Standard Hollywood narrative movies prescribe linear narratives that cue the viewer to expect predictable outcomes and adopt a closed state of mind. There are, however, a small number of movies that, through the presentation of alternate narrative paths, open the mind to thoughts of choice and possibility. Through the study of several key movies for which this concept is central, such as Sliding Doors, Run Lola Run, Inglourious Basterds, and Rashomon, Nitzan Ben Shaul examines the causes and implications of optional thinking and how these movies allow for more open and creative possibilities. This book examines the methods by which standard narrative movies close down thinking processes and deliver easy pleasures to the viewer whilst demonstrating that this is not the only possibility and that optional thinking can be both stimulating and rewarding.

Standard Hollywood narrative movies prescribe linear narratives that cue the viewer to expect predictable outcomes and adopt a closed state of mind. There are, however, a small number of movies that, through the presentation of alternate narrative paths, open the mind to thoughts of choice and possibility. Through the study of several key movies for which this concept is central, such as Sliding Doors, Run Lola Run, Inglourious Basterds, and Rashomon, Nitzan Ben Shaul examines the causes and implications of optional thinking and how these movies allow for more open and creative possibilities. This book examines the methods by which standard narrative movies close down thinking processes and deliver easy pleasures to the viewer whilst demonstrating that this is not the only possibility and that optional thinking can be both stimulating and rewarding.

Images are the core of television news, particularly in the coverage of terror events and war, where pictures often overwhelm the verbal commentary. A Violent World analyzes images on global CNN, Israeli IBA, and Palestinian PATV that contribute heavily to how the current violence in the Middle East is framed. Nitzan Ben-Shaul draws from critical media theory, and from qualitative and aesthetic approaches out of cinema studies, to examine how dominant ideologies are embedded in mainstream TV news. Specifically, he focuses on the American elites' global ideology and the conflicting dominant national-peripheral ideologies of Israeli-Palestinian elites. His in-depth study, of particular interest to scholars of Middle East studies and international communication, further offers a new model of analysis for contemporary television news.

Film: the Key Concepts presents a coherent, clear and exciting overview of film theory for beginning readers. The book takes the reader through the often conflicting analyses which make up film theory, illustrating arguments with examples from mainstream and independent films. It isolates 6 key concepts in film theory - the photogenic in film, dialectic film montage, film constructs, imaginary signifiers, voyeuristic pleasures and simulacra - each with its own, short essay. Through these concepts it covers the main sites in film theory: realism, formalism, structuralism, semiotics, Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism, cognitivism, post-colonialism, postmodernism, gender and queer film theories. Each chapter stands on its own, tracing the historical evolution of each concept to the present. The book as a whole provides a complete overview of the evolution of film theory. In order to help introductory students, each chapter includes boxed summaries of key theorists, bulleted summaries and an Annotated Guide to Further Reading.