John Ford, John Wayne, and the Making of Three Classic Westerns
Like other filmmakers in post-WWII Hollywood, John Ford (already a three-time Best Directing Oscar winner), longed for the freedom and independence to make his own films, away from the dictates of studio executives. Then, in 1946, Ford and producer Merian C. Cooper (King Kong) decided to form their own production company, Argosy Productions. ......
Front office executives have become high-profile commentators, movie and video game protagonists, and role models for a generation raised in the data-driven, financialized world of contemporary sports. Branden Buehler examines the media transformation of these once obscure management figures into esteemed experts and sporting idols. Moving from ......
Bloody Women traces changing gender dynamics in the horror film industry to explore how women have played a crucial role in defining the genre of horror understood as a scholarly discipline, cultural institution, and site of pleasure. While acknowledging that women in the industry face ongoing challenges, this book focuses on their diverse ......
Drawing on texts and theorists of Greek myth, psychoanalysis, and masculinities, Susan Mackey-Kallis and Brian Johnston develop and offer a model of rhetorical and mythic criticism to analyze popular American film. In this book, Mackey-Kallis and Johnston focus their analysis on films that point to the need for father atonement, ego-decentering, ......
From 2015 to 2019, the Walt Disney Corporation has produced five theatrical films in the Star Wars galaxy. These films have been met with mixed reactions from audiences and critics alike and sparked seemingly endless public debate about representations of people of color, women, and queer people in 21st century popular film. This book explores the ......
In this book, Nadia Salem examines and questions the enduring relevance of the monomyth, or the hero's journey, for storytellers and their audiences. Created by Joseph Campbell and largely popularized by George Lucas, the hero's journey has come to define mythic quests for all. However, in recent years, this genderless paradigm has lost its appeal ......
Front office executives have become high-profile commentators, movie and video game protagonists, and role models for a generation raised in the data-driven, financialized world of contemporary sports. Branden Buehler examines the media transformation of these once obscure management figures into esteemed experts and sporting idols. Moving from ......
With acclaimed films like Sink or Swim and The Odds of Recovery, Su Friedrich's body of work stands at the forefront of avant-garde and Queer cinema. Barbara Mennel examines the career of an experimental auteur whose merger of technical innovation and political critique connects with both cinephiles and activists. Friedrich's integration of ......
With acclaimed films like Sink or Swim and The Odds of Recovery, Su Friedrich's body of work stands at the forefront of avant-garde and Queer cinema. Barbara Mennel examines the career of an experimental auteur whose merger of technical innovation and political critique connects with both cinephiles and activists. Friedrich's integration of ......
Acknowledging the iconic, but with plenty of room for the rare and unfamiliar, The Art of Classic Sci-Fi Movies presents a stellar selection of imagery, charting the story of the genre from its origins
The Ramones and the Making of Rock 'n' Roll High School
The first of its sort, The Ramones and the Making of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School provides readers with a detailed production history of this beloved film that draws upon extensive interviews the author has conducted with many of the people who contributed to its creation.
In The Othering of Women in Silent Film: Cultural, Historical, and Literary Contexts, Barbara Tepa Lupack explores the rampant racial and gender stereotyping in early cinema and demonstrates how that imagery helped shape American attitudes and practices.
In this book, Tarja Laine provides insights into how traumatic cinema invites profound affective engagement with the pathology of memory that lies at the heart of trauma. The author reveals that traumatic cinema communicates the inability to process a traumatic event by means of its aesthetic specificity as a time-based medium.
This book demonstrates how the avenging-woman character on-screen represents cultural conversations about female agency and feminism. This critical feminist analysis analyzes the construction of female empowerment in the American avenging-woman narrative to uncover how we can understand messages about women and power in contemporary culture.
Films like Shoplifters and After the Storm have made Kore-eda Hirokazu one of the most acclaimed auteurs working today. Critics often see Kore-eda as a director steeped in the Japanese tradition defined by Yasujiro Ozu. Marc Yamada, however, views Kore-eda's work in relation to the same socioeconomic concerns explored by other contemporary ......
What the Movies Get Wrong from the Ancient Greeks to Vietnam
A fun but informative look at Hollywood's more-than-a century long love affair with historical figures, events, and places. This book delves into what really happened in history, as opposed to the Hollywood interpretation of events, and reveals why the movies don't usually reflect the reality of our known history.
David Finchers Zodiac, the first book-length study of the critically acclaimed 2007 release, offers various critical approaches to the film ranging from early influences, studies in genre and narrative, and media analysis including cinema history, game theory, musicology, and extensions in television studies.
Japanese Horror, Fractured Realities, and New Media
This book examines Japanese horror films released from the 2010s to present day, analyzing the function of computers, smartphones, and social media in the narratives, dissemination, and consumption of these films. Lindsay Nelson argues that the multitude of screens creates a sense of fractured reality in contemporary Japanese horror.
The Intersection of Geography, Ecology, and Slow Cinema
This book explores Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr's approach to creating geographies of indifference through slow cinema techniques. Author Clara Orban utilizes close readings of the films, relevant poems, a thorough filmography, and an interview with Tarr in her analysis.
Hollywood Confidential is the first truly in-depth look at the sexy, humorous, violent, and tragic history of the mob in Hollywood from the 1920s, when Joe Kennedy decided to buy a motion picture company, to the 1980s when the last vestiges of mob influence were revealed through investigations of former Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan ......
MST3K, RiffTrax, and the History of Heckling at the Movies
The Worst We Can Find looks at how "riffing" of films came about, the history of the shows, and why what could be an annoying habit in the theater has become a long-lasting franchise in entertainment over the years.
This book explores the dramatic identity and design of the American political thriller, tracking the close correlation between the evolution of the genre and the history of the United States from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing War on Terror.
From The Lady Eve, to The Big Valley, Barbara Stanwyck played parts that showcased her multidimensional talents but also illustrated the limits imposed on women in film and television. Catherine Russell's A to Z consideration of the iconic actress analyzes twenty-six facets of Stanwyck and the America of her times. Russell examines Stanwyck's work ......
From The Lady Eve, to The Big Valley, Barbara Stanwyck played parts that showcased her multidimensional talents but also illustrated the limits imposed on women in film and television. Catherine Russell's A to Z consideration of the iconic actress analyzes twenty-six facets of Stanwyck and the America of her times. Russell examines Stanwyck's work ......
Future Folk Horror: Contemporary Anxieties and Possible Futures analyzes recent novels and films, to show that folk horror as a genre uniquely captures the anxieties of the twenty-first century and imagines visions of possible futures.
Universal Studios produced some of the most famous movie monsters in history, including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, and The Wolf Man. This book provides a fascinating look at each of the key films produced by Universal from 1931 through 1956 and discusses the continued impact of the films today.
Films like Shoplifters and After the Storm have made Kore-eda Hirokazu one of the most acclaimed auteurs working today. Critics often see Kore-eda as a director steeped in the Japanese tradition defined by Yasujiro Ozu. Marc Yamada, however, views Kore-eda's work in relation to the same socioeconomic concerns explored by other contemporary ......
This book is an interdisciplinary study that traces the commerce-art-politics nexus of Hong Kong cinema from 2000 to 2020. Fangyu Chen investigates the current nascent generation of film workers who joined the industry as it gradually entered an era marked by the domination of Hong Kong/mainland co-productions.
The Beatles produced five films during their time together: A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, and Let It Be. Some were cinematic successes, and some were not, but—along with subsequent reissues, bonus material, and Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back, a documentary companion to Let It Be—they comprise an ......
A fascinating examination of films set in Ancient Rome that assesses their historical accuracy in terms of plot, costumes, sets, and characterizations and leaves the reader with a deeper understanding of Roman history and modern cinema.
Pneumatological Reflections on Contemporary Cinema
The Spirit and the Screen explores pertinent pneumatological issues that arise in film and asks how Christian convictions and experiences of the Spirit might shape the way one thinks about films and film-making.
