Search results for ""Author Timothy Shary""

Cinema has always engaged with the experiences, hopes, fears, and anxieties of—and about—adolescents, teenagers, and young people. This book is a comprehensive and accessible history of the depiction of teenagers in American film, from the silent era to the twenty-first century.Timothy Shary explores the development of teenage roles across eras and industrial cycles, such as the juvenile delinquent pictures of the 1950s, the beach movies of the 1960s, the horror films of the 1980s, and the fantasy epics of the 2000s. He considers the varied genres of the teen movie—horror and melodrama, romance and adventure, fantasy and science fiction—and its shifting themes and tropes around sex and gender, childhood and adulthood, rebellion and social order, crime and consumer culture. Teen Movies features analyses of films such as Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Splendor in the Grass (1961), Carrie (1976), The Breakfast Club (1985), American Pie (1999), and the Twilight series (2008–2012).This second edition is updated throughout and features a new chapter examining Millennials and Generation Z on screen, with discussions of many contemporary topics, including queer youth in movies like Moonlight (2016), abortion in films such as Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), and the flourishing of a “tween” cinema as seen in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023).

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A collection of interdisciplinary essays, collected for the first time, on the work of filmmaker and screenwriter Amy Heckerling whose work includes Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

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Generation Multiplex (2002) was the first comprehensive study of the representation of teenagers in American cinema since David Considine’s Cinema of Adolescence in 1985. This updated and expanded edition reaffirms the idea that films about youth constitute a legitimate genre worthy of study on its own terms. Identifying four distinct subgenres—school, delinquency, horror, and romance—Timothy Shary explores hundreds of representative films while offering in-depth discussion of movies that constitute key moments in the genre, including Fast Times at Ridgemont High, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Breakfast Club, Say Anything . . . , Boyz N the Hood, Scream, American Pie, Napoleon Dynamite, Superbad, The Twilight Saga, and The Hunger Games. Analyzing developments in teen films since 2002, Shary covers such topics as the increasing availability of movies on demand, which has given teens greater access to both popular and lesser-seen films; the recent dominance of supernatural and fantasy films as a category within the genre; and how the ongoing commodification of teen images in media affects real-life issues such as school bullying, athletic development, sexual identity, and teenage pregnancy.

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A collection of critical essays about the noted filmmaker John Hughes Offers an examination of films from diverse academic perspectives Explores topics such as his depictions of youth and his assessment of gender, class, and race issues Provides an evaluation of the filmmaker with attention to cultural and industrial concerns The films of John Hughes (1950 2009) have enjoyed popular and critical success alike, from his first scripts in the early 1980s through to his celebrated work later in the decade and into the 1990s. While Hughes is best remembered for his stories about teenagers, such as Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985) and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), almost all of his films deal with comical conflicts within everyday American families. He directed eight films and wrote over thirty in a career spanning a quarter of a century, and is fondly remembered for influencing American perceptions of and appreciation for the daily lives of (primarily) common citizens. This wide-ranging collection examines the films of John Hughes from diverse angles, considering how he depicted young characters, how he revealed the humour of family life, and how his films subtly critiqued social issues such as class, race, gender, education and domestic relationships.

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Winner, Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2017Americans are living longer and reinventing both work and retirement, but Hollywood movies barely hint at this reality of contemporary society. In many popular films, older characters fade into irrelevance, inactivity, or absurdity, or else they stay in the background as wise elders while younger characters provide the action. Most American films do not attempt to portray the rich variety of experiences or the sensitive aging issues that people confront in the years beyond fifty.Fade to Gray offers one of the first extended studies of the portrayal of older people in American cinema from the silent era to the present. Writing in an accessible style for both general audiences and scholars, Timothy Shary and Nancy McVittie examine social attitudes toward aging through an analysis of hundreds of individual films, including such classics as You Can’t Take It With You (1938), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Grumpy Old Men (1993), and Nebraska (2013). They show how representations of the aging process and depictions of older people embracing or enduring the various experiences of longer lives have evolved over the past century, as well as how film industry practices have both reflected and influenced perceptions of aging in American society. Exposing the social and political motivations for negative cinematic portrayals of the elderly, Fade to Gray also gives visibility to films that provide opportunities for better understanding and appreciation of the aged and the aging process.

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Coming of age is a pivotal experience for everyone. So it is no surprise that filmmakers around the globe explore the experiences of growing up in their work. From blockbuster U.S. movies such as the Harry Potter series to thought-provoking foreign films such as Bend It Like Beckham and Whale Rider, films about youth delve into young people's attitudes, styles, sexuality, race, families, cultures, class, psychology, and ideas. These cinematic representations of youth also reflect perceptions about youth in their respective cultures, as well as young people's worth to the larger society. Indeed, as the contributors to this volume make plain, films about young people open a very revealing window on the attitudes and values of cultures across the globe. Youth Culture in Global Cinema offers the first comprehensive investigation of how young people are portrayed in film around the world. Eighteen established film scholars from eleven different national backgrounds discuss a wide range of films that illuminate the varied conditions in which youth live. The essays are grouped thematically around the issues of youthful resistance and rebellion; cultural and national identity, including religion and politics; and sexual maturation, including gender distinctions and coming-of-age queer. Some essays engage in close readings of films, while others examine the advertising and reception of films or investigate psychological issues. The volume concludes with filmographies of over 700 youth-related titles arranged by nation and theme.

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This is the first book-length study of the work of Amy Heckerling, the phenomenally popular director and writer of Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. As such, the book constitutes a significant intervention in Film Studies, prompting a reconsideration of the importance of Heckerling both to the development of teen cinema and as a figure in Hollywood comedy. As part of the ReFocus series, the volume brings together outstanding original and previously published work, examining Heckerling's work from an interdisciplinary perspective. In addition, an interview is planned with the director herself, who will be invited to reflect on her own work in light of the essays. Teen cinema, film and television comedy and the place of female directors in genre cinema are all considered here in a book that attempts to go 'beyond Clueless' and examine the significance of the work of Amy Heckerling.

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