Anna Kornbluh provides an overview of Marxist approaches to film, with particular attention to three central concepts in Marxist theory in general that have special bearing on film: "the mode of production," "ideology," and "mediation." In explaining how these concepts operate and how they have been used and misused in film studies, the volume employs a case study to exemplify the practice of Marxist film theory. Fight Club is an exceptionally useful text with which to explore these three concepts because it so vividly and pedagogically engages with economic relations, ideological distortion, and opportunities for transformation. At the same time, it is a very typical film in terms of the conditions of its production, its marketing, and its popularity. Adapted from a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, the film is a contemporary classic that has lent itself to significant re-interpretation with every shift in the political economic landscape since its debut. Marxist Film Theory and Fight Club models a detailed cinematic interpretation that students can practice with other films, and furnishes a set of ideas about cinema and society that can be carried into other kinds of study, giving students tools for analyzing culture broadly defined.

More Audio Drama is the second collection of plays by Neville Teller, intended both for lovers of radio drama and for podcast producers who specialise in audio drama. Neville is a veteran radio dramatist, with more than 50 BBC radio plays under his belt and scores more produced and broadcast across America by the San Francisco-based Shoestring Radio Theatre. Back in 2019 he published his first collection of ten radio plays, Audio Drama. They have been so welcomed that he decided to make another ten available. Here they are - 10 more of Neville's plays for radio and podcast, all of which have been produced and broadcast. As in his first book, these scripts are offered to podcast producers with no strings attached. The books on which they are based are all literary classics in the public domain. No performance rights are required. Whether you are a podcast producer seeking fully realised audio drama scripts, or one of the worldwide listening audience who love radio drama with its power to create images in the mind's eye, More Audio Drama is a book to treasure and enjoy.

The most popular series of movies in the history of cinema, the Star Wars trilogy altered forever our notion of what the movies could do. Return of the Jedi is the trilogy's concluding section. With its myriad peculiar creatures, it seems, at first, to be a lighter film than the others. However, as its subtle narrative unfolds, it becomes apparent that the centre of the trilogy is not Luke Skywalker but Darth Vader, and it is his redemption that forms the culmination of this epic story. The power of this conclusion excites curiosity about how someone who began so idealistically could have turned to the dark side of the Force - the story of which will be revealed in the next three instalments to the Star Wars saga . . .

The phenomenal success of George Lucas's first Star Wars trilogy quite simply revolutionized the cinema; but what sets Lucas's films apart from their legion of imitators is the quality of their screenplays. Lucas originally intended this trilogy to be a single film, but the epic scope of the story (combining hi-tech, sci-fi cinephilia with elements of Arthurian myth and mysticism) demanded that it be split into three. The first panel of the triptych is A New Hope. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, young Luke Skywalker leads a dull, isolated existence on his uncle's homestead. One day, two androids, C3PO and R2D2, show up bearing a message from Princess Leia, the leader of the rebel forces engaged in a struggle against the vicious tryranny of the Empire - as personified by the rasping presence of Darth Vader. The message leads Luke to realize his heritage as a Jedi Knight. He sets out on a wild adventure across the galaxy and, together with Leia and rogue pilot Han Solo, attempts to thwart the Empire by destroying its menacing base of operations: the Death Star.

Described by Stuart Hall as "one of the most riveting and important films produced by a black writer in recent years," "My Beautiful Laundrette" was a significant production for its director Stephen Frears and its writer Hanif Kureshi. Christine Geraghty considers it a crossover film: between television and cinema, realism and fantasy, and as an independent film targeting a popular audience. She deftly shows how it has remained an important and timely film in the 1990s and early 2000s, and her exploration of the film itself is an original and entertaining achievement.

It is a near-future world, and in many ways London is the same bustling metropolis it has been for centuries; but look a little closer and Viral Inspectors roam public places delivering fines and forced immunisation against Avian Flu, and an organisation called the Genetic Protection Authority has been established with unnerving oversight. It is the role of the GPA to oversee the genetic future of mankind: a noble mission to protect humanity from the worst genetic diseases and impairments, but one that seems increasingly liable to abuse, using its vague definitions of eradicating anything more than 'three standard variations from the human norm'. When Sandra Small becomes pregnant with a child that has the same strain of achondroplasia dwarfism as her husband, Ivan Henry, an ugly domestic dispute escalates to a legal battle with the GPA and the High Court. What could have been a marital issue becomes a challenge to the GPA's authority and jurisdiction, in a test case that could set an alarming precedent for the whole country, redefining the very definition of what is, and isn't, human. The stakes for Ivan, dwarfs, and anyone else with a genetic condition, become increasingly larger threatening to engulf London and beyond. This ambitious and provocative script is a faithful recreation of Ross Martyn's original vision, looking at ethics, science, and society; a story of how small actions can lead to catastrophic consequences.