In what ways do films influence and interact with society? What social forces determine the kinds... more In what ways do films influence and interact with society? What social forces determine the kinds of movies that get made? How do movies reinforce-and sometimes overturn-social norms? As societies evolve, do the films that were once considered 'great' slip into obscurity? Which ones? Why? These questions, and many others like them, represent the mainstream of scholarly film studies today. In Engaging Cinema, Bill Nichols offers the first book for introductory film students that tackles these topics head-on. Published in a handy 'trade paperback' format, Engaging Cinema is inexpensive and utterly unique in the field-a perfect complement to or replacement for standard film texts.
The original Movies and Methods volume (1976) captured the dynamic evolution of film theory and c... more The original Movies and Methods volume (1976) captured the dynamic evolution of film theory and criticism into an important new discipline, incorporating methods from structuralism, semiotics, and feminist thought. Now there is again ferment in the field. Movies and Methods, Volume II, captures the developments that have given history and genre studies imaginative new models and indicates how feminist, structuralist, and psychoanalytic approaches to film have achieved fresh, valuable insights. In his thoughtful introduction, Nichols provides a context for the paradoxes that confront film studies today. He shows how shared methods and approaches continue to stimulate much of the best writing about film, points to common problems most critics and theorists have tried to resolve, and describes the internal contraditions that have restricted the usefulness of post-structuralism. Mini-introductions place each essay in a larger context and suggest its linkages with other essays in the vol...
In the currently heightened sense of political consequence in this presidential election year in ... more In the currently heightened sense of political consequence in this presidential election year in the United States, Mediascape “Meta” posed a series of questions to several scholars about the relationship among politics, media, and the academy. These questions were designed to prompt discussion, interpretation—even argument—as the respondents turned reflexively toward an examination of their own profession in the current political climate. As respondent and scholar Chuck Tryon observed in a preamble to his remarks, “In working through many of these questions and revisiting some of the scholarly debates that have informed them, I found myself questioning many of my most closely held assumptions about the role of the scholar both in the classroom and in the public sphere.”
In what ways do films influence and interact with society? What social forces determine the kinds... more In what ways do films influence and interact with society? What social forces determine the kinds of movies that get made? How do movies reinforce-and sometimes overturn-social norms? As societies evolve, do the films that were once considered 'great' slip into obscurity? Which ones? Why? These questions, and many others like them, represent the mainstream of scholarly film studies today. In Engaging Cinema, Bill Nichols offers the first book for introductory film students that tackles these topics head-on. Published in a handy 'trade paperback' format, Engaging Cinema is inexpensive and utterly unique in the field-a perfect complement to or replacement for standard film texts.
The original Movies and Methods volume (1976) captured the dynamic evolution of film theory and c... more The original Movies and Methods volume (1976) captured the dynamic evolution of film theory and criticism into an important new discipline, incorporating methods from structuralism, semiotics, and feminist thought. Now there is again ferment in the field. Movies and Methods, Volume II, captures the developments that have given history and genre studies imaginative new models and indicates how feminist, structuralist, and psychoanalytic approaches to film have achieved fresh, valuable insights. In his thoughtful introduction, Nichols provides a context for the paradoxes that confront film studies today. He shows how shared methods and approaches continue to stimulate much of the best writing about film, points to common problems most critics and theorists have tried to resolve, and describes the internal contraditions that have restricted the usefulness of post-structuralism. Mini-introductions place each essay in a larger context and suggest its linkages with other essays in the vol...
In the currently heightened sense of political consequence in this presidential election year in ... more In the currently heightened sense of political consequence in this presidential election year in the United States, Mediascape “Meta” posed a series of questions to several scholars about the relationship among politics, media, and the academy. These questions were designed to prompt discussion, interpretation—even argument—as the respondents turned reflexively toward an examination of their own profession in the current political climate. As respondent and scholar Chuck Tryon observed in a preamble to his remarks, “In working through many of these questions and revisiting some of the scholarly debates that have informed them, I found myself questioning many of my most closely held assumptions about the role of the scholar both in the classroom and in the public sphere.”
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