Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination

Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination

Author: Matthew Solomon

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2011-05-01

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1438435827

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"Best moving pictures I ever saw." Thus did one Vaudeville theater manager describe Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon [Le Voyage dans la lune], after it was screened for enthusiastic audiences in October 1902. Cinema's first true blockbuster, A Trip to the Moon still inspires such superlatives and continues to be widely viewed on DVD, on the Internet, and in countless film courses. In Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination, leading film scholars examine Méliès's landmark film in detail, demonstrating its many crucial connecions to literature, popular culture, and visual culture of the time, as well as its long "afterlife" in more recent films, television, and music videos. Together, these essays make clear that Méliès was not only a major filmmaker but also a key figure in the emergence of modern spectacle and the birth of the modern cinematic imagination, and by bringing interdisciplinary methodologies of early cinema studies to bear on A Trip to the Moon, the contributors also open up much larger questions about aesthetics, media, and modernity. In his introduction, Matthew Solomon traces the convoluted provenance of the film's multiple versions and its key place in the historiography of cinema, and an appendix contains a useful dossier of primary-source documents that contextualize the film's production, along with translations of two major articles written by Méliès himself.


Book Synopsis Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination by : Matthew Solomon

Download or read book Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination written by Matthew Solomon and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Best moving pictures I ever saw." Thus did one Vaudeville theater manager describe Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon [Le Voyage dans la lune], after it was screened for enthusiastic audiences in October 1902. Cinema's first true blockbuster, A Trip to the Moon still inspires such superlatives and continues to be widely viewed on DVD, on the Internet, and in countless film courses. In Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination, leading film scholars examine Méliès's landmark film in detail, demonstrating its many crucial connecions to literature, popular culture, and visual culture of the time, as well as its long "afterlife" in more recent films, television, and music videos. Together, these essays make clear that Méliès was not only a major filmmaker but also a key figure in the emergence of modern spectacle and the birth of the modern cinematic imagination, and by bringing interdisciplinary methodologies of early cinema studies to bear on A Trip to the Moon, the contributors also open up much larger questions about aesthetics, media, and modernity. In his introduction, Matthew Solomon traces the convoluted provenance of the film's multiple versions and its key place in the historiography of cinema, and an appendix contains a useful dossier of primary-source documents that contextualize the film's production, along with translations of two major articles written by Méliès himself.

Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination

Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination

Author: Matthew Solomon

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 9781441695451

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An authoritative and comprehensive guide to cinemas first true blockbuster.


Book Synopsis Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination by : Matthew Solomon

Download or read book Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination written by Matthew Solomon and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative and comprehensive guide to cinemas first true blockbuster.

Fiction and Imagination in Early Cinema

Fiction and Imagination in Early Cinema

Author: Mario Slugan

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-11-28

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1350115681

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When watching the latest instalment of Batman, it is perfectly normal to say that we see Batman fighting Bane or that we see Bruce Wayne making love to Miranda Tate. We would not say that we see Christian Bale dressed up as Batman going through the motions of punching Tom Hardy dressed up us Bane. Nor do we say that we see Christian Bale pretending to be Bruce Wayne making love with Marion Cotillard, who is playacting the role Miranda Tate. But if we look at the history of cinema and consider contemporary reviews from the early days of the medium, we see that people thought precisely in this way about early film. They spoke of film as no more than documentary recordings of actors performing on set. In an innovative combination of philosophical aesthetics and new cinema history, Mario Slugan investigates how our default imaginative engagement with film changed over the first two decades of cinema. It addresses not only the importance of imagination for the understanding of early cinema but also contributes to our understanding of what it means for a representational medium to produce fictions. Specifically, Slugan argues that cinema provides a better model for understanding fiction than literature.


Book Synopsis Fiction and Imagination in Early Cinema by : Mario Slugan

Download or read book Fiction and Imagination in Early Cinema written by Mario Slugan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-28 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When watching the latest instalment of Batman, it is perfectly normal to say that we see Batman fighting Bane or that we see Bruce Wayne making love to Miranda Tate. We would not say that we see Christian Bale dressed up as Batman going through the motions of punching Tom Hardy dressed up us Bane. Nor do we say that we see Christian Bale pretending to be Bruce Wayne making love with Marion Cotillard, who is playacting the role Miranda Tate. But if we look at the history of cinema and consider contemporary reviews from the early days of the medium, we see that people thought precisely in this way about early film. They spoke of film as no more than documentary recordings of actors performing on set. In an innovative combination of philosophical aesthetics and new cinema history, Mario Slugan investigates how our default imaginative engagement with film changed over the first two decades of cinema. It addresses not only the importance of imagination for the understanding of early cinema but also contributes to our understanding of what it means for a representational medium to produce fictions. Specifically, Slugan argues that cinema provides a better model for understanding fiction than literature.

The History of French Literature on Film

The History of French Literature on Film

Author: Kate Griffiths

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2020-12-24

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 1501311824

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French novels, plays, poems and short stories, however temporally or culturally distant from us, continue to be incarnated and reincarnated on cinema screens across the world. From the silent films of Georges Méliès to the Hollywood production of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary directed by Sophie Barthes, The History of French Literature on Film explores the key films, directors, and movements that have shaped the adaptation of works by French authors since the end of the 19th century. Across six chapters, Griffiths and Watts examine the factors that have driven this vibrant adaptive industry, as filmmakers have turned to literature in search of commercial profits, cultural legitimacy, and stories rich in dramatic potential. The volume also explains how the work of theorists from a variety of disciplines (literary theory, translation theory, adaptation theory), can help to deepen both our understanding and our appreciation of literary adaptation as a creative practice. Finally, this volume seeks to make clear that adaptation is never a simple transcription of an earlier literary work. It is always simultaneously an adaptation of the society and era for which it is created. Adaptations of French literature are thus not only valuable artistic artefacts in their own right, so too are they important historical documents which testify to the values and tastes of their own time.


Book Synopsis The History of French Literature on Film by : Kate Griffiths

Download or read book The History of French Literature on Film written by Kate Griffiths and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2020-12-24 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: French novels, plays, poems and short stories, however temporally or culturally distant from us, continue to be incarnated and reincarnated on cinema screens across the world. From the silent films of Georges Méliès to the Hollywood production of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary directed by Sophie Barthes, The History of French Literature on Film explores the key films, directors, and movements that have shaped the adaptation of works by French authors since the end of the 19th century. Across six chapters, Griffiths and Watts examine the factors that have driven this vibrant adaptive industry, as filmmakers have turned to literature in search of commercial profits, cultural legitimacy, and stories rich in dramatic potential. The volume also explains how the work of theorists from a variety of disciplines (literary theory, translation theory, adaptation theory), can help to deepen both our understanding and our appreciation of literary adaptation as a creative practice. Finally, this volume seeks to make clear that adaptation is never a simple transcription of an earlier literary work. It is always simultaneously an adaptation of the society and era for which it is created. Adaptations of French literature are thus not only valuable artistic artefacts in their own right, so too are they important historical documents which testify to the values and tastes of their own time.

Soviet Science Fiction Cinema and the Space Age

Soviet Science Fiction Cinema and the Space Age

Author: Natalija Majsova

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-04-28

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1793609322

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This book interrogates the relations between nostalgias of today and past utopias in the context of the space age of the 20th century and its cinematic representations in the USSR and in post-Soviet Russia. Once an enthusiastic projection, then a promising and uncanny present, and eventually an assemblage of nostalgic signifiers, in the history of world cinema, this space age has been linked primarily to the genre of science fiction. Here, aspects of the space age such as humanity’s imminent expansion to space, interplanetary travel, contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, and intergalactic governance and economy were both celebrated and critically interrogated as cosmopolitan ideals and nation-branding strategies. This book presents the contemporary relevance of this genre as heritage and legacy, archive and canon, and a nest of forgotten ideals and warnings, as well as nostalgic anchoring points. The author analyzes over 30 Soviet science fiction films, foregrounding their structures of utopia and their evolution over time, in order to trace both their transnational positionalities, transmedial resonance, and impact on post-Soviet Russian films about the space age. Concepts, crucial to the understanding of space futures of the past, such as utopianism, otherness, liminality, and no(w)stalgia are activated to draw out the fictional tenants of the memory of the Soviet space age, and to establish the limits and potentialities of Soviet (exra)terraformative ambitions.


Book Synopsis Soviet Science Fiction Cinema and the Space Age by : Natalija Majsova

Download or read book Soviet Science Fiction Cinema and the Space Age written by Natalija Majsova and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-04-28 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book interrogates the relations between nostalgias of today and past utopias in the context of the space age of the 20th century and its cinematic representations in the USSR and in post-Soviet Russia. Once an enthusiastic projection, then a promising and uncanny present, and eventually an assemblage of nostalgic signifiers, in the history of world cinema, this space age has been linked primarily to the genre of science fiction. Here, aspects of the space age such as humanity’s imminent expansion to space, interplanetary travel, contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, and intergalactic governance and economy were both celebrated and critically interrogated as cosmopolitan ideals and nation-branding strategies. This book presents the contemporary relevance of this genre as heritage and legacy, archive and canon, and a nest of forgotten ideals and warnings, as well as nostalgic anchoring points. The author analyzes over 30 Soviet science fiction films, foregrounding their structures of utopia and their evolution over time, in order to trace both their transnational positionalities, transmedial resonance, and impact on post-Soviet Russian films about the space age. Concepts, crucial to the understanding of space futures of the past, such as utopianism, otherness, liminality, and no(w)stalgia are activated to draw out the fictional tenants of the memory of the Soviet space age, and to establish the limits and potentialities of Soviet (exra)terraformative ambitions.

Militarizing Outer Space

Militarizing Outer Space

Author: Alexander C.T. Geppert

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-12-02

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 1349958514

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Militarizing Outer Space explores the dystopian and destructive dimensions of the Space Age and challenges conventional narratives of a bipolar Cold War rivalry. Concentrating on weapons, warfare and vio​lence, this provocative volume examines real and imagined endeavors of arming the skies and conquering the heavens. The third and final volume in the groundbreaking ​European Astroculture trilogy, ​Militarizing Outer Space zooms in on the interplay between security, technopolitics and knowledge from the 1920s through the 1980s. Often hailed as the site of heavenly utopias and otherworldly salvation, outer space transformed from a promised sanctuary to a present threat, where the battles of the future were to be waged. Astroculture proved instrumental in fathoming forms and functions of warfare’s futures past, both on earth and in space. The allure of dominating outer space, the book shows, was neither limited to the early twenty-first century nor to current American space force rhetorics.


Book Synopsis Militarizing Outer Space by : Alexander C.T. Geppert

Download or read book Militarizing Outer Space written by Alexander C.T. Geppert and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-12-02 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Militarizing Outer Space explores the dystopian and destructive dimensions of the Space Age and challenges conventional narratives of a bipolar Cold War rivalry. Concentrating on weapons, warfare and vio​lence, this provocative volume examines real and imagined endeavors of arming the skies and conquering the heavens. The third and final volume in the groundbreaking ​European Astroculture trilogy, ​Militarizing Outer Space zooms in on the interplay between security, technopolitics and knowledge from the 1920s through the 1980s. Often hailed as the site of heavenly utopias and otherworldly salvation, outer space transformed from a promised sanctuary to a present threat, where the battles of the future were to be waged. Astroculture proved instrumental in fathoming forms and functions of warfare’s futures past, both on earth and in space. The allure of dominating outer space, the book shows, was neither limited to the early twenty-first century nor to current American space force rhetorics.

Cinema of Exploration

Cinema of Exploration

Author: James Leo Cahill

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-12-29

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 042989032X

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Drawing together 18 contributions from leading international scholars, this book conceptualizes the history and theory of cinema’s century-long relationship to modes of exploration in its many forms, from colonialist expeditions to decolonial radical cinemas to the perceptual voyage of the senses made possible by the cinematic apparatus. This is the first anthology dedicated to analysing cinema’s relationship to exploration from a global, decolonial, and ecological perspective. Featuring leading scholars working with pathbreaking interdisciplinary methodologies (drawing on insights from science and technology studies, postcolonial theory, indigenous ways of knowing, and film theory and history), it theorizes not only cinema’s implication in imperial conquest but also its cutting-edge role in empirical expansion and experiments in sensual and critical perception. The collected essays consider filmmaking in cross-cultural contexts and films made in or about peoples in South America, Asia, Africa, Indigenous North America, as well as polar, outer space, and underwater exploration, with famous figures such as Jacques Yves Cousteau alongside amateur and scientific filmmakers. The essays in this collection are ideal for a broad range of scholars, graduate students, and advanced undergraduate students in cinema and media studies, cultural studies, and cognate fields.


Book Synopsis Cinema of Exploration by : James Leo Cahill

Download or read book Cinema of Exploration written by James Leo Cahill and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-29 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing together 18 contributions from leading international scholars, this book conceptualizes the history and theory of cinema’s century-long relationship to modes of exploration in its many forms, from colonialist expeditions to decolonial radical cinemas to the perceptual voyage of the senses made possible by the cinematic apparatus. This is the first anthology dedicated to analysing cinema’s relationship to exploration from a global, decolonial, and ecological perspective. Featuring leading scholars working with pathbreaking interdisciplinary methodologies (drawing on insights from science and technology studies, postcolonial theory, indigenous ways of knowing, and film theory and history), it theorizes not only cinema’s implication in imperial conquest but also its cutting-edge role in empirical expansion and experiments in sensual and critical perception. The collected essays consider filmmaking in cross-cultural contexts and films made in or about peoples in South America, Asia, Africa, Indigenous North America, as well as polar, outer space, and underwater exploration, with famous figures such as Jacques Yves Cousteau alongside amateur and scientific filmmakers. The essays in this collection are ideal for a broad range of scholars, graduate students, and advanced undergraduate students in cinema and media studies, cultural studies, and cognate fields.

After Apollo

After Apollo

Author: J Bret Bennington

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2023-06-13

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 168340369X

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Exploring the impacts of NASA’s space program on American society and culture After Apollo explores how NASA’s space program impacted American society during and after the race to the Moon, looking back at the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing from the perspective of the present day. Centering on the human dimension of spaceflight, this multidisciplinary book contains chapters that address the effects of the space race on science, politics, art, fashion, and popular culture. Several essays cover themes that directly touch on the space program itself, such as the sheer improbability of the Moon landing, the hidden chemistry behind human spaceflight, and the critical role played by immigrants in making space exploration a reality. Others consider societal repercussions, such as how immense space expenditures drew attention to underfunded social programs and paved the way for Great Society social legislation, as well as how cultural narratives of exploration and the frontier evolved as the program’s goals changed. Many of the authors look at the interplay between art and space exploration, beginning with the role of popular entertainment in selling spaceflight to the public. Showcasing the work of contributors representing diverse areas of study, After Apollo details the many and varied human impacts and cultural spin-offs that came to pass as the mythology and eventual reality of space travel permeated American society. Contributors: J Bret Bennington | Matthew H. Hersch | Rodney F. Hill | Rosanna Perotti | Chris Robinson | Patricia Rossi | Sabrina Sobel | James Spiller | Allison Whitney | Julie Wosk


Book Synopsis After Apollo by : J Bret Bennington

Download or read book After Apollo written by J Bret Bennington and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2023-06-13 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the impacts of NASA’s space program on American society and culture After Apollo explores how NASA’s space program impacted American society during and after the race to the Moon, looking back at the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing from the perspective of the present day. Centering on the human dimension of spaceflight, this multidisciplinary book contains chapters that address the effects of the space race on science, politics, art, fashion, and popular culture. Several essays cover themes that directly touch on the space program itself, such as the sheer improbability of the Moon landing, the hidden chemistry behind human spaceflight, and the critical role played by immigrants in making space exploration a reality. Others consider societal repercussions, such as how immense space expenditures drew attention to underfunded social programs and paved the way for Great Society social legislation, as well as how cultural narratives of exploration and the frontier evolved as the program’s goals changed. Many of the authors look at the interplay between art and space exploration, beginning with the role of popular entertainment in selling spaceflight to the public. Showcasing the work of contributors representing diverse areas of study, After Apollo details the many and varied human impacts and cultural spin-offs that came to pass as the mythology and eventual reality of space travel permeated American society. Contributors: J Bret Bennington | Matthew H. Hersch | Rodney F. Hill | Rosanna Perotti | Chris Robinson | Patricia Rossi | Sabrina Sobel | James Spiller | Allison Whitney | Julie Wosk

Italian Cinema from the Silent Screen to the Digital Image

Italian Cinema from the Silent Screen to the Digital Image

Author: Joseph Luzzi

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2020-02-20

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 144114756X

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In this comprehensive guide, some of the world's leading scholars consider the issues, films, and filmmakers that have given Italian cinema its enduring appeal. Readers will explore the work of such directors as Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Roberto Rossellini as well as a host of subjects including the Italian silent screen, the political influence of Fascism on the movies, lesser known genres such as the giallo (horror film) and Spaghetti Western, and the role of women in the Italian film industry. Italian Cinema from the Silent Screen to the Digital Image explores recent developments in cinema studies such as digital performance, the role of media and the Internet, neuroscience in film criticism, and the increased role that immigrants are playing in the nation's cinema.


Book Synopsis Italian Cinema from the Silent Screen to the Digital Image by : Joseph Luzzi

Download or read book Italian Cinema from the Silent Screen to the Digital Image written by Joseph Luzzi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive guide, some of the world's leading scholars consider the issues, films, and filmmakers that have given Italian cinema its enduring appeal. Readers will explore the work of such directors as Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Roberto Rossellini as well as a host of subjects including the Italian silent screen, the political influence of Fascism on the movies, lesser known genres such as the giallo (horror film) and Spaghetti Western, and the role of women in the Italian film industry. Italian Cinema from the Silent Screen to the Digital Image explores recent developments in cinema studies such as digital performance, the role of media and the Internet, neuroscience in film criticism, and the increased role that immigrants are playing in the nation's cinema.

New Silent Cinema

New Silent Cinema

Author: Katherine Groo

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-09-16

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 1317819446

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With the success of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (2011) and Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist (2011) nothing seems more contemporary in recent film than the styles, forms, and histories of early and silent cinemas. This collection considers the latest return to silent film alongside the larger historical field of visual repetitions and affective currents that wind their way through 20th and 21st century visual cultures. Contributors bring together several fields of research, including early and silent cinema studies, experimental and new media, historiography and archive theory, and studies of media ontology and epistemology. Chapters link the methods, concerns, and concepts of early and silent film studies as they have flourished over the last quarter century to the most recent developments in digital culture—from YouTube to 3D—recasting this contemporary phenomenon in popular culture and new media against key debates and concepts in silent film scholarship. An interview with acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin closes out the collection.


Book Synopsis New Silent Cinema by : Katherine Groo

Download or read book New Silent Cinema written by Katherine Groo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-09-16 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the success of Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (2011) and Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist (2011) nothing seems more contemporary in recent film than the styles, forms, and histories of early and silent cinemas. This collection considers the latest return to silent film alongside the larger historical field of visual repetitions and affective currents that wind their way through 20th and 21st century visual cultures. Contributors bring together several fields of research, including early and silent cinema studies, experimental and new media, historiography and archive theory, and studies of media ontology and epistemology. Chapters link the methods, concerns, and concepts of early and silent film studies as they have flourished over the last quarter century to the most recent developments in digital culture—from YouTube to 3D—recasting this contemporary phenomenon in popular culture and new media against key debates and concepts in silent film scholarship. An interview with acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin closes out the collection.