Download or read book Cinema Unchained written by Simona Brancati and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Simona Brancati "reads," without resorting to jargon, such films as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. She offers kudos to Tarantino for his transformative work, while balancing her praise with objective analysis." Peter C. Rollins, Emeritus Editor-in-Chief, Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal. "Drawing on her vast knowledge of contemporary cinema, Brancati provides a penetrating and original analysis of Tarantino's complete oeuvre and beautifully contextualizes its reception." -Denise J. Youngblood, Professor of History, University of Vermont. "Brancati shows how aspects of Tarantino's films-which have been all too frequently dismissed as superfluous silliness-are, in fact, intentional aesthetic and ideological commentaries." -Ben Lawton, Associate Professor of Italian and Film Video Studies, Purdue University. "Brancati shows a breathtaking erudition about global cinema and about Tarantino's place in it. Her clear and revealing analyses of the films are alone worth the price of admission." -Louis Menashe, Professor Emeritus of History, Polytechnic Institute of New York University. "This fresh study is a valued and skillfully nuanced look at the important role Quentin Tarantino plays in our culture and in our times." -Frank Manchel, Professor Emeritus of English and Film Studies, University of Vermont."

Download or read book Unchained Melody written by Tom Mes and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this volume, expert Tom Mes takes us through the extraordinary career of this Japanese actess, whose commanding screen presence and piercing gaze defined an entire age of Japanese cinema from the 1960s onwards. From her early years in the wildly popular films of the Nikkatsu studio to career-defining roles in Lady Snowblood and Female Prisoner Scorpion, Tom als explores Kaji's many collaborations with master film-makers such as Kinji Fukasaku and Kon Ichikawa and delves into her twilight reign on the television screens of Japan, as well as spolighting Meiko Kaji the singer. Unchained Melody profiles her collaborating directors and looks at the varied cinematic tastes of Japanese film audiences over a period of several decades, providing an intriguing snapshot not only iinto Meiko Kaji's career and the film industry of the time, but also of Japanese culture itself"--Page 4 of cover.

Download or read book Grindhouse written by Austin Fisher and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2016-09-22 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The pervasive image of New York's 42nd Street as a hub of sensational thrills, vice and excess, is from where “grindhouse cinema,” the focus of this volume, stemmed. It is, arguably, an image that has remained unchanged in the mind's eye of many exploitation film fans and academics alike. Whether in the pages of fanzines or scholarly works, it is often recounted how, should one have walked down this street between the 1960s and the 1980s, one would have undergone a kaleidoscopic encounter with an array of disparate “exploitation” films from all over the world that were being offered cheaply to urbanites by a swathe of vibrant movie theatres. The contributors to Grindhouse: Cultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond consider “grindhouse cinema” from a variety of cultural and methodological positions. Some seek to deconstruct the etymology of “grindhouse” itself, add flesh to the bones of its cadaverous history, or examine the term's contemporary relevance in the context of both media production and consumerism. Others offer new inroads into hitherto unexamined examples of exploitation film history, presenting snapshots of cultural moments that many of us thought we already knew.

Download or read book Quentin Tarantino s Django Unchained written by Oliver C. Speck and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2014-07-31 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Django Unchained is certainly Quentin Tarantino's most commercially-successful film and is arguably also his most controversial. Fellow director Spike Lee has denounced the representation of race and slavery in the film, while many African American writers have defended the white auteur. The use of extremely graphic violence in the film, even by Tarantino's standards, at a time when gun control is being hotly debated, has sparked further controversy and has led to angry outbursts by the director himself. Moreover, Django Unchained has become a popular culture phenomenon, with t-shirts, highly contentious action figures, posters, and strong DVD/BluRay sales. The topic (slavery and revenge), the setting (a few years before the Civil War), the intentionally provocative generic roots (Spaghetti Western and Blaxploitation) and the many intertexts and references (to German and French culture) demand a thorough examination. Befitting such a complex film, the essays collected here represent a diverse group of scholars who examine Django Unchained from many perspectives.

Download or read book American Cinema in the Shadow of 9 11 written by Terence McSweeney and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Cinema in the Shadow of 9/11 is a ground-breaking collection of essays by some of the foremost scholars writing in the field of contemporary American film. Through a dynamic critical analysis of the defining films of the turbulent post-9/11 decade, the volume explores and interrogates the impact of 9/11 and the 'War on Terror' on American cinema and culture. In a vibrant discussion of films like American Sniper (2014), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Spectre (2015), The Hateful Eight (2015), Lincoln (2012), The Mist (2007), Children of Men (2006), Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), noted authors Geoff King, Guy Westwell, John Shelton Lawrence, Ian Scott, Andrew Schopp, James Kendrick, Sean Redmond, Steffen Hantke and many others consider the power of popular film to function as a potent cultural artefact, able to both reflect the defining fears and anxieties of the tumultuous era, but also shape them in compelling and resonant ways.

Download or read book Spaghetti Westerns at the Crossroads written by Fisher Austin Fisher and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What links Italian neorealism to Django Unchained, French comic books to Third-World insurgency, and Bollywood song-and-dance to Eastern Bloc film distribution? As this volume illustrates, the answers lie in the Spaghetti Western genre.As the reference points of American popular culture became ever more prominent in post-war Europe, the hundreds of films that make up the Italian (or 'Spaghetti') Western documented profound shifts in their home country's cultural outlook, while at the same time denying specifically national discourses. An object of fascination and great affection for fans, filmmakers and academics alike, the Western allitaliana arose from a diverse confluence of cultural strands, and would become a pivotal moment in cinematic history.Reappraising a diverse selection of films, from the internationally famed works of Sergio Leone to the cult cachet of Sergio Corbucci and the more obscure outputs of such directors as Giuseppe Colizzi and Ferdinando Baldi, this comprehensive study brings together leading international scholars in a variety of disciplines to both revisit the genre's cultural significance and consider its on-going influence on international film industries.

Download or read book Spaghetti Westerns written by Aliza S. Wong and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-12-15 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the silent days of cinema, Westerns have been one of the most popular genres, not just in the United States but around the world. International filmmakers have been so taken by westerns that many directors have produced versions of their own, despite lacking access to the American West. Nowhere has the Western been more embraced outside of the United States than Italy. In the 1960s, as Hollywood heroes like John Wayne and Randolph Scott were aging, Italian filmmakers were revitalizing the western, securing younger American actors for their productions and also making stars of homegrown talent. Movies directed and produced by Italians have been branded “spaghetti westerns”—a genre that boastsseveral hundred films. In Spaghetti Westerns: A Viewer’s Guide, Aliza S. Wong identifies the most significant westerns all’italiana produced as well as the individuals who significantly contributed to the genre. The author profiles such American actors as Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef; composers including Ennio Morricone and Carlo Rustichelli; and, of course, directors like Sergio Corbucci and Sergio Leone. The most memorable movies of the genre are also examined, includingCompañeros, Django; A Fistful of Dollars; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; and They Call Me Trinity. In addition to citing pivotal films and filmmakers, this volume also highlights other relevant aspects of the genre, including popular shooting locations, subgenres like the Zapata western, and the films and filmmakers who were inspired by the spaghetti western, including Quentin Tarantino, Richard Rodriguez, and Takashi Miike. An introduction to a unique homage of American cinema, Spaghetti Westerns: A Viewer’s Guide allows fans and scholars alike to learn more about a genre that continues to fascinate audiences.

Download or read book The Performative Representations of Masculinity in Quentin Tarantino s Cinema written by Justin Russell Greene and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-08-22 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Justin Russell Greene argues that Quentin Tarantino’s versions of masculinity represented throughout his filmography replicates the limitations gender binaries place on men and women. Scholars of film studies, gender studies, and popular culture will find this book of particular interest.

Download or read book Seeing Is Believing written by Richard Vance Goodwin and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2022-07-19 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study in IVP Academic's STA series, theologian Richard Goodwin considers how the images that constitute film might be a conduit of God's revelation. By considering works by Stanley Kubrik, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, and more, Goodwin argues that by inviting emotional responses, film images can be a medium of divine revelation.

Download or read book Southern History on Screen written by Bryan M. Jack and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hollywood films have been influential in the portrayal and representation of race relations in the South and how African Americans are cinematically depicted in history, from The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Gone with the Wind (1939) to The Help (2011) and 12 Years a Slave (2013). With an ability to reach mass audiences, films represent the power to influence and shape the public's understanding of our country's past, creating lasting images -- both real and imagined -- in American culture. In Southern History on Screen: Race and Rights, 1976--2016, editor Bryan Jack brings together essays from an international roster of scholars to provide new critical perspectives on Hollywood's relationships between historical films, Southern history, identity, and the portrayal of Jim Crow--era segregation. This collection analyzes films through the lens of religion, politics, race, sex, and class, building a comprehensive look at the South as seen on screen. By illuminating depictions of the southern belle in Gone with the Wind, the religious rhetoric of southern white Christians and the progressive identity of the "white heroes" in A Time to Kill (1996) and Mississippi Burning (1988), as well as many other archetypes found across films, this book explores the intersection between film, historical memory, and southern identity.

Download or read book Cinema of Swords written by Lawrence Ellsworth and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-06-15 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cinema of Swords is a history, guide, and love letter to over four hundred movies and television shows featuring swashbucklers: knights, pirates, samurai, Vikings, gladiators, outlaw heroes like Zorro and Robin Hood, and anyone else who lives by the blade and solves their problems with the point of a sword. Though swordplay thrives as a mainstay of current pop culture—whether Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings or Star Wars—swashbuckling was if anything even more ubiquitous during Hollywood’s classic period, from its foundations in the Silent Era up through the savage bursts of fantasy films in the ‘80s. With this huge cinematic backlist of classics now available online and on-demand, Cinema of Swords traces the roots and branches of this unruly genre, highlighting classics of the form and pointing fans toward thrilling new gems they never knew existed. With wry summaries and criticism from swordplay expert Lawrence Ellsworth, this comprehensive guidebook is perfect as a reference work or as a dazzling Hollywood history to be read end-to-end.

Download or read book African American Culture and Society After Rodney King written by Josephine Metcalf and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-09 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1992 was a pivotal moment in African American history, with the Rodney King riots providing palpable evidence of racialized police brutality, media stereotyping of African Americans, and institutional discrimination. Following the twentieth anniversary of the Los Angeles uprising, this time period allows reflection on the shifting state of race in America, considering these stark realities as well as the election of the country's first black president, a growing African American middle class, and the black authors and artists significantly contributing to America's cultural output. Divided into six sections, (The African American Criminal in Culture and Media; Slave Voices and Bodies in Poetry and Plays; Representing African American Gender and Sexuality in Pop-Culture and Society; Black Cultural Production in Music and Dance; Obama and the Politics of Race; and Ongoing Realities and the Meaning of 'Blackness') this book is an engaging collection of chapters, varied in critical content and theoretical standpoints, linked by their intellectual stimulation and fascination with African American life, and questioning how and to what extent American culture and society is 'past' race. The chapters are united by an intertwined sense of progression and regression which addresses the diverse dynamics of continuity and change that have defined shifts in the African American experience over the past twenty years.

Download or read book Black Rodeo written by Mia Mask and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African American westerns have a rich cinematic history and visual culture. Mia Mask examines the African American western hero within the larger context of film history by considering how Black westerns evolved and approached wide-ranging goals. Woody Strode’s 1950s transformation from football star to actor was the harbinger of hard-edged western heroes later played by Jim Brown and Fred Williamson. Sidney Poitier’s Buck and the Preacher provided a narrative helmed by a groundbreaking African American director and offered unconventionally rich roles for women. Mask moves from these discussions to consider blaxploitation westerns and an analysis of Jeff Kanew’s hard-to-find 1972 documentary about an all-Black rodeo. The book addresses how these movies set the stage for modern-day westploitation films like Django Unchained. A first-of-its kind survey, Black Rodeo illuminates the figure of the Black cowboy while examining the intersection of African American film history and the western.

Download or read book The American Civil War on Film and TV written by Douglas Brode and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-10-05 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether on the big screen or small, films featuring the American Civil War are among the most classic and controversial in motion picture history. From D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (1915) to Free State of Jones (2016), the war has provided the setting, ideologies, and character archetypes for cinematic narratives of morality, race, gender, and nation, as well as serving as historical education for a century of Americans. In The American Civil War on Film and TV: Blue and Gray in Black and White and Color, Douglas Brode, Shea T. Brode, and Cynthia J. Miller bring together nineteen essays by a diverse array of scholars across the disciplines to explore these issues. The essays included here span a wide range of films, from the silent era to the present day, including Buster Keaton’s The General (1926), Red Badge of Courage (1951), Glory (1989), Gettysburg (1993), and Cold Mountain (2003), as well as television mini-series The Blue and The Gray (1982) and John Jakes’ acclaimed North and South trilogy (1985-86). As an accessible volume to dedicated to a critical conversation about the Civil War on film, The American Civil War on Film and TV will appeal to not only to scholars of film, military history, American history, and cultural history, but to fans of war films and period films, as well.

Download or read book Race in American Film 3 volumes written by Daniel Bernardi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-07-07 with total page 1127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This expansive three-volume set investigates racial representation in film, providing an authoritative cross-section of the most racially significant films, actors, directors, and movements in American cinematic history. Hollywood has always reflected current American cultural norms and ideas. As such, film provides a window into attitudes about race and ethnicity over the last century. This comprehensive set provides information on hundreds of films chosen based on scholarly consensus of their importance regarding the subject, examining aspects of race and ethnicity in American film through the historical context, themes, and people involved. This three-volume set highlights the most important films and artists of the era, identifying films, actors, or characterizations that were considered racist, were tremendously popular or hugely influential, attempted to be progressive, or some combination thereof. Readers will not only learn basic information about each subject but also be able to contextualize it culturally, historically, and in terms of its reception to understand what average moviegoers thought about the subject at the time of its popularity—and grasp how the subject is perceived now through the lens of history.

Download or read book Movies in the Age of Obama written by David Garrett Izzo and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-08-26 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The historic election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States had a significant impact on both America and the world at large. By voting an African American into the highest office, those who elected Obama did not necessarily look past race, but rather didn’t let race prevent them for casting their ballots in his favor. In addition to reflecting the changing political climate, Obama’s presidency also spurred a cultural shift, notably in music, television, and film. In Movies in the Age of Obama: The Era of Post-Racial and Neo-Racist Cinema, David Garrett Izzo presents a varied collection of essays that examine films produced since the 2008 election. The contributors to these essays comment on a number of films in which race and “otherness” are pivotal elements. In addition to discussing such films as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Black Dynamite, The Blind Side, The Butler, Django Unchained, The Help, and Invictus, this collection also includes essays that probe racial elements in The Great Gatsby, The Hunger Games, and The Mist. The volume concludes with several essays that examine the 2013 Academy Award winner for best picture, 12 Years a Slave. Though Obama’s election may have been the main impetus for a resurgence of black films, this development is a bit more complicated. Moviemakers have long responded to the changing times, so it is inevitable that the Obama presidency would spark an increase in films that comment, either subtly or overtly, on the current cultural climate. By looking at the issue these films address, Movies in the Age of Obama will be of value to film scholars, of course, but also to those interested in other disciplines, including history, politics, and cultural studies.

Download or read book Africana Race and Communication written by James L. Conyers and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-03-08 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africana Race and Communication: A Social Study of Film, Communication, and Social Media focuses on the areas of History, Ethos, Motif, and Mythology-Philosophy. This study is an interdisciplinary study, which surveys the collection, interpretation, and analysis of Black communication and culture. Likewise, the intellectual dexterity of Africana Studies as an interdisciplinary body of knowledge postures alternative ways of probing Africana phenomena. This volume provides a categorical lens matrix of Africana Studies to locate race and communication in place, space, and time. Thus, it provides readers with a compilation of literary, historical, philosophical, and communicative essays that attempt to describe and evaluate the Africana experience from a centered perspective.