Celebrity culture has a pervasive presence in our everyday lives - perhaps more so than ever before. It shapes not simply the production and consumption of media content, but also the social values through which we experience the world. This collection analyzes this phenomenon, bringing together essays which explore celebrity across a range of media, cultural and political contexts.
The authors interrogate topics such as the intimacy of fame, political celebrity, stardom in American "quality" television (Sarah Jessica Parker), celebrity reality tv (I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!),...

Celebrity culture has a pervasive presence in our everyday lives - perhaps more so than ever before. It shapes not simply the production and consumption of media content but also the social values through which we experience the world. This collection analyses this phenomenon, bringing together essays which explore celebrity across a range of media, cultural and political contexts.

The authors investigate topics such as the intimacy of fame, political celebrity, stardom in American 'quality' television (Sarah Jessica Parker), celebrity 'reality' TV (I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me...

"This welcome addition to the literature on fame goes beyond goes beyond stardom--though Redmond and Holmes cover that topic well--to discuss stardom and celebrity in general."
--A.L. Knight, CHOICE

This book brings together some of the seminal interventions which have structured the development of star/celebrity studies, while crucially combining and situating these within the context of new essays which address the contemporary, cross-media and international landscape of today's fame culture. At the core of the collection is a...

Kathryn Bigelow has undoubtedly been one of Hollywood's most significant female players, well known in popular terms for films such as Point Break and Blue Steel, yet relatively unexplored in academia. Soundbites about women and guns and speculation about the role of ex-husband James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic) in her career have often helped obscure rather than elucidate an understanding of her work. This collection explores how Bigelow can be seen to provide a point of intersection to a whole range of issues at the forefront of contemporary film studies and of the...

Kathryn Bigelow has undoubtedly been one of Hollywood's most significant female players, well known in popular terms for films such as Point Break and Blue Steel, yet relatively unexplored in academia. Soundbites about women and guns and speculation about the role of ex-husband James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic) in her career have often helped obscure rather than elucidate an understanding of her work. This collection explores how Bigelow can be seen to provide a point of intersection to a whole range of issues at the forefront of contemporary film studies and of the...

Liquid Metal brings together 'seminal' essays that have opened up the study of science fiction to serious critical interrogation. Eight distinct sections cover such topics as the cyborg in science fiction; the science fiction city; time travel and the primal scene; science fiction fandom; and the 1950s invasion narratives. Important writings by Susan Sontag, Vivian Sobchack, Steve Neale, J.P. Telotte, Peter Biskind and Constance Penley are included.

Specially written for students of Fflm and media studies, Studying The Wicker Man explores the sophistication and ingenuity of this unique film by considering: The games it plays with notions of genre and narrativeIts representations of setting, gender and the common attitudes and concerns of its dayThe journey it has taken from its treatment by the industry institutions that originally tried to sell it, to its gradual acceptance and reappraisal by modern audiences

Gladiator was one of the great commercial successes of the early twenty-first century, a fascinating example of how an old genre can be resuscitated for a new generation. The film's story is not complex yet the ways in which it is told says much about mainstream narrative techniques. And beneath its action-packed scenes and richly detailed sets, Gladiator carries specific values and messages which deserve close scrutiny. In Studying Gladiator, Sandy Irvine considers:

Film language - how Gladiator overcomes incredulity with compelling use of sound, costume and...

The story of The Usual Suspects has the kind of "rags to riches" back story that makes not only the film itself, but the tale of its creation a tale worth telling. Inspired by a magazine headline, it was a poster before it was a screenplay, yet it stands in opposition to the High Concept Hollywood movie. Studying The Usual Suspects is an analysis of a film that is both a ripping yarn and an exercise in virtuoso technique. Author Judith Gunn offers: a thorough introduction to semiotics as a way of approaching the multiple meanings of the film; a consideration of the film's noir...

Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner is now widely recognized as an undisputed masterwork of science fiction cinema and one of the most influential films released in the last forty years. Yet on its original release it was both a critical and commercial failure, criticized for its perceived prioritizing of style over content and a narrative that did not deliver the anticipated high octane action that its star casting and large budget normally promise. How did a film that was removed from circulation within a month of its premiere come to mean so much to modern audiences and provide...