Film Genre
Hollywood and Beyond
Film Genre: Hollywood and Beyond provides a detailed account of genre history and contemporary trends in film genre, alongside the critical debates they have provoked. The book ranges widely across the field, dealing separately and in detail with not only classic genres - including the Western, the musical, the war film, the gangster film, and film noir - but also more recent trends such as body-horror, Holocaust film, and the action blockbuster. Throughout the book, genre is presented as a constantly evolving phenomenon. Writing in a sophisticated yet accessible style, Barry Langford shows how notions of genre help shape the ways that filmmakers, critics and audiences view films and how the often complex scholarly debates around genre reflect important differences in the ways cinema is understood in relation to its social and historical contexts. The book encourages students to interrogate and broaden received ideas about genre.
Key Features
- Key text suitable for both undergraduate and advanced students
- Detailed close analyses of key films (including The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan and Singin' in the Rain)
- Comprehensive bibliography and guide to further reading
- Up-to-date and theoretically informed
2. Before Genre: Melodrama
Part One: Classical Paradigms
3. The Western: Genre and History
4. The Musical: Genre and Form
5. The War/Combat Film: Genre and Nation
6. The Gangster Film: Genre and Society
Part Two: Transitional Fantasies
7. The Horror Film
8. The Science-Fiction Film
Part Three: Post-Classical Genres
9. Film Noir
10. The Action Blockbuster
11. Genre: Breaking the Frame
(i) Documentary
(ii) Holocaust Film
(iii) Pornography
12. Conclusion: Transgenre?.
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Film Genre presents a thoroughgoing historical analysis, addressing the history of film production, the history of style, the history of individual genres and the history of genre criticism for each genre.
The author offers a hugely impressive yet concise account of genre theory, cycles and contemporary reportage - from Hollywood and beyond… Langford's book is a majextically informed achievement and a prodigiously detailed production.
