By Xavier Aldana Reyes
January 03, 2020
Arguing for the need to understand Gothic cinema as an aesthetic mode, this book explores its long history, from its transitional origins in phantasmagoria shows and the first ‘trick’ films to its postmodern fragmentation in the Gothic pastiches of Tim Burton. But what is Gothic cinema? Is the ...
By Steven Cohan
October 01, 2019
Hollywood Musicals offers an insightful account of a genre that was once a mainstay of twentieth-century film production and continues to draw audiences today. What is a film musical? How do musicals work, formally and culturally? Why have they endured since the introduction of sound in the late ...
By John White
November 01, 2016
European art cinema includes some of the most famous films in cinema history. It is elite filmmaking that stands in direct opposition to popular cinema; and yet, it also has an intimate relationship with Hollywood. This guidebook sketches successive phases of art cinema in Europe from its early ...
By Alexandra Keller
September 27, 2006
Featuring excerpts from interviews and frame-by-frame analysis of important scenes from films such as Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic, Alexandra Keller provides the first critical study of James Cameron as an auteur. Considering in particular his treatment of gender and preoccupation ...
By Tejaswini Ganti
February 13, 2013
'Bollywood' is the dominant global term to refer to the prolific Hindi language film industry in Bombay (renamed Mumbai in 1995). Characterised by music, dance routines, melodrama, lavish production values and an emphasis on stars and spectacle, Bollywood films have met with box-office success and ...
By Dr Mark Bould
June 12, 2012
Science Fiction explores the genre from 1895 to the present day, drawing on examples from over forty countries. It raises questions about the relationship between science fiction, science and technology, and examines the interrelationships between spectacle, narrative and self-reflexivity, paying ...
By Sarah Casey Benyahia
November 17, 2011
Crime films have, since the earliest days of cinema, been popular with audiences, industry and critics alike and encompassed a diverse range of subjects, styles and themes. The genre provides a range of pleasures for the spectator, from taking on the role of the detective in the pursuit of clues in...
By Jacqueline Furby, Claire Hines
September 02, 2011
Fantasy addresses a previously neglected area within film studies. The book looks at the key aesthetics, themes, debates and issues at work within this popular genre and examines films and franchises that illustrate these concerns. Contemporary case studies include: Alice in Wonderland (2010) ...
By John White
November 25, 2010
It is a common assertion that the history of America is written in its Westerns, but how true is this? In this guidebook John White discusses the evolution of the Western through history and looks at theoretical and critical approaches to Westerns such as genre analysis, semiotics, ...
By David Saunders
April 21, 2010
Dave Saunders’ spirited introduction to documentary covers its history, cultural context and development, and the approaches, controversies and functions pertaining to non-fiction filmmaking. Saunders examines the many methods by which documentary conveys meaning, whilst exploring its differing ...
By Claire Mortimer
March 26, 2010
Romantic comedy is an enduringly popular genre which has maintained its appeal by constantly evolving, from the screwball comedy to the recent emergence of the bromance. Romantic Comedy examines the history of the genre, considering the social and cultural context for key developments in new genre...
By Jennifer Fay, Justus Nieland
November 13, 2009
The term "film noir" still conjures images of a uniquely American malaise: hard-boiled detectives, fatal women, and the shadowy hells of urban life. But from its beginnings, film noir has been an international phenomenon, and its stylistic icons have migrated across the complex geo-political ...
