least in our thoughts and desires, and Vanessa Schwartz shows this masterfully. 'So French!' - perhaps, but so well done - absolutely!" - Antoine de Baecque, coauthor of Truffaut: A Biography"
£29.45
The University of Chicago Press Early Cinema in Russia and Its Cultural Reception
Book SynopsisThis text chronicles a great lost period in cinema history, that of pre-Revolutionary Russia. In contrast to standard film histories, this book focuses on reflected images: it features the historical filmgoer and early writings on film, as well as examining the physical elements of performance.
£30.40
The University of Chicago Press An Amorous History of the Silver Screen Shanghai
Book SynopsisIllustrates the cultural significance of film and its power as a vehicle for social change. This book reveals the intricacies of the cultural movement and explores its connections to other art forms such as photography, drama, and literature. It looks at the cultural history of Chinese through the lens of this seminal moment in Shanghai cinema.Trade Review"An Amorous History of the Silver Screen will be an instant classic. This lively yet rigorous work of original scholarship reconfigures the field of Chinese silent cinema. It constitutes an exciting new work at the cutting edge of the emergent transnational field of Chinese cinema studies." - Chris Berry, editor of Chinese Films in Focus"
£38.00
Palgrave Macmillan Society Dancing
Book SynopsisBased on new archival research, this book uniquely presents a fresh interrogation of how, among London's fashionable society, dancing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was variously a means of social modelling, change, conformity and creative individual expression.Trade Review'The strength of this book lies in the variety of facets of social dance in the late Victorian/early twentieth century which it addresses. This range of content culminates in a rich picture of time, place, people, their dances and their dancing.' - Alexandra Carter, Emeritus Professor in Dance Studies, University of Middlesex, UKTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface List of Illustrations Contents PART I: SOCIETY DANCES Fashionable Bodies and Society Dancing Fashioning Dance Histories The Seasonal Round Public Spaces Late Victorian Repertoire Anarchy in the Ball Room PART II: FASHIONING GENTILITY A Noble Profession Temples of Terpsichore The Fashioning of Ladies Modelling the Lady Where are our Men? Dancing Dogs and Manly Men PART III: MODERN MOVES Moving into the Twentieth Century Modernizing Terpsichore Civilization Under Threat Knuts and Aliens Civilizing from the Centre Looking Back, Moving On Notes Bibliography Index
£85.49
Columbia University Press Narrative Apparatus Ideology A Film Theory
Book SynopsisThis book includes many seminal articles by film scholars such as Christian Metz, Jean-Louis Baudry, Stephen Heath, Peter Wollen, Laura Mulvey, and Noe l Burch. Also included are articles by the era's leading cultural thinkers: Roland Barthes, Julia Kristeva, and Jean-Franccois Lyotard, to name a few.Trade ReviewIntoxicating analyses of films dance alongside the most far-reaching theories of signification and history. Yet through it all Philip Rosen maintains a sober eye, pointing out the backgrounds of these performers and the consequences of their gestures. Under his measured gaze this dizzying flight of ideas takes on a pattern, or rather multiple patterns, that will keep us thinking and talking for a long time to come. Read either for the careful continuity of these introductions or for the dramatic intensity of the individual pieces, the anthology must reward the student, the initiated, and the merely curious. -- Dudley Andrew, Yale University, author of What Cinema Is! Exceptionally well-crafted... Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology achieves a substantial contextual horizon, through Philip Rosen's impeccable positioning of essays within an intellectual history. In addition to this, his collection successfully strives for representativeness on such a number of significant fronts that it promises to provide a very engrossing forum for the introduction and discussion of contemporary film theory in the classroom. -- Barbara Klinger Journal of Film and Video A much sought-after resource. Choice Rosen's collection continues to be a classic and irreplaceable guide to contemporary film theory. This essential anthology includes key texts by Roland Barthes, Raymond Bellour, Christian Metz, David Bordwell, and others, as well as superb contextual essays by Rosen for each section of the book. -- David Rodowick Harvard UniversityTable of ContentsPart 1. Structures of Filmic Narrative Introduction: The Saussurian Impulse and Cinema Semiotics 1. Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narrational Principles and Procedures, by David Bordwell 2. Problems of Denotation in the Fiction Film, by Christian Metz 3. Segmenting/Analyzing, by Raymond Bellour 4. The Obvious and the Code, by Raymond Bellour 5. The Spectator-in-the-Text: The Rhetoric of Stagecoach, by Nick Browne 6. Godard and Counter-Cinema: Vent d' Est, by Peter Wollen 7. The Concept of Cinematic Excess, by Kristin Thompson 8. Uncoded Images in the Heterogeneous Text, by Deborah Linderman Part 2: Subject, Narrative, Cinema Introduction: Text and Subject 9. Diderot, Brecht, Eisenstein, by Roland Barthes 10. Theory and Film: Principles of Realism and Pleasure, by Colin MacCabe 11. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, by Laura Mulvey 12. Voyeurism, The Look, and Dwoskin, by Paul Willemen 13. Suture (excerpts), by Kaja Silverman 14. Ellipsis on Dread and the Specular Seduction, by Julia Kristeva 15. The Imaginary Signifier (excerpts), by Christian Metz Part 3: Apparatus Introduction 16. Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus, by Jean-Louis Baudry 17. The Apparatus: Metapsychological Approaches to the Impression of Reality in Cinema, by Jean-Louis Baudry 18. The Silences of the Voice, by Pascal Bonitzer 19. The Voice in the Cinema: The Articulation of Body and Space, by Mary Ann Doane 20. Acinema, by Jean Francois Lyotard 21. Through the Looking-Glass, by Teresa de Lauretis Part 4: Textuality as Ideology Introduction 22. Narrative Space, by Stephen Heath 23. Technique and Ideology: Camera, Perspective, Depth of Field (Parts 3 and 4), by Jean-Louis Comolli 24. John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln, by Editors of Cahiers du cinema 25. Primitivism and the Avant-Gardes: A Dialectical Approach, by Noel Burch 26. Film Body: An Implantation of Perversions, by Linda Williams 27. Primary Identification and the Historical Subject: Fassbinder and Germany, by Thomas Elsaesser
£29.75
Columbia University Press Primitive Passions
Book SynopsisChow situates contemporary Chinese film within the broad context of Chinese history and culture, giving readers a glimpse of the unique shared identity that characterizes the current crop of outstanding filmmakers, such as Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou.Trade ReviewA rich and powerful work that provides both a dazzling synthesis of contemporary cultural theory and at the same time an exemplary critique of Chinese cinema. It is a book to be read and re-read and is thus highly recommended because it is more than a film book. It engages directly with the problems Chinese culture faces in a changing world. China Information
£23.80
Columbia University Press What Made Pistachio Nuts Early Sound Comedy the
Book SynopsisThis study celebrates the "anarchistic" film comedies made in the USA in the 1930s, which mocked the creativity and impulsiveness of their protagonists in a form of clowning that ultimately re-established the status quo. Films discussed include "Duck Soup" and W.C. Fields's "It's a Gift".
£23.80
Columbia University Press Brazilian Cinema
Book SynopsisFrom the documentary to the cinema novo and cannibalism, from Nelson Pereira dos Santos's Vidas Secas to music in the films of Glauber Rocha, this third, revised edition is a century-spanning introduction to the story of a medium that flourished in one of the most developed of 'underdeveloped' nations.
£29.75
Columbia University Press From Peepshow to Palace The Birth of American
Book SynopsisRobinson chronicles the early use of film as vaudeville sideshow; as sheer spectacle of moving images precluding any notion of plot development or drama; and as a fledgling dramatic effort, ranging from prizefights to Passion plays.Trade ReviewA diligent overview from the moment cinema was just a flicker in a magic lantern to the golden years between 1893 and 1913, when scientists and technicians laboriously fitted together the 'pieces in a puzzle' and created feature films. New York Times Book Review This concise history takes us from footage of an Edison employee sneezing to multireel features with a sophistication appropriate to the lavish theaters in which they were shown New Yorker
£25.50
Columbia University Press The Voice in Cinema
Book SynopsisChion analyzes imaginative uses of the human voice by directors like Lang, Hitchcock, Ophuls, Duras, and de Palma.Trade Review[A] creative look at sound in the cinema. -- R. Blackwood ChoiceTable of ContentsI. Mabuse: Magic and Powers of Acousmetre1. The Acousmetre2. The Silences of Mabuse3. The I-VoiceII. Tamaki: Tales of the Voice4. The Voice Connection5. The Screaming Point6. The Master of Voices7. The Mute Character's Final Words8. The Siren's SongIII. Norman; Or The Impossible Anacousmetre9. The Voice that Seeks a Body10. The ConfessionEpilogue: Cinema's Voices of the 80's and 90's
£21.25
Columbia University Press The Sounds of Commerce
Book SynopsisA detailed historical analysis of popular music in American film, from the era of sheet music sales, to that of orchestrated pop records by Henry Mancini and Ennio Morricone in the 1960s, to the MTV-ready pop songs that occupy soundtrack CDs of today.Trade Review[A] fascinating exploration of Hollywood film music since the 1960s. -- R. D. Cohen, Indiana University Northwest ChoiceTable of ContentsDid They Mention the Music? Banking on Film Music Sharps, Flats, and Dollar Signs My Huckleberry Friend The Midas Touch Every Gun Makes its Own Tune The Sounds of Commerce Pretty Women and Dead Presidents
£25.50
Columbia University Press Masculine Interests Homoerotics in Hollywood
Book SynopsisThis title considers how Hollywood articulates the eroticism that is intrinsic to identification between men. It also examines how Hollywood has both reflected and helped to shape the concept of masculinity.Trade ReviewArticulates the big screen's dedication to eroticism between men, especially in movies that now belong to the film canon. Gay & Lesbian ReviewTable of ContentsPreface 1. Masculine Interests 2. Oedipus in Africa: The Lion King 3. To "Have Known Ecstasy": Hunting Men in The Most Dangerous Game 4, Friendship and Its Discontents: The Outlaw 5. Looking for the "Great Whatsit": Kiss Me Deadly and Film Noir 6. Midnight Cowboy's Backstory 7. Innerspace: A Spectacular Voyage to the Heart of Identity 8. Batman and Robin: A Family Romance 9. My Own Private Idaho and the New Queer Road Movies 10. "The Things We Think and Do Not Say": Jerry Maguire and the Business of Personal Relationships Concerning Happiness: An Afterword Notes Bibliography Index
£25.50
Columbia University Press Sound Technology and the American Cinema
Book SynopsisRepresentational technologies including photography, phonography, and the cinema have helped define modernity itself. This text seeks to examine these technologies, arguing that they allow us to track the relations between capital, science, and cultural practice.Table of Contents1. Inscriptions and Simulations: The Imagination of Technology 2. Performance, Inscription, Diegesis: The Technological Transformation of Representational Causality 3. Everything But the Kitchen Sync: Sound and Image Before the Talkies 4. Sound Theory 5. Standards and Practices: Aesthetic Norm and Technological Innovation in the American Cinema 6. Sound Space and Classical Narrative
£23.80
Columbia University Press Silent Film Sound
Book SynopsisReconsiders various aspects of sound practices during the entire silent film period. This book challenges the assumptions of earlier histories of this period in film and reveals the complexity and swiftly changing nature of American silent cinema.Trade ReviewWeighty and ambitious...This thoroughly researched and copiously illustrated book is recommended for large libraries and all cinema collections. -- Roy Liebman Library Journal Silent Film Soundis a bible of reference information and vintage photos. Bookwatch Edison's pioneering work...is given a large amount of space in a fascinating new book. -- Steve Ramm Groove Magazine Rather than reinventing the wheel or allowing for too many examples in his analysis, Altman successfully dispels notions of a homogenous turn-of-the-century soundscape and interweaves salient but ignored aspects of early cinema and its coinciding entertainments...Highly recommended. Choice A magisterial effort of a type rarely seen in cinema today... Altman's history is precise, reflective, and human. Cinemas Journal Rick Altman's Silent Film Sound is revisionist film history at its best. -- Marshall Deutelbaum New Review of Film and Television Nothing short of a classic, definitive work. -- Jacob Smith Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film A major contribution to the history of early cinema. American Studies His groundbreaking, encyclopedic book represents a crucial contribution to the scholarly understanding not only of early film sound, but also of the full range of film history. -- Kecia D. McBride Film Criticism Rick Altman has given us a magnum opus... a stunningly original work of film history. -- Tom Gunning Film Quarterly [A] majestic book... Readable as the most complete account of early American cinema. -- Dana Polan Screening The Past Silent Film Sound is a superb contribution to many scholarly fields in addition to film history, including musicology, media studies, sound studies and American history. -- Katherine Spring Film International Silent Film Sound is a top pick for any serious college-level film library. California BookwatchTable of ContentsPart I: Methodology 1. The History of Silent Film Sound Past Attempts to Write the History of Silent Film Sound Assumptions and Limitations of the Current Project 2. Crisis Historiography A New Kind of History Anatomy of an Identity Crisis Part II: The Late-Nineteenth-Century Soundscape 3. The Musical Scene 4. Lecture Logic Part III: Early Film Sound 5. From Peep Show to Projection 6. Vaudeville Part IV: Nickelodeon Sound 7. The Crisis of the Late Aughts 8. Lectures, Sound Effects, and the Itinerant Exhibition Model 9. Films That Talk 10. The Nickelodeon Program 11. Nickelodeon Music Part V: The Campaign to Standardize Sound 12. Trade Press Discourse 13. Music for Films 14. Training Musicians, Training Audiences Part VI: The Golden Era of Silent Film Music 15. Moving Picture Orchestras Come of Age 16. New Roles for Keyboard Instruments 17. Cue Sheets and Photoplay Music 18. Musical Practices Conclusion
£29.75
Columbia University Press George Gallup in Hollywood
Book SynopsisGeorge Gallup's polling techniques achieved fame when he predicted that Franklin D Roosevelt would be reelected president in 1936. This work traces Gallup's intellectual and methodological developments, examining his comprehensive approach to market research. It takes a look at the film industry's use of opinion polling in the 1930s and '40s.Trade ReviewA well-detailed account of this obscure chapter in cinema history... Recommended. Library Journal A fascinating and exciting book. -- Frank Louis Rusciano Public Opinion Quarterly An extremely valuable portrait of the shifting field in which Hollywood operated in the 1940s and an excellent study of t he ambivalent relationship between... moviemaking and marketing. -- Sarah E. Igo Business History Review Ohmer's book is a major achievement, and it will be a significant reference. -- Anne Morey Film Quarterly An innovative and fascinating study about the construction of discourse, power and control in the field of mass culture. -- Nolwenn Mingant CerclesTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. What Do Audiences Want? 2. Guesswork Eliminated 3. The Laws That Determine Interest 4. America Speaks 5. Piggybacking on the Past 6. Singles and Doubles 7. Boy Meets Facts at RKO 8. David O. Selznick Presents: Audience Research and the Independent Producer 9. Gallup Meets Goofy: Audience Research and the Walt Disney Studio 10. Like, Dislike, Like Very Much Abbreviations Used and Collections Consulted Notes Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press Designing Women
Book SynopsisGrand, sensational, and exotic, Art Deco design was above all modern, exemplifying the majesty and boundless potential of an industrialized world. This title documents the ubiquity of Art Deco in mainstream consumerism and its connection to the emergence of the "New Woman" in American society.Trade ReviewLucy Fischer's book is fueled by love... and enlivened by her zest for finding and analyzing the presence of Art Deco in unlikely places. Her research is meticulous... This book is a very entertaining investigation of a style still much loved today. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Friendly to the general reader...It's hard not to be charmed...It's an extremely stimulating red. The SophisticateTable of ContentsIntroduction: A Method to My Madness 1.The Art Deco Style: Modernity and the Feminine 2.Counter Culture: Art Deco, Consumerism, and the Department Store 3.Design for Living: Marketing Art Deco to Women 4.Film Melodrama: Greta Garbo as Art Deco Icon 5.Art Deco and the Movie Musical 6.Strangers in Paradise: South Seas Films of the Art Deco Era 7.Architectural Exoticism and the Art Deco Picture Palace 8.Madame Satan: Fantasy, Art Deco, and the Femme Fatale Afterword Bibliography Index
£29.75
Columbia University Press Shocking Representation
Book SynopsisExplores the ways in which a group of groundbreaking horror films engaged the haunting social conflicts left in the wake of World War II, Hiroshima, and the Vietnam War. This book shows that through allegorical representations these directors' films confronted and challenged comforting historical narratives and notions of national identity.Trade Review[Lowenstein] has placed the study of cinematic horror on a whole new level. -- Scott Preston The Communication Review An attentive and careful reading of various films that straddle the borders of the horror and art genres... -- Eyal Tamir Kritikon Litterarum
£73.60
Columbia University Press Speaking in Images Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Filmakers
Book SynopsisOffers a collection of interviews with the directors who have changed the face of Chinese and international cinema. This book includes discussions with such directors as Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger", "Hidden Dragon"), Zhang Yimou ("Hero"), Chen Kaige ("Farewell My Concubine"), Stanley Kwan ("Lan Yu"), and Tsai Ming-Liang ("Vive l'Amour").Trade ReviewSpeaking in Images, by Michael Berry, is engaging... It is refreshing to read artists talk about their work and medium. -- Malcom Parker Pots.com Berry's questions are intelligent... they illicit intelligent, detailed answers...useful to anyone seriously interested in world cinema...Essential. Choice [Speaking in Images] should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand the complexities and power of contemporary Chinese Film. -- Mingwei Song China Review International Speaking in Images is an excellent, even essential resource for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of these three important Chinese film industries. -- Ethan de Seife Film InternationalTable of ContentsForeword by Martin Scorsese Acknowledgments Author's Note Introduction: Speaking in Images I. Voices from China Xie Jin: Six Decades of Cinematic Innovation Tian Zhuangzhuang: Stealing Horses and Flying Kites Chen Kaige: Historical Revolution and Cinematic Rebellion Zhang Yimou: Flying Colors Zhang Yuan: Working up a Sweat in a Celluloid Sauna Wang Xiaoshuai: Banned in China Jia Zhangke: Capturing a Transforming Reality Li Yang: The Future of Chinese Cinema? II. Voices from Taiwan Hou Hsiao-hsien with Chu Tien-wen: Words and Images Edward Yang: Luckily Unlucky Wu Nien-jen: Writing Taiwan in the Shadows of Cultural Colonialism Ang Lee: Freedom in Film Tsai Ming-liang: Trapped in the Past Chang Tso-chi: Shooting from the Margins III. Voices from Hong Kong Ann Hui: Living Through Films Stanley Kwan: From Spectral Nostalgia to Corporeal Desire Fruit Chan: Hong Kong Independent Peter Ho-sun Chan: Pioneering Pan-Asian Cinema Evans Chan: The Last of the Chinese Notes Bibliography
£25.50
Columbia University Press Sentimental Fabulations Contemporary Chinese
Book SynopsisWhat is the sentimental? How can we understand it by way of the visual and narrative modes of signification specific to cinema and through the manners of social interaction and collective imagining specific to a particular culture in transition? This book explores these questions through contemporary Chinese directors.Trade Reviewa thought-inspiring work of scholarship Journal of Film and Video [Chow] captivates us with her challenging and refreshing arguments. Highly recommended. Library Journal A thoughtful discussion of nine contemporary Chinese directors and their cinematic accomplishments. -- James A. Cox The Midwest Book Review Through Chow's perspective, the sentimental thus becomes a productive and promising concept for understanding national cinema. -- Kristi McKim Film Quarterly Chow's scholarship is consistently superior in its provocative arguments for humanistic concerns and its impressive coverage of secondary sources. -- Howard Y. F. Choy, Wittenberg University The China Journal Sentimental Fabulations, Contemporary Chinese Films is a thought-inspiring work of scholarship. -- Jie Li Journal of Film and VideoTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Note on Transcriptions Introduction Part I: Remembrance of Things Past 1 The Seductions of Homecoming: Temptress Moon and the Question of Origins 2 Nostalgia of the New Wave: Romance, Domesticity,a nd the Longing for Oneness in Happy Together 3 The Everyday in The Road Home and In the Mood for Love: From the Legacy of Socialism to the Potency of Yuan Part II: Migrants' Lore, Women's Options 4 Autumn Hearts: Filming Feminine "Psychic Interiority" in Song of the Exile 5 By Way of Mass Commodities: Love in Comrades, Almost a Love Story 6 All Chinese Families are Alike: Biopolitics in Eat a Bowl of Tea and The Wedding Banquet Part III: Picturing the Life to Come... 7
£23.80
Columbia University Press Counter Archive Film the Everyday and Albert
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewCounter-Archive is a groundbreaking, original and scholarly book, which is indispensable to a full understanding of the early and present history of the cinema and its relationship to the archive and the everyday. -- Barbara Creed H-France an ambitious and compelling book which elegantly ties meticulous archival detail to astute theoretical challenges, and its conceptual hook may well inspire further critical attention. -- Tara Blake Wilson New Formations A work of exceptional scholarly merit. -- Jan Baetens Biography ...rich and endearing study... -- Lisabeth During and Deborah Levitt Years Work in Critical and Cultural TheoryTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. World Souvenir: "Mr. K" and the Archives de la Planete 2. "Keep your eyes open": From Pre-documentary to Documentary Film in the Kahn Archive 3. The Counter-Archive of Cinematic Memory: Bergsonism, la duree, and the Everyday 4. "No more written archives, only films": Early Discourses and Practices of the Film Archive 5. The "anecdotal side of history": Temporality, Film, and Annales Historiography 6. Seeing "for the first time": The Rediscovery of the Everyday in Early French Film Theory 7. Illuminations from the Darkened "Sanctuary": Reception of the Kahn Films 8. The Aerial View: Human Geography, Cosmopolitanism, and Colonialism Conclusion: Toute la Memoire du monde: The Counter-Archive Beyond Kahn Appendix: Photographers and Cameramen of the Archives de la Planete Notes Bibliography Index
£29.75
Columbia University Press Hitchcocks Romantic Irony
Book SynopsisArgues that Hitchcock orchestrates the narrative and stylistic idioms of popular cinema to at once celebrate and subvert the ideal of romance. The author describes how Hitchcock's characteristic tone is achieved through a titillating combination of suspense and black humor that subverts the moral framework of the romantic thriller.Trade ReviewTough but rewarding. Empire (four star review) In-depth, insightful... Highly recommended. CHOICE Comprehensive and gracefully conceived. -- Michael Richardson Cineaste [Allen's] knowledge of Hitchcock's films is impressive. Times Literary Supplement Carefully researched and artfully written... critics will be tracing the ramifications of Hitchcock's romantic irony for a long time to come. -- David Sterritt Film QuarterlyTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Part I: Narrative Form 1 Romantic Irony 2 Suspense 3 Knowledge and Sexual Difference Part II: Visual Style 4 Sexuality and Style 5 Expressionism 6 Color Design Conclusion Notes Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press The Impossible David Lynch Film and Culture
Book SynopsisOffers an exploration of weirdness and fantasy in David Lynch's groundbreaking oeuvre. Considering the filmmaker's entire career, the author examines Lynch's play with fantasy and traces the political, cultural, and existential impact of his unique style. Each chapter discusses the idea of impossibility in one of Lynch's films.Trade ReviewA well written book combining thoughtful Lynch essays for the thinkers and film fanatics! Horror NewsTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Sacrificing One's Head for an Eraser 2. The Integration of the Impossible Object in The Elephant Man 3. Dune and the Path to Salvation 4. Fantasizing the Father in Blue Velvet 5. The Absence of Desire in Wild at Heart 6. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me 7. Finding Ourselves on a Lost Highway 8. The Ethics of Fantasizing in The Straight Story 9. Navigating Mulholland Drive, David Lynch's Panegyric to Hollywood Conclusion: The Ethics of Fantasy Notes Index
£92.00
Columbia University Press Intelligence Work
Book SynopsisDemonstrates how documentary serves as a cultural laboratory in the thought and practice of American democracy. This book places iconic images and the work of celebrated filmmakers next to overlooked and rediscovered productions and proves the pliability of documentary's function for American popular intelligence.Trade Review[A] sobering reappraisal of documentary film. -- Lyell Davies AfterImage [Kahana] illuminates many documentaries that deserve to be much better known... Recommended. Choice the author's impressive grasp of documentary history and insightful discussion of cinematic form make Intelligence Work a significant contribution to the literature on documentary. -- Susan Ryan Cineaste Kahana's approach navigates what might be called the interstices of political critique, revealing documentary's multiplicity while marking its relative successes and limits. -- Jeffrey Geiger New Formations [Kahana provides] a much-needed survey of a century-long development in cultural history that is nonetheless tightly focused on the crucial political issue of how art enables the production of publics. -- Jeff Allred American Literature Kahana is often intensely insightful about form and style in the films he considers, such as a sophisticated analysis of sound particularly in radical documentaries of the 60s on. -- Chuck Kleinhans Jump CutTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction. The Intelligence Work of Documentary: Publics, Politics, Intellectuals Part I. The Sentiment of Trust: The Documentary Front and the New Deal 1. National Fabric: Authorship, Textuality, and the Documentary Front 2. Voice-Over, Allegory, and the Pastoral in New Deal Documentary Part II. Lyrical Tirades: New Documentary and the New Left 3. Revolutionary Sounds: Listening to Radical Documentary 4. Documentary Counterpublics: Filming Prison Part III. The Public Sphere of Suspicion: Documentary in the New Obscurity 5. The Vision Thing: Documentary, Television, and the Accidental Power of the President 6. Tense Times: Documentary Aporias; Or, the Public Sphere of Suspicion Notes Filmography Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press The Star as Icon
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewEssential for those with a keen interest in the sociology of popular culture and stardom. Library Journal A dazzling book... that manages to pack an astonishing amount of detail and depth into a modest number of pages... Highly recommended. Choice The Star as Icon can be compared with Stanley Cavell's Pursuits of Happiness, but is more contemporary and less optimistic. The book studies significant movies ( Rear Window, The Philadelphia Story), is culturally literate, and is very good on the idea of aura and popular culture as it has evolved since Walter Benjamin. Required reading for any course in film studies. -- Arthur Danto, Columbia University An eloquent essay that contributes to the contemporary discourse on celebrity and stardom. -- Leung Wing-Fai Film-PhilosophyTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments 1. The Candle in the Wind 2. There Is Only One Star Icon (Except in a Warhol Picture) 3. Therefore Not All Idols Are American 4. A Star Is Born 5. The Film Aura: An Intermediate Case 6. Stargazing and Spying 7. Teleaesthetics 8. Diana Haunted and Hunted on TV 9. Star Aura in Consumer Society (and Other Fatalities) Notes Index
£67.20
Columbia University Press Firestorm
Book SynopsisTrade Review[Firestorm] will be a popular resource for film students. -- James Clarke Times Higher Education Supplement Prince's impressively thorough and intelligently written book will serve as a guide for some years to this visually indelible episode in American history... Essential. Choice offers a detailed and insightful critical analysis while avoiding jargon...Firestorm isa remarkable achievement as a first look at the impact of 11 September on filmmaking, and lays the groundwork for any number of new approaches. -- Jeffrey Mazo Survival [A] thoughtful and thorough investigation of the celluloid response to that chilling September day. -- Luke Davies The Australian A rich record and accounting of the first decade of responses by both mainstream and marginal American filmmakers. -- Corey K. Creekmur CineasteTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. Theater of Mass Destruction 2. Shadows Once Removed 3. Ground Zero in Focus 4. Battleground Iraq 5. Terrorism on the Small Screen 6. No End in Sight Appendix 1: Historical Timeline Appendix 2: Filmography Notes Bibliography Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press The Rey Chow Reader
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsEditor's Introduction Acknowledgments Part 1. Modernity and Postcolonial Ethnicity 1. The Age of the World Target: Atomic Bombs, Alterity, Area Studies 2. The Postcolonial Difference: Lessons in Cultural Legitimation 3. From Writing Diaspora: Introduction: Leading Questions 4. Brushes with the-Other-as-Face: Stereotyping and Cross-Ethnic Representation 5. The Politics of Admittance: Female Sexual Agency, by Miscegenation 6. When Whiteness Feminizes ... : Some Consequences of a Supplementary Logic Part 2. Filmic Visuality and Transcultural Politics 7. Film and Cultural Identity 8. Seeing Modern China: Toward a Theory of Ethnic Spectatorship 9. The Dream of a Butterfly 10. Film as Ethnography; or, by Translation Between Cultures in the Postcolonial World 11. A Filmic Staging of Postwar Geotemporal Politics: On Akira Kurosawa's No Regrets for Our Youth, by Sixty 12. From Sentimental Fabulations, by Contemporary Chinese Films: Attachment in the Age of Global Visibility 13. The Political Economy of Vision in Happy Times and Not One Less; or, by a Different Type of Migration Notes Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press Film and Stereotype
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewJorg Schweinitz's study of film stereotypes is impressively comprehensive, admirably rigorous, and appropriately international. It will surely invigorate debates on conventionalized shapes in dominant cinema and well-known patterns of recognition in film genre. Schweinitz also revisits classical and contemporary film theory in provocative ways, opening up this field of possibility and offering new points of departure. -- Eric Rentschler, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University Offering an unusually sophisticated, exhaustively researched and wide-ranging theoretical analysis as well as a series of deftly argued case studies, Schweinitz brings considerable erudition to bear on a subject that has until now often eluded scholarly attention. Film and Stereotype represents a novel contribution to ongoing debates concerning genre, style, national cinema, and identity. -- Noah Isenberg, editor of Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era Film and Stereotype does a masterful job unpacking one of the thorniest concepts in film studies, tracing its multidisciplinary origins with theoretical agility and robust argumentation. This book is indispensable for those interested in the historical, cultural, and industrial utility of stereotypes; Schweinitz's use of theorists such as Bela Balazs and Rudolf Arnheim to reread the stereotype makes an important intervention in the theoretical and textual form of stereotypes. Film and Stereotype offers a rigorous critique of the form, function, and power of stereotypes within both the media industries and the cultural imaginary. -- Alison Griffiths, Baruch College and the Graduate Center, The City University of New YorkTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction Part I. Stereotype Theory: Concepts, Perspectives, and Controversies 1. The Stereotype in Psychology and the Humanities 2. Some Aspects and Levels of Stereotypization in Film 3. The Intellectual Viewpoint Versus the Stereotype in Mass Culture Part II. A Discourse History: The Topic of the "Stereotype" Throughout Film Theory 4. Prelude: Walther Rathenau's Cultural Criticism, Hugo Munsterberg's Euphoric Concept of Film as Art, and the Neglect of the Stereotype 5. Bela Balazs's New Visual Culture, the Tradition of Linguistic Skepticism, and Robert Musil's Notion of the "Formulaic" 6. The Readymade Products of the Fantasy Machine: Rudolf Arnheim, Rene Fulop-Miller, and the Discourse on the "Standardization" of Film 7 The Stereotype as Intelligible Form: Cohen-Seat, Morin, and Semiology 8. Irony and Transf iguration: The Postmodern View of the Stereotype Part III. Film Analysis: Critique and Transfiguration-Three Case Studies 9. McCabe and Buffalo Bill: On the Critical Reflection of Stereotypes in Two Films by Robert Altman 10. Enjoying the Stereotype and Intense Double-Play Acting: The Performance of Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hudsucker Proxy Epilogue Notes Bibliography Filmography Index
£28.00
Columbia University Press Pretty
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRemarkably wide-ranging and engagingly intricate. Rosalind Galt's argument is bold, its mode of argumentation sure and convincing. This very original take on culturally received and culturally determining ideas and emotions surrounding visual pleasure is long overdue. Galt's book is a necessary contribution to the study of the image in film and visuality studies. -- Brigitte Peucker, author of The Material Image: Art and the Real in Film and Incorporating Images: Film and the Rival Arts One of the most attractive features of Galt's book is her ability to corral so many different iterations of art and film criticism and provide so many examples from world cinema, effecting in the end a general theory of world cinema, of a pretty world cinema. -- Akira Mizuta Lippit, University of Southern California Brilliantly engaging and absolutely knowledgeable. This is a key work... Highly recommended. ChoiceTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: The Pretty as Troublesome Image 1. From Aesthetics to Film Aesthetics: Or, Beauty and Truth Redux 2. Colors: Derek Jarman and Queer Aesthetics 3. Ornament and Modernity: From Decorative Art to Cultural Criticism 4. Objects: Oriental Style and the Arabesques of Moulin Rouge! 5. At the Crossroads: Iconoclasm and the Anti-aesthetic in Postwar Film and Theory 6. Forms: Soy Cuba and Revolutionary Beauty 7. Perverse Prettiness: Sexuality, Gender, and Aesthetic Exclusion 8. Bodies: The Sumptuous Charms of Ulrike Ottinger Postscript: Toward a Worldly Image Notes Filmography Bibliography Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press American Showman
Book SynopsisTrade Review[An] eye-poppingly informative new book... To paraphrase Frank Loesser's 'Guys and Dolls,' with the publication of American Showman, the question 'What's playing at the Roxy?' can now be answered: 'First-rate cultural history.' -- Mindy Aloff Washington Post [American Showman] provides valuable insight into Roxy's dynamic contemporary moment--one characterized by world military strife, economic downturn, and a blossoming of technological innovation. Publishers Weekly [An] exhaustive biography. -- Ethan Mordden Wall Street Journal Dr. Melnick skillfully captures the substance and durability of Rothafel's prolific life.New York Times -- Sam Roberts New York Times A penetrating, exhaustive contextualized study of Roxy's crucial role in every aspect of the early film industry...highly recommended. Choice American Showman is a fascinating, passionate, and definitive biography of Samuel 'Roxy' Rothafel... Melnick unveils aspects of Rothafel's career that change our understanding of American film history from the late 1910s to the early 1930s. -- Charles Musser Journal of American History For anyone interested in the historical transition from the Nickelodeon era to the classical Hollywood cinema, Ross Melnick's American Showman is a must read. -- Jan-Christopher Horak UCLA Film & Television Archive An impeccably researched and definitive study of Samuel 'Roxy' Rothafel -- Bernard F. Dick American Studies Roxy?'s extraordinary life, as Melnick illustrates, serves as a powerful lens through which to examine a dynamic age of cultural change in American life. -- Josh Glick Business History Review Anyone who cares about the development of film exhibition in the early 20th century should consider it essential reading... even a casual film buff will find much to enjoy... the book is well written and not overly burdened with jargon. -- Leonard Maltin Indiewire With so many greatly exaggerated reports of the death of cinema abroad, what a pleasure to read Ross Melnick's scrupulously researched, exhaustive biography of movie-palace impresario Samuel 'Roxy' Rothafel -- a biography that doubles as a cultural history, looking to a moment when the movies were the upstarts, making vaudeville and live theatre quake in their boots. -- Nick Pinkerton Sight & SoundTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1. Roxy and Silent Film Exhibition 1. A New Art for a New Art Form (1908-1913) 2. Broadway Melody (1913-1917) 3. The Movie House as Recruiting Center (1917-1918) 4. "The Man Who Gave the Movies a College Education" (1919-1922) Part 2. Roxy and the Emergence of Convergence 5. A Capitol Idea (1922-1925) 6. "It's the Roxy and I'm Roxy" (1925-1927) 7. It's All Playing in Sheboygan (1928-1931) 8. The Prologue Is Past (1931-1936) Afterword Notes Bibliography Index
£73.60
Columbia University Press Hitchcock Annual Volume 17
Book Synopsis
£19.80
Columbia University Press Knock Me Up Knock Me Down
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA wonderful, insightful, riveting, and entertaining romp. -- Kalpana Rahita Seshadri, Boston College Clearly written...this book could serve...as a core text in a course on women in film. Choice Oliver's convincing conclusion is that in Hollywood films pregnant women may have become objects of desire, but they are not allowed to become desiring subjects... -- Fran Bigman Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: From Shameful to Sexy-Pregnant Bellies Exploding Onto the Screen 1. Academic Feminism Versus Hollywood Feminism: How Modest Maternity Becomes Pregnant Glam 2. MomCom as RomCom: Pregnancy as a Vehicle for Romance 3. Accident and Excess: The "Choice" to Have a Baby 4. Pregnant Horror: Gestating the Other(s) Within 5. "What's the Worst That Can Happen?" Techno-Pregnancies Versus Real Pregnancies Conclusion: Twilight Family Values Notes Filmography Texts Cited Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press Where Film Meets Philosophy
Book SynopsisThe formal techniques two classic French filmmakers developed to explore cinema’s philosophical potential.Trade ReviewVaughan's brilliant book places him on the cutting edge of contemporary studies that blend film and philosophy. Reconstructing and clarifying how film-philosophy renders fresh insight into the revolutionary potential of the moving film image, Vaughan opens a new dimension to thought and action. -- Sam B. Girgus, Vanderbilt University Where Film Meets Philosophy begs us to think about what we are seeing on the screen and why. Hunter Vaughan compels us to look afresh at Resnais and Godard for the sake of leading film theory in new directions. This book is a rewarding study that brings postwar philosophy into a shared legacy of cinema. -- Tom Conley, Harvard UniversityTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Where Film Meets Philosophy 1. Phenomenology and the Viewing Subject 2. Film Connotation and the Signified Subject 3. Sound, Image, and the Order of Meaning 4. Alain Resnais and the Code of Subjectivity 5. Jean-Luc Godard and the Code of Objectivity Conclusion: Where Film and Philosophy May Lead Notes Bibliography Index
£23.80
Columbia University Press Hard to Swallow HardCore Pornography on Screen
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn excellent snapshot of porn studies as they are today and provides an insight into the range and quality of critical engagement with hardcore pornography in the industry, in the academy, and beyond. -- Laura Ellen Joyce New Review of Film and Television StudiesTable of ContentsNotes on Contributors Introduction: Is Hard-core Hard to Swallow?, by Claire Hines and Darren Kerr Part One. Turned On: Hard-core Screen Cultures 1. Pornography in the Multiplex, by Brian McNair 2. The Dark Side of Hard-core: Critical Documentaries on the Sex Industry, by Karen Boyle 3. Art School Sluts: Authenticity and the Aesthetics of Altporn, by Feona Attwood 4. Pornogogy: Teaching the Titillating, by Mark Jones and Gerry Carlin Part Two. Come Again? Hard-core in History 5. 'White Slavery', Or the Ethnography of 'Sexworkers', by Linda Williams 6. Lost in Damnation: The Progressive Potential of Behind the Green Door, by Darren Kerr 7. The Limits of Pleasure? Max Hardcore and Extreme Porn, by Stephen Maddison 8. Playmates of the Caribbean: Taking Hollywood, Making Hard-core, by Claire Hines Part Three. Fluid Exchanges: Hard-core Forms and Aesthetics 9. Fashionably Laid: The Styling of Hard-core, by Pamela Church Gibson and Neil Kirkham 10. Shortbus: Highbrow Hard-core, by Beth Johnson 11. Homespun: Finnporn and the Meanings of the Local, by Susanna Paasonen 12. Reel Intercourse: Doing Sex on Camera, by Clarissa Smith 13. Power Bottom: Performativity in Commercial Gay Pornographic Video, by John Mercer 14. Interrogating Lesbian Pornography: Gender, Sexual Iconography and Spectatorship , by Rebecca Beirne Selected Filmography Index
£23.80
