Fatalism in American Film Noir: Some Cinematic Philosophy (Page-Barbour Lectures)

Fatalism in American Film Noir: Some Cinematic Philosophy (Page-Barbour Lectures) Review

The crime melodramas of the 1940s known now as film noir shared many formal and thematic elements, from unusual camera angles and lighting to moral ambiguity and femmes fatales. In this book Robert Pippin argues that many of these films also raise distinctly philosophical questions. Where most Hollywood films of that era featured reflective individuals living with purpose, taking action and effecting desired consequences, the typical noir protagonist deliberates and plans, only to be confronted by the irrelevance of such deliberation and by results that contrast sharply, often tragically, with his or her intentions or true commitments. Pippin shows how this terrible disconnect sheds light on one of the central issues in modern philosophy--the nature of human agency. How do we distinguish what people do from what merely happens to them? Looking at several film noirs--including close readings of three classics of the genre, Fritz Lang’s Scarlet Street, Orson Welles’s The Lady from Shanghai, and Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past--Pippin reveals the ways in which these works explore the declining credibility of individuals as causal centers of agency, and how we live with the acknowledgment of such limitations.

Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films

Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films Review

Completely updated to include the entire twentieth century, this new fourth edition covers all the latest directors, stars, and films including Summer of Sam, Jackie Brown, The Best Man, and The Hurricane. From The Birth of a Nation—the groundbreaking work of independent filmmaker Oscar Micheaux—and Gone with the Wind to the latest work by Spike Lee, John Singleton, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry and Will Smith, Donald Bogle reveals the ways in which the depiction of blacks in American movies has changed—and the shocking ways in which it has remained the same.

Hollywood and the American Historical Film

Hollywood and the American Historical Film Review

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This definitive interdisciplinary collection by leading scholars probes the theoretical and historical contexts of films made about the American past from silent film to the present. The book offers a fresh assessment of studio era historical filmmaking and its legacy across a range of genres.

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Oct 02, 2011 18:43:06

The Hero and the Perennial Journey Home in American Film

The Hero and the Perennial Journey Home in American Film Review

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In contemporary America, myths find expression primarily in film. What's more, many of the highest-grossing American movies of the past several decades have been rooted in one of the most fundamental mythic narratives, the hero quest. Why is the hero quest so persistently renewed and retold? In what ways does this universal myth manifest itself in American cinema? And what is the significance of the popularity of these modern myths?

The Hero and the Perennial Journey Home in American Film by Susan Mackey-Kallis is an exploration of the appeal of films that recreate and reinterpret this mythic structure. She closely analyzes such films as E.T., the Star Wars trilogy, It's a Wonderful Life, The Wizard of Oz, The Lion King, Field of Dreams, The Piano, Thelma and Louise, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Elements of the quest mythology made popular by Joseph Campbell, Homer's Odyssey, the perennial philosophy of Aldous Huxley, and Jungian psychology all contribute to the compelling interpretive framework in which Mackey-Kallis crafts her study. She argues that the purpose of the hero quest is not limited to the discovery of some boon or Holy Grail, but also involves finding oneself and finding a home in the universe.

The home that is sought is simultaneously the literal home from which the hero sets out and the terminus of the personal growth he or she undergoes during the journey back. Thus the quest, Mackey-Kallis asserts, is an outward journey into the world of action and events which eventually requires a journey inward if the hero is to grow, and ultimately necessitates a journey homeward if the hero is to understand the grail and share it with the culture at large. Finally, she examines the value of mythic criticism and addresses questions about myth currently being debated in the field of communication studies.

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• The Power of Myth
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Sep 23, 2011 18:41:19

American Film and Society since 1945

American Film and Society since 1945 Review

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In this most recent update to American Film and Society since 1945, the authors expand upon earlier editions by adding films previously neglected, and broaden their analysis of a number of films by discussing how these works capture the mood and values of American society in a particular decade. Interpretation of films can involve direct connections with social and political issues, but often deal with the important subtext of dreams, desires, and displacements that the American public feels.

Recent films that present gay relationships and politics, such as Brokeback Mountain and Milk, and that address race relations and urban life like Crash and Precious are examined. This fourth edition also addresses changes in the modern film industry such as convergence and the digital revolution.

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• Short Guide to Writing about Film, A (7th Edition)
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• Film Noir

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Aug 14, 2011 21:02:05

A Panorama of American Film Noir (1941-1953)

A Panorama of American Film Noir (1941-1953) Review

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When it appeared in France in 1955, A Panorama of American Film Noir was the first book ever on the genre. Now this classic is at last available in English translation. This clairvoyant study of Hollywood film noir is "a ‘benchmark’ for all later work on the topic" (James Naremore). A Panorama of American Film Noir addresses the essential amorality of its subject from a decidedly Surrealist angle, focusing on noir’s dreamlike, unwonted, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel atmosphere, and setting it in the social context of mid-century America.

Raymond Borde (b. 1920), founder of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse, has written extensively on film history.

Etienne Chaumeton was the film critic of the Toulouse newspaper La Dépêche until his recent death.

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Aug 02, 2011 16:14:05

The Miracle Case: Film Censorship and the Supreme Court (Landmark Law Cases and American Society)

The Miracle Case: Film Censorship and the Supreme Court (Landmark Law Cases and American Society) Review

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It was only a forty-minute foreign film, but it sparked a legal confrontation that has left its mark on America for more than half a century. Roberto Rossellini's Il Miracolo (The Miracle) is deceptively simple: a demented peasant woman is seduced by a stranger she believes to be Saint Joseph, is socially ostracized for becoming pregnant out of wedlock, but is finally redeemed through motherhood.

Although initially approved by state censors for screening in New York, the film was attacked as sacrilegious by the Catholic establishment, which convinced state officials to revoke distributor Joseph Burstyn's license. In response, Burstyn fought back through the courts and won.

Laura Wittern-Keller and Raymond Haberski show how the Supreme Court's unanimous 1952 ruling in Burstyn's favor sparked a chain of litigation that eventually brought filmmaking under the protective umbrella of the First Amendment, overturning its long-outdated decision in Mutual v. Ohio (1915). Their story features a more formidable cast than did the film itself, with the charismatic Francis Cardinal Spellman decrying the film as a Communist plot, while outspoken film critic Bosley Crowther vigorously advocated "freedom of the screen." Meanwhile, movie producers stood by silently for fear of alienating the Church and its large movie-going membership, leaving Burstyn to muster his own defense.

More than the inside story of one case, this book explores the unique place that the movies occupy in American culture and the way that culture continues to be shaped by anxiety over the social power of movies. The Burstyn decision weakened the ability of state censorship boards and the Catholic Church to influence the types of films Americans were allowed to see. Consequently, the case signaled the rise of a new era in which films would be more mature and more controversial than ever before.

Focusing on this single most important case in the jurisprudence surrounding motion picture expression, Wittern-Keller and Haberski add a significant new dimension to the story of cinema, censorship, and the history of First Amendment protections.

This book is part of the Landmark Law Cases and American Society series.

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Jul 24, 2011 07:32:35

Skyscraper Cinema: Architecture and Gender in American Film

Skyscraper Cinema: Architecture and Gender in American Film Review

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Whether tall office buildings, high-rise apartments, or lofty hotels, skyscrapers have been stars in American cinema since the silent era. Cinema’s tall buildings have been variously represented as unbridled aspiration, dens of iniquity and eroticism, beacons of democracy, and well-oiled corporate machines. Considering their intriguing diversity, Merrill Schleier establishes and explains the impact of actual skyscrapers on America’s ideologies about work, leisure, romance, sexual identity, and politics as seen in Hollywood movies.

Schleier analyzes cinematic works in which skyscrapers are an integral component, interpreting the iconography and spatial practices in these often fictional modern buildings, especially on concepts of gender. Organized chronologically and thematically, she offers close readings of films including Safety Last, Skyscraper Souls, Wife vs. Secretary, Baby Face, The Fountainhead, and Desk Set. Opening with the humorous antics of Harold Lloyd, the premier skyscraper actor of the silent era, the book moves through the disillusionment of the Depression era, in which skyscrapers are employed as players in moralistic, class-conscious stories, to post–World War II and its reimagining of American political and economic values and ends with the complicated prosperity of the 1950s and the lives of white-collar workers and their spouses.

Taking inspiration from Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project, among works of other critical theorists, Schleier creates in this book a model for understanding architecture as a purveyor of desire and class values and, ultimately, contributes broadly to thinking on the rich intersection of the built environment, cinema, and gender.

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• Screen Deco: A Celebration of High Style in Hollywood (Architecture and Film, Vol. 3)
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Jul 19, 2011 15:24:36

Science Fiction Film (Genres in American Cinema)

Science Fiction Film (Genres in American Cinema) Review

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This study 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 20th century. Telotte provides a survey of criticism and an overview of the history of the genre, from its earliest literary manifestations to the present. He offers in-depth readings of three key films;Robocop, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and THX 1138, each of which typifies a particular form of science fiction fantasy.

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• Screening Space: The American Science Fiction Film
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Jun 30, 2011 05:40:35

A Little Solitaire: John Frankenheimer and American Film

A Little Solitaire: John Frankenheimer and American Film Review

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Think about some commercially successful film masterpieces--The Manchurian Candidate. Seven Days in May. Seconds. Then consider some lesser known, yet equally compelling cinematic achievements--The Fixer. The Gypsy Moths. Path to War. These triumphs are the work of the best known and most highly regarded Hollywood director to emerge from live TV drama in the 1950s--five-time Emmy-award-winner John Frankenheimer.

Although Frankenheimer was a pioneer in the genre of political thrillers who embraced the antimodernist critique of contemporary society, some of his later films did not receive the attention they deserved. Many claimed that at a midpoint in his career he had lost his touch. World-renowned film scholars put this myth to rest in A Little Solitaire, which offers the only multidisciplinary critical account of Frankenheimer's oeuvre. Especially emphasized is his deep and passionate engagement with national politics and the irrepressible need of human beings to assert their rights and individuality in the face of organizations that would reduce them to silence and anonymity.

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Jun 28, 2011 20:04:09