"Brief on brilliant cocktail conversation? This reader-friendly
collection will help you apply Foucault to Keanu, Derrida to
Spielberg, Macbeth to Blair Witch, and pull it off with panache.
Stimulating in small doses, its 34 essays deconstruct 1990s cinema,
and the decade too, with intellectual vigor and a wry sense of
humor."
--"Variety"
"The End of Cinema As We Know It is at once academic and popular
in the best sense of both terms-intelligent and erudite critical
analysis conveyed through accessible and gracefully written prose.
Just like the cinema of the '90s itself, this collection of
thirty-four smart and sprightly essays refuses to be bound by
traditional categories. Free from the homogenized consensus that
too often results from the supposed advantage of historical
distance, these broadly ranging essays on a period still fresh in
our memory necessarily pose more questions than they answer. But
they are good provocative questions and it is precisely this spirit
of free-wheeling inquiry and fearless speculation that makes the
book so enjoyable to read."
--Robert Rosen, Dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and
Television
""The End of Cinema" provides an enjoyable reading with a good
balance of academic and popular qualities."
--American Studies International, June 2002
"The End of Cinema as We Know It: American Cinema in the
Nineties, is an encouraging step in a new direction. In it, we find
an impressive assembly of established as well as younger scholars
grappling both with pop-film and industry concerns."
--"Cineaste"
Almost half a century ago, Jean-Luc Godard famously remarked, "I
await the end of cinema with optimism." Lots of us have beenwaiting
forand wondering aboutthis prophecy ever since. The way films are
made and exhibited has changed significantly. Films, some of which
are not exactly "films" anymore, can now be projected in a wide
variety of wayson screens in revamped high tech theaters, on big,
high-resolution TVs, on little screens in minivans and laptops. But
with all this new gear, all these new ways of viewing films, are we
necessarily getting different, better movies?
The thirty-four brief essays in The End of Cinema as We Know It
attend a variety of topics, from film censorship and preservation
to the changing structure and status of independent cinemafrom the
continued importance of celebrity and stardom to the sudden
importance of alternative video. While many of the contributors
explore in detail the pictures that captured the attention of the
nineties film audience, such as "Jurassic Park," "Eyes Wide Shut,"
"South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut," "The Wedding Banquet," "The
Matrix," "Independence Day," "Gods and Monsters," "The Nutty
Professor," and "Kids," several essays consider works that fall
outside the category of film as it is conventionally definedthe
home "movie" of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's honeymoon and the
amateur video of the LAPD beating of Rodney King.
Examining key films and filmmakers, the corporate players and
industry trends, film styles and audio-visual technologies, the
contributors to this volume spell out the end of cinema in terms of
irony, cynicism and exhaustion, religious fundamentalism and
fanaticism, and the decline of what we once used to call film
culture.
Contributors include: Paul Arthur, Wheeler Winston Dixon, Thomas
Doherty, Thomas Elsaesser, KrinGabbard, Henry Giroux, Heather
Hendershot, Jan-Christopher Hook, Alexandra Juhasz, Charles Keil,
Chuck Klienhans, Jon Lewis, Eric S. Mallin, Laura U. Marks,
Kathleen McHugh, Pat Mellencamp, Jerry Mosher, Hamid Naficy, Chon
Noriega, Dana Polan, Murray Pomerance, Hillary Radner, Ralph E.
Rodriguez, R.L. Rutsky, James Schamus, Christopher Sharrett, David
Shumway, Robert Sklar, Murray Smith, Marita Sturken, Imre Szeman,
Frank P. Tomasulo, Maureen Turim, Justin Wyatt, and Elizabeth
Young.
General
Imprint: |
New York University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
December 2001 |
First published: |
December 2001 |
Editors: |
Jon Lewis
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 31mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Trade binding
|
Pages: |
385 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8147-5160-2 |
Categories: |
Books >
Arts & Architecture >
Performing arts >
Films, cinema >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8147-5160-1 |
Barcode: |
9780814751602 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.