World Cinema and Cultural Memory

ISBN-13: 9781137465115 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 190 str.

Inez Hedges

Opis

Cinema has long played a crucial role in the way that societies remember and represent themselves. In the last quarter century, film has been an important medium in the public debate around the memory of the Holocaust and of Hiroshima; of the Algerian war for independence and of the Spanish Civil War; of the Allende legacy in Chile, the utopian dreams of 1968, and the aborted project of the German Democratic Republic; in identity formation in Palestine and in the African diaspora. Hedges discusses the role of cinema within a global perspective that spans five continents, and proposes an original typology of cultural memory. In the process, she re-evaluates the contributions of major directors and uncovers hitherto neglected yet important works. The author develops her arguments in an approachable style that will encourage readers to rethink their own memories of films and to reflect on the way that cinema contributes to collective and cultural memory. The book's innovative approach should transform the way that we think of film and its social effects.

Recenzje

"World Cinema and Cultural Memory is a treasure trove of evidence and analysis, providing a vital resource for anyone interested in changing the world. Its rich compendium of films from many parts of the world - some well known, others, undeservedly obscure - would alone make this book essential reading. ... Hedges deploys eight typologies of memory, each one associated with particular countries, bodies of cinematic or literary work, and those filmmakers, writers and political actors involved in carrying them out." (Mat Callahan, Socialism and Democracy, October, 2016)

Spis treści

Introduction 1. Living Memory: Representations Of Drancy 2. Amnesiac Memory: Hiroshima In Japanese Film 3. Convulsive Memory: The Spanish Civil War And Post-Franco Spain 4. Performative Memory: The Nakba And The Construction Of Identity In Palestinian Film 5. Radical Memory: Négritude, Anti-Colonial Struggles, And Cabral's 'Return To The Source' 6. Obstinate Memory: Chris Marker's And Patricio Guzmán's Pictures For A Revolution 7. Productive Memory: 'Forward Dreaming' In Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's Cuban Films 8. Reclaimed Memory: Worker Culture In The Former GDR And Peter Weiss's The Aesthetics Of Resistance Conclusion Bibliography

O autorze

Inez Hedges is the author of several books on cinema and culture that cover a wide range of 20th- and 21st-century issues, including the legacy of surrealism, the transformations of the Faust legend, and the role of cinema in peoples' on-going struggles for dignity and identity. She is Professor of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Northeastern University.