{"product_id":"darkness-in-the-blissout-9781441146045","title":"Darkness in the BlissOut","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJames Kendrick is an Associate Professor of Film and Digital Media at Baylor University, USA. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eHollywood Bloodshed: Violence in 1980s American Cinema\u003c\/i\u003e (2009) and \u003ci\u003eFilm Violence: History, Ideology, Genre\u003c\/i\u003e (2009), as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles. He is also the film and video critic for QNetwork.com.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJames Kendrick is that rare critic who sees and understands the dark side of Steven Spielberg’s films.  Kendrick perceptively explores the ways that Spielberg has grappled in film with the nature of human suffering and with personal and historical trauma.  Kendrick reveals a depth of complexity in the films that challenges the popular understanding of Spielberg as being mainly a director of popcorn movies. -- Stephen Prince, Professor of Cinema Studies, Virginia Tech, USA, and author of Firestorm: American Film in the Age of Terrorism\u003cbr\u003eThis is a necessary book – I would say indispensable to Spielberg studies. The book develops the current burgeoning critical mass of scholarly writings on Spielberg in new ways, and is a timely addition to the field. Kendrick is an elegant writer, has grounded his persuasive close readings in a thorough account of film historical and critical contexts, and presents his case with due scholarly rigor. -- Linda Ruth Williams, Professor of Film, University of Southampton, UK\u003cbr\u003e“By reinterpreting a significant number of Spielberg’s films, James Kendrick has convincingly argued that dark, unsettling themes and tones permeate his entire output, not just his more ‘serious’ films such as \u003ci\u003eSchindler’s List\u003c\/i\u003e or \u003ci\u003eAmistad\u003c\/i\u003e. This book is an important, thought-provoking addition to the growing film studies scholarship devoted to Spielberg.” -- Warren Buckland, Reader in Film Studies, Oxford Brookes University, UK, and author of Directed by Steven Spielberg (2006)\u003cbr\u003eTaking a fresh and original approach to many Spielberg films that have been scorned or misunderstood, such as the great \u003ci\u003eA. I.\u003c\/i\u003e and the flawed but fascinating \u003ci\u003e1941, \u003c\/i\u003eJames Kendrick concentrates on the dark side of Spielberg that only began to be seriously noticed after \u003ci\u003eSchindler's List.\u003c\/i\u003e In this lively, insightful, provocative study, Kendrick demolishes the conventional wisdom of Spielberg's detractors, showing how ridiculously misguided many of them are, and challenges those of us who have written more favorably on this great director to reconsider or deepen our positions. A major advance in the field of Spielberg studies. -- Joseph McBride, Professor of Cinema, San Francisco State University, USA, and author of Steven Spielberg: A Biography\u003cbr\u003eKendrick's book is that rare thing: eminently readable, yet suitably academic. He does not just cover well-travelled ground but examines marginalised, if not underappreciated, works in the Spielberg canon, thus offering something new for contemplation and analysis . . . This is refreshing, thought-provoking criticism. -- Adrian Schober * Senses of Cinema *\u003cbr\u003eJames Kendrick’s 'reconsideration' of Steven Spielberg’s directorial output invites readers to 'move past comfortable surfaces' to the films’ 'more disturbing and unsettling aspects.' Sensitive textual analysis of selected examples identifies, explores, and explains troubling themes recurrent across Spielberg’s work, while refusing to fall back on received critical opinion. Kendrick’s clear, accessible opening eases from personal response into impressively concise treatment of elements of film history and theory that have conventionally defined Spielberg’s status and reputation. Authoritative examination of a range of approaches, including biography and aesthetics, sociology of suburbia, narrative structure, and Jungian patterns, amounts to a provocation of Spielberg’s diehard critics. Kendrick’s offering is highly recommended to readers within film and cultural studies and beyond. It digs out powerful evidence of filmmaking that is complex and knowing in its engagement with the full spectrum of experience. -- Nigel Morris, Principal Lecturer in Media Theory, University of Lincoln, UK, and author of The Cinema of Steven Spielberg: Empire of Light (2007)\u003cbr\u003eRather than repeat the traditional criticism that Spielberg's films are upbeat crowd pleasers, Kendrick presents a solid confirmation that the \"darkness\" more obvious in Schindler's List and Munich, in Lincoln and Amistad, was present in films as early as Sugarland Express and Jaws […]This treatment establishes that the auteur is more than an audience pleaser, not just another pretty face. In his pre-publication review of this book, Nigel Morris, author of The Cinema of Steven Spielberg: Empire of Light, suggests that Kendrick's \"see-agains\" moves him into the audience of elite moviegoers. \u003cb\u003eSumming Up:\u003c\/b\u003e Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, general readers. -- Allan Hirsh, Central Connecticut State University * CHOICE *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreface  Introduction—Steven Spielberg and the Politics of Bliss  Chapter 1—'I Didn’t Want to See This': Weekend America and Its Discontents  in\u003ci\u003e Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003ePoltergeist\u003c\/i\u003e  Chapter 2—'Americans Fighting Americans': Incoherence and Animal Comedy in \u003ci\u003e1941\u003c\/i\u003e  Chapter 3—'What Exactly Are We Applauding?' Indiana Jones and the Ideologies  of Heroism and American Exceptionalism  Chapter 4—'Lost and Done For:' The Rejection of War Fantasies in \u003ci\u003eEmpire of the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWar Horse\u003c\/i\u003e  Chapter 5—'For the World’s More Full of Weeping Than You Can Understand': Humanity and Inhumanity in \u003ci\u003eA.I. Artificial Intelligence\u003c\/i\u003e  Works Cited  Index","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53187491758423,"sku":"9781441146045","price":28.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/darkness-in-the-blissout-9781441146045","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}