This collection presents new essays in the complex field of French
literary adaptation. Using a variety of textual and interpretive
approaches, it sheds light on issues of gender, sexuality, class,
...politics and social conventions while acknowledging a range of
contexts, from the commercial to the archival and the aesthetic.
The chapters, written by eminent international scholars, run
chronologically from The Count of Monte Cristo through
Proust and Bonjour, Tristesse to Philippe Djian's
Oh… (adapted for the screen as Elle ).
Collectively, they fill a need for contemporary discussions on the
significance of France's literary representations in the history of
global cinema.
Hitchcock's Moral Gaze Palmer, R. Barton; Pettey, Homer B; Sanders, Steven M
2017, 2017-01-30
eBook
In his essays and interviews, Alfred Hitchcock was guarded about substantive matters of morality, preferring instead to focus on discussions of technique. That has not, however, discouraged scholars ...and critics from trying to work out what his films imply about such moral matters as honesty, fidelity, jealousy, courage, love, and loyalty. Through discussions and analyses of such films as Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Frenzy, the contributors to this book strive to throw light on the way Hitchcock depicts a moral—if not amoral or immoral—world. Drawing on perspectives from film studies, philosophy, literature, and other disciplines, they offer new and compelling interpretations of the filmmaker's moral gaze and the inflection point it provides for modern cinema.
Examines the influence of noir on global cinema Early audiences were drawn to the experimental lighting effects, oblique camera angles, distorted compositions, and shifting points-of-view of film ...noir.International noir continues to appeal on a global scale, because no other cinematic form has merged style and genre to effect a vision of the disturbing consequences of modernity. In fact, various national cinemas now boast an indigenous expression of the genre and other cinematic genres continue to rely upon film noir's narrative structure and visual style, as evidenced by noir Westerns and noir Science Fiction. This collection of essays examines noir's influence on film narrative and technique in the ceinematic traditions of Britain, France, Scandinavia, Japan, China and Korea.
Film Noir Pettey, Homer B; Palmer, R. Barton
11/2014
eBook
Explores the development of film noir as a cultural and artistic phenomenon.Following World War II, film noir became the dominant cinematic expression of Cold War angst, influencing new trends in ...British, French, and Japanese filmmaking to such a degree that it must be considered a global phenomenon. This is the first scholarly, cultural and aesthetic history of film noir and will have a particular focus on its literary and artistic antecedents. It traces the history of film noir through its mid-century popularization to its influence on contemporary global media and discusses the influence of literary and artistic sources on the development of film noir. It also includes guides to further reading and recommended viewing.
Director Michael Curtiz was the mastermind behind some of the most iconic films of classical Hollywood—Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Sea Hawk, White Christmas, and Mildred Pierce, to name only ...a few. The most prolific and consistently successful Hollywood generalist with an all-embracing interest in different forms of narrative and spectacle, Curtiz made around a hundred films in an astonishing range of genres: action, biopics, melodramas/film noir, musicals, and westerns. But his important contributions to the history of American film have been overlooked because his broadly varied oeuvre does not present the unified vision of filmmaking that canonical criticism demands for the category of “auteur." Exploring his films and artistic practice from a variety of angles, including politics, gender, and genre, The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz sheds new light on this underappreciated cinematic genius. Leading film studies scholars offer fresh appraisals of many of Curtiz’s most popular films, while also paying attention to neglected releases of substantial historical interest, such as Noah’s Ark , Night and Day, Virginia City, Black Fury, Mystery of the Wax Museum, and Female. Because Curtiz worked for so long and in so many genres, this analysis of his work becomes more than an author study of a notable director. Instead, The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz effectively adds a major chapter to the history of Hollywood’s studio era, including its internationalism and the significant contributions of European émigrés.
While the primary subject of Paul Verhoeven’s Elle (2016) remains an examination of rape, the film places rape within a dark satire of contemporary French bourgeois life: the technological usurpation ...of emotions and sexuality; the uncertain future of a new generation of slacker male children; the shallowness of casual marital infidelity; and even the comically violent frustrations over the lack of parking in Paris. Elle especially addresses rape in contrast to a current culture of unquestioned feminist assumptions. Indeed, Elle provokes feminist paradigms that have foregrounded much of the discussion of gender and sexuality in both literary and film studies.
