Studying Contemporary American Film by Thomas Elsaesser (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

How should the student set about analysing contemporary American cinema? This book takes an innovative approach to film analysis: each chapter examines the assumptions behind one traditional theory of film, distils a method of analysis from it, and then analyses a contemporary American movie. It then goes beyond the traditional theory by analysing the same movie using a more current theory and method. Traditional theories featured include mise en scene criticism, auteurism, structural analysis, narratology, studies of realism, psychoanalysis, and feminism. More current theories include new and post-Lacanian approaches to subjectivity, cognitivism, computerised statistical style analysis, the philosophy of modal logic, new media theory, and deconstruction. Films analysed include Chinatown, Die Hard, The Silence of the Lambs, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Back to the Future, Lost Highway, plus two European imitations of American filmmaking, The English Patient and The Fifth Element. All students of film and popular culture will find this book ideal preparation for writing clear, well-structured, detailed analysis of their favourite American movies.

Thomas Elsaesser is one of the world's leading film scholars; Warren Buckland is the author of the best-selling Teach Yourself Film Studies Offers a striking new perspective on film analysis up-to-the-minute introduction to the theories of film, culture and media studies

About the Author
Thomas Elsaesser, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Warren Buckland, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Reviews
'An excellently organised book. The writing style is clear, but with an academic tone.' Plugincinema.com



Book Information
ISBN 9780340762066
Author Thomas Elsaesser
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Hodder Arnold
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 21mm