Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema: Resonance Between Realms / Альтернативные миры в голливудском кино: Резонанс между мирами
Год издания: 2008
Автор: Walters J. / Уолтерс Дж.
Издательство: Intellect; 1 edition (1 July 2008)
ISBN: 978-1841502021
Язык: Английский
Формат: PDF
Качество: Издательский макет или текст (eBook)
Количество страниц: 224
Описание: "Альтернативные миры в голливудском кино: Резонанс между мирами" Джеймса Уолтерса (издание на английском языке).
Alternative worlds in films such as The Wizard of Oz, It’s a Wonderful Life, Donnie Darko and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind offer similarities and resonances to our world, but provide a way for filmmakers to address the human condition by forming a sincere and serious connection with everyday life. An illuminating new book explores the history, background and meaning of films that feature alternative worlds – films in which characters cross back and forth between another world and our own, which bring out correspondences and resonances between the worlds they depict. The popularity of such films suggests a need to engage with important themes during troubling times, as well as to be entertained and transported, says author James Walters – rather than merely constituting part of the wider trend of adults finding comfort in books and films ostensibly for children. The films discussed in the book use the fantasy of an alternative world to debate a series of universal conditions associated with human experience: insecurity, ambition, loneliness, apprehension, bravery, vanity, inarticulateness, anxiety, ambiguity, introversion, love, and so on. Because these films are often viewed as Hollywood ‘product’ they don’t always have the intellectual cachet of European films dealing with similar themes, but Walters suggests that there is complexity and depth behind these superficially light films. Traditionally, Realist cinema has dealt with weighty issues, but increasingly films featuring alternative worlds offer an engaging way of dealing with ‘serious’ content and issues. In each of the films discussed the flight from the real world results in characters having to face reality again, equipped with new knowledge and experience, enabling them to find a way of living there from that day on.
Product description
About the Author
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James Walters is a Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of Birmingham.
Review
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"The book is very readable . . . an important area of film study. The most original aspects of the book are the close readings of the films discussed and how these readings cohere across a single thesis."--Pat Brereton, Dublin City University, author of Hollywood Utopia
Synopsis
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The use of alternate realities in cinema has been brought to new heights by such recent films as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Donnie Darko". "Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema" is the first book to analyze these imaginary realms, tracing their construction and development across periods, genres, and history. Through an analysis of such landmark films as "The Wizard of Oz", "The Others" and "Groundhog Day", James Walters reveals how unconventional worlds are crucial to each film's dramatic agenda and narrative structure. This groundbreaking volume unifies decades of divergent work by film scholars and points the way towards a new theoretical framework for understanding fantasy in the context of popular film. "Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema" will be an essential resource for film studies scholars and movie buffs alike.
