Description
Book SynopsisTom Zaniello is Professor Emeritus, having taught film and cultural studies, and directed the Honors Program at Northern Kentucky University, USA. He has been active as a film programmer for the Hill Center in Washington DC and for the London and North West (Liverpool) Labour Film Festivals. He recently published
California's Lamson Murder Mystery (2016), the story of the wrongful conviction of a Hollywood screenwriter for murder, along with
Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds, and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films about Labor, 2nd ed. (2003) and
The Cinema of Globalization (2007).
Trade ReviewIn his first two books, Tom Zaniello proved himself a reliable and thoughtful guide to films about labor and working-class people. With
The Cinema of the Precariat, he turns his gaze to precarity, tracing the history of media narratives about how economic uncertainty affects workers and their families. He recommends and provides context for a variety of films – from different eras and countries -- that can help us understand why we should be concerned about the growth of the gig economy in the U.S. and around the world. Zaniello offers a catalogue for interested viewers and a thoughtful guide to help us think about how precarity works and how we look at it -- on screens large and small. * Sherry Lee Linkon, Professor of English and American Studies, Georgetown University, USA *
As insecurity grows, so does the precariat. They are often ignored, taken for granted, and invisible. Tom Zaniello has set out to change that, encouraging us to turn to films for insight into how economic insecurity affects the lives of working-class people. Along with recommendations of what to watch, he offers thoughtful essays about how these films and a few video games capture the experience and politics of precarity. * John Russo, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and Working Poor, Georgetown University, USA *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Illustrations Preface
Introduction Chapter 1: Harvest of Shame: The First Series of Films about the Precariat
Chapter 2: Internal Migration in China
Chapter 3: Scavengers of the World, Unite!
Chapter 4: Epidemic Cinema and Catastrophic Mise en Scene
Chapter 5: Precious Cargo: Exploiting Minerals, Fossil Fuels, and Foodstuffs
Chapter 6: The Cyberprecariat in the Shadows of Utopia
Chapter 7: Out of the Gallery and Into the Street
Chapter 8: Video Games as Cinema: All Work, All Play
Chapter 9: Top Down--Business as Usual: Fifty Films about Capitalism in the 21st Century
Chapter 10: Bottom Up--A Conclusion: Alt-Labor and Organizing the Unorganized Sources Index
