Me and You and Memento and Fargo How Independent Screenplays Work

by Murphy, J.J.

• ISBN13: 9780826428059
• ISBN10: 0826428053
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-03-15
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

An enormous burst of creative production has recently emerged from American "independent" filmmakers. From Stranger than Paradise (1984) and Slacker (1991) to Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), indie cinema has become part of mainstream American culture. But what makes these films independent? Me and You and Memento and Fargo argues that the American independent feature film from the 1980s to the present has developed a distinct approach to filmmaking, centering on new conceptions of cinematic storytelling. One consequence of this is to show the uniqueness of this phenomenon by positioning it as a hybrid form that exists somewhere between the classical Hollywood tradition and "art cinema."

Table of Contents

Problematic protagonists	p. 25
The ambivalent protagonist in Stranger than paradise	p. 27
The passive protagonist in Safe	p. 46
Shifting protagonists in Fargo	p. 65
Multiple-plot films	p. 85
Multiple plots and subplots in Trust	p. 87
Shifting goals and plotlines in Gas food lodging	p. 105
The ensemble structure of Me and you and everyone we know	p. 123
Temporal structures	p. 141
The flashback structure of Reservoir dogs	p. 143
The temporal complexity of Elephant	p. 162
Memento as puzzle film	p. 180
Noncausal structures	p. 199
Dream logic and Mulholland Dr	p. 201
Free association and Gummo	p. 220
The character-driven structure of Slacker	p. 238
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.