James Naremore's Books

More Than Night

Film Noir in Its Contexts

By: James Naremore

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More Than Night

Film Noir in Its Contexts

By: James Naremore

One of the very best film books in recent years. . . . There are any number of books on noir, but none as comprehensive, as rigorous, as far-reaching as Naremore's. . . . It will be the essential work for the field."--Dana Polan, University of Southern California

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364

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Univ of California Press

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ISBN 10

0520212940

ISBN 13

9780520212947

Film Noir

A Very Short Introduction

By: James Naremore

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Film Noir

A Very Short Introduction

By: James Naremore

Film noir, one of the most intriguing yet difficult to define terms in cinema history, is usually associated with a series of darkly seductive Hollywood thrillers from the 1940s and 50s - shadowy, black-and-white pictures about private eyes, femme fatales, outlaw lovers, criminal heists, corrupt police, and doomed or endangered outsiders. But as this VSI demonstrates, film noir actually predates the 1940s and has never been confined to Hollywood. International in scope, its various manifestations have spread across generic categories, attracted the interest of the world's great directors, and continue to appear even today. In this Very Short Introduction James Naremore shows how the term film noir originated in in French literary and film criticism, and how later uses of the term travelled abroad, changing its implications. In the process, he comments on classic examples of the films and explores important aspects of their history: their critical reception, their major literary sources, their methods of dealing with censorship and budgets, their social and cultural politics, their variety of styles, and their future in a world of digital media and video streaming. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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171

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192509519

ISBN 13

9780192509512

On Kubrick

Revised Edition

By: James Naremore

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On Kubrick

Revised Edition

By: James Naremore

In a comprehensively revised and updated new edition, James Naremore provides an illuminating critical account of the films of Stanley Kubrick, from his earliest feature, Fear and Desire (1953), to the posthumously-produced A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001). Naremore offers provocative analyses of each of Kubrick's films, considering his emphasis on the absurdity of combat, as in Paths of Glory (1957) and Full Metal Jacket (1987), the failure of scientific reasoning, as in 2001 (1968), and the fascistic impulses in masculine sexuality, as in Dr Strangelove (1964) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). He argues that while Kubrick was a voracious intellectual and a life-long autodidact, the fascination of his work has less to do with the ideas it espouses than with the emotions it evokes. Combining close readings with new insights into the production histories and cultural contexts of key films, Naremore provides a concise yet thorough discussion that will be useful to students of Kubrick's filmmaking and cinephiles who seek a deeper insight into the work of this perfectionist genius. Revised throughout, this new edition also includes a fully updated bibliography of critical writings on Kubrick's cinema.

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305

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Bloomsbury Publishing

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ISBN 10

1839024011

ISBN 13

9781839024016

On Kubrick

By: James Naremore

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On Kubrick

By: James Naremore

On Kubrick provides an illuminating critical account of the films of Stanley Kubrick, from his earliest feature, Fear and Desire (1953), to the posthumously-produced A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001). The book offers provocative analysis of each of Kubrick's films, together with new information about their production histories and cultural contexts. Its ultimate aim is to provide a concise yet thorough discussion that will be useful as both an academic text and a trade publication. James Naremore argues that in several respects Kubrick was one of the cinema's last modernists: his taste and sensibility were shaped by the artistic culture of New York in the 1950s; he became a celebrated auteur who forged a distinctive style; he used art-cinema conventions in commercial productions; he challenged censorship regulations; and throughout his career he was preoccupied with one of the central themes of modernist art – the conflict between rationality and its ever-present shadow, the unconscious. War and science are key concerns in Kubrick's oeuvre, and his work has a hyper-masculine quality. Yet no director has more relentlessly emphasized the absurdity of combat, as in Paths of Glory (1957) and Full Metal Jacket (1987), the failure of scientific reasoning, as in 2001 (1968), and the fascistic impulses in masculine sexuality, as in Dr Strangelove (1964) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). The book also argues that while Kubrick was a voracious intellectual and a life-long autodidact, the fascination of his work has less to do with the ideas it espouses than with the emotions it evokes. Often described as 'cool' or 'cold,' Kubrick is best understood as a skillful practitioner of what might be called the aesthetics of the grotesque; he employs extreme forms of caricature and black comedy to create disgusting, frightening yet also laughable images of the human body, creating a sense of unease that leaves viewers unsure of how to react.

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312

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Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1838717471

ISBN 13

9781838717476

Sweet Smell of Success

By: James Naremore

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Sweet Smell of Success

By: James Naremore

The highest artistic achievement of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, an innovative production company that emerged in Hollywood at the end of the classic studio system, Sweet Smell of Success (1957) portended the collapse of Breen-Office censorship and was the first US entertainment film to depict McCarthy-style exploitation of the press. It also presented an unusually dark view of the culture of celebrity, presaging developments of an even darker kind in our own day. Sweet Smell's frightening portrayal of a newspaperman loosely based on Walter Winchell and its unstinting depiction of corruption and sleaze in the world of Broadway theatres and nightclubs have given it a legendary reputation; critics and film-makers continue to praise the whiplash dialogue of Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, the seductive location photography of James Wong Howe, the stylish direction of Alexander Mackendrick and the disturbing performances of Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis as ruthless gossip columnist J. J. Hunsecker and his ambitious but doomed acolyte, Sidney Falco. James Naremore's masterly study of Sweet Smell of Success offers new information about the many revisions of the screenplay, the production company's negotiations with censors and the tense circumstances under which the film was shot and received by the public. Naremore places the film in its historical context, arguing that it functioned as the revenge of the Hollywood left against a repressive political and media environment that was beginning to change and momentarily lose its power. He also provides a detailed commentary on the finished product, analysing the important contributions of its several talented creators.

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112

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Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1838718419

ISBN 13

9781838718411

Letter from an Unknown Woman

By: James Naremore

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Letter from an Unknown Woman

By: James Naremore

James Naremore's study of Max Ophuls' classic 1948 melodrama, Letter from an Unknown Woman, not only pays tribute to Ophuls but also discusses the backgrounds and typical styles of the film's many contributors--among them Viennese author Stephan Zweig, whose 1922 novella was the source of the picture; producer John Houseman, an ally of Ophuls who nevertheless made questionable changes to what Ophuls had shot; screenwriter Howard Koch; music composer Daniéle Amfitheatrof; designers Alexander Golitzen and Travis Banton; and leading actors Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan, whose performances were central to the film's emotional effect. Naremore also traces the film's reception history, from its middling box office success and mixed early reviews, exploring why it has been a work of exceptional interest to subsequent generations of both aesthetic critics and feminist theorists. Lastly, Naremore provides an in-depth critical appreciation of the film, offering nuanced appreciation of specific details of mise-en-scene, camera movement, design, sound, and performances, integrating this close analyses into an overarching analysis of Letter's “recognition plot;” a trope in which the recognition of a character's identity creates dramatic intensity or crisis. Naremore argues that Letter's use of recognition is one of the most powerful in Hollywood cinema, and contrasts it with what we find in Zweig's novella.

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105

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Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1839022361

ISBN 13

9781839022364

Acting in the Cinema

By: James Naremore

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Acting in the Cinema

By: James Naremore

By analysing the work of seven classic film stars including Cary Grant and Marlene Dietrich, the author explores the techniques and theory of acting for the big screen.

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328

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Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520062280

ISBN 13

9780520062283

More Than Night

Film Noir in Its Contexts

By: James Naremore

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More Than Night

Film Noir in Its Contexts

By: James Naremore

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364

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Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520212940

ISBN 13

9780520212947

An Invention Without a Future

Essays on Cinema

By: James Naremore

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An Invention Without a Future

Essays on Cinema

By: James Naremore

In 1895, Louis Lumi�re supposedly said that cinema is Òan invention without a future.Ó James Naremore uses this legendary remark as a starting point for a meditation on the so-called death of cinema in the digital age, and as a way of introducing a wide-ranging series of his essays on movies past and present. These essays include discussions of authorship, adaptation, and acting; commentaries on Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Vincente Minnelli, John Huston, and Stanley Kubrick; and reviews of more recent work by non-Hollywood directors Pedro Costa, Abbas Kiarostami, Raœl Ruiz, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Important themes recur: the relations between modernity, modernism, and postmodernism; the changing mediascape and death of older technologies; and the need for robust critical writing in an era when print journalism is waning and the humanities are devalued. The book concludes with essays on four major American film critics: James Agee, Manny Farber, Andrew Sarris, and Jonathan Rosenbaum.

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368

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Univ of California Press

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ISBN 10

0520279735

ISBN 13

9780520279735

Charles Burnett

A Cinema of Symbolic Knowledge

By: James Naremore

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Charles Burnett

A Cinema of Symbolic Knowledge

By: James Naremore

In the first book devoted to Charles Burnett, a crucial figure in the history of American cinema often regarded as the most influential member of the L.A. Rebellion group of African American filmmakers, James Naremore provides a close critical study of all Burnett’s major pictures for movies and television, including Killer of Sheep, To Sleep with Anger, The Glass Shield, Nightjohn, The Wedding, Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property, and Warming by the Devil’s Fire. Having accessed new information and rarely seen material, Naremore shows that Burnett’s career has developed against the odds and that his artistry, social criticism, humor, and commitment to what he calls “symbolic knowledge” have given his work enduring value for American culture.

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264

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Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520285522

ISBN 13

9780520285521

The Magic World of Orson Welles

By: James Naremore

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The Magic World of Orson Welles

By: James Naremore

Prodigy. Iconoclast. Genius. Exile. Orson Welles remains one of the most discussed figures in cinematic history. In the centenary year of Welles's birth, James Naremore presents a revised third edition of this incomparable study, including a new section on the unfinished film The Other Side of the Wind. Naremore analyzes the political and psychological implications of the films, Welles's idiosyncratic style, and the biographical details--both playful and vexing--that impacted each work. Itself a historic film study, The Magic World of Orson Welles unlocks the soaring art and quixotic methods of a master.

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353

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University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252097874

ISBN 13

9780252097874

Letter from an Unknown Woman

By: James Naremore

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Letter from an Unknown Woman

By: James Naremore

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Bloomsbury Publishing

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ISBN 10

1839022353

ISBN 13

9781839022357

Television Personalities

Stardom and the Small Screen

By: James Bennett

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Television Personalities

Stardom and the Small Screen

By: James Bennett

Television Personalities offers an exciting, engaging approach to studying and understanding the most prominent and popular performers in television and celebrity culture. It is an original, indispensable guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students of media, television and celebrity studies, as well as those interested in digital culture more widely.

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240

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1136907483

ISBN 13

9781136907487

Sweet Smell of Success

By: James Naremore

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Sweet Smell of Success

By: James Naremore

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117

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

1844572889

ISBN 13

9781844572885

Passport to Hollywood

Hollywood Films, European Directors

By: James Morrison

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Passport to Hollywood

Hollywood Films, European Directors

By: James Morrison

Examines popular films made in Hollywood by European directors, offering a fresh take on the much-debated issue of the "great divide" between modernism and mass culture.

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332

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SUNY Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0791439380

ISBN 13

9780791439388

Steven Spielberg's Style by Stealth

By: James Mairata

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Steven Spielberg's Style by Stealth

By: James Mairata

This book reveals how Spielberg utilises stylistic strategies that are both unique and innovative when considered within the context of the classical Hollywood system. James Mairata identifies two distinct systems at work in Spielberg's application of style. One is the use of deep space compositions and staging, a form that was commonly seen in Hollywood cinema until the rise of the 'New Hollywood' in the early 1970s. The other system is based on the ubiquitous shot, reverse shot arrangement most commonly used for dialogue scenes, and which Spielberg has modified into what the author describes as wide reverses. Through the integration of both systems, Spielberg is able to create a more complete visual sense of scenographic space and a more comprehensive world of the narrative, while still remaining within the conventional boundaries of classical style. The wide reverse system also permits him to present a more highly developed version of Hollywood's conventional practice of rendering style as transparent or unnoticed. This volume shows that this, together with the wide reverse further enables Spielberg to create a narrative that offers the spectator both a more immersive and more affective experience.

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353

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Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3319690817

ISBN 13

9783319690810

Licence to Thrill

A Cultural History of the James Bond Films

By: James Chapman

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Licence to Thrill

A Cultural History of the James Bond Films

By: James Chapman

In this new edition of Licence To Thrill, James Chapman builds upon the success of his classic work, regarded as the definitive scholarly study of the history of the James Bond film series from the first picture, Dr No (1962), to the present. He considers the origins of the films in the spy thrillers of Ian Fleming and examines the production histories of the films in the contexts of the British and international film industries. This edition includes a new introduction and chapters on Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021). Chapman explores how the films have changed over time in response to developments in the wider film culture and society at large. He charts the ever-evolving Bond formula, analysing the films' representations of nationhood, class, and gender in a constantly shifting cinematic and ideological landscape.

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329

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Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1350211117

ISBN 13

9781350211117

Sternberg and Dietrich

The Phenomenology of Spectacle

By: James Phillips

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Sternberg and Dietrich

The Phenomenology of Spectacle

By: James Phillips

James Phillips's Sternberg and Dietrich: The Phenomenology of Spectacle reappraises the cinematic collaboration between the Austrian-American filmmaker Josef von Sternberg (1894-1969) and the German-American actor Marlene Dietrich (1901-92). Considered by his contemporaries one of the most significant directors of interwar Hollywood, Sternberg made seven films with Dietrich that helped establish her as a style icon and star and entrenched his own reputation for extravagance and aesthetic spectacle. These films enriched the technical repertoire of the industry, challenged the sexual mores of the times and notoriously tried the patience of management at Paramount Studios. Sternberg and Dietrich: The Phenomenology of Spectacle demonstrates how under Sternberg's direction Paramount's sound stages became laboratories for novel thought experiments. Analysing in depth the last four films on which Sternberg and Dietrich worked together, Phillips reconstructs the "cinematic philosophy" that Sternberg claimed for himself in his autobiography and for whose fullest expression Dietrich was indispensable. This book makes a case for the originality and perceptiveness with which these films treat such issues as the nature of trust, the status of appearance, the standing of women, the ethics and politics of the image, and the relationship between cinema and the world. Sternberg and Dietrich: The Phenomenology of Spectacle reveals that more is at stake in these films than the showcasing of a new star and the confectionery of glamour: Dietrich emerges here as a woman who is at ease in the world without being at home in it, an image of autonomy whose critical potential has yet to be realized, let alone exhausted.

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Page Count

197

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190915269

ISBN 13

9780190915261

Hume: a Very Short Introduction

By: James A. Harris

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Hume: a Very Short Introduction

By: James A. Harris

David Hume, philosopher, historian, economist, librarian, and essayist, was one of the great figures of the European Enlightenment. Unlike some of his famous contemporaries, however, he was not dogmatically committed to idealised conceptions of reason, liberty, and progress. Instead, Hume was a sceptic whose arguments questioned the reach and authority of human rationality, and who put the rivalrous passions of commercial life at the centre of his theory of human -- -- itself. -- ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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153

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198849788

ISBN 13

9780198849780

Verging on Extra-Vagance

Anthropology, History, Religion, Literature, Arts . . . Showbiz

By: James A. Boon

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Verging on Extra-Vagance

Anthropology, History, Religion, Literature, Arts . . . Showbiz

By: James A. Boon

In this book, James Boon ranges through history and around the globe in a series of provocative reflections on the limitations, attractions, and ambiguities of cultural interpretation. The book reflects the unusual keyword of its title, extra-vagance, a term Thoreau used to refer to thought that skirts traditional boundaries. Boon follows Thoreau's lead by broaching subjects as diverse as Balinese ritual, Montaigne, Chaucer, Tarzan, Perry Mason, opera, and the ideas of Jacques Derrida, Ruth Benedict, Kenneth Burke, and Mary Douglas. He makes creative and often playful leaps among eclectic texts and rituals that do not hold single, fixed meanings, but numerous, changing, and exceedingly specific ones. Boon opens by exploring links between ritual and reading, focusing on commentaries about the seclusion of menstruating women in Native American culture, trance dances in Bali, and circumcision (or lack of it) in contrasting religions. He considers the ironies of "first-person ethnography" by telling stories from his own fieldwork, reflecting on ethnological museums, and making seriocomic connections between Mark Twain and Marcel Mauss. In expansive discussions that touch on Manhattan and Sri Lanka, the Louvre and the "World of Coca-Cola" museum, willfully obscure academic theory and shamelessly commercial show business, Boon underlines the inadequacies of simple ideologies and pat generalizations. The book is a profound and eloquent exploration of cultural comparison by one of America's most original and innovative anthropologists.

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383

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

069123115X

ISBN 13

9780691231150

Roman Polanski

By: James Morrison

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Roman Polanski

By: James Morrison

A new take on an eclectic and controversial director James Morrison's critical study offers a comprehensive and critically engaged treatment on Roman Polanski's immense body of work. Tracing the filmmaker's remarkably diverse career from its beginnings to 2007, the book provides commentary on all of Polanski's major films in their historical, cultural, social, and artistic contexts. Morrison locates Polanski's work within the genres of comedy and melodrama, arguing that he is not merely obsessed with the theme of repression, but that his true interest is in the concrete—what is out in the open—and why we so rarely see it. The range of Polanski's filmmaking challenges traditional divisions between high and low culture. For example, The Ninth Gate is a brash pastiche of the horror genre, while The Pianist is an Academy Award-winner about the Holocaust. Dubbing Polanski a relentless critic of modernity, Morrison concludes that his career is representative of the fissures, victories, and rehabilitations of the last fifty years of international cinema. A volume in the series Contemporary Film Directors, edited by James Naremore

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210

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University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252095812

ISBN 13

9780252095818

Darkness in the Bliss-Out

A Reconsideration of the Films of Steven Spielberg

By: James Kendrick

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Darkness in the Bliss-Out

A Reconsideration of the Films of Steven Spielberg

By: James Kendrick

While there has been a significant outpouring of scholarship on Steven Spielberg over the past decade, his films are still frequently discussed as being paternalistic, escapist, and reliant on uncomplicated emotions and complicated special effects. Even those who view his work favorably often see it as essentially optimistic, reassuring, and conservative. James Kendrick takes an alternate view of Spielberg's cinema and proposes that his films—even the most popular ones that seem to trade in easy answers and comforting, reassuring notions of cohesion and narrative resolution—are significantly darker and more emotionally and ideologically complex than they are routinely given credit for. Darkness in the Bliss-Out demonstrates, through close analysis of a wide range of Spielberg's films, that they are only reassuring on the surface, and that their depths embody a complex and sometimes contradictory view of the human condition.

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244

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1441188959

ISBN 13

9781441188953

100 Guilty Pleasure Movies

By: James Stratton

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100 Guilty Pleasure Movies

By: James Stratton

Along with such familiar titles as The Devil Wears Prada and Remember the Titans, Stratton introduces readers to lesser-known gems like Diplomatic Courier, The Narrow Margin, Prime Cut and Under Fire. The selections represent every major genre of film: domestic drama, musical, film noir, Western, science fiction, comedy, biopic, war, espionage, sports, superhero and horror. Among the acting careers examined are those of Cary Grant, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Greer Garson, Burt Lancaster, Meryl Streep, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington, Daniel Craig and many others. Covering over ninety years of film history, this is a book for the casual fan as well as the seasoned student. Easy to read and to navigate, it is a must-have reference.

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536

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Dog Ear Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1457555883

ISBN 13

9781457555886

Authoritarianism

A Very Short Introduction

By: James Loxton

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Authoritarianism

A Very Short Introduction

By: James Loxton

Authoritarianism is one of the buzzwords of our age. But what is it exactly? This Very Short Introduction provides a comprehensive overview of the world of authoritarian regimes, including military, single-party, and personalist regimes. It considers how understandings of authoritarianism have evolved over time, as well as the curious fact that many authoritarian regimes today hold elections. Drawing on examples from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, James Loxton examines the life cycle of authoritarian regimes. How are they born? What challenges do they face during life? Why do they die? The author shows how factors such as natural resource wealth and cross-border collaboration can contribute to authoritarian durability. He also highlights the disturbing fact that even when authoritarian regimes collapse, voters often use their newfound democratic rights to send former authoritarian officials back to office.

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149

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192872796

ISBN 13

9780192872791

Hitchcock and the Spy Film

By: James Chapman

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Hitchcock and the Spy Film

By: James Chapman

Film historian James Chapman has mined Hitchcock's own papers to investigate fully for the first time the spy thrillers of the world's most famous filmmaker. Hitchcock made his name as director of the spy movie. He returned repeatedly to the genre from the British classics of the 1930s, including The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, through wartime Hollywood films Foreign Correspondent and Saboteur to the Cold War tracts North by Northwest, Torn Curtain and his unmade film The Short Night. Chapman's close reading of these films demonstrates the development of Hitchcock's own style as well as how the spy genre as a whole responded to changing political and cultural contexts from the threat of Nazism in the 1930s and 40s to the atom spies and double agents of the post-war world.

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361

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Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1786733072

ISBN 13

9781786733078

Scripture in Its Historical Contexts

Volume I: Text, Canon, and Qumran

By: James A. Sanders

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Scripture in Its Historical Contexts

Volume I: Text, Canon, and Qumran

By: James A. Sanders

In this important collection of essays James A. Sanders offers his most significant work on the text and canon of the Hebrew Bible, along with his seminal studies of the Qumran Scrolls. He has been at the forefront of the study of canon formation, history of interpretation, and textual criticism, with specialty in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the use of the Old Testament in the New. These studies document the variety of textual traditions, as well as the diversity and unsettled, incipient state of the collection of sacred literature that was regarded as authoritative or canonical in the late Second Temple period. They laid the foundation on which today's scholarly discussion is focused.

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568

Publisher

Mohr Siebeck

Published Date

ISBN 10

3161557565

ISBN 13

9783161557569

L.A. Noir

The City as Character

By: Alain Silver,James Ursini

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L.A. Noir

The City as Character

By: Alain Silver,James Ursini

Los Angeles has always been as much a star in film noir as any actor, be it Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner or Jack Nicholson. In L.A. Noir: The City as Character renowned film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini explore the world of noir cinema in the context of Los Angeles. The book features dozens of noir and neo-noir landmark films from Double Indemnity, Criss Cross, Sunset Boulevard, Gun Crazy, The Big Heat, Kiss Me Deadly, and Touch of Evil in the classic period (1940-1960) to such neo-noir notables as Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, Mulholland Drive, and Pulp Fiction. L.A. Noir illustrates how these noir films use L.A.'s diverse cityscape and architecture to convey a unique vision of urban corruption and existential fatalism, not only in the ever-changing, chaotic downtown of Bunker Hill, Main Street, and Chinatown, but in its affluent coastal communities (Santa Monica, Malibu) as well as its deceptively sunny suburbs (South Bay, San Fernando Valley). The authors deftly analyze the key films of noir while integrating them into the geography and history of this "dark city" which became such an important icon of noir literature and film. L.A. Noir is profusely illustrated with approximately 150 photographs-many of them appearing in print for the very first time-including production stills from the movies discussed, archival photos of the locations from the films and new photographs of the locations today, chronicling the ever-changing cityscape of this noir character-Los Angeles.

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177

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Santa Monica Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1595809821

ISBN 13

9781595809827

Documentary, Performance and Risk

By: James Lyons

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Documentary, Performance and Risk

By: James Lyons

Documentary, Performance and Risk explores how some of the most significant recent American feature documentaries use performance to dramatically animate major categories of risk. The fact that these documentaries do rely on such performance is revealing both in terms of trends in American feature documentary, and in relation to the currency of ideas about risk in contemporary Western societies. The book takes a detailed look at the performance of risk and demonstrates the rewards of close critical attention to formal composition and performance. Covering An Inconvenient Truth, Super Size Me, Capitalism: A Love Story and Jackass: The Movie, it explores how these high-profile films offer up compelling narratives and images of individuals ‘acting on risk’. The films seek to both confront and control the contours of their environments in ways that reveal much about how a particular set of beliefs about risk and the individual have come to inform our lives. This wide-ranging analysis of feature documentary is ideal for scholars and postgraduate students studying documentary film, film and media studies.

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275

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317528840

ISBN 13

9781317528845

From the Moment They Met It Was Murder

Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir

By: Alain Silver,James Ursini

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From the Moment They Met It Was Murder

Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir

By: Alain Silver,James Ursini

The behind-the-scenes story of the quintessential film noir and cult classic, Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity—its true crime origins and crucial impact on film history—is told for the first time in this riveting narrative published for the film's 80th anniversary. From actual murder to magazine fiction to movie, the history of Double Indemnity is as complex as anything that hit the screen during film noir’s classic period. A 1927 tabloid sensation “crime of the century” inspired journalist and would-be crime-fiction writer James M. Cain to pen a novella. Hollywood quickly bid on the film rights, but throughout the 1930s a strict code of censorship made certain that no studio could green-light a murder melodrama based on real events. Then in 1943 veteran scriptwriter and newly minted director Billy Wilder wanted the story for his third movie. With tentative approval from the studio he hired hardboiled novelist Raymond Chandler to co-write a script that would be acceptable to industry censors. Director Wilder then cajoled a star cast into coming aboard: the incomparable Barbara Stanwyck in her unforgettable turn as the ultimate femme fatale; alongside Fred MacMurray, going against type as her accomplice; and Edward G. Robinson as a dogged claims investigator. Wilder kept Chandler on for the entire shoot, and other key collaborators were cinematographer John Seitz, costume designer Edith Head, and composer Miklôs Rôzsa. With all these talented contributors, the final film became one of the earliest studio noirs to gain critical and commercial success, including being nominated for seven Oscars. It powerfully influenced the burgeoning noir movement, spawned many imitators, and affected the later careers of all its cast and crew. Double Indemnity’s impact on filmmakers and audiences is still felt eight decades since its release. Authors Alain Silver and James Ursini tell the complete, never-before-told history of writing, making, and marketing of Double Indemnity in their latest and most provocative work on film noir: From the Moment They Met It Was Murder.

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375

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Running Press Adult

Published Date

ISBN 10

0762484950

ISBN 13

9780762484959

The Encyclopedia of Epic Films

By: Constantine Santas,James M. Wilson,Maria Colavito,Djoymi Baker

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The Encyclopedia of Epic Films

By: Constantine Santas,James M. Wilson,Maria Colavito,Djoymi Baker

Soon after film came into existence, the term epic was used to describe productions that were lengthy, spectacular, live with action, and often filmed in exotic locales with large casts and staggering budgets. The effort and extravagance needed to mount an epic film paid off handsomely at the box office, for the genre became an immediate favorite with audiences. Epic films survived the tribulations of two world wars and the Depression and have retained the basic characteristics of size and glamour for more than a hundred years. Length was, and still is, one of the traits of the epic, though monolithic three- to four-hour spectacles like Gone with the Wind (1939) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) have been replaced today by such franchises as the Harry Potter films and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Although the form has evolved during many decades of existence, its central elements have been retained, refined, and modernized to suit the tastes of every new generation. The Encyclopedia of Epic Films identifies, describes, and analyzes those films that meet the criteria of the epic—sweeping drama, panoramic landscapes, lengthy adventure sequences, and, in many cases, casts of thousands. This volume looks at the wide variety of epics produced over the last century—from the silent spectacles of D. W. Griffith and biblical melodramas of Cecil B. DeMille to the historical dramas of David Lean and rollercoaster thrillers of Steven Spielberg. Each entry contains: Major personnel behind the camera, including directors and screenwriters Cast and character listings Plot summary Analysis Academy Award wins and nominations DVD and Blu-ray availability Resources for further study This volume also includes appendixes of foreign epics, superhero spectaculars, and epics produced for television, along with a list of all the directors in the book. Despite a lack of overall critical recognition and respect as a genre, the epic remains a favorite of audiences, and this book pays homage to a form of mass entertainment that continues to fill movie theaters. The Encyclopedia of Epic Films will be of interest to academics and scholars, as well as any fan of films made on a grand scale.

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713

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Scarecrow Press

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ISBN 10

0810882485

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9780810882485

Doing Criticism

Across Literary and Screen Arts

By: James Chandler

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Doing Criticism

Across Literary and Screen Arts

By: James Chandler

Not only an accessible hands-on guide to writing criticism across the literary arts, the dramatic arts, and the narrative screen arts, but also a book that makes a case for how and why criticism matters today Doing Criticism: Across Literary and Screen Arts is a practical guide to engaging actively and productively with a critical object, whether a film, a novel, or a play. Going beyond the study of lyric poetry and literature to include motion picture and dramatic arts, this unique text provides specific advice on how to best write criticism while offering concrete illustrations of what it looks like on the page. Divided into two parts, the book first presents an up-to-date account of the state of criticism in both Anglo-American and Continental contexts—describing both the longstanding mission and the changing functions of criticism over the centuries and discussing critical issues that bridge the literary and screen arts in the contemporary world. The second part of the book features a variety of case studies of criticism across media, including works by canonical authors such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and W. B. Yeats; films such as Coppola's The Conversation and Hitchcock's Vertigo; screen adaptations of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day; and a concluding chapter on several of Spike Lee's film "joints" that brings several of the book's central concepts to bear on work of a single film auteur. Helping students of literature and cinema write well about what they find in their reading and viewing, Doing Criticism: Across Literary and Screen Arts: Discusses how the bridging of the literary arts and screen arts can help criticism flourish in the present day Illustrates how the doing of criticism is in practice a particular kind of writing Considers how to generalize the consequences of criticism beyond personal growth and gratification Addresses the ways the practice of criticism matters to the practice of the critical object Suggests that doing without criticism is not only unwise, but also perhaps impossible Features case studies organized under the rubrics of conversation, adaptation, genre, authorship and seriality Doing Criticism: Across Literary and Screen Arts is an ideal text for students in introductory courses in criticism, literary studies, and film studies, as well as general readers with interest in the subject.

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324

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1405177799

ISBN 13

9781405177795

Communication Difficulties in Childhood

A Practical Guide

By: James Law,Alison Parkinson,Rashmin Tamhne

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Communication Difficulties in Childhood

A Practical Guide

By: James Law,Alison Parkinson,Rashmin Tamhne

For the vast majority of children acquiring speech and language skills is an effortless process. However there is a sizeable proportion of children for whom this is not true. Difficulties they experience may be associated with other conditions such as cleft palate or hearing loss or they may have no obvious cause. This book provides a comprehensive picture of the difficulties that occur when speech and language does not develop in the young child. Divided into two sections the first focuses on how such children should be identified and assessed. The second section provides specific insights into communication difficulties in different conditions. Each is written by an expert practitioner and is illustrated with specific examples. Based on best clinical practice and research-based evidence it is a practical guide fully referenced for those who wish to develop knowledge further. It is essential reading for all professionals who work with children particularly those who work in community settings.

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426

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CRC Press

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ISBN 10

1315345846

ISBN 13

9781315345840

Hollywood Bloodshed

Violence in 1980s American Cinema

By: James Kendrick

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Hollywood Bloodshed

Violence in 1980s American Cinema

By: James Kendrick

In Hollywood Bloodshed, James Kendrick presents a fascinating look into the political and ideological instabilities of the 1980s as studied through the lens of cinema violence. Kendrick uses in-depth case studies to reveal how dramatic changes in the film industry and its treatment of cinematic bloodshed during the Reagan era reflected shifting social tides as Hollywood struggled to find a balance between the lucrative necessity of screen violence and the rising surge of conservatism. As public opinion shifted toward the right and increasing emphasis was placed on issues such as higher military spending, family values, and “money culture,” film executives were faced with an epic dilemma: the violent aspects of cinema that had been the studios’ bread and butter were now almost universally rejected by mainstream audiences. Far from eliminating screen bloodshed altogether, studios found new ways of packaging violence that would allow them to continue to attract audiences without risking public outcry, ushering in a period of major transition in the film industry. Studios began to shy away from the revolutionary directors of the 1970s—many of whom had risen to fame through ideologically challenging films characterized by a more disturbing brand of violence—while simultaneously clearing the way for a new era in film. The 1980s would see the ascent of entertainment conglomerates and powerful producers and the meteoric rise of the blockbuster—a film with no less violence than its earlier counterparts, but with action-oriented thrills rather than more troubling images of brutality. Kendrick analyzes these and other radical cinematic changes born of the conservative social climate of the 1980s, including the disavowal of horror films in the effort to present a more acceptable public image; the creation of the PG-13 rating to designate the gray area of movie violence between PG and R ratings; and the complexity of marketing the violence of war movies for audience pleasure. The result is a riveting study of an often overlooked, yet nevertheless fascinating time in cinema history. While many volumes have focused on the violent films of the New American Cinema directors of the 1970s or the rise of icons such as Woo, Tarantino, and Rodriguez in the 1990s, Kendrick’s Hollywood Bloodshed bridges a major gap in film studies.This comprehensive volume offers much-needed perspective on a decade that altered the history of Hollywood—and American culture—forever.

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271

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SIU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0809386615

ISBN 13

9780809386611

C. S. Lewis: A Very Short Introduction

By: James Como

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C. S. Lewis: A Very Short Introduction

By: James Como

Beloved by children and adults worldwide, the writings of C.S. Lewis have a broad and enduring appeal. Although he is best known for the iconic Chronicles of Narnia series, C. S. Lewis was actually a man of many literary parts. Already well-known as a scholar in the thirties, he became a famous broadcaster during World War Two and wrote in many genres, including satire (The Screwtape Letters), science fiction ( Perelandra), a novel (Till We Have Faces), and many other books on Christian belief, such as Mere Christianity and Miracles. His few sermons remain touchstones of their type. In addition to these, Lewis wrote hundreds of poems and articles on social and cultural issues, many books and articles in his field of literary criticism and history, and thousands of letters. At Oxford University he became a charismatic lecturer and conversationalist. Taken together his writings have engaged and influenced, often very deeply, millions of readers. Now Lewis societies, television documentaries, movies, radio plays, and theatrical treatments of his work and life have become common, and he is frequently quoted by journalists, critics, and public thinkers. This Very Short Introduciton delves into the vast corpus of C. S. Lewis' work, discussing its core themes and lasting appeal. As James Como shows, C. S. Lewis' life is just as interesting as his work. A complex man, he came to his knowledge, beliefs, and wisdom only after much tortuous soul-searching and many painful events. Moving chronologically through Lewis' life, Como provides throughout a picture of the whole man, his work, and his enduring legacy. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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161

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Oxford University Press

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ISBN 10

0192563327

ISBN 13

9780192563323

Gale Researcher Guide for: A Clockwork Orange: Anthony Burgess's Black Comedy (1962) and Stanley Kubrick's Violent Grotesque (1971)

By: James Fenwick

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Gale Researcher Guide for: A Clockwork Orange: Anthony Burgess's Black Comedy (1962) and Stanley Kubrick's Violent Grotesque (1971)

By: James Fenwick

Gale Researcher Guide for: A Clockwork Orange: Anthony Burgess's Black Comedy (1962) and Stanley Kubrick's Violent Grotesque (1971) is selected from Gale's academic platform Gale Researcher. These study guides provide peer-reviewed articles that allow students early success in finding scholarly materials and to gain the confidence and vocabulary needed to pursue deeper research.

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Gale, Cengage Learning

ISBN 10

1535852852

ISBN 13

9781535852852

Stanley Kubrick Produces

By: James Fenwick

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Stanley Kubrick Produces

By: James Fenwick

Stanley Kubrick Produces provides the first comprehensive account of Stanley Kubrick’s role as a producer, and of the role of the producers he worked with throughout his career. It considers how he first emerged as a producer, how he developed the role, and how he ultimately used it to fashion himself a powerbase by the 1970s. It goes on to consider how Kubrick’s centralizing of power became a self-defeating strategy by the 1980s and 1990s, one that led him to struggle to move projects out of development and into active production. Making use of overlooked archival sources and uncovering newly discovered ‘lost’ Kubrick projects (The Cop Killer, Shark Safari, and The Perfect Marriage among them), as well as providing the first detailed overview of the World Assembly of Youth film, James Fenwick provides a comprehensive account of Kubrick’s life and career and of how he managed to obtain the level of control that he possessed by the 1970s. Along the way, the book traces the rapid changes taking place in the American film industry in the post-studio era, uncovering new perspectives about the rise of young independent producers, the operations of influential companies such as Seven Arts and United Artists, and the whole field of film marketing.

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186

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Rutgers University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1978814895

ISBN 13

9781978814899

Film and History

By: James Chapman

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Film and History

By: James Chapman

Film is the pre-eminent mass medium of the modern age. It is a valuable source of evidence for the study of both the past and the contemporary world, and is a social practice that has affected the lives of millions. How can historians engage with this important and influential medium? Written for both students and teachers, Film and History: - provides a concise, accessible introduction to the use of film in historical enquiry and a summary of the main theoretical debates - Charts the development of film history as a subject area and a discipline in its own right - Considers different approaches to film history, including film as an art form, as ideology, as a historical source, and as a social practice - Includes case studies to ground discussion of theories and approaches in specific examples Wide-ranging and authoritative, Film and History equips students with the methods both to analyse film texts and to understand the place of film in history and culture.

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191

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Bloomsbury Publishing

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ISBN 10

1137367326

ISBN 13

9781137367327

Annotated Bibliography of Southern American English

By: James B. McMillan,Michael B Montgomery

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Annotated Bibliography of Southern American English

By: James B. McMillan,Michael B Montgomery

A collection of the total range of scholarly and popular writing on English as spoken from Maryland to Texas and from Kentucky to Florida The only book-length bibliography on the speech of the American South, this volume focuses on the pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, naming practices, word play, and other aspects of language that have interested researchers and writers for two centuries. Compiled here are the works of linguists, historians, anthropologists, sociologists, and educators, as well as popular commentators. With over 3,800 entries, this invaluable resource is a testament to the significance of Southern speech, long recognized as a distinguishing feature of the South, and the abiding interest of Southerners in their speech as a mark of their identity. The entries encompass Southern dialects in all their distinctive varieties—from Appalachian to African American, and sea islander to urbanite.

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463

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University Alabama Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0817359362

ISBN 13

9780817359362

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