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OverviewHorror is one of the most enduringly popular genres in cinema. The term ""horror film"" was coined in 1931 between the premiere of Dracula and the release of Frankenstein, but monsters, ghosts, demons, and supernatural and horrific themes have been popular with American audiences since the emergence of novelty kinematographic attractions in the late 1890s. A Place of Darkness illuminates the prehistory of the horror genre by tracing the way horrific elements and stories were portrayed in films prior to the introduction of the term ""horror film."" Using a rhetorical approach that examines not only early films but also the promotional materials for them and critical responses to them, Kendall R. Phillips argues that the portrayal of horrific elements was enmeshed in broader social tensions around the emergence of American identity and, in turn, American cinema. He shows how early cinema linked monsters, ghosts, witches, and magicians with Old World superstitions and beliefs, in contrast to an American way of thinking that was pragmatic, reasonable, scientific, and progressive. Throughout the teens and twenties, Phillips finds, supernatural elements were almost always explained away as some hysterical mistake, humorous prank, or nefarious plot. The Great Depression of the 1930s, however, constituted a substantial upheaval in the system of American certainty and opened a space for the reemergence of Old World gothic within American popular discourse in the form of the horror genre, which has terrified and thrilled fans ever since. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Kendall R. PhillipsPublisher: University of Texas Press Imprint: University of Texas Press Weight: 0.454kg ISBN: 9781477315507ISBN 10: 1477315500 Pages: 256 Publication Date: 01 March 2018 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Cinema, Genre, Nation Chapter 1. Superstition and the Shock of Attraction: Horrific Elements in Early Cinema Chapter 2. Weird and Gloomy Tales: Uncanny Narratives and Foreign Others Chapter 3. Superstitious Joe and the Rise of the American Uncanny Chapter 4. Literary Monsters and Uplifting Horrors Chapter 5. Mysteries in Old Dark Houses Conclusion Notes IndexReviews[A] thoughtful, thought-provoking study. * Milwaukee Shepherd-Express * Film is a telling lens for cultural history. . .[and] the book's central arguments make for great reading, as Phillips lays out the ways that proto-horror movies contained distinct and disparate rhythms (suspense, surprise, superstition), how the need for legitimacy led to literary adaptation as a horror standard, how movies developed alongside audiences to bring new immediacy to onscreen dread, and how shifting visions of the Other forced movies to constantly renegotiate what, exactly, people were meant to be afraid of. * NPR Books * Film is a telling lens for cultural history. . .[and] the book's central arguments make for great reading, as Phillips lays out the ways that proto-horror movies contained distinct and disparate rhythms (suspense, surprise, superstition), how the need for legitimacy led to literary adaptation as a horror standard, how movies developed alongside audiences to bring new immediacy to onscreen dread, and how shifting visions of the Other forced movies to constantly renegotiate what, exactly, people were meant to be afraid of. * NPR Books * Author InformationKendall R. Phillips is a professor of communication and rhetorical studies at Syracuse University. He is author of several books, including Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture and Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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