An Introduction to World Cinema

by Gazetas, Aristides

• ISBN13: 9780786439072
• ISBN10: 0786439076
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-09
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing

Summary

Motion pictures are more than just entertainment. In film studies courses in colleges and universities worldwide, students and professors explore the social, political, technological and historical implications of cinema. This textbook provides two things: the history of film as an art form and an analysis of its impact on society and politics. Chapters are arranged chronologically, covering the major developments in film, like the advent of talkies or the French New Wave. Each era is examined in the context of several exemplary films commonly viewed in film studies courses. Thus students can watch Birth of a Nation and Intolerance while studying the innovations made by D.W. Griffith from 1910 to 1919. The scope is global, embracing the cinematic traditions of Asia, Latin America and Africa, as well as the all-important American and European output. Thoughtful articles from film scholars are included. The flexible structure of the text allows a variety of options for classroom use or personal study.

Author Biography

Over a 30 year teaching career, Aristides Gazetas has also designed a graduate film studies program, written courses on international cinema and film history, and directed numerous productions of classic and modern plays. He lives in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 1
Introduction	p. 5
The Invention of Motion Pictures: 1895-1910	p. 11
Early Narratives and the Nickelodeons	p. 21
D. W. Griffith and Cinematic Language: 1910-1919	p. 31
UFA and the German Studio System: 1919-1925	p. 41
Critical Essay: "Caligari"	p. 51
The Impact of D. W. Griffith on Soviet Montage: 1919-1925	p. 62
The French Avant-Garde Tradition and Surrealism	p. 76
Hollywood Silent Films in the Jazz Age: 1919-1929	p. 86
Hollywood and the Sound Films of the 1930s	p. 100
French Cinema of the 1930s	p. 109
Critical Essay: "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema"	p. 119
The Hollywood Golden Years: 1930-1945	p. 128
Italian Neorealist Cinema: 1945-1954	p. 141
Critical Essay: "Some Ideas on the Cinema"	p. 151
Hollywood at War and Postwar Paranoia: 1940-1954	p. 159
Postwar Japanese Cinema: 1950-1990	p. 169
Hollywood in Transition and Decline: 1955-1962	p. 179
Symbolist Traditions in the Cinema: 1950s-1970s	p. 190
The French New Wave, Part One: 1957-1968	p. 202
The French New Wave, Part Two: 1959-1980	p. 211
Critical Essay: "L'Annee derniere a Marienbad: The Narration of Narration"	p. 219
Postwar British New Cinema: 1956-1972	p. 228
The Italian Cinema of Fellini and Antonioni	p. 237
Hollywood Revival and the Anti-Myth Era: 1964-1976	p. 248
Critical Essay: "Blow-Up, Swinging London, and the Film Generation"	p. 259
New Italian Cinema of Pasolini and Bertolucci	p. 265
New German Cinema	p. 275
American Auteurs: Allen, Altman and Coppola	p. 282
Revisiting Genre Films in the 1980s and 1990s	p. 294
Third Cinema and Post-Colonial Narratives in Africa, Latin America and Asia	p. 306
Critical Essay: "From a Hybrid Place"	p. 315
Revisioning History: Contesting Colonialism	p. 323
Contemporary Canadian Filmmakers: 1987-2007	p. 335
Cultural Politics: Contemporary Inquiries into a "War on Terrorism"	p. 344
Index	p. 355
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