Straw Dogs

ISBN-13: 9780230296701 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 176 str.

Stevie Simkin

Opis

Straw Dogs ignited fierce debate amongst audiences, critics, and censorship bodies on both sides of the Atlantic on its release in 1971. Stevie Simkin's study sheds light on the film's (mis)fortunes at the BBFC in 1971 and tracks its subsequent tortuous journey towards home video release, including extensive research into Peckinpah's archive.

Spis treści

Contents Acknowledgements A Note on References Introduction Synopsis PART I: STRAW DOGS THEN Production History Genesis and Pre-Production Shooting and the Problem of Susan George The Editing Process: Shaping an Ending Original Release and Reception England Swings, America Rocks: Straw Dogs in its Cultural Context Feminism and the Sexual Revolution Backlash: Morality, Censorship and the MPAA Straw Dogs and the American Censors Straw Dogs, American Audiences and American Critics Sixties Britain: a Quieter Revolution Straw Dogs and the UK Critics PART II: STRAW DOGS NOW Home Video Release: the Video Nasties Debate Eighteen Years in the Wilderness Moving with the Times: the BBFC and sexual violence Straw Dogs Unbound PART III: KEY THEMES AND IDEAS Introduction Straw Dogs, Masculinity and Violence Straw Dogs and Vietnam A Man's House Is The Problem of Amy PART IV: KEY SCENE ANALYSIS The Rape Scene: Introduction Venner's Arrival The First Rape The Second Rape Script Development Eroticising, Endorsing PART V: THE LEGACY OF STRAW DOGS Straw Dogs, Survival Horror and Rape Revenge Remake/Remodel Closing Thoughts APPENDICES Appendix A: Key Details Appendix B: List of References Endnotes.

O autorze

STEVIE SIMKIN is Reader in Drama and Film at the University of Winchester, UK. He is the author of, amongst other works, Revenge Tragedy: A New Casebook (2001), Early Modern Tragedy and the Cinema of Violence (2005), and, also in the Controversies series, a volume on Basic Instinct (forthcoming, 2013).

Blurb

Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs ignited fierce debate among censors, critics and audiences on both sides of the Atlantic on its release in 1971. When Amy (Susan George) returns to her home village with her American peacenik husband David (Dustin Hoffman), the residents of this tight-knit Cornish community slowly turn on them. The sexual tension and latent violence finally erupt in an explosion of violence that includes a rape scene that has remained controversial to this day. The film was heavily cut for theatrical release in the US, and the pressinspired furore in the UK led to several local councils cutting or banning it outright. Later, caught in the wake of the 'video nasties' panic of the 1980s, Straw Dogs was refused a home-video certificate in the UK for nearly twenty years.

Stevie Simkin's study sheds light on the film's treatment by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and tracks its subsequent tortuous journey towards home-video release, buffeted by various shifts in the BBFC's policy on representations of sexual violence. But, equally importantly, Simkin provides a highly original accountof themaking of the film, drawing on extensive research in Peckinpah's archive, including analysis of draft scripts, notes, memos and contemporary press items, as well as insights from a number of Peckinpah's associates, and key figures at the BBFC.

'A swift, compelling read. Thorough and scholarly without the faintest whiff of academic stuffiness, Stevie Simkin's study of Straw Dogs summons up the turmoil of the 1960s and 70s and illuminates the highly charged subject of sexual violence on film.'
Stephen Farber, Film Critic, The Hollywood Reporter

Stevie Simkin is Reader in Drama and Film at the University of Winchester, UK. He is the author of, among other works, Revenge Tragedy: A New Casebook (2001), Early Modern Tragedy and the Cinema of Violence (2005), and, also in the Controversies series, a volume on Basic Instinct (forthcoming, 2013).