Moving Pictures/Stopping Places by David B. Clarke

Mobility has long been a defining feature of modern societies, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the various 'stopping places'_hotels, motels, and the like_that this mobility presupposes. If the paradoxical qualities of fixed places dedicated to facilitating movement have been overlooked by a variety of commentators, film-makers have shown remarkable prescience and consistency in engaging with these 'still points' around which the world is made to turn. Hotels and motels play a central role in a multitude of films, ranging across an immensely wide variety of genres, eras, and national cinemas. Whereas previous film theorists have focused on the movement implied by road movies and similar genres, the outstanding contributions to this volume extend the recent engagement with space and place in film studies, providing a series of fascinating explorations of the cultural significance of stopping places, both on screen and off. Ranging from the mythical elegance of the Grand Hotel, through the uncanny spaces of the Bates motel, to Korean 'love motels,' the wealth of insights, from a variety of theoretical perspectives, that this volume delivers is set to change our understanding of the role played by stopping places in an increasingly fluid world.

About the Author
David B. Clarke is chair of human geography at Swansea University, Wales, UK. Valerie Crawford Pfannhauser is an independent film scholar in Vienna, Austria. Marcus A. Doel is a research chair of human geography at Swansea University, Wales, UK.

Reviews
Moving Pictures/Stopping Places should appeal to both the structuralists and the post-structuralists among us. The editors certainly extol the multiple discourses presented in the book...This is a book that one can dip into when looking for theoretical insights into particular accommodation spaces or to explore analysis that situates the hotel and motel at the intersection of both social imaginaries and lived realities....In reading Moving Pictures/Stopping Places those working within hospitality studies should be encouraged to question the borders and boundaries in which their own particular knowledge is sought and produced. As such, this book certainly fulfills the call in the initial editorial for this journal to 'share insights derived from various backgrounds, engage in vigorous debate and contribute to the intellectual possibilities for the investigation of hospitality'. If we are to do so, this book gainfully works towards and supports Lugosi's aim of challenging orthodox epistemology's within hospitality and tourism studies more broadly. Thus, and to paraphrase Levi-Strauss, Moving Pictures/Stopping Places is a book that (re)presents hotels and motels as 'good to think'. * Hospitality & Society *



Book Information
ISBN 9780739128558
Author David B. Clarke
Format Hardback
Page Count 400
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Lexington Books
Weight(grams) 760g
Dimensions(mm) 241mm * 162mm * 30mm