|
Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Films, cinema > Film theory & criticism
Transborder Media Spaces offers a new perspective on how media
forms like photography, video, radio, television, and the Internet
have been appropriated by Mexican indigenous people in the light of
transnational migration and ethnopolitical movements. In producing
and consuming self-determined media genres, actors in Tamazulapam
Mixe and its diaspora community in Los Angeles open up media spaces
and seek to forge more equal relations both within Mexico and
beyond its borders. It is within these spaces that Ayuujk people
carve out their own, at times conflicting, visions of development,
modernity, gender, and what it means to be indigenous in the
twenty-first century.
In a market long dominated by Hollywood, French films are
consistently the most widely distributed non-English language
works. French cinema, however, appears to undergo a transformation
as it reaches Britain, becoming something quite different to that
experienced by audiences at home. Drawing on extensive archival
research the authors examine in detail the discourses, debates and
decisions which have determined the place accorded to French cinema
in British film culture. In so doing they provide a fascinating
account of this particular instance of transnational cinematic
traffic while simultaneously shedding new light on British film
history. From the early days of the Film Society, via the advent of
the X certificate to the new possibilities of video and DVD, this
book reveals the complex and detailed history of the distribution,
exhibition, marketing and reception of French cinema in Britain.
A Critical Companion to Stanley Kubrick offers a thorough and
detailed study of the films of the legendary director. Labeled a
recluse, a provocateur, and a perfectionist, Kubrick revolutionized
filmmaking, from the use of music in film, narrative pacing and
structure, to depictions of war and violence. An unparalleled
visionary, his work continues to influence contemporary cinema and
visual culture. This book delves into the complexities of his work
and examines the wide range of topics and the multiple
interpretations that his films inspire. The eighteen chapters in
this book use a wide range of methodologies and explore new trends
of research in film studies, providing a series of unique and novel
perspectives on all of Kubrick's thirteen feature films, from Fear
and Desire (1953) to Eyes Wide Shut (1999), as well as his work on
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001).
The first book to be published on the film. In depth examination of
how transnationalism has changed the language of political cinema
in Latin America. Perfect for students, researchers or interested
laypersons
Considered by many film critics and scholars as a master of
Japanese Cinema, director Ozu Yasujiro still inspires filmmakers
both within and outside of Japan. This book presents new
perspectives on Ozu's aesthetic sensibility and his influence on
global art cinema directors. With twenty never before published
chapters by contributors from the US, England, and Japan, The
Cinema of Ozu explores the Japanese director's oeuvre and his
lasting impact on global art cinema. Divided into three sections,
this edited volume highlights several of the major theoretical
frameworks that have come to characterize studies devoted to the
director. In doing so, chapters consider the various cultural
factors that influenced the director's cinematic output, such as
the anxiety of middleclass Japan in the 1930s, the censorship
imposed by the US-occupation after World War II, and women's rights
in 1957's Tokyo Story. Ultimately, chapters illuminate Ozu's
influence on the directors of Japan and beyond. With the recent
restoration and re-release of Ozu's early and late work, this
volume provides an opportunity to examine not only the auteur's
major works but also the relationships-both cultural and
aesthetic-that are forged among directors across the world.
Drawing from political sociology, pop psychology, and film studies,
Cinemas of Boyhood explores the important yet often overlooked
subject of boys and boyhood in film. This collected volume features
an eclectic range of films from British and Indian cinemas to
silent Hollywood and the new Hollywood of the 1980s, culminating in
a comprehensive overview of the diverse concerns surrounding
representations of boyhood in film.
This book describes the main characteristics that define the
emotion of fear, its dimensions, functions, types, and social and
individual meanings. It also shows that fear represents a desire to
eliminate the Other and that horror films have their origin
precisely in crisis and fear, which gives it a fundamentally
xenophobic nature. This is demonstrated in the book through the
analysis of the four most important versions of the King Kong myth:
1933, 1976, 2005 and 2017. These versions are the result of the
fear of the Other that was generated by particular crises in US
society: the stock market crash of 1929, the 1970s energy crisis,
9/11 and the military intervention in Iraq in 2003 and its
consequences. These conflicts also led to psychological and
sociological effects that created a desire for escape that King
Kong's films manifest.
This book focuses on the philosophy of Chinese martial arts film,
arguing that philosophy provides a key to understanding the whole
genre. It draws on Chinese philosophical ideas derived from, or
based on, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and other schools of
thought such as Mohism and Legalism, examines a cluster of recent
Chinese martial arts films centering on the figure of the xia-the
heroic protagonist, the Chinese equivalent of medieval Europe's
knight-errant-and outlines the philosophical principles and themes
undergirding the actions of xia and their narratives. Overall, the
author argues that the genre, apart from being an action-oriented
entertainment medium, is inherently moral and ethical.
The book presents a systematic method of interpreting Shakespeare
film adaptations based on their cinematic genres. Its approach is
both scholarly and reader-friendly, and its subject is
fundamentally interdisciplinary, combining the findings of
Shakespeare scholarship with film and media studies, particularly
genre theory. The book is organised into six large chapters,
discussing films that form broad generic groups. Part I looks at
three genres from the classical Hollywood era (western, melodrama
and gangster-noir), while Part II deals with three contemporary
blockbuster genres (teen film, undead horror and biopic). Beside a
few better-known examples of mainstream cinema, the volume also
highlights the Shakespearean elements in several nearly forgotten
films, bringing them back to critical attention. -- .
Discover the secrets of Christopher Nolan's Tenet with this
exclusive behind-the-scenes look at 2020's most anticipated film.
In 2020, director Christopher Nolan returns with Tenet, an action
epic evolving from the world of international espionage. This
deluxe book takes fans through the full creative journey that
brought Tenet to the screen, from the genesis of Nolan's uniquely
imaginative script through to the cutting edge techniques used to
realise the film's innovative action sequences. Featuring exclusive
interviews with the director and his crew, including producer Emma
Thomas and production designer Nathan Crowley, The Making of Tenet
is a can't-miss companion to Nolan's thrilling new masterpiece.
This book reveals how marginalized communities and women are
underrepresented on our screens and, too often, depicted in
stereotypical ways. This is doubly true for marginalized
speakers-those who speak traditionally "nonstandard" dialects.
Lindsey Clouse examines the origins of linguistic prejudice and how
our public schools perpetuate the myth of "bad" English. By
dissecting the 500 top-grossing films of the last 20 years, Clouse
exposes how speakers of Black English, Southern U.S. English,
Spanish-influenced English, and gendered speech patterns are
represented, underrepresented, misrepresented, and mocked. Clouse
analyzes hundreds of films and characters to reveal how filmmakers
and audiences work together to reinforce negative beliefs about
stigmatized dialects and the people who speak them and reveals how
those beliefs stack up against decades of linguistic research. She
concludes by showing that these portrayals translate to real-life
linguistic discrimination and discusses the ways in which we can
combat this often-hidden prejudice. Scholars of introductory
sociolinguistics, american dialect studies, and media studies, will
find this book of particular interest.
The case of the Cambridge spies has long captured the public's
attention, but perhaps never more so than in the wake of Anthony
Blunt's exposure as the fourth man in November 1979. With the Cold
War intensifying, patriotism running high during the Falklands War
and the AIDS crisis leading to widespread homophobia, these
notorious traitors were more relevant than ever. This book explores
how they were depicted in literature, television and film
throughout the 1980s. Examining works by an array of distinguished
writers, including Dennis Potter, Alan Bennett, Tom Stoppard and
John le Carre, it sheds new light on the affair, asking why such
privileged young men chose to betray their country, whether loyalty
to one's friends is more important than patriotism and whether we
can really trust the intelligence services. -- .
How can we describe movements in animated films? In Figure and
Force in Animation Aesthetics, Ryan Pierson introduces a powerful
new method for the study of animation. By looking for
figures-arrangements that seem to intuitively hold together-and
forces-underlying units of attraction, repulsion, and
direction-Pierson reveals startling new possibilities for animation
criticism, history, and theory. Drawing on concepts from Gestalt
psychology, Pierson offers a wide-ranging comparative study of four
animation techniques-soft-edged forms, walk cycles, camera
movement, and rotoscoping-as they appear in commercial, artisanal,
and avant-garde works. In the process, through close readings of
little-analyzed films, Pierson demonstrates that figures and forces
make fertile resources for theoretical speculation, unearthing
affinities between animation practice and such topics as the
philosophy of mathematics, scientific and political revolution, and
love. Beginning and ending with the imperative to look closely,
Figure and Force in Animation Aesthetics is a performance in seeing
the world of motion anew.
Citizen Kane's reputation as one of the greatest films of all time
is matched only by the accumulation of critical commentary that
surrounds it. What more can there be to say about a masterpiece so
universally acknowledged? Laura Mulvey, in a fresh and original
reading, illuminates the richness of the film, both thematically
and stylistically, relating it to Welles's political background and
its historical context. In a lucid and perceptive critique she also
investigates the psychoanalytic structure that underlies the film's
presentation of Kane's biography, for once taking seriously what
Orson Welles himself disparagingly referred to as 'dollar-book
Freud.' In her foreword to this special edition, published to
celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BFI Film Classics series,
Laura Mulvey focuses on the film's politics, highlighting the
contemporary 'rhymes' in Kane's portrayal of a scandal-prone press
baron in a time of economic crisis.
Esfir Shub was the only prominent female director of nonfiction
film present at the dawning of the Soviet film industry. She was,
in fact, the first woman both to write critical texts on cinema and
then practically apply these theorisations in her own films. As
such, her syncretism of cinema theory and praxis inspired her to
ask questions regarding both the nature of nonfiction film, such as
the problem of authenticity and reality, and the function of the
artist in society; issues which are still relevant in contemporary
discussions about the documentary. Accordingly, this book
demonstrates Shub's position not only as a significant filmmaker
and recognised member of the early Soviet avant-garde but also as a
key figure in global cinema history. Shub deserves recognition both
as the founder and ardent promoter of the compilation film genre
and as a pioneer of the theory and practice of documentary
filmmaking.
The first computer-generated animated feature film, Toy Story
(1995) sustains a dynamic vitality that proved instantly appealing
to audiences of all ages. Like the great Pop Artists, Pixar Studios
affirmed the energy of modern commercial popular culture and, in
doing so, created a distinctive alternative to the usual Disney
formula. Tom Kemper traces the film's genesis, production history
and reception to demonstrate how its postmodern mishmash of pop
culture icons and references represented a fascinating departure
from Disney's fine arts style and fairytale naturalism. By
foregrounding the way in which Toy Story flipped the conventional
relationship between films and their ancillary merchandising by
taking consumer products as its very subject, Kemper provides an
illuminating, revisionist exploration of this groundbreaking
classic.
The Berlin School and Its Global Contexts: A Transnational
Art-Cinema came about in light of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)'s
2013 major exhibition of works by contemporary German directors
associated with the so-called Berlin School, perhaps Germany's most
important contemporary filmmaking movement. Christoph Hochhausler,
the movement's keenest spokesperson, stated that ""the Berlin
School, despite what the label suggests, is not a specifically
German phenomenon. All over the world there are filmmakers
exploring related terrain."" In response to this ""transnational
turn,"" editors Marco Abel and Jaimey Fisher have assembled a group
of scholars who examine global trends and works associated with the
Berlin School. The goal of the collection is to understand the
Berlin School as a fundamental part of the series of new wave films
around the globe, especially those from the traditional margins of
world cinema. For example, Michael Sicinski and Lutz Koepnick
explore the relation of the Berlin School to cinema of Southeast
Asia, including Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Tsai Ming-liang; Ira
Jaffe and Roger Cook take a look at Middle Eastern film, with Nuri
Bilge Ceylan and Abbas Kiarostami, respectively. The volume also
includes essays engaging with North American filmmakers like Kelly
Reichardt and Derek Cianfrance as well as European auteurs like
Antonioni, Tarr, Porumboiu, McQueen, and the Dardennes. Bringing
German cinema into dialogue with this series of global cinemas
emphasizes how the Berlin School manifests-whether aesthetically or
thematically, politically or historically-a balancing of national
particularity with global flows of various sorts. Abel and Fisher
posit that since the vast majority of the films are available with
English subtitles (and at times also in other languages) and recent
publications on the subject have established critical momentum,
this exciting filmmaking movement will continue to branch out into
new directions and include new voices. The Berlin School and Its
Global Contexts folds German-language cinema back into
conversations with international as well as transnational cinema.
This volume will be of great interest to scholars of German and
global cinema.
|
|