A Critical Companion to Christopher Nolan provides a wide-ranging exploration of Christopher Nolan's films, practices, and collaborations. From a range of critical perspectives, this volume examines Nolan's body of work, explores its industrial and economic contexts, and interrogates the director's auteur status. This volume contributes to the scholarly debates on Nolan and includes original essays that examine all his films including his short films. It is structured into three sections that deal broadly with themes of narrative and time; collaborations and relationships; and ideology, politics, and genre. The authors of the sixteen chapters include established Nolan scholars as well as academics with expertise in approaches and perspectives germane to the study of Nolan's body of work. To these ends, the chapters employ intersectional, feminist, political, ideological, narrative, economic, aesthetic, genre, and auteur analysis in addition to perspectives from star theory, short film theory, performance studies, fan studies, adaptation studies, musicology, and media industry studies.
Isabelle Labrouillere is lecturer in performing arts and film aesthetics at the ENSAV (Ecole Nationale Superieure d'AudioVisuel), Universite Toulouse Jean Jaur. Claire Parkinson is professor of culture, communication and screen studies at Edge Hill University.
SECTION 1: NARRATIVE AND TIME Chapter 1. Precursor to the Puzzle: Narrational Strategies in Following Warren Buckland Chapter 2. 'We Need Mirrors to Remind Ourselves of Who We Are': Anamorphosis and the Singularity of Mirror Motifs in Christopher Nolan's Memento (2000) Isabelle Labrouillere Chapter 3. The Prestige, From Text to Screen: Transformation, Manipulation, Reflexivity Gilles Menegaldo Chapter 4. The Trauma Chronotype in Nolan's Dunkirk and Inception: Time, Space and Trauma Fran Pheasant-Kelly Chapter 5. Back From the Future: Tenet and the Politics of Nachtraglichkeit Todd McGowan SECTION 2: COLLABORATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS Chapter 6. "There's a Point Where We Just Let the Music Take Over Everything": The Collaboration of Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer" Bernadette Pace Chapter 7. A "Virtual Carte Blanche": Christopher Nolan, Warner. Bros., and Authorial Power in Contemporary Hollywood Kimberly A. Owczarski Chapter 8. Transnational Filmmaker, Fanboy-Auteur: Screening Nolan's Inception in China Lara Herring Chapter 9. Fractured Men and Cockney Boy: Michael Caine as Star Persona in the films of Christopher Nolan Stella Hockenhull Chapter 10. Christopher Nolan and the Quays: Curation, Fandom and the Filmmaker Claire Parkinson SECTION 3: POLITICS, IDEOLOGY AND GENRE Chapter 11. Situating Christopher Nolan's Ideological Use of Technology: Between Romanticism and Posthumanism Ben Lamb Chapter 12. Dark Vision, Global Impact: Christopher Nolan, Box Office Hit Patterns, and Interstellar Peter Kramer Chapter 13. Mementos of the Afternoon: Christopher Nolan's Ambiguous Debt to Maya Deren Will Brooker Chapter 14. "Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn": The Politics of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy Gregory Frame Chapter 15. The Experimental Short Films of Christopher Nolan Stuart Joy Chapter 16. Catwoman in All But Name: Gender and Adaptation in Christopher Nolan's Selina Kyle Miriam Kent
Parkinson and Labrouillere's collection successfully brings incisive analyses of Nolan's auteur status and trademarks into dialogue with productive examinations of his collaborations, influences, politics, and shifting industry positions. With chapters ranging in focus from documentary and experimental shorts, to landmark indies, and Hollywood blockbusters, A Critical Companion to Christopher Nolan is a welcome addition to contemporary film scholarship. -- Kim Wilkins, University of Oslo
