Studying contemporary American film
Subtitle: a guide to movie analysis
By: Thomas Elsaesser, Warren Buckland.
Contributors: Buckland, Warren.
Publisher: Arnold; Oxford University Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 309
Subjects: Film criticism.; Motion pictures -- Evaluation.; Motion pictures -- United States.
Description: How should the student set about analysing contemporary American cinema? This book takes an innovative approach to film analysis: each chapter examines the assumptions behind one traditional theory of film, distils a method of analysis from it, and then analyses a contemporary American movie. It then goes beyond the traditional theory by analysing the same movie using a more current theory and method. Traditional theories featured include mise en scene criticism, auteurism, structural analysis, narratology, studies of realism, psychoanalysis, and feminism. More current theories include new and post-Lacanian approaches to subjectivity, cognitivism, computerised statistical style analysis, the philosophy of modal logic, new media theory, and deconstruction. Films analysed include Chinatown, Die Hard, The Silence of the Lambs, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Back to the Future, Lost Highway, plus two European imitations of American filmmaking, The English Patient and The Fifth Element. All students of film and popular culture will find this book ideal preparation for writing clear, well-structured, detailed analysis of their favourite American movies
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [294]-302) and index.