Kubrick's Hope

Kubrick's Hope PDF Author: Julian Rice
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810862247
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
There have been two common assumptions about Stanley Kubrick: that his films portray human beings who are driven exclusively by aggression and greed, and that he pessimistically rejected meaning in a contingent, postmodern world. However, as Kubrick himself remarked, 'A work of art should be always exhilarating and never depressing, whatever its subject matter may be.' In this new interpretation of Kubrick's films, Julian Rice suggests that the director's work had a more positive outlook than most people credit him. And while other studies have recounted Kubrick's life and production histories, few have offered lucid explanations of specific sources and their influence on his films. In Kubrick's Hope, Rice explains how the theories of Freud and Jung took cinematic form, and also considers the significant impression left on the director's last six films by Robert Ardrey, Bruno Bettelheim, and Joseph Campbell. In addition to providing useful contexts, Rice offers close readings of the films, inviting readers to note details they may have missed and to interpret them in their own way. By refreshing their experience of the films and discarding postmodern clichZs, viewers may discover more optimistic themes in the director's works. Beginning with 2001: A Space Odyssey and continuing through A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut, Rice illuminates Kubrick's thinking at the time he made each film. Throughout, Rice examines the compelling political, psychological, and spiritual issues the director raises. As this book contends, if these works are considered together and repeatedly re-viewed, Kubrick's films may help viewers to personally grow and collectively endure.

Kubrick's Hope

Kubrick's Hope PDF Author: Julian Rice
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810862247
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book

Book Description
There have been two common assumptions about Stanley Kubrick: that his films portray human beings who are driven exclusively by aggression and greed, and that he pessimistically rejected meaning in a contingent, postmodern world. However, as Kubrick himself remarked, 'A work of art should be always exhilarating and never depressing, whatever its subject matter may be.' In this new interpretation of Kubrick's films, Julian Rice suggests that the director's work had a more positive outlook than most people credit him. And while other studies have recounted Kubrick's life and production histories, few have offered lucid explanations of specific sources and their influence on his films. In Kubrick's Hope, Rice explains how the theories of Freud and Jung took cinematic form, and also considers the significant impression left on the director's last six films by Robert Ardrey, Bruno Bettelheim, and Joseph Campbell. In addition to providing useful contexts, Rice offers close readings of the films, inviting readers to note details they may have missed and to interpret them in their own way. By refreshing their experience of the films and discarding postmodern clichZs, viewers may discover more optimistic themes in the director's works. Beginning with 2001: A Space Odyssey and continuing through A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut, Rice illuminates Kubrick's thinking at the time he made each film. Throughout, Rice examines the compelling political, psychological, and spiritual issues the director raises. As this book contends, if these works are considered together and repeatedly re-viewed, Kubrick's films may help viewers to personally grow and collectively endure.

Discovering Kubrick's Symbolism

Discovering Kubrick's Symbolism PDF Author: Nicole M. Berg
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476639922
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Bringing to light the long-shrouded symbolism and startling spiritual depth that renowned director Stanley Kubrick packed into every detail of his iconic films, this book excavates the subtle ways Kubrick calls attention to universal truths and shocking realities still pervading our society. It cites the master director's use of encoded graphic symbols, signifying light effects, doppelgangers, esoteric color-coding, and framing techniques that communicate Kubrick's underlying topics. Beginning with an exploration of the inspirational themes of his classic science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey, including the multilayered meaning of the Monolith, this book traces the themes and symbols encrypted in the films that followed during the director's impressive career. It reveals the oblique methods Kubrick used to underscore a wide range of humanitarian alarms covered in films as diverse as A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut, and the fascinating links these films have to one another. Surprising revelations discovered in Dr. Strangelove, Spartacus, Lolita, and Paths of Glory are also unveiled for the first time.

The Genius of Barry Lyndon

The Genius of Barry Lyndon PDF Author: Patrick Webster
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147665087X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
One of the most visually compelling films ever made, Barry Lyndon can--and should, argues the author--be seen as Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece. This comprehensive analysis examines such topics as the unique way in which Kubrick photographed the film, Kubrick's subtle understanding of cinematic storytelling, the deliberate upturning of generic expectation, and the eclectic use of music. It also provides a more rigorous reading of the film from a diverse range of theoretical approaches: structuralist, feminist, psychoanalytical, Marxist and postcolonial readings.

The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick

The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick PDF Author: Jerold Abrams
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 081317256X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
In the course of fifty years, director Stanley Kubrick produced some of the most haunting and indelible images on film. His films touch on a wide range of topics rife with questions about human life, behavior, and emotions: love and sex, war, crime, madness, social conditioning, and technology. Within this great variety of subject matter, Kubrick examines different sides of reality and unifies them into a rich philosophical vision that is similar to existentialism. Perhaps more than any other philosophical concept, existentialism—the belief that philosophical truth has meaning only if it is chosen by the individual—has come down from the ivory tower to influence popular culture at large. In virtually all of Kubrick’s films, the protagonist finds himself or herself in opposition to a hard and uncaring world, whether the conflict arises in the natural world or in human institutions. Kubrick’s war films (Fear and Desire, Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket) examine how humans deal with their worst fears—especially the fear of death—when facing the absurdity of war. Full Metal Jacket portrays a world of physical and moral change, with an environment in continual flux in which attempting to impose order can be dangerous. The film explores the tragic consequences of an unbending moral code in a constantly changing universe. Essays in the volume examine Kubrick’s interest in morality and fate, revealing a Stoic philosophy at the center of many of his films. Several of the contributors find his oeuvre to be characterized by skepticism, irony, and unfettered hedonism. In such films as A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick confronts the notion that we will struggle against our own scientific and technological innovations. Kubrick’s films about the future posit that an active form of nihilism will allow humans to accept the emptiness of the world and push beyond it to form a free and creative view of humanity. Taken together, the essays in The Philosophy of Stanley Kubrick are an engaging look at the director’s stark vision of a constantly changing moral and physical universe. They promise to add depth and complexity to the interpretation of Kubrick’s signature films.

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick PDF Author: Nathan Abrams
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813587131
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
Stanley Kubrick is generally acknowledged as one of the world’s great directors. Yet few critics or scholars have considered how he emerged from a unique and vibrant cultural milieu: the New York Jewish intelligentsia. Stanley Kubrick reexamines the director’s work in context of his ethnic and cultural origins. Focusing on several of Kubrick’s key themes—including masculinity, ethical responsibility, and the nature of evil—it demonstrates how his films were in conversation with contemporary New York Jewish intellectuals who grappled with the same concerns. At the same time, it explores Kubrick’s fraught relationship with his Jewish identity and his reluctance to be pegged as an ethnic director, manifest in his removal of Jewish references and characters from stories he adapted. As he digs deep into rare Kubrick archives to reveal insights about the director’s life and times, film scholar Nathan Abrams also provides a nuanced account of Kubrick’s cinematic artistry. Each chapter offers a detailed analysis of one of Kubrick’s major films, including Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut. Stanley Kubrick thus presents an illuminating look at one of the twentieth century’s most renowned and yet misunderstood directors.

Love and Death in Kubrick

Love and Death in Kubrick PDF Author: Patrick Webster
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786461918
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
The films of Stanley Kubrick have left an indelible mark on the history of American cinema. This text explores the auteur’s legacy, specifically positioning his body of work within the context of cultural theory. A single chapter is devoted to each of Kubrick’s seven films: Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut. Particular attention is paid to the role of love and death in Kubrick’s films, emphasizing his innovative exploration of love and sex, and the portrayal of mortality via masculine violence.

Kubrick and Control

Kubrick and Control PDF Author: Jeremy Carr
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 183764683X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Kubrick and Control is an examination of authority, order, and independence in the films directed by Stanley Kubrick, as well as in his personal life and working habits. This study explores the ways in which these central preoccupations develop and reformulate through the course of Kubrick's career, as he moved from genre to genre and shifted stories, locations, time periods, scope, and technical facilities. Separating the productions in accordance to their wider filmic classifications, the individual chapters examine a variety of productions, allowing for a categorical as well as a developmental approach to the works. In addition, following concurrently with each individual film discussed, details about Kubrick's life and evolving directorial practice are recounted in relation to these same concerns. In studying the stylistic and narrative features of his work, examples illustrate how Kubrick took these themes and applied them consistently yet with significant variation, manifest in relation to mise-en-scène construction (how Kubrick composed his images); characterization (individuals establishing, exerting, seeking, and/or abusing their authority); narrative (stories about characters and situations dependent upon order and control); and the actual filmmaking processes of the director (Kubrick was both praised and damned for his authorial management and obsession with order and perfection).

The Complete Kubrick

The Complete Kubrick PDF Author: David Hughes
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1448133211
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
With just thirteen feature films in half a century, Stanley Kubrick established himself as one of the most accomplished directors in motion picture history. Kubrick created a landmark and a benchmark with every film; working in almost every genre imaginable, including film noir, war movie, SF, horror, period drama, historical epic, love story and satire - yet transcended traditional genre boundaries with every shot. Examining every feature film, from the early shorts through to classics such as Paths of Glory, Dr Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and finally, Eyes Wide Shut, The Complete Kubrick provides a unique insight into understanding the work of cinema's most enigmatic, iconoclastic and gifted auteur.

Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick PDF Author: David Mikics
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300224400
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
An engrossing biography of one of the most influential filmmakers in cinematic history "A cool, cerebral book about a cool, cerebral talent. . . . A brisk study of [Kubrick's] films, with enough of the life tucked in to add context as well as brightness and bite."--Dwight Garner, New York Times "An engaging and well-researched primer to the work of a cinematic legend."--Library Journal Kubrick grew up in the Bronx, a doctor's son. From a young age he was consumed by photography, chess, and, above all else, movies. He was a self-taught filmmaker and self-proclaimed outsider, and his films exist in a unique world of their own outside the Hollywood mainstream. Kubrick's Jewishness played a crucial role in his idea of himself as an outsider. Obsessed with rebellion against authority, war, and male violence, Kubrick was himself a calm, coolly masterful creator and a talkative, ever-curious polymath immersed in friends and family. Drawing on interviews and new archival material, David Mikics for the first time explores the personal side of Kubrick's films.

Kubrick's Total Cinema

Kubrick's Total Cinema PDF Author: Philip Kuberski
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441156879
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
An original study of Kubrick's philosophical themes and cinematic qualities: time, light, speech, music, poiesis, corporeality, war, eros, technology, and transcendence.