This book adopts a cognitive theoretical framework in order to address the mental processes that are elicited and triggered by found footage horror films. Through analysis of key films, the book explores the effects that the diegetic camera technique used in such films can have on the cognition of viewers. It further examines the way in which mediated realism is constructed in the films in order to attempt to make audiences either (mis)read the footage as non-fiction, or more commonly to imagine that the footage is non-fiction. Films studied include The Blair Witch Project, Rec, Paranormal Activity, Exhibit A, Cloverfield, Man Bites Dog, The Last Horror Movie, Noroi: The Curse, Autohead and Zero Day This book will be of key interest to Film Studies scholars with research interests in horror and genre studies, cognitive studies of the moving image, and those with interests in narration, realism and mimesis. It is an essential read for students undertaking courses with a focus on film theory, particularly those interested specifically in horror films and cognitive film theory.

The chapters collected in this volume shed light on the areas of interaction between film studies and heavy metal research, exploring how the audio-visual medium of film relates to, builds on and shapes metal culture. At one end of the spectrum, metal music serves as a form of ambient background in horror films that creates an intense and somewhat threatening atmosphere; at the other end, the high level of performativity attached to the metal spectacle is emphasized. Alongside these tendencies, the recent and ongoing wave of metal documentaries has taken off, relying on either satire or hagiography.

This massive study on action movies and stars from around the world, from the 1960s to the present, is filled with more than a thousand in-depth movie reviews that cover every action star who's crossed over from the world of martial arts, sports, professional wrestling, and stunt work. Exploding with beautiful images, exclusive interviews, and a thorough action star index, this one-of-a-kind movie reference book and comprehensive fan guide features reviews by the author, Zack Carlson (Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film), Vern (Seagalogy: A Study of the Ass-Kicking Films of Steven Seagal and Yippie Ki-Yay Moviegoer!), Mike McBeardo McPadden (Heavy Metal Movies and Going All the Way: The Ultimate Guide to Teen Sex Comedies of the VHS Era), and several others. It is a quintessential tribute to the men and women who have left their mark in the action and martial arts film genres.

From Steven Spielberg's Lincoln to Clint Eastwood's American Sniper, this fifth edition of this classic film study text adds even more recent films and examines how these movies depict and represent the feelings and values of American society. One of the few authoritative books about American film and society, Praeger's American Film and Society since 1945 combines accessible, fun-to-read text with a detailed, insightful, and scholarly political and social analysis that thoroughly explores the relationship of American film to society and provides essential historical context. The historical overview provides a "capsule analysis" of both American and Hollywood history for the most recent decade as well as past eras, in which topics like American realism; Vietnam, counterculture revolutions, and 1960s films; and Hollywood depictions of big business like Wall Street are covered. Readers will better understand the explicit and hidden meanings of films and appreciate the effects of the passion and personal engagement that viewers experience with films. This new edition prominently features a new chapter on American and Hollywood history from 2010 to 2017, giving readers an expanded examination of a breadth of culturally and socially important modern films that serves student research or pleasure reading. The coauthors have also included additional analysis of classic films such as To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and A Face in the Crowd (1957). Analyzes major political and social currents during the decade and examines how Hollywood film dealt with these events and developments Provides a political overview of the decade in film since the last edition of Praeger's American Film and Society Since 1945 Presents entries organized chronologically, by decades from 1945 to the present, making it easy for readers to quickly find information on films that interest them

Did you know that Pocahontas probably never fell in love with John Smith, as the Disney and other film versions of those events pretend? That Godzilla was originally an anti-American and anti-nuclear movie, heavily cut and supplemented with new material? That Zorro was not created by an American author but derived from the much older Mexican struggle for independence? That Anna and the King was largely invented? That the myth of the sexually eager Hula girls is based on misunderstandings by the first explorers? That Black Hawk Down and many other war movies were censored and indirectly subsidized by the Pentagon? Screening Difference takes us on a fascinating voyage through major movie blockbusters that deal with the encounter between "us," based on white Hollywood, and "them," the filmic representations of other races, ethnicities, and cultures. Looking at subtle orientations in casting and make-up, sets and props, lighting and camera movements, music and language, this lively book follows the best-known genres and subgenres: from animated cartoons to wilderness films, from romantic movies to colonial adventures. Screening Difference tracks the stories back to their origins and patiently dissects the hidden messages that have gradually crept into them.

Interpreting rock movies details the reaction to British and American pop films during the 1950s and 1960s. By examining the British reception of films such as Rock Around the Clock, Love Me Tender, A Hard Day's Night and Summer Holiday, the book provides a valuable insight into British film criticism, teenage culture during the 1950s and 1960s and the generic status of rock films/teen movies and cultural hierarchies. This book not only contains an extensive account of how the film and music press reacted to rock'n'roll films, but also fully explores issues about taste and distinction within reviewing practices. The movie output of Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Cliff Richard and numerous others is located within the context of popular music during the 1950s and 1960s, the British and American film industries at a time of transition, fears over Americanisation and juvenile delinquency, family entertainment and fan culture.

Through his influential work on cultural capital and social mobility, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has provided critical insights into the complex interactions of power, class, and culture in the modern era. Ubiquitous though Bourdieu's theories are, however, they have only intermittently been used to study some of the most important forms of cultural production today: cinema and new media. With topics ranging from film festivals and photography to constantly evolving mobile technologies, this collection demonstrates the enormous relevance that Bourdieu's key concepts hold for the field of media studies, deploying them as powerful tools of analysis and forging new avenues of inquiry in the process.

For decades, scholars have repeatedly found the inequity of gender representations in informational and entertainment media. Beginning with the seminal work by Gaye Tuchman and colleagues, we have repeatedly seen a systemic underrepresentation and misrepresentation of women in media. Examining the latest research in discourse and content analyses trending in both domestic and international circles, Media Disparity: A Gender Battleground highlights the progress-or lack thereof-in media regarding portrayals of women, across genres and cultures within the twenty-first century. Blending both original studies and descriptive overviews of current media platforms, top scholars evaluate the portrayals of women in contemporary venues, including advertisements, videogames, political stories, health communication, and reality television.

Despite the massive influx of Hollywood movies and films from other European countries after World War II, Austrian film continued to be hugely popular with Austrian and German audiences. By examining the decisive role that popular cinema played in the turbulent post-war era, this book provides unique insights into the reconstruction of a disrupted society. Through detailed analysis of the stylistic patterns, narratives and major themes of four popular genres of the time, costume film, Heimatfilm, tourist film and comedy, the book explains how popular cinema helped to shape national identity, smoothed conflicted gender relations and relieved the Austrians from the burden of the Nazi past through celebrating the harmonious, charming, musical Austrian man.

Withnail and I sank almost without a trace when it was first released in 1987. Financed by HandMade Films, the late George Harrison's production company, and drawing heavily on first-time writer-director Bruce Robinson's experiences, this virtually plot-free story follows two out-of-work actors (Withnail, played by Richard E. Grant, and 'I', played by Paul McGann), eking out a living in a run-down London of the late 1960s, and embarking on a booze-fuelled weekend in the country which takes various unexpected turns. Although it initially failed to find an audience, it did not take long for the film to attract a dedicated cult following which still persists today. Lines from the film such as 'we've gone on holiday by mistake!' and 'Bring me the finest wines known to humanity!' have become popular favourites and the subject of countless internet memes. Kevin Jackson's in-depth study gives a full account of the film's origins and production history. But his main focus is the mood and magic of the film, its aesthetics and sensibility, seeking to show, without ever detracting from the film's comic brilliance, just how much more there is to Withnail and I than drunkenness and swearing. 'It is an outstandingly touching yet witheringly unsentimental drama of male friendship,' Jackson writes, 'a bleak up-ending of the English pastoral dream, a piece of ferocious verbal inventiveness' - and, without question, one of the greatest of all British films. In his new foreword to this edition, writer Bharat Tandon pays tribute to to both Withnail's peculiar genius and enduring appeal, and to his close friend Kevin Jackson.

An invaluable introduction to popular film and the way in which it is studied this book brings together the critical approaches and issues that have sought to define popular film from the 1950s to the present day. It includes discussion of mass culture theory and political economy; auteur theory; genre theory; star studies; historical poetics; screen theory; feminism and cultural studies. Written by specialists, "Approaches to popular film" is an ideal textbook for students coming to film theory for the first time.

Tomas Gutierrez Alea's Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) is a classic of Cuban revolutionary culture, and is hailed as a prime example of a radical style of 1960s political filmmaking that became known worldwide as Latin American "new cinema." Darlene J. Sadlier's detailed study approaches this much-written-about film from a new perspective. Her analysis situates the film in its historical context, considering how Cuban political history affected and informed the production of the film, particularly its use of archival footage. She discusses the film as an adaptation of Edmundo Desnoes's novel Memorias del subdesarrollo (1965), exploring how the novel itself is "re-written" in significant ways by the film. Sadlier goes on to analyse the curious opening of the film on an outdoor scene of Afro-Cubans dancing to the "new" music of Pello del Afrokan, arguing that this opening scene prefaces the film's exploration of both class and race. She focuses on the unique style of the film, particularly the use of voiceover, music and documentary footage to show how the themes of ennui, isolation, writing, and remembering are depicted. In doing so, she highlights the film's lasting impact and its role in defining Latin American "new cinema".

While there are numerous books on art and exploitation cinema, very few attempt to examine both. Covering the first 100 years of cinematic transgressions, From the Arthouse to the Grindhouse is a collection of numerous essays representing key contributions to overlooked, forgotten, or under-analyzed parts of film history. From cult favorites like Arch Hall Jr. to revered but under-documented marquee names like Lon Chaney, filmmakers both major and minor are covered here. Starting with a section that pairs exploitation pioneers like Dwain Esper alongside cutting edge auteurs like Erich Von Stroheim, the volume documents the bleeding edge of the high/low cultural divide. Other essays examine the sexual melodramas of Weimer German cinema, explore the concept of Borat as a model for the new standardized cult film, and discuss the films of directors Tod Browning, Pier Pasolini, and Peter Watkins. This volume also contains a section devoted to the idea of "reality" inside and outside the documentary sphere, emphasizing audiences' desire to believe that "this is really happening," whether they're horrified or titillated. Addressing many aspects of "transgression" in cinema, these essays suggest that the distance between the venues and the audiences may not be quite as wide as viewers might imagine.

This work outlines a new methodology for film analysis based on the radical materialist thought of Baruch Spinoza, re-evaluating contemporary cognitive media theory and philosophical theories on the emotional and intellectual aspects of film experience. Sticchi's exploration of Spinozian philosophy creates an experiential constructive model to blend the affective and intellectual aspects of cognition, and to combine it with different philosophical interpretations of film theory. Spinoza's embodied philosophy rejected logical and ethical dualisms, and established a perfect parallelism between sensation and reason and provides the opportunity to address negative emotions and sad passions without referring exclusively to traditional notions such as catharsis or sublimation, and to put forth a practical/embodied notion of Film-Philosophy. This new analytical approach is tested on four case studies, films that challenge the viewer's emotional engagement since they display situations of cosmic failure and depict controversial and damaged characters: A Serious Man (2009); Melancholia (2011); The Act of Killing (2012) and Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). This book is an important addition to the literature in Film Studies, particularly in Cognitive Film Theory and Philosophy of Film. Its affective and semantic analyses of film experience (studies of embodied conceptualisation), connecting Spinoza's thought to the analysis of audiovisual media, will also be of interest to Philosophy scholars and in academic courses of film theory, film-philosophy and cognitive film studies.

Narratives of place link people and geographic location with a cultural imaginary through literature and visual narration. Contemporary literature and film often frame narratives with specific geographic locations, which saturate the narrative with cultural meanings in relation to natural and man-made landscapes. This interdisciplinary collection seeks to interrogate such connections to probe how place is narrativized in literature and film. Utilizing close readings of specific filmic and literary texts, all chapters serve to tease out cultural and historical meanings in respect of human engagement with landscapes. Always mindful of national, cultural and topographical specificity, the book is structured around five core themes: Contested Histories of Place; Environmental Landscapes; Cityscapes; The Social Construction of Place; and Landscapes of Belonging.

Gilles Deleuze has produced some of the most important and most formidable theory on cinema to appear in the last half-century. Deleuze on Cinema provides a thorough and reliable guide to Deleuze's thought on the art of film, elucidating in clear language the shape and thrust of Deleuze's arguments found in his influential books on cinema.

Did you know that Pocahontas probably never fell in love with John Smith, as the Disney and other film versions of those events pretend? That Godzilla was originally an anti-American and anti-nuclear movie, heavily cut and supplemented with new material? That Zorro was not created by an American author but derived from the much older Mexican struggle for independence? That Anna and the King was largely invented? That the myth of the sexually eager Hula girls is based on misunderstandings by the first explorers? That Black Hawk Down and many other war movies were censored and indirectly subsidized by the Pentagon? Screening Difference takes us on a fascinating voyage through major movie blockbusters that deal with the encounter between 'us,' based on white Hollywood, and 'them,' the filmic representations of other races, ethnicities, and cultures. Looking at subtle orientations in casting and make-up, sets and props, lighting and camera movements, music and language, this lively book follows the best-known genres and subgenres: from animated cartoons to wilderness films, from romantic movies to colonial adventures. Screening Difference tracks the stories back to their origins and patiently dissects the hidden messages that have gradually crept into them.

In recent years, Mexican films have received high acclaim and impressive box-office returns. Moreover, Mexico has the most advanced movie industry in the Spanish-speaking world, and its impact on Mexican culture and society cannot be overstated. Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Filmmakers is a collection of fourteen essays that encompass the first 100 years of the cinema of Mexico. Included are original contributions written specifically for this title, plus a few classic pieces in the field of Mexican cinema studies never before available in English. These essays explore a variety of themes including race and ethnicity, gender issues, personalities, and the historical development of a national cinematic style. Each of the book's three sections-The Silent Cinema, The Golden Age, and The Contemporary Era-is preceded by a short introduction to the period and a presentation of the major themes addressed in the section. This insightful anthology is the first published study that includes pieces by Mexican and North American scholars, including a piece by the internationally acclaimed essayist Carlos Monsivais. Contributors include other acclaimed scholars and critics as well as young scholars who are currently making their mark in the area of film studies of Mexico. These authors represent various fields-community studies, film studies, cultural history, ethnic studies, and gender studies-making this volume an interdisciplinary resource, important for courses in Latin America and Third World cinema, Mexican history and culture, and Chicana/o and ethnic studies.

A riveting chronicle of Communist Party efforts to propagate Communism in the United States, concurrent with Hollywood's "Golden Age" of creativity that came to define classical Hollywood cinema. From the Great Depression through World War II, the American Communist Party tried to take control of the motion picture industry. This comprehensive and chronological account of Communist influence in Hollywood surveys the topic from the Popular Front's fight against Fascism during the 1930s to the height of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in the late 1940s. Birdnow, an established historian and chronicler of domestic Communism, outlines Communist International's organizational efforts promoting international communism, focusing on the work of Communist political activists such as Willi Munzenberg, a media mogul with an international network; Gerhart Eisler, patron of a Hollywood composer; and Otto Katz, a high-profile publicist of the party line involved in movies in the 1930s and 1940s. The book explores the covert ways in which Hollywood Communists and Soviet sympathizers attempted to tailor movie scripts to suit the Soviet agenda and discusses Communist front groups such as the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League in great detail. Final chapters offer convincing proof that the directors, producers, and screenwriters blacklisted by studios for their possible Communist affiliations, known as the Hollywood Ten, were members of the Communist Party. Gives readers insight into how the Communist Party used the creative explosion in the movie industry to actively establish a foothold in the United States Draws a parallel between the rise of the Community Party and the rise of the motion picture industry in the United States Profiles Communist Party USA leaders close to Hollywood Takes a closer look at the "Hollywood Ten," detailing who each of the blacklisted individuals were and how their names came to be on the list

A fascinating multi-dimensional investigation of popular film as a commercial, cultural and social phenomenon, focusing on well known and controversial films, and on important - and marketable - issues such as sex and violence. Traces the circulation in Britain of three Hollywood films - Basic Instinct, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Natural Born Killers - from marketing and critical reception to consumption. Draws on economic and discursive contexts and original audience research to trace how meanings, pleasures and uses are derived from popular film. First in the field to look at how Hollywood blockbusters are marketed in Britain. Combining detailed case studies with a clear and up-to-date overview of audience research and the political economy of contemporary cinema this will be essential reading for students of film, popular culture and the media. -- .

"The Impertinent Self" provides a philosophical and cultural theory of modernity by constructing a parallel between the philosophical self and the hero figure found in certain cinematic genres. Fruchtl argues that modernity is not unified and should be conceived as a phenomenon consisting of three strata: the classical, the agonist, and the hybrid. He demonstrates this by following a dual trajectory: the shift in the concept of the self from German idealism to Romanticism and so-called postmodernism, and the evolution of the hero figure in the Western and in crime and science fiction movies. Fruchtl takes a clear position within the ongoing discussion in the humanities and social sciences about modernity, a discussion that, in light of the work of Foucault, Lyotard, and Habermas, has too often neglected the importance of Romanticism. Similarly, he embraces the role of film and popular culture in modern society.