Three Hollywood Stalwarts in Literature

A Study in Film Perception Through References to Peck, Mitchum and Holden

Henryk Hoffmann

This book focuses on the perception of the names, personae, performances and films of three Hollywood megastars, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and William Holden, as presented in the references and allusions encountered in American and foreign literature. Its secondary aim is to establish the ‘impact factor’ of the three actors and their major films and provide extensive data for further studies on the complex and bilateral relationships between film and literature. The pertinent quotations in ‘Three Hollywood Stalwarts in Literature: A Study in Film Perception Through References to Peck, Mitchum and Holden’ have been extracted from nearly 220 works by about 140 authors. The majority of the works were written by acclaimed authors; amongst them are some well-known American mainstream writers such as John Updike, John Irving, Fannie Flagg and Anne Tyler; some leaders of the mystery genre include Martha Grimes, Stuart Kaminsky, Elmore Leonard, Sara Paretsky; and a few masters of other popular genres, such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz. The global flavor of the citations is provided by international authors (e.g., Julio Cortázar, Elizabeth Hay, Henri Charrière, Sebastien Japrisot) and authors born to first-generation U.S. immigrants (e.g., Oscar Hijuelos). Almost seventy films referenced in world literature are discussed in the book, and those mentioned in the biggest number of works include ‘Sunset Boulevard’, ‘The Wild Bunch’, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Roman Holiday’, ‘Spellbound’, ‘The Guns of Navarone’, and ‘Duel in the Sun’, among others. This book will appeal to college professors and students interested in film studies, specifically film analysis and criticism, film perception, and film genres. It will also hold interest for the general reader interested in biographies of movie personalities and the careers of the three actors, movie and stage actors, and fans of the western, film noir, and war genres.

Radical Equalities and Global Feminist Filmmaking - An Anthology

Edited by Bernadette Wegenstein, The Johns Hopkins University and Lauren Benjamin Mushro, The Johns Hopkins University

Radical Equalities and Global Feminist Filmmaking - An Anthology’s main objective is to exhibit and unveil the fruit of the growing movement of feminist filmmakers around the world through interviews with current filmmakers themselves and through critical analysis of the works of these filmmakers. Every filmmaker we examine tells their own story about radical equality from a place that they have lived, are drawing from, or have imagined. The common theme in all of the films of our selected filmmakers is the obligation they feel towards the oppressed and the resulting ethics of interdependence their films exhibit. Some films give voice to those who are suffering in the shadows, or have been silenced and murdered because of their political orientation and work; some films showcase vulnerable identities (especially gender identities) because the characters are inter-sex, transgender, of a marginalised class and skin color, are being forced into a split identity because of a colonial history, or because they are living in a part of the world from which they cannot escape. Other films highlight the feminist experience of lesbian love and its constraints or revolutions, the experience of motherhood, and the question of origin in all of its complexities. The authors have, to date, conducted 16 interviews with filmmakers from around the world who, in very different ways - at times with comic relief , at times by pointing the cameras back at themselves, at times by inviting the viewer to grieve with them - question radical equality and vulnerability. We have selected these films on the basis of their unique stories and story-telling style, and their diverse points of view referencing different socio-political historical realities around the world. Each of them has one, if not several, female, intersex or non binary characters as their leads; each of them engage us with the question of feminism in a political way that highlights our obligation toward the character and her lived experience. Each of them focuses on “interdependence” as an aesthetic and cinematic principle. But what is most important is the fact that each filmmaker will be able to describe how they found their access and inspiration for their story, and how the film reflects on their own lived experience that is socio-economically and historically determined.

Arthurian Legend in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries

Edited by Susan L. Austin, Landmark College

The King Arthur we imagine did not exist in history. He is the result of stories told and retold, changed and added to by storytellers for centuries, each making the story reflect the storyteller’s time and values. The chapters in this book look at movies, manga, comic books, a television show, and traditional books released since 1960 to explore some of the ways King Arthur has been reimagined in the past 60 years. Interpreting Avalon High and The Kind Who Would Be King, Camelot 3000 and King Arthur vs. Dracula, Fate/Zero, John Steinbeck’s The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, the influence of Arthurian legend on Harry Potter, Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King, John Boorman’s Excalibur, Jerry Zucker’s First Knight, Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur, Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword, Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, Iris Murdoch’s The Time of the Angels, and the BBC series Merlin, the authors find that while we are still interested in the idea of King Arthur, we may also want his story to be more racially and gender inclusive, less elitist, and in some cases, more secular.

Left or Right? Directing Lateral Movement in Film

Lubomir Kocka, Savannah College of Art and Design

‘Left or Right? Directing Lateral Movement in Film’ offers an in-depth analysis of film, television, and new media directing from a perspective of clearly articulated directorial concept linked to the placement and movement of performers in shot design. This book strives to demonstrate the mechanism of directional bias and how the effects of perceptual mechanisms can help film directors and image-makers to control, regulate, and modify the viewer’s perception of characters and story movement, ultimately leading to higher quality creations. This highly hands-on, practical book provides novel insights into the significance of laterality effects, equipping film directors, and image-makers who want to create aesthetically valuable and well-crafted visual products with functional tools to employ. The book also examines lateral organization in regard to biological sex, gender identity, class, races, ethnicity, religions, and age in LGBTQ+ films and porn cinema. ‘Left or Right? Directing Lateral Movement in Film’ holds broad appeal from experiences directors or cinematographers with an established body of work to students working to understand the language of cinema. It will also appeal to film and media theorists, as well as teachers of visual arts education.

Left or Right? Directing Lateral Movement in Film

Lubomir Kocka, Savannah College of Art and Design

‘Left or Right? Directing Lateral Movement in Film’ offers an in-depth analysis of film, television, and new media directing from a perspective of clearly articulated directorial concept linked to the placement and movement of performers in shot design. This book strives to demonstrate the mechanism of directional bias and how the effects of perceptual mechanisms can help film directors and image-makers to control, regulate, and modify the viewer’s perception of characters and story movement, ultimately leading to higher quality creations. This highly hands-on, practical book provides novel insights into the significance of laterality effects, equipping film directors, and image-makers who want to create aesthetically valuable and well-crafted visual products with functional tools to employ. The book also examines lateral organization in regard to biological sex, gender identity, class, races, ethnicity, religions, and age in LGBTQ+ films and porn cinema. ‘Left or Right? Directing Lateral Movement in Film’ holds broad appeal from experiences directors or cinematographers with an established body of work to students working to understand the language of cinema. It will also appeal to film and media theorists, as well as teachers of visual arts education.