The Political Companion to American Film

The Political Companion to American Film PDF Author: Gary Crowdus
Publisher: Lakeview
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 570

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Book Description
The Political Companion to American Film is an encyclopedic collection of critical essays offering provocative social and political commentary on the work of filmmakers (from Woody Allen to Darryl Zanuck) and other film personalities (from Charles Chaplin to John Wayne), film genres (from crime Movies to World War II Animated Propaganda Cartoons), racial and ethnic portrayals (from African Americans to Native Americans), social issues (from Big Businessmen to the Small Town), theoretical and critical issues (from the Auteur Theory to Postwar American Film Criticism), economic and industrial issues (from Conglomerates to the Studio System), and much more. The Political Companion to American Film features the writing of some of America's leading film critics and authors, many of whom are specialists who have literally written the book on their subjects, and has been edited by Gary Crowdus, Editor-in-Chief of Cineaste, America's leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema. The expertise and critical insights of these contributors are conveyed in a colorful, comprehensible and jargon-free prose style, and many of the essays include recommended bibliographies. The Political Companion to American Film will enrich the cinematic experience for the average moviegoer as well as the film scholar.

The Political Companion to American Film

The Political Companion to American Film PDF Author: Gary Crowdus
Publisher: Lakeview
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 570

Get Book

Book Description
The Political Companion to American Film is an encyclopedic collection of critical essays offering provocative social and political commentary on the work of filmmakers (from Woody Allen to Darryl Zanuck) and other film personalities (from Charles Chaplin to John Wayne), film genres (from crime Movies to World War II Animated Propaganda Cartoons), racial and ethnic portrayals (from African Americans to Native Americans), social issues (from Big Businessmen to the Small Town), theoretical and critical issues (from the Auteur Theory to Postwar American Film Criticism), economic and industrial issues (from Conglomerates to the Studio System), and much more. The Political Companion to American Film features the writing of some of America's leading film critics and authors, many of whom are specialists who have literally written the book on their subjects, and has been edited by Gary Crowdus, Editor-in-Chief of Cineaste, America's leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema. The expertise and critical insights of these contributors are conveyed in a colorful, comprehensible and jargon-free prose style, and many of the essays include recommended bibliographies. The Political Companion to American Film will enrich the cinematic experience for the average moviegoer as well as the film scholar.

Projecting Politics

Projecting Politics PDF Author: Elizabeth Haas
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317520033
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
The new edition of this influential work updates and expands the scope of the original, including more sustained analyses of individual films, from The Birth of a Nation to The Wolf of Wall Street. An interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between American politics and popular films of all kinds—including comedy, science fiction, melodrama, and action-adventure—Projecting Politics offers original approaches to determining the political contours of films, and to connecting cinematic language to political messaging. A new chapter covering 2000 to 2013 updates the decade-by-decade look at the Washington-Hollywood nexus, with special areas of focus including the post-9/11 increase in political films, the rise of political war films, and films about the 2008 economic recession. The new edition also considers recent developments such as the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the controversy sparked by the film Zero Dark Thirty, newer generation actor-activists, and the effects of shifting industrial financing structures on political content. A new chapter addresses the resurgence of the disaster-apocalyptic film genre with particular attention paid to its themes of political nostalgia and the turn to global settings and audiences. Updated and expanded chapters on nonfiction film and advocacy documentaries, the politics of race and African-American film, and women and gender in political films round out this expansive, timely new work. A companion website offers two additional appendices and further materials for those using the book in class.

The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Politics

The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Politics PDF Author: Yannis Tzioumakis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317392450
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 763

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Book Description
The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Politics brings together forty essays by leading film scholars and filmmakers in order to discuss the complex relationship between cinema and politics. Organised into eight sections - Approaches to Film and Politics; Film, Activism and Opposition; Film, Propaganda, Ideology and the State; The Politics of Mobility; Political Hollywood; Alternative and Independent Film and Politics; The Politics of Cine-geographies and The Politics of Documentary - this collection covers a broad range of topics, including: third cinema, cinema after 9/11, eco-activism, human rights, independent Chinese documentary, film festivals, manifestoes, film policies, film as a response to the post-2008 financial crisis, Soviet propaganda, the impact of neoliberalism on cinema, and many others. It foregrounds the key debates, concepts, approaches and case studies that critique and explain the complex relationship between politics and cinema, discussing films from around the world and including examples from film history as well as contemporary cinema. It also explores the wider relationship between politics and entertainment, examines cinema’s response to political and social transformations and questions the extent to which filmmaking, itself, is a political act.

A Companion to Latin American Cinema

A Companion to Latin American Cinema PDF Author: Maria M. Delgado
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118552881
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Book Description
A Companion to Latin American Cinema offers a wide-ranging collection of newly commissioned essays and interviews that explore the ways in which Latin American cinema has established itself on the international film scene in the twenty-first century. Features contributions from international critics, historians, and scholars, along with interviews with acclaimed Latin American film directors Includes essays on the Latin American film industry, as well as the interactions between TV and documentary production with feature film culture Covers several up-and-coming regions of film activity such as nations in Central America Offers novel insights into Latin American cinema based on new methodologies, such as the quantitative approach, and essays contributed by practitioners as well as theorists

A Companion to American Indie Film

A Companion to American Indie Film PDF Author: Geoff King
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118758013
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
A Companion to American Indie Film features a comprehensive collection of newly commissioned essays that represent a state-of-the-art resource for understanding key aspects of the field of indie films produced in the United States. Takes a comprehensive and fresh new look at the topic of American indie film Features newly commissioned essays from top film experts and emerging scholars that represent the state-of-the-art reference to the indie film field Topics covered include: indie film culture; key historical moments and movements in indie film history; relationships between indie film and other indie media; and issues including class, gender, regional identity and stardom in in the indie field Includes studies of many types of indie films and film genres, along with various filmmakers and performers that have come to define the field

Hollywood As Historian

Hollywood As Historian PDF Author: Peter C. Rollins
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813160308
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 459

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Book Description
“A commendably comprehensive analysis of the issue of Hollywood’s ability to shape our minds . . . invigorating reading.” ?Booklist Film has exerted a pervasive influence on the American mind, and in eras of economic instability and international conflict, the industry has not hesitated to use motion pictures for propaganda purposes. During less troubled times, citizens’ ability to deal with political and social issues may be enhanced or thwarted by images absorbed in theaters. Tracking the interaction of Americans with important movie productions, this book considers such topics as racial and sexual stereotyping; censorship of films; comedy as a tool for social criticism; the influence of “great men” and their screen images; and the use of film to interpret history. Hollywood As Historian benefits from a variety of approaches. Literary and historical influences are carefully related to The Birth of a Nation and Apocalypse Now, two highly tendentious epics of war and cultural change. How political beliefs of filmmakers affected cinematic styles is illuminated in a short survey of documentary films made during the Great Depression. Historical distance has helped analysts decode messages unintended by filmmakers in the study of The Snake Pit and Dr. Strangelove. Hollywood As Historian offers a versatile, thought-provoking text for students of popular culture, American studies, film history, or film as history. Films considered include: The Birth of a Nation (1915), The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936), The River (1937), March of Time (1935-1953), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936), The Great Dictator (1940), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Native Land (1942), Wilson (1944), The Negro Soldier (1944), The Snake Pit (1948), On the Waterfront (1954), Dr. Strangelove (1964), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), and Apocalypse Now (1979). “Recommended reading for anyone concerned with the influence of popular culture on the public perception of history.” ?American Journalism

A Political Companion to Saul Bellow

A Political Companion to Saul Bellow PDF Author: Gloria L. Cronin
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813141869
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Saul Bellow is one of the twentieth century's most influential, respected, and honored writers. His novels The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, and Mr. Sammler's Planet won the National Book Award, and Humboldt's Gift was awarded the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In addition, his plays garnered popular and critical acclaim, and some were produced on Broadway. Known for his insights into life in a post-Holocaust world, Bellow's explorations of modernity, Jewish identity, and the relationship between art and society have resonated with his readers, but because his writing is not overtly political, his politics have largely been ignored. A Political Companion to Saul Bellow examines the author's novels, essays, short stories, and letters in order to illuminate his evolution from liberal to neoconservative. It investigates Bellow's exploration of the United States as a democratic system, the religious and ideological influences on his work, and his views on race relations, religious identity, and multiculturalism in the academy. Featuring a fascinating conclusion that draws from interviews with Bellow's sons, this accessible companion is an excellent resource for understanding the political thought of one of America's most acclaimed writers.

The Columbia Companion to American History on Film

The Columbia Companion to American History on Film PDF Author: Peter C. Rollins
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231508395
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 695

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Book Description
American history has always been an irresistible source of inspiration for filmmakers, and today, for good or ill, most Americans'sense of the past likely comes more from Hollywood than from the works of historians. In important films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Roots (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Saving Private Ryan (1998), how much is entertainment and how much is rooted in historical fact? In The Columbia Companion to American History on Film, more than seventy scholars consider the gap between history and Hollywood. They examine how filmmakers have presented and interpreted the most important events, topics, eras, and figures in the American past, often comparing the film versions of events with the interpretations of the best historians who have explored the topic. Divided into eight broad categories—Eras; Wars and Other Major Events; Notable People; Groups; Institutions and Movements; Places; Themes and Topics; and Myths and Heroes—the volume features extensive cross-references, a filmography (of discussed and relevant films), notes, and a bibliography of selected historical works on each subject. The Columbia Companion to American History on Film is also an important resource for teachers, with extensive information for research or for course development appropriate for both high school and college students. Though each essay reflects the unique body of film and print works covering the subject at hand, every essay addresses several fundamental questions: What are the key films on this topic? What sources did the filmmaker use, and how did the film deviate (or remain true to) its sources? How have film interpretations of a particular historical topic changed, and what sorts of factors—technological, social, political, historiographical—have affected their evolution? Have filmmakers altered the historical record with a view to enhancing drama or to enhance the "truth" of their putative message?

A Companion to the Action Film

A Companion to the Action Film PDF Author: James Kendrick
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119100763
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description
An authoritative guide to the action-packed film genre With 24 incisive, cutting-edge contributions from esteemed scholars and critics, A Companion to the Action Filmprovides an authoritative and in-depth guide to this internationally popular and wide-ranging genre. As the first major anthology on the action film in more than a decade, the volume offers insights into the genre’s historical development, explores its production techniques and visual poetics, and provides reflections on the numerous social, cultural, and political issues it has and continues to embody. A Companion to the Action Film offers original research and critical analysis that examines the iconic characteristics of the genre, its visual aesthetics, and its narrative traits; considers the impact of major directors and stars on the genre’s evolution; puts the action film in dialogue with various technologies and other forms of media such as graphic novels and television; and maps out new avenues of critical study for the future. This important resource: Offers a definitive guide to the action film Contains insightful contributions from a wide range of international film experts and scholars Reviews the evolution of the genre from the silent era to today’s age of digital blockbusters Offers nuanced commentary and analysis of socio-cultural issues such as race, nationality, and gender in action films Written for scholars, teachers and students in film studies, film theory, film history, genre studies, and popular culture, A Companion to the Action Film is an essential guide to one of international cinema’s most important, popular, and influential genres.

The American Road Trip and American Political Thought

The American Road Trip and American Political Thought PDF Author: Susan McWilliams Barndt
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498556876
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description
It’s hard to imagine the American dream without American road trips. This book takes readers on a journey through American road trip stories, revealing that they involve more than mere escapism—that they are an important and long-neglected source of American political thought.