Kategoria BISAC: Performing Arts >> Film - General

Following in the successful wake of The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres, The Dukes of Hazzard debuted in January 1979 and quickly became a staple of CBS-TV's Friday night lineup. With its wild mix of wacky car chases and spectacular vehicle wrecks, bumbling sheriffs, greedy politicians, and its rambunctious lead players (the Duke boys and curvaceous Daisy Duke), it's little wonder the program developed such a strong and loyal viewership.

This is the first book devoted to the genesis and production of the hit program, tracing its 1970s origin through to its...

From Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Gehring presents a compelling theory of the black comedy film genre. Placing the movies he discusses in a historical and literary context, Gehring explores the genre's obession with death and the characters' failure to be shocked by it. Movies discussed include: Slaughterhouse Five, Catch-2, Clockwork Orange, Harold and Maude, Heathers, and Natural Born Killers.

Parody is the least appreciated of all film comedy genres and receives little serious attention, even among film fans. This study elevates parody to mainstream significance. A historical overview places the genre in context, and a number of basic parody components, which better define the genre and celebrate its value, are examined. Parody is differentiated from satire, and the two parody types, traditional and reaffirmation, are explained. Chapters study the most spoofed genre in American parody history, the Western; pantheon members of American Film Comedy such as The Marx Brothers, W....

One of the most fascinating aspects of film studies is how it can explain more about the nature of closed societies. In Eastern Europe, artists, intellectuals, and entertainers are now free to create film outside the direct control of the state. This unique handbook convincingly shows how much film art was still being produced behind the Iron Curtain even during such repressive periods as those under Stalin and Brezhnev. Thomas J. Slater has compiled a valuable history of cinematic evolution in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe through the use of detailed historiographical essays for...

An annotated filmography of more than 3,000 entries each focusing on the film's Hispanic content, connection, or characters. Four separate indexes, more than 6,000 cross references, and as many film reviews make this work an invaluable reference tool for students, scholars, and individuals interested in studying silver screen stereotyping. This work completes Richard's three-volume documentation of how the domestic and international film industry contributed to stereotyping America's Hispanic community by detailing the contemporary return of the despicable Hispanic character.

Employing...

One hundred years after his creation by Bram Stoker, Dracula is still fascinating us. This study traces the changing nature of film representations of Dracula, from the early silent adaptations to recent popular dramas. Holte suggests that vampire films and Dracula adaptations have become an independent genre, the dark romance, with its own set of narrative conventions and audience expectations combining horror and eroticism. This engaging study provides readers with a natural history of the vampire, an examination of the work of Bram Stoker, a history and analysis of many film...

The American Left has produced a rich and varied cultural tradition that was largely suppressed during the Cold War but whose influence on the larger society has always been significant. Much of this tradition found its expression in film and despite the suppression of overtly leftist content in most Hollywood films, there is still a substantial amount of leftist material in American movies. Booker's study gives the attention to the films of the American Left that they have long deserved by examining the full range of their history. Such well known directors as Charlie Chaplin, Orson...

The influence of science fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft is widely felt in modern literature; authors from Robert E. Howard to Stephen King can claim him as their ancestor. But cinema too has seen Lovecraft's impact, and author Charles Mitchell offers here a comprehensive guide to the dozens of films that are representative of this influence. Mitchell studies the films in detail, analyzing the major Lovecraft elements and examining the fidelity of the films to the original works. Amateur films as well as television productions and foreign cinema, are included in Mitchell's scrutiny,...

This comprehensive annotated bibliography reviews nearly 500 English-language studies published between 1915 and 2001 that examine the depiction of ethnic, racial, and national groups as portrayed in United States feature films from the inception of cinema through the present. Coverage includes books, reference works, book chapters within larger works, and individual essays from collections and anthologies. Concise annotations provide content summaries; unique features; major films and filmmakers discussed; and useful information on related titles, purpose, and intended readership. The...

From the 1920s and 1930s, when American cinema depicted the South as a demi-paradise populated by wealthy landowners, glamorous belles, and happy slaves, through later, more realistic depictions of the region in films based on works by Erskine Caldwell, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Robert Penn Warren, Hollywood's view of the South has been as ever-changing as the place itself. This comprehensive reference guide to Southern films offers credits, plot descriptions, and analyses of how the stereotypes and characterizations in each film contribute to our understanding of a most...

This completely revised edition of Film School Confidential continues to offer the inside scoop on every major film school program in the country. A must-have guide for students who are considering applying to film school, this book provides more than 20 profiles of the best film school programs across the country. Covering such key areas as curriculum, student body, reputation, and employment options for film school grads, the authors provide solid, objective information...

"Written with unequivocal enthusiasm for film, feminism and theory, "Women and Film" is a welcome and useful guide to a complex area."--"The Arts"