British filmmaker Peter Greenaway says life offers only two subjects: ""One is sex and the other is death."" Greenaway uses both and romanticizes neither; indeed, his goal is the antithesis of the sanitary and sentimental portrayal of humanity. Although his films have met with outrage from some viewers, cult audiences praise them for insightful messages: that people are detached from violence because they fail to see others' bodies as identical to their own; that predatory capitalism has caused humans to lose sight of our shared physicality and mortality; and that taboos are simply a system allowing people to exercise power over others. This book examines nine of Greenaway's feature films, dedicating a chapter to each: ""The Draughtsman's Contract""; ""A Zed and Two Noughts""; ""The Belly of an Architect""; ""Drowning by Numbers""; ""The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover""; ""Prospero's Books""; ""The Baby of Macon""; ""The Pillow Book""; and ""8-1/2 Women"". The author examines the characters and plot, studies the structure and elements of the story, explores Greenaway's motives and reactions, and reveals audience reactions, including comments from viewers. A filmography lists films written and directed by Peter Greenaway from 1962 to 2004.

2004 writeup: This is an anthology of the best papers presented at the 28th Comparative Drama Conference at the Ohio State University April 29-May 1, 2004. This international three-day event had 59 sessions and 200 program participants who presented and discussed 168 research papers. The panelists were affiliated with 100 universities and 16 colleges. For 24 years, Text and Presentation published the finest papers presented at the annual conferences as periodicals. This 25th edition is the first to be offered in book form, comprised of 16 research papers, one review essay and five book reviews. Topics include Euripides, German and Russian theatre, dramatic antecedents of the striptease, surrogate love in The Glass Menagerie, surrealist drama, Greek comedy and the American concept musical, and theatre and politics.

This work features interviews with 51 leading ladies who starred in B-westerns, A-westerns, and television westerns. Some were well-known and others were not, but they all have fascinating stories to tell and they talk candidly about their careers and the many difficulties that went along with their jobs. Back then, conditions were often severe, locations were often harsh, and pay was often minimal. The actresses were sometimes the only females on location and they had to provide their own wardrobe and do their own make-up, as well as discourage the advances of over-affectionate co-stars. Despite these difficulties, most of the women interviewed for this agree that they had fun. Claudia Barrett, Virginia Carroll, Francis Dee, Lisa Gaye, Marie Harmon, Kathleen Hughes, Linda Johnson, Ruta Lee, Colleen Miller, Gigi Perreau, Ann Rutherford, Ruth Terry, and June Vincent are among the 51 actresses interviewed.

There are six of them: heroines, heroes, wise elders, mad scientists, servants and monsters. One of the most fascinating and also endearing aspects of horror films is how they use these six clearly defined character types to portray good and evil. This was particularly true of the classics of the genre, where actors often appeared in the same type of role in many different films. The development of the archetypal characters reflected the way the genre reacted to social changes of the time. As the Great Depression yielded to the uncertainty of World War II, flawed but noble mad scientists such as Henry Frankenstein gave way to Dr. Nieman (The Ghost of Frankenstein) with his dreams of revenge and world conquest. This work details the development of the six archetypes in horror films and how they were portrayed in the many classics of the 1930s and 1940s.

Jane Fonda's visit to Hanoi in July, 1972, and her pro-North Vietnamese, anti-American conduct, especially her pose with an anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down American planes and her propaganda broadcasts directed toward American troops, angered many Americans. In their eyes, she was guilty of treason, but she was never charged by the American legal system. Instead, she has made millions, been the recipient of countless awards, and remained an honored American icon. This work investigates Fonda's activities in North Vietnam and argues that she could have been indicted for treason, that there would have been enough evidence to take the case to a jury, that she could have been convicted, and that a conviction probably would have been upheld on appeal. It also considers Fonda's early life and the effect it had on her behavior and beliefs in her later years, her audience of American POWs who were forced by the Vietnamese to listen to her broadcasts condemning them as war criminals, her arrival in Vietnam and how it was viewed by American servicemen and civilians, the crime of treason throughout history, and the only Congressional inquiry into her actions, which resulted in the government's decision to take no legal action against her. Texts of Fonda's radio broadcasts to American servicemen comprise the appendix.

From the Roman Praetorian Guard to the English shire-reeve to the U.S. marshals, lawmen have a long and varied history. At first, such groups were often corrupt, guilty of advancing a political agenda rather than protecting citizens. It was about the turn of the twentieth century that police officers as we know them came into being. At this time, a number of police reforms such as civil service and police unions were developed. Citizen committees were formed to oversee police function. About this same time, the technology of motion pictures was being advanced. Movies evolved from silent films with a limited budget and short running time to films with sound whose budget was ever rising and whose audience demanded longer, more complex story lines. From the infancy of moviemaking, lawmen of various types were popular subjects. Bounty hunters, sheriffs, private eyes, detectives and street officers - often portrayed by some of Hollywood's biggest names - have been depicted in every conceivable way. Compiled from a comprehensive examination of the material in question, this volume provides a critical-historical analysis of law enforcement in American cinema. From ""High Noon"" to ""The Empire Strikes Back"", it examines the police in their many incantations with emphasis on the ways in which lawmen are portrayed and how this portrayal changes over time. Each film discussed reveals something about society, subtly commenting on social conditions, racial issues and government interventions. Major historical events such as the Great Depression, World War II and the McCarthy trials find their way into many of these films. Significant film genres from science fiction to spaghetti western are represented. Films examined include ""Easy Street"" (1917), a nominal comedy starring Charlie Chaplin; ""Star Packer"", a 1934 John Wayne film; ""The Maltese Falcon"" (1941) with Humphrey Bogart; ""Dirty Harry"", a 1971 Clint Eastwood classic; Leslie Nielsen's spoof ""Naked Gun"" (1988); and 1993's ""Tombstone"" featuring Kurt Russell. The filmography contains a synopsis along with information on director, screenplay, starring actors and year of production. Photographs and an index are also included.

Is violence in American cinema a reflection of life? Or does life imitate the violence people see in cinema? One of the pressing questions in today's society is whether fictional portrayals of violence have social or psychological consequences. Studies have concluded with both ?yes? and ?no? verdicts. Is America a culture of violence? Why does violence, horror and melodrama appeal to people? This book explores these issues with primary focus on entertainment, especially film, through lenses of the media, the consumer, and the cultural backdrop. The film A Clockwork Orange allegedly spawned so much violence in the United Kingdom that director Stanley Kubrick was rumored to have fled with his family to avoid a death threat. From that classic case, the author takes readers through a study of media and violence that examines the structure of horror, the origin and nature of evil, the Greek mythic tradition, melodrama and catharsis, fairy tales, comic books, video games and real horror. In part two the author offers case studies in several genres: westerns, multi-melodrama (The Silence of the Lambs), slasher films, psycho drama, serials such as Star Wars and Harry Potter, apocalyptic melodrama, modern and postmodern noir, creature features and religious melodrama. In-text citations are included, and two notes expand on a couple of issues in the text?the perspectives of Plato and Aristotle on the effects of tragic drama, and discussion of differences of opinion relating to methodological approach.

You're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star, Warner Baxter told Ruby Keeler, in the 1933 film ""42nd Street"". The actor's scripted words would prove prophetic. The film propelled her to stardom. Ruby Keeler's rags-to-riches story is told in this pictorial biography (with text as well). Born on August 25, 1910 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, her father an iceman, her family moved to New York City in 1912. Soon enrolled in the Professional Children's School, she got her first taste of life on the stage, eventually finding her way to Broadway. Her dancing brought her the pivotal role in ""42nd Street"", and she was soon one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood. Her performance in ""No, No, Nanette"" in 1971, her first Broadway show in 41 years, met with rave reviews. Keeler's life, including her ill-fated marriage to performer Al Jolson, is recounted here, with many never-before-seen photographs.

Mind control, madness and altered states of reality can make for exciting nights at the movies--which explains the enduring popularity of a film genre that might be called the psycho thriller. Psychiatry and film came of age simultaneously, and characters such as the evil psychiatrist and the pathological killer were often developed in direct reference to the psychological themes that inspired them. For example, the penchants of Hitchcock's famously creepy Norman Bates represented real psychological disorders, and his actions were explained through psychoanalysis. The psycho thriller presents a world where psychology represents a dimension of supernatural and metaphysical wonders. The introduction analyzes what makes a psycho thriller, and subsequent chapters are devoted to each of the archetypal psycho thriller characters (the mad scientist, the psycho killer, the individual with psychic powers, and the psychiatrist) and themes (mind control, dreams, memory, and existential issues). The concluding chapter lists the top twenty psycho thrillers. Stills from classic films in the genre illustrate the text, which also includes filmography, bibliography, and index.

Blake's 7, Terry Nation's science fiction tale of cosmic freedom fighters, became a hit series in Great Britain when it premiered in 1978. Eight years later, the show quickly became a cult program in America. A dramatization of futuristic outlaw heroes who defend the innocent from both alien and human conquering forces, the series might better be said to be equal parts Robin Hood and The Magnificent Seven. The series defied traditional genre elements of science fiction television, and developed the concept of the continual ""story arc"" years before such shows as ""Babylon 5"" and ""Deep Space Nine"". This book provides a critical history and episode guide for ""Blake's 7"", including commentaries for all 52 episodes. Also included are analytical essays on the show, dealing with such topics as themes, imagery and story arc; a consideration of the series as a futuristic Robin Hood myth; cinematography and visual effects; and an overview of ""Blake's 7"" in books, comics and videos. A detailed appendix lists the genre conventions found in the series. The author also includes information about ""Blake's 7"" fan clubs and Internet sites.

While ghosts often inhabit films and literature devoted to the horror genre, a group of literature-based films from the 1930s and 1940s present more human and romantic apparitions. These films provide the underpinnings for many of the gentle supernatural films of the 1990s. Tracing the links between spectres as diverse as Rex Harrison's ""Captain Gregg"" and Patrick Swazye's ""Sam Wheat"", the text presents the evolution of the cinematic-literary ghost from classic Gothic to the psychological, sociological, and political ideologies of today. Included are analyses of the literary and film versions of classic ghost stories - ""Wuthering Heights"", ""The Ghost and Mrs. Muir"", ""Portrait of Jennie"", ""Letter from an Unknown Woman"", ""The Uninvited"", ""Liliom, and Our Town"" - as well as interpretations of modern films not based on literary works that show the influence of these predecessors - ""Ghost"" and ""Truly, Madly, Deeply"". The text includes stills, a bibliography, and an index.

Prominent dance critic Arlene Croce wrote for The New Yorker during the 1970s, ?80s and ?90s. Through more than 200 critiques in that magazine, she confirmed a classical aesthetic framework for dance, influencing the work of numerous contemporary critics as well as the tastes of audiences. This book explores that framework and provides an interpretive analysis of the biographical, professional and historical elements that contributed to the context of Croce's work. Topics include Croce's predecessors in dance criticism, relevant twentieth-century contemporaries and the journalistic philosophy of The New Yorker. Providing 10 of Croce's essays in their entirety, the author discusses the three specific elements of artistic excellence that Croce consistently used in her evaluations: sympathetic musicality, Apollonian craftsmanship and the enlivening force of tradition. Special attention is given to the literary and rhetorical qualities of Croce's work. Finally, appendices offer a detailed subject breakdown of topics in Croce's essays, listing (by frequency of appearance) dance companies, dancers, choreographers, dance styles, ballets, and themes.

Television is awash with newly embraced gay and lesbian themes that have crossed over into the collective pop culture of America. Dramas like ""Queer As Folk"" and ""The L Word"", comedies like ""Will & Grace"", and even reality shows including the popular ""Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"" signify a new commercial acceptance of homosexuality that has never been seen before in the United States. However, the increasing exposure has prompted critics to argue that the gay and lesbian representation on television is oversimplified and is rife with one-dimensional characters. Ultimately, the viewers will decide the future of homosexuality and homosexual and lesbian characters on television. The text offers essays that explore such topics as the politics of representation and the clash of progressive and regressive social agendas in television and the workplace's emphasis on the search for a space for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered within the mainstream media. The book contains criticisms of characters in such shows as ""Six Feet Under"", ""Queer As Folk"", ""Friends"" and ""Ellen"".

The financial collapse of 2008 extended and deepened a prolonged, multilayered crisis that has transformed, often in unexpected ways, how we think about all aspects of social life. Amid these turbulent times, film studies scholars have begun to ask new questions and create fresh strategies in order to integrate intellectual and political work in ways that directly address our current predicament. This timely volume reconsiders the relationships between cinema and society at a time when neoliberal policies threaten not only civic culture but also nearly every aspect of human life. Screening the Crisis brings together established authors as well as brilliant young scholars in the field of film studies to explore the ways in which new tendencies in US cinema enhance awareness of the complexity of the problems facing contemporary society. The issues addressed include economic inequality, shifts in gender roles, racial conflicts, immigration, surveillance practices, the environmental crisis, the politics of housing, and the fragility of nationhood. These questions are explored through in-depth studies and contextualized analyses of a wide variety of recent films, genres, and filmmakers. With its ample range of topics and perspectives, this collection provides an essential reference work for those who want to research how US cinema has responded to the manifold interconnected crises that characterize our current times.

Everything Is Sampled examines the shifting modes of production and circulation of African artistic forms since the 1980s, focusing on digital culture as the most currently decisive setting for these changes. Drawing on works of cinema, literature, music, and visual art, Akin Adekan. addresses two main questions. First, given the various changes that the institutions producing African arts and letters have undergone in the past four decades, how have the representational impulses in these forms fared in comparison with those at work in pervasively digital cultures? Second, how might a long view of these artistic forms across media and in different settings affect our understanding of what counts as art, as text, as authorship? Immersed in digital culture, African artists today are acutely aware of the media-saturated circumstances in which they work and actively bridge them by making ethical choices to shape those circumstances. Through an innovative development and analysis of five modes of creative practice—curation, composition, adaptation, platform, and remix—Everything Is Sampled offers an absorbingly complex yet nuanced approach to appreciating the work of several generations of African writers, directors, and artists. No longer content to just fill a spot in the relay between the conception and distribution of a work, these artists are now also quick to view and reconfigure their works through different modes of creative practice.

Over the course of a long and very successful career spanning the first half of the 20th century, Lucy Kemp-Welch established herself as one of the leading equestrian painters at work in the UK and one of the country’s best-known women artists. David Boyd Haycock’s new, extensively illustrated biography of Kemp-Welch brings this remarkable artist and her work back into sharp focus.   Born in 1869, Kemp-Welch first came to the art establishment’s attention in 1897 when her immense painting, Colt Hunting in the New Forest, caused a sensation at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition; the work was bought for the Nation by the Chantry Bequest in the year of exhibition. In 1915, she illustrated Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, and was commissioned to paint images for the Government during the First World War. Later, the mural Women’s Work in the Great War, was placed in the Royal Exchange in London, where it remains to this day. Respected art writer and curator Boyd-Haycock shines new light on Kemp-Welch’s life, writing from a 21st-century perspective and reflecting on her as a female painter in a male-dominated environment. Alongside Kemp-Welch’s paintings, the book will feature exclusive period photographs of the artist herself, shown at work and in her studio.

This work covers ninety years of animation from James Stuart Blackton's 1906 ""Short Humorous Phases of Funny Faces"", in which astonished viewers saw a hand draw faces that moved and changed, to ""Anastasia"", Don Bluth's 1997 feature-length challenge to the Walt Disney animation empire. Readers will come across such characters as the Animaniacs, Woody Woodpecker, Will Vinton's inventive Claymation figures (including Mark Twain as well as the California Raisins), and the Beatles trying to save the happy kingdom of Pepperland from the Blue Meanies in ""Yellow Submarine"" (1968). Part One covers 180 animated feature films. Part Two identifies feature films that have animation sequences and provides details thereof. Part Three covers over 1,500 animated shorts. All entries offer basic data, credits, brief synopsis, production information, and notes where available. An appendix covers the major animation studios.

The first film featuring Charlie Chan, ""The House Without a Key"", appeared in 1925. Forty-seven films and six Charlies later, the series still delights audiences. Charlie Chan connoisseurs cite a variety of reasons for the honorable detective's longevity and appeal, ranging from his wit and personality to the films' fascinating casts that often included future celebrities. This encyclopedia contains over 1,900 entries for characters, actors, crew members, plot devices, and facts, as well as film summaries and Charlie's famous aphorisms. Photographs accompany the text and the entries are arranged alphabetically for easy reference and access. Practically anything a fan of these films might want to know is thoroughly analyzed here.

Living in the shadow of a famous parent can have powerful effects, from opening professional doors to pressure so great it leads to suicide. Some children of stars are proud of their roots while others live in secrecy. This is a rare look into the private lives of the children (and, in a few cases, grandchildren) of the classic Hollywood icons, telling the stresses and inspirations of living with great actors who may or may not have been great parents. Some movie stars protected their offspring, but others used them as publicity props or even made them into rivals. Despite their unusual youths, some succeeded in the movies or elsewhere, but most never lived up to the standard expected of them by the public. Many lost their parents, whether to the extremes of the celebrity lifestyle, to divorce, or to their careers. From the beautiful bedtime stories Harpo Marx and his wife told their four adopted children to explain where they'd come from, to the studded belt Bing Crosby used to punish his sons for mentioning their famous father to school chums, this work tells the best and worst of growing up in a celebrity home. Families covered include those of W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Eddie Cantor, Mario Lanza, Stan Laurel, Jerry Lewis, Douglas Fairbanks and Boris Karloff. Research is drawn from interviews with celebrity offspring, who also provided never-before-published snapshots of Hollywood legends at home.

Although Wasserstein calls herself a humanist, her works reflect a political rhetoric, if cloaked in humor, that she herself could not imagine to be anything but feminist. Shaped by literal, cultural, and materialistic feminist theory, Wasserstein illustrates the impact of the women's movement on the lives of her female characters. The five major works, with their near-sequel effect, let us see her characters' college years, mid-twenties, mid-thirties and middle age. Through the use of a newly devised critical context called fem-en(act)ment, or textual or performance drama that is guided by feminist disposition thematically and stylistically, the author here allows for a fresh reading of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

This is an anthology of the best papers that were presented at the 28th Comparative Drama Conference at Ohio State University April 29-May 1, 2004. This international three day event had 59 sessions and 200 program participants who presented and discussed 168 research papers. The conference was co-sponsored by 12 academic units in the College of Humanities and the College of the Arts. The panelists were affiliated with 100 universities and 16 colleges. For 25 years Text & Presentation has been publishing the finest papers presented at the annual conferences to help readers be aware of the happenings in international drama. French novelist Emile Zola, noted for his championship of the Naturalist novel, has been one of the most adapted authors in world literature. There have been approximately 80 film adaptations of his late 19th century novels and short stories, many of which occurred during the silent era of international film production (1895-1927). While the aesthetic elements of Zola's fiction continue to appeal to international cinema, the author's thematic naturalism and his ""scientific methodology"" have provided an ideological framework that incorporates art, science and history into the many cinematic adaptations of his work.

Can you dissolve a coin, defy gravity or read someone's mind? Learn how to perform the greatest magic tricks around and astound your friends and family. This comprehensive book features over 350 magic tricks, including card magic, stage and optical illusions, stunts, puzzles, party and dinner table pranks. Each trick is fully illustrated and expertly described, enabling both the novice and experienced magician alike to perform feats such as bending a knife, predicting the future and cutting a person in two. Close-up secret views show how each trick is performed, with expert tips on preparation and the patter needed to allow the reader to achieve a polished performance.

Titanic scholars contend that the demise of ""the unsinkable ship"" left more behind than a memory of April 15, 1912, as an important point in history. Through books, films, stories and songs, the archetypal shipwreck has endured as a metaphor for the perils of mankind's hubris and the fallibility of technology. In 1985, the discovery of the long-missing wreckage two miles below the surface of the Atlantic revitalized interest in the Titanic and spawned a new generation of books, films, and, for the first time, websites and computer games. James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic became the biggest movie of all time and engendered still greater popular interest in the tragic event. This bibliography is a survey of the immense volume of literary, dramatic and commercial endeavors that came out of history's most compelling shipwreck. Organized by genre in accessible categories and short entries, the book includes Titanic-inspired documentaries, narrative films, children's books, histories, short stories, novels, plays, articles, essays, software, websites, poems and songs. Each entry includes a brief review, bibliographic information, and the technical details of the specific source. The reviews include subjective analysis designed to reflect the usefulness of the source and to be of benefit to researchers and scholars. Seven useful appendices include lists of the actors in Titanic films, brief film and television appearances of the Titanic, comic books and parodies, films never or not yet released, books that survived the wreck, and books written by passengers.

Robert Young began his prolific filmmaking career while a student at Harvard University, where he majored in English literature, founded the Harvard Film Society, and, with the help of several colleagues, put together his first film (about a Boston factory worker). His reputation as a documentary filmmaker earned him a prestigious position with NBC, and he has since worked within and without the Hollywood production system for five decades. At age 80, Robert M. Young continues to be actively involved in a variety of projects as a commercially successful filmmaker and an independent artist. In this compilation of 15 essays, scholars of both English literature and film analyze the aesthetic and thematic elements of Young's many works. Among the films examined are Nothing But a Man, Triumph of the Spirit, Cortile Cascino, ALAMBRISTA!, Short Eyes, Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, Extremities, Dominick and Eugene, Talent for the Game, Roosters, Caught, and Human Error. The book includes an extensive interview with Young that provides a retrospect of Young's life as a director, cinematographer, writer and producer. A filmography of Young's work and a chronology of his life are also provided.