Between Stillness and Motion : Film, Photography, AlgorithmsNew technological media such as film, photography and computers have altered the way we perceive possible relations between stillness and motion in the visual arts. Traditionally, cinema theory saw cinema and especially the'illusion of motion'as part of the ideological swindle of the basic cinematic apparatus. This collection of essays by acclaimed international scholars including Tom Gunning, Thomas Elsaesser, Mark B.N. Hansen, George Baker, Ina Blom and Christa Blümlinger, starts out from a different premise to analyse stillness and motion as part of a larger ecology of images and media. T.
Essential Cinema : On the Necessity of Film CanonsIn his astute and deeply informed film reviews and essays, Jonathan Rosenbaum regularly provides new and brilliant insights into the cinema as art, entertainment, and commerce. Guided by a personal canon of great films, Rosenbaum sees, in the ongoing hostility toward the idea of a canon shared by many within the field of film studies, a missed opportunity both to shape the discussion about cinema and to help inform and guide casual and serious filmgoers alike.In Essential Cinema, Rosenbaum forcefully argues that canons of great films are more necessary than ever, given that film culture today is dominated by advertising executives, sixty-second film reviewers, and other players in the Hollywood publicity machine who champion mediocre films at the expense of genuinely imaginative and challenging works
Film, Theory, and Philosophy : The Key ThinkersAn ideal introduction for students, Film, Theory and Philosophy brings together leading scholars to provide a clear, detailed overview of the key thinkers who have shaped the field of film philosophy. From continental philosophers to analytical philosophers, film-makers, film reviewers, sociologists, and cultural theorists, the essays reveal how philosophy can be applied to film analysis and how film can be used to illustrate philosophical problems. But most importantly, the essays explore how cinema has shaped contemporary philosophy and how philosophy has led to a reappraisal of film. This collection will prove an invaluable reference and guide to readers interested in a deeper understanding of the issues and insights presented by the philosophy of film.
Film DialogueFilm Dialogue is the first anthology in film studies devoted to the topic of language in cinema, bringing together leading and emerging scholars to discuss the aesthetic, narrative, and ideological dimensions of film speech that have largely gone unappreciated and unheard. Consisting of thirteen essays divided into three sections: genre, auteur theory, and cultural representation, Film Dialogue revisits and reconfigures several of the most established topics in film studies in an effort to persuade readers that 'spectators' are more accurately described as 'audiences, 'that the gaze has its equal in eavesdropping, and that images are best understood and appreciated through their interactions with words.
Film Festivals : Culture, People, and Power on the Global ScreenMovies, stars, auteurs, critics, and the sheer excitement of cinema come together in film festivals as quintessential constellations of art, business, and glamour. Yet, how well do we actually understand the forces and meanings that these events embody?Film Festivals offers the first comprehensive overview of the history, people, films, and multiple functions of the festival world. From Sundance to Hong Kong, from the glitter of Cannes to edgier festivals that challenge boundaries or foster LGBTQ cultural production, film festivals celebrate art, promote business, bring cinema to diverse audiences, and raise key issues about how we see our world. Cindy Hing-Yuk Wong situates festivals within changing global practices of film, including their important ties to both Hollywood and independent cinema.
Film Studies : An IntroductionEd Sikov builds a step-by-step curriculum for the appreciation of all types of narrative cinema, detailing the essential elements of film form and systematically training the spectator to be an active reader and critic. Sikov primes the eye and mind in the special techniques of film analysis. Film Studies works with any screening list and can be used within courses on film history, film theory, or popular culture. Straightforward explanations of core critical concepts, practical advice, and suggested assignments on particular technical, visual, and aesthetic aspects further anchor the reader's understanding of the formal language and anatomy of film.
Fluid Screens, Expanded CinemaUsing Gene Youngblood's 1970 book Expanded Cinema as an anchor for the volume, Fluid Screens, Expanded Cinema understands the digital not simply as a technological form, but also as an experience of space and time that is tied to capitalism.
On-Demand Culture : Digital Delivery and the Future of MoviesThe movie industry is changing rapidly, due in part to the adoption of digital technologies. Distributors now send films to theaters electronically. Consumers can purchase or rent movies instantly online and then watch them on their high-definition televisions, their laptops, or even their cell phones. Meanwhile, social media technologies allow independent filmmakers to raise money and sell their movies directly to the public. All of these changes contribute to an “on-demand culture,” a shift that is radically altering film culture and contributing to a much more personalized viewing experience. Chuck Tryon offers a compelling introduction to a world in which movies have become digital files
Running and Clicking : Future Narratives in FilmRunning and Clicking examines how Future Narratives push against the confines of their medium: Studying Future Narratives in movies, interactive films, and other electronic media that allow for nodes, this volume demonstrates how the dividing line between film and game is progressively dissolved. Focused on traditional mass media, transitional media, and new media, it also touches on transmedial storytelling and virtual reality and offers a discussion of the political power of the imaginary and the twilight of Future Narratives in the post-human hegemony of the simulated real.
The Horse Who Drank the Sky : Film Experience Beyond Narrative and TheoryWhat is most important about cinema is that we are alive with it. For all its dramatic, literary, political, sociological, and philosophical weight, film is ultimately an art that provokes, touches, and riddles the viewer through an image that transcends narrative and theory. In The Horse Who Drank the Sky, Murray Pomerance brings attention to the visceral dimension of movies and presents a new and unanticipated way of thinking about what happens when we watch them.
Theorizing World CinemaThis innovative book is about the place of world cinema in the cultural imaginary. It also repositions world cinema in a wider discursive space than is usually the case and treats it as an object of theoretical enquiry, rather than as a commercial label. The editors and distinguished group of contributors offer a range of approaches and case studies whose organizing principle is the developing idea of polycentrism as applied to cinema. They refine and redefine key concepts in film studies, including identification and identity, narrative and realism, allegory and the national project, auteurism and the popular, art and genre
What Makes a Film Tick? : Cinematic Affect, Materiality and Mimetic InnervationThis book offers a close study of how film produces sensory-affective experience for the spectator. It argues that we must explore this affective dimension if we want to understand how cinema takes up cultural or thematic issues. Examining cinematic affect through close readings of how affective immersion in cinema works to engage viewers with history, memory and cultural specificity, it deals with both fiction film and documentary. Taking an international perspective, it includes case studies of Korean detective film, classical Japanese cinema, modern Greek cinema, independent American cinema, Indian documentary, Australian television documentary, Indonesian political docudrama, avantgarde French documentary and Australian Indigenous film.
Working in the Global Film and Television Industries : Creativity, Systems, Space, PatronageLike many other cultural commodities, films and TV shows tend to work in such a way as to obscure the conditions under which they are produced, a process that has been reinforced by dominant trends in the practice of Film and Television Studies. This collection places the workplace experiences of industry workers at centre stage. It looks at film and television production in a variety of social, economic, political, and cultural contexts. The book provides detailed analyses of specific systems of production and their role in shaping the experience of work, whilst also engaging with the key theoretical and methodological questions involved in film and television production.
Animation
AnimationFrom scriptwriting through to production, this introduction to animation for students surveys key technical processes and examines a variety of stylistic approaches. The book includes visual examples from key animators and illustrated features on how to create exciting animation for a variety of audiences. It begins with history and context, and quickly moves on to more practical aspects of the craft. Box features outline practical information and visual examples of different animators' work and working processes teach how to create exciting animation for any audience. A final chapter on job roles shows how students can get on in animation. This book is a vital resource for anyone who intends to make animation a part of their career.
Animation : Art and IndustryAnimation—Art and Industry is an introductory reader covering a broad range of animation studies topics, focusing on both American and international contexts. It provides information about key individuals in the fields of both independent and experimental animation, and introduces a variety of topics relevant to the critical study of media—censorship, representations of gender and race, and the relationship between popular culture and fine art. Essays span the silent era to the present, include new media such as web animation and gaming, and address animation made using a variety of techniques.
Anime and Philosophy : Wide Eyed WonderAnime and Philosophy focuses on some of the most-loved, most-intriguing anime films and series, as well as lesser-known works, to find what lies at their core. Astro Boy, Dragon Ball Z, Ghost in the Shell, and Spirited Away are just a few of the films analyzed in this book. In these stories about monsters, robots, children, and spirits who grapple with the important questions in life we find insight crucial to our times: lessons on morality, justice, and heroism, as well as meditations on identity, the soul, and the meaning — or meaninglessness — of life. Anime has become a worldwide phenomenon, reaching across genres, mediums, and cultures. For those wondering why so many people love anime or for die-hard fans who want to know more, Anime and Philosophy provides a deeper appreciation of the art and storytelling of this distinctive Japanese culture.
Demystifying Disney : A History of Disney Feature AnimationDemystifying Disney: A History of Disney Feature Animation provides a comprehensive and thoroughly up-to-date examination of the Disney studio's evolution through its animated films. In addition to challenging certain misconceptions concerning the studio's development, the study also brings scholarly definition to hitherto neglected aspects of contemporary Disney.
Frames of Anime : Culture and Image-building'This book is an inter-disciplinary study of the subject of anime, a popular form of Japanese animation. Using a variety of research methods and spanning a period of nine years including intensive fieldwork conducted in Japan and other parts of Asia, the study aims to provide an alternative account of the growth of the medium-genre particularly from an Asian perspective.'
Funny Pictures : Animation and Comedy in Studio-Era HollywoodThis collection of essays explores the link between comedy and animation in studio-era cartoons, from filmdom's earliest days through the twentieth century. Written by a who's who of animation authorities, Funny Pictures offers a stimulating range of views on why animation became associated with comedy so early and so indelibly, and illustrates how animation and humor came together at a pivotal stage in the development of the motion picture industry.
Good Girls and Wicked Witches : Changing Representations of Women in Disney's Feature Animation, 1937-2001In Good Girls and Wicked Witches, Amy M. Davis re-examines the notion that Disney heroines are rewarded for passivity. Davis proceeds from the assumption that, in their representations of femininity, Disney films both reflected and helped shape the attitudes of the wider society, both at the time of their first release and subsequently. Analyzing the construction of (mainly human) female characters in the animated films of the Walt Disney Studio between 1937 and 2001, she attempts to establish the extent to which these characterizations were shaped by wider popular stereotypes. Davis argues that it is within the most constructed of all moving images of the female form—the heroine of the animated film—that the most telling aspects of Woman as the subject of Hollywood iconography and cultural ideas of American womanhood are to be found.
The Poetics of Slumberland : Animated Spirits and the Animating SpiritIn The Poetics of Slumberland, Scott Bukatman celebrates play, plasmatic possibility, and the life of images in cartoons, comics, and cinema. Bukatman begins with Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland to explore how and why the emerging media of comics and cartoons brilliantly captured a playful, rebellious energy characterized by hyperbolic emotion, physicality, and imagination. The book broadens to consider similar' animated' behaviors in seemingly disparate media—films about Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh; the musical My Fair Lady and the story of Frankenstein; the slapstick comedies of Jerry Lewis; and contemporary comic superheroes—drawing them all together as the purveyors of embodied utopias of disorder.
Class, Language, and American Film ComedyThis book examines the evolution of American film comedy through the lens of language and the portrayal of social class. Christopher Beach argues that class has been an important element in the development of sound comedy as a cinematic form. With the advent of sound in the late 1920s and early 1930s, filmmakers recognized that sound and narrative enlarged the semiotic and ideological potential of film. Analyzing the use of language in the films of the Marx Brothers, Frank Capra, Woody Allen and the Coen brothers, among others, Class, Language, and American Film Comedy traces the history of Hollywood from the 1930s to the present, while offering a new approach to the study of class and social relationships through linguistic analysis.
Comic Grace : We Mortal Fools in Movie ComedyThe book looks at comedy with humane interest, entertaining the proposition that comedy may well be motion picture's greatest achievement. If so, then it behooves inquirers to understand what movie audiences enjoy and cherish about movie comedy, and what it is about the film medium that so adequately communicates the comedic across such vast audiences and why they never tire of certain kinds of comedy. These interests will inspire students of the remarkable medium of film to inquire further into not only these questions, but also others that they find interesting and illuminating about the film experience.
Falling in Love Again : Romantic Comedy in Contemporary CinemaRomantic comedy has long been a mainstay of the movies, from the classic screwballs of the 1930s, through Woody Allen's ‘nervous comedies'of The 1970s, to the current great Hollywood revival, featuring such movies as'Maid in Manhattan'and'Lost in Translation'; yet rom-coms have often struggled to be taken seriously. This original anthology from an international collection of contributors updates, revisits and reflects on today's romantic comedies. It considers the films and issues that illustrate the breathtaking diversity of the genre, from the queer pleasures of'Miss Congeniality'and the rom-com persona of J-Lo and Bill Murray, to high school prom-coms and indie romantic comedies.
Funny Pictures : Animation and Comedy in Studio-Era HollywoodWritten by a who's who of animation authorities, Funny Pictures offers a stimulating range of views on why animation became associated with comedy so early and so indelibly, and illustrates how animation and humor came together at a pivotal stage in the development of the motion picture industry. To examine some of the central assumptions about comedy and cartoons and to explore the key factors that promoted their fusion, the book analyzes many of the key filmic texts from the studio years that exemplify animated comedy. Funny Pictures also looks ahead to show how this vital American entertainment tradition still thrives today in works ranging from The Simpsons to the output of Pixar.
Machine-Age ComedyIn this latest addition to Oxford's Modernist Literature & Culture series, renowned modernist scholar Michael North poses fundamental questions about the relationship between modernity and comic form in film, animation, the visual arts, and literature. Machine-Age Comedy vividly constructs a cultural history that spans the entire twentieth century, showing how changes wrought by industrialization have forever altered the comic mode. With keen analyses, North examines the work of a wide range of artists--including Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Beckett, and David Foster Wallace--to show the creative and unconventional ways the routinization of industrial society has been explored in a broad array of cultural forms
Digital Cinema
21st-Century Hollywood : Movies in the Era of TransformationThey are shot on high-definition digital cameras—with computer-generated effects added in postproduction—and transmitted to theaters, websites, and video-on-demand networks worldwide. They are viewed on laptop, iPod, and cell phone screens. They are movies in the 21st century—the product of digital technologies that have revolutionized media production, content distribution, and the experience of moviegoing itself.21st-Century Hollywood introduces readers to these global transformations and describes the decisive roles that Hollywood is playing in determining the digital future for world cinema. It offers clear, concise explanations of a major paradigm shift that continues to reshape our relationship to the moving image. Filled with numerous detailed examples, the book will both educate and entertain film students and movie fans alike.
Cinema in the Digital AgeCinema in the Digital Age examines the fate of cinema in this new era, paying special attention to the technologies that are reshaping film and their cultural impact. Examining Festen (1998), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Timecode (2000), Russian Ark (2002), The Ring (2002), among others, this volume explores how these films are haunted by their analogue past and suggests that their signature element are their deliberate imperfections, whether those take the form of blurry or pixilated images, shakey camera work, or other elements reminding viewers of the human hand guiding the camera. Weaving together a rich variety of sources, Cinema in the Digital Age provides a deeply humanistic look at the meaning of cinematic images in the era of digital perfection.
Cinematic Appeals : The Experience of New Movie TechnologiesCinematic Appeals follows the effect of technological innovation on the cinema experience, specifically the introduction of widescreen and stereoscopic 3D systems in the 1950s, the rise of digital cinema in the 1990s, and the transition to digital 3D since 2005. This study ultimately shows how cinematic technology and the human experience shape and respond to each other over time. Films discussed include Elia Kazan's East of Eden (1955), Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999), The Matrix (1999), and Thomas Vinterberg's Dogme film The Celebration (1998).
Digital Storytelling : The Narrative Power of Visual Effects in FilmIn Digital Storytelling, Shilo McClean shows how digital visual effects can be a tool of storytelling in film, adding narrative power as do sound, color, and 'experimental' camera angles -- other innovative film technologies that were once criticized for being distractions from the story. It is time, she says, to rethink the function of digital visual effects.
Digital Visual Effects in Cinema : The Seduction of RealityAvatar. Inception. Jurassic Park. Lord of the Rings. Ratatouille. Not only are these some of the highest-grossing films of all time, they are also prime examples of how digital visual effects have transformed Hollywood filmmaking. Some critics, however, fear that this digital revolution marks a radical break with cinematic tradition, heralding the death of serious realistic movies in favor of computer-generated pure spectacle.Digital Visual Effects in Cinema counters this alarmist reading, by showing how digital effects–driven films should be understood as a continuation of the narrative and stylistic traditions that have defined American cinema for decades. Stephen Prince argues for an understanding of digital technologies as an expanded toolbox, available to enhance both realist films and cinematic fantasies
The Art of Video ProductionThe Art of Video Production emphasizes the enduring principles and essential skills of the communication process and the new digital technologies that are necessary to create effective video content. Author Leonard C. Shyles uses a unique approach by explaining how things are done and why things are done rather than just that they are done—it is not about concepts versus skills, but about concepts and skills.
The Virtual Life of FilmAs almost every aspect of making and viewing movies is replaced by digital technologies, even the notion of'watching a film'is fast becoming an anachronism. With the likely disappearance of celluloid film stock as a medium, and the emergence of new media, what will happen to cinema--and to cinema studies? In the first of two books exploring this question, Rodowick considers the fate of film and its role in the aesthetics and culture of the twenty-first century.
Documentaries
Crafting Truth : Documentary Form and MeaningCrafting Truth illuminates the ways these films tell their stories; how they use the camera, editing, sound, and performance; what rhetorical devices they employ; and what the theoretical, practical, and ethical implications of these choices are. Complex documentary concepts are presented through easily accessible language, images, and a discussion of a wide range of films and videos to encourage new ways of thinking about and seeing nonfiction film.
Documentary : The Margins of RealityIn using case studies such as Touching the Void (2003) and the films of Nick Broomfield, this timely introduction to the growing field of documentary explores the definition and understanding of the form, as well as the relationship between documentary and drama, specifically the notion of reconstruction and reenactment. Paul Ward also discusses animated documentaries, the fertile genre of comedy, and feature-length contemporary works that have achieved widespread cinematic release.
Documentary Film: A Very Short IntroductionDocumentary film can encompass anything from Robert Flaherty's pioneering ethnography Nanook of the North to Michael Moore's anti-Iraq War polemic Fahrenheit 9/11, from Dziga Vertov's artful Soviet propaganda piece Man with a Movie Camera to Luc Jacquet's heart-tugging wildlife epic March of the Penguins. In this concise, crisply written guide, Patricia Aufderheide takes readers along the diverse paths of documentary history and charts the lively, often fierce debates among filmmakers and scholars about the best ways to represent reality and to tell the truths worth telling.
Documenting the Documentary : Close Readings of Documentary Film and VideoOriginally released in 1998, Documenting the Documentary responded to a scholarly landscape in which documentary film was largely understudied and undervalued aesthetically, and analyzed instead through issues of ethics, politics, and film technology. Editors Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski addressed this gap by presenting a useful survey of the artistic and persuasive aspects of documentary film from a range of critical viewpoints. This new edition of Documenting the Documentary adds five new essays on more recent films in addition to the text of the first edition.
For Documentary : Twelve EssaysThese essays, which span twenty-five years of writing and a lifetime of experience, offer fresh and challenging insights into documentary. Dai Vaughan, one of the most highly regarded documentary editors to have worked in Britain in recent decades, makes his starting point plain: 'Most of us would feel that the word 'documentary' had not justified its place in the dictionary if the films so called did not manifest some relationship with the world not shared by others.
Introduction to Documentary, Second EditionThis new edition of Bill Nichols's bestselling text provides an up-to-date introduction to the most important issues in documentary history and criticism. Designed for students in any field that makes use of visual evidence and persuasive strategies, Introduction to Documentary identifies the distinguishing qualities of documentary and teaches the viewer how to read documentary film.
Killer Images : Documentary Film, Memory and the Performance of ViolenceThis edited anthology brings together a range of newly commissioned essays and interviews from the world's leading academics and documentary filmmakers, including Ben Anderson, Errol Morris, Harun Farocki, Rithy Phan, Avi Mograbi, Brian Winston, and Michael Chanan. Contributors explore such topics as the tension between remembrance and performance, the function of moving images in the execution of political violence, and nonfiction filmmaking methods that facilitate communities of survivors to respond to, recover, and redeem a history that sought to physically and symbolically annihilate them
New Documentary : A Critical IntroductionNew Documentary: A Critical Introduction provides a comprehensive account of the last two decades of documentary filmmaking in Britain, the US and Europe. Stella Bruzzi's engaging textbook discusses key genres, filmmakers, and issues for the study of non-fiction film and television
Succeeding As a Documentary Filmmaker : A Guide to the Professional WorldWhile many film programs prepare students for the realities of Hollywood, comparatively little guidance is provided for the aspiring documentary filmmaker. Alan Rosenthal fills this void with Succeeding as a Documentary Filmmaker: A Guide to the Professional World. Unlike traditional manuals on documentary filmmaking, which focus primarily on the creation of films, this user-friendly volume draws upon real-world examples and the advice of experienced filmmakers to provide essential information about the nonfiction movie business. From the basics of the current film business environment and how to navigate it, to tips on how to maximize distribution and sales for a finished film, Rosenthal leads novice filmmakers step-by-step through the professional arena of documentary moviemaking
The Cinema of Me : The Self and Subjectivity in First Person DocumentaryWhen a filmmaker makes a film with herself as a subject, she is already divided as both the subject matter of the film and the subject making the film. The two senses of the word are immediately in play – the matter and the maker – thus the two ways of being subjectified as both subject and object. Subjectivity finds its filmic expression, not surprisingly, in very personal ways, yet it is nonetheless shaped by and in relation to collective expressions of identity that can transform the cinema of ‘me'into the cinema of ‘we'. Leading scholars and practitioners of first-person film are brought together in this groundbreaking collection to consider the theoretical, ideological, and aesthetic challenges wrought by this form of filmmaking in its diverse cultural, geographical, and political contexts.
Film Festivals
Film Festivals : Culture, People, and Power on the Global ScreenMovies, stars, auteurs, critics, and the sheer excitement of cinema come together in film festivals as quintessential constellations of art, business, and glamour. Yet, how well do we actually understand the forces and meanings that these events embody?Film Festivals offers the first comprehensive overview of the history, people, films, and multiple functions of the festival world. From Sundance to Hong Kong, from the glitter of Cannes to edgier festivals that challenge boundaries or foster LGBTQ cultural production, film festivals celebrate art, promote business, bring cinema to diverse audiences, and raise key issues about how we see our world.
Sundance to Sarajevo : Film Festivals and the World They MadeAlmost every day of the year a film festival takes place somewhere in the world--from sub-Saharan Africa to the Land of the Midnight Sun. Sundance to Sarajevo is a tour of the world's film festivals by an insider whose familiarity with the personalities, places, and culture surrounding the cinema makes him uniquely suited to his role. Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times, writes about the most unusual as well as the most important film festivals, and the cities in which they occur, with an eye toward the larger picture.
Film Production and Technology
Independent Film Producing : How to Produce a Low-budget Feature FilmThe number of independent films produced each year has almost doubled in the past decade, yet only a fraction will succeed. If, like many filmmakers, you have no industry connections, little to no experience, and a low or ultra-low budget, this outsider's guide will teach you what you need to know to produce a standout, high-quality film and get it into the right hands. Written by an entertainment lawyer and experienced director and producer, this handbook covers all the most essential business, legal, and practical aspects of producing on a low budget
Film Theory and Philosophy
Cinema Beyond Film : Media Epistemology in the Modern EraCinema Beyond Film elaborates on the theoretical uses of two key terms—dispositif and episteme—in order to examine their relationship as well as their larger connections to film, technology, and modernity. Although both terms originate in the work of Foucault, dispositif (“device”) intrinsically links itself to the mechanics of movement and speed behind cinematics, while more generally referring to the mechanisms and structures that hold power in place. Episteme (“to know”), on the other hand, refers to the conditions and possibilities of knowledge and reception, more than to technological innovation. Each term is explored here in relation to the other, allowing this edited collection to assess the wide array of potential materialities that arise from the mechanics behind cinema and the changing face of its technology.
CinematographyTaking us from the hand-cranked cameras of the silent era to the digital devices used today, the collection of original essays explores how the art of cinematography has been influenced not only by technological advances, but also by trends in the movie industry, from the rise of big-budget blockbusters to the spread of indie films.The book also reveals the people behind the camera, profiling numerous acclaimed cinematographers from James Wong Howe to Roger Deakins. Lavishly illustrated with over 50 indelible images from landmark films, Cinematography offers a provocative behind-the-scenes look at the profession and a stirring celebration of the art form. Anyone who reads this history will come away with a fresh eye for what appears on the screen because of what happens behind it.
Elegy for TheoryRhetorically charged debates over theory have divided scholars of the humanities for decades. In Elegy for Theory, D. N. Rodowick steps back from well-rehearsed arguments pro and con to assess why theory has become such a deeply contested concept. Far from lobbying for a return to the'high theory'of the 1970s and 1980s, he calls for a vigorous dialogue on what should constitute a new, ethically inflected philosophy of the humanities. Rodowick develops an ambitiously cross-disciplinary critique of theory as an academic discourse, tracing its historical displacements from ancient concepts of theoria through late modern concepts of the aesthetic and into the twentieth century.
Film, Theory, and Philosophy : The Key ThinkersAn ideal introduction for students, Film, Theory and Philosophy brings together leading scholars to provide a clear, detailed overview of the key thinkers who have shaped the field of film philosophy. From continental philosophers to analytical philosophers, film-makers, film reviewers, sociologists, and cultural theorists, the essays reveal how philosophy can be applied to film analysis and how film can be used to illustrate philosophical problems. But most importantly, the essays explore how cinema has shaped contemporary philosophy and how philosophy has led to a reappraisal of film. This collection will prove an invaluable reference and guide to readers interested in a deeper understanding of the issues and insights presented by the philosophy of film.
FilmosophyFilmosophy is a provocative new manifesto for a radically philosophical way of understanding cinema. It coalesces twentieth-century ideas of film as thought (from Hugo Münsterberg to Gilles Deleuze) into a practical theory of'film-thinking,'arguing that film style conveys poetic ideas through a constant dramatic'intent'about the characters, spaces, and events of film. Discussing contemporary filmmakers such as Béla Tarr and the Dardenne brothers, this timely contribution to the study of film and philosophy will provoke debate among audiences and filmmakers alike
Finding Ourselves at the Movies : Philosophy for a New GenerationAcademic philosophy may have lost its audience, but the traditional subjects of philosophy—love, death, justice, knowledge, and faith—remain as compelling as ever. To reach a new generation, Paul W. Kahn argues philosophy must be brought to bear on contemporary discourse surrounding these primal concerns, and he shows how this can be achieved through a turn to popular film.In such well-known movies as Forrest Gump (1994), The American President (1995), The Matrix (1999), Memento (2000), The History of Violence (2005), Gran Torino (2008), The Dark Knight (2008), The Road (2009), and Avatar (2009), Kahn explores powerful archetypes and their hold on us, and he treats our present-day anxieties over justice, love, and faith as signs these traditional imaginative structures have failed.
New Philosophies of Film : Thinking ImagesThis is a critical exploration of analytic and Continental philosophies of film, which puts film-philosophy into practice with detailed discussions of three filmmakers. The book includes philosophical readings of three key contemporary filmmakers: Malick, Lynch and Von Trier. It also features links to online resources, guides to further reading and a filmography.
The Reality of Film : Theories of Filmic RealityIn formulating a notion of filmic reality, The Reality of Film offers a novel way of understanding our relationship to cinema. It argues that cinema need not be understood in terms of its capacities to refer to, reproduce or represent reality, but should be understood in terms of the kinds of realities it has the ability to create. The Reality of Film investigates filmic reality by way of six key film theorists: André Bazin, Christian Metz, Stanley Cavell, Gilles Deleuze, Slavoj iek and Jacques Rancière. In doing so, it provides comprehensive introductions to each of these thinkers, while also debunking many myths and misconceptions about them.
What Is Film Theory? : An Introduction to Contemporary DebatesThis engaging and accessible book explores major debates in contemporary film theory, providing a detailed introduction to the central arguments advanced by film theorists since the 1960s.
Historical Films
Inside the Historical FilmFrom cinema's beginnings filmmakers have turned to the past for their stories, so much so that in many ways our historical culture is shaped more in the movie theatre than in the classroom. Inside the Historical Film argues how and why film can enrich our understanding of the past. Bruno Ramirez discusses a wide range of films, from various historical and national contexts, pointing to the role that film-crafts play in translating historical events into cinematic language. He takes the reader through the process of conception, research, design, and production of several films that he researched and co-wrote, explaining the decisions that were made to best convey historical knowledge.
Horror
A History of HorrorEver since horror leapt from popular fiction to the silver screen in the late 1890s, viewers have experienced fear and pleasure in exquisite combination. Wheeler Winston Dixon's A History of Horror is the only book to offer a comprehensive survey of this ever-popular film genre.Arranged by decades, with outliers and franchise films overlapping some years, this one-stop sourcebook unearths the historical origins of characters such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman and their various incarnations in film from the silent era to comedic sequels. A History of Horror explores how the horror film fits into the Hollywood studio system and how its enormous success in American and European culture expanded globally over time
All That GothicThis book provides a comprehensive introduction to the history, aesthetics and key themes of Gothic, the main issues and debates surrounding the genre along with the approaches and theories that have been applied to Gothic texts and films. The volume discusses a wide range of 18th and 19th century texts and moves into 20th century literature and film. It explores the cultural resonances created by the genre and raises a variety of issues, including the ways in which Gothic monstrosity mimics same-sex desire and social transgression.
Horror and the Horror FilmHorror films can be profound fables of human nature and important works of art, yet many people dismiss them out of hand. ‘Horror and the Horror Film'conveys a mature appreciation for horror films along with a comprehensive view of their narrative strategies, their relations to reality and fantasy and their cinematic power. The volume covers the horror film and its subgenres – such as the vampire movie – from 1896 to the present. It covers the entire genre by considering every kind of monster in it, including the human.
Horror Zone : The Cultural Experience of Contemporary Horror CinemaIn Horror Zone, leading international writers on horror take horror into the world outside cinema screens to explore the interconnections between the films and modern media and entertainment industries, economies and production practices, cultural and political forums, spectators and fans. They critically examine the ways in which the horror genre functions in all its multifarious forms, considering, for example, the Friday the 13th films as a contemporary grand guignol, the new series of Mummy and Blade films as blockbusters, and horror film marketing on the Internet. They also examine the relationship between the contemporary horror film and the theme park ride, the horror film as art house cinema, relationships between pornography and the horror film, set and costume design in horror films such as The Silence of the Lambs, and the place of special effects in this most reputable of film genres.
Terror and Everyday Life : Singular Moments in the History of the Horror FilmHow does the horror in film relate to the horror we experience in everyday life? This is one of the questions addressed in this examination of the genre of horror film. The author argues that horror films today have broken with the tradition of the genre to embrace far more violent imagery, images that are in keeping with the escalating violence in society. By examining the horror film, its history and its current trends, the author hopes to further our understanding of the meaning of the genre in today's culture and our fascination with violence.
The Horror FilmIn this volume, Stephen Prince has collected essays reviewing the history of the horror film and the psychological reasons for its persistent appeal, as well as discussions of the developmental responses of young adult viewers and children to the genre. The book focuses on recent postmodern examples such as The Blair Witch Project. In a daring move, the volume also examines Holocaust films in relation to horror.
TV Horror : Investigating the Dark Side of the Small ScreenHorror is one of the most pervasive of contemporary TV genres with shows like True Blood, Being Human, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story making a bloody splash across our television screens. Yet not too long ago critics and horror writers claimed that television and horror were incompatible bedfellows. TV Horror: Investigating the Dark Side of the Small Screen explores the often contradictory relationship between horror and television and shows how this most adaptable genre has continued to be a part of the broadcast landscape, unsettling audiences and pushing the boundaries of acceptability.
Science Fiction
Outer Limits : Filmgoers’ Guide to the Great Science-Fiction Films, TheScience Fiction is probably the most popular box office genre in movie history and has given filmgoers some of their most memorable cinematic experiences. Outer Limits takes its readers on a tour of the sci-fi cinema universe in all its fantastical, celestial glory. The milestone films of sci-fi cinema from Metropolis to Avatar are discussed in this Filmgoers'Guide for anyone who enjoys a cinema that has pleased and amazed filmgoers since the dawn of cinema. Illustrated with fine examples of sci-fi film poster-art, Outer Limits goes deep into the most interesting and popular movies across sci-fi cinema's many forms, with core chapters used as launch pads to discuss lesser-known influential movies and follow-on sequels
Projecting Tomorrow : Science Fiction and Popular CinemaThis new exploration of the genre examines landmark science fiction films from the 1930s to the present. They include genre classics such as Things to Come, Forbidden Planet and 2001: A Space Odyssey alongside modern blockbusters Star Wars and Avatar. Chapman and Cull consider both screen originals and adaptations of the work of major science fiction authors. They also range widely across the genre from pulp adventure and space opera to political allegory and speculative documentary – there is even a science fiction musical. Informed throughout by extensive research in US and British archives, the book documents the production histories of each film to show how they made their way to the screen – and why they turned out the way they did.
Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction : Challenging GenresThis volume explores the broad category of SF as a genre, as one that challenges readers, viewers, teachers, and scholars, and then as one that is often itself challenged (as the authors in the collection do). SF, this volume acknowledges, is an enduring argument. The collected chapters include work from teachers, scholars, artists, and a wide range of SF fans, offering a powerful and unique blend of voices to scholarship about SF as well as examinations of the place for SF in the classroom.
Science Fiction FilmScience Fiction Film examines one of the most enduring and popular genres of Hollywood cinema, suggesting how the science fiction film reflects attitudes toward science, technology, and reason as they have evolved in American culture over the course of the twentieth century. J. P. Telotte provides a survey of science fiction film criticism, emphasizing humanist, psychological, ideological, feminist, and postmodern critiques. He also sketches a history of the genre, from its earliest literary manifestations to the present, while touching on and comparing it to pulp fiction, early television science fiction, and Japanese animé.