Smart Cinema, DVD Add-Ons and New Audience Pleasures

ISBN-13: 9780230282773 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 256 str.

Pat Brereton;Brereton

Opis

This volume contains a set of stateoftheart essays by younger philosophers on various topics in the philosophy of action. Some of the essays are about the metaphysics of action and agency; some consider the nature of autonomy and free agency; some explore conceptual and normative issues, some draw on data from psychology and psychopathology. But what all of them have in common is that they address some problem related to our existence as human agents. The range of topics covered is this collection is broad. This is intentional. Rather than focus on one narrow topic in the philosophy of action, this volume brings together papers that, taken together, introduce readers to some key debates in contemporary philosophy of action. Readers new to the field should come away from the volume with a good sense of the stateoftheart with respect to current thinking about human action and agency. For their part, established researchers in the field will find the essays to be original contributions that substantially advance many debates about action and agency.

Recenzje

'This book is using 'smart' in at least three ways in relation to cinema: first, in taking up ideas on smart films and their audiences, particularly as these have been articulated by Jeffrey Sconce, as the best way of thinking about a wide range of mostly independent films that rely and play on an assumed advanced cinematic literacy in their audience; second, in relation to the bonus material provided on DVDs, which constitutes not merely a form of marketing but also and more interestingly an educational resource and a site of additional pleasurable engagement with the films that it accompanies; and third, in thinking about the use of digital technologies at all levels of the film industry, including in relation to the nature and organization of content (narrative) that emphasize similarities with newer digital forms such as computer games. All these sense of smart are in play in the book, which makes a particular claim to originality in its focus on DVD add-ons.' - Denis Condon, National University of Ireland

'Through accessible and insightful close readings, Smart Cinema brings together movies from different countries, genres, and directors in order to show how how these films participate in the wider cultures of cinephilia. Brereton is especially sharp in his assessment of the role of DVD extras in promoting new modes of cinematic storytelling.'

- Chuck Tryon, Fayetteville State University, USA

'From Donnie Darko to Pixar, this is a fascinating and timely overview of 21st Century western cinema's defining feature: its smartness. Brereton gives new insights into the digital technologies, complex storytelling and savvy audiences that typify film culture today, through accessible analyses of Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Be Kind Rewind, In Bruges, Inception and many others. As smart as the films it studies.'

- Ernest Mathijs, University of British Columbia, Canada

Spis treści

Acknowledgements Setting out the Parameters of Smart Cinema, New Technology and DVD Add-ons Postmodernism: Parody and Smart Cinema Independent New Smart Creatives and Niche Marketing Smart Cult Classics European Art and Smart Cinema Smart Irish Comedy Social Realism and Contemporary British Smart Cinema Smart Green Animation Smart SFX and Science Fiction Smart Post-9/11 Narratives Conclusions and Future Research Appendix 1 – History of DVDs Appendix 2 – Bonus Features Used in Book Bibliography Index

O autorze

PAT BRERETON Senior Lecturer and Associate Dean of Research in the School of Communications at Dublin City University, Ireland. His previous publications include Hollywood Utopia: Ecology in Contemporary American Cinema (2005), and A Historical Dictionary of Irish Cinema (co-edited, 2007). His work has also been widely published in journals.