Overview

How do Hollywood filmmakers construct and interpret American history? Is film's visual historical language inherently different from the traditions of written history? This definitive collection of essays by leading scholars probes the theoretical and historical contexts of films made about the American past - from the silent era to the present. Exploring issues deeply connected with historical filmmaking, from historiography to censorship, to race, gender, and sexuality, the book discusses a wide range of films and genres- including classics such as The Virginian, Gone with the Wind and Citizen Kane. This collection is essential reading for anyone interested in studying, or researching American history and film. Includes essays by Susan Courtney, David Culbert, Nicholas J. Cull, Vera Dika, David Eldridge, Vittorio Hösle, Marcia Landy, Mark W. Roche, Robert Rosenstone, Ian Scott, Robert Sklar, J.E. Smyth, and Warren I. Susman.

Full Product Details

Author:   J.E. Smyth (University of Warwick, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.350kg
ISBN:  

9780230230934

ISBN 10:   0230230938
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   17 January 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction; J.E.Smyth Film and History: Artefact and Experience; W.Susman Film History, Reconstruction and Southern Legendary History in The Birth of a Nation (1915); D.Culbert The Hollywood Western, the Movement-Image and Making History; M.Landy Ripping the Portieres at the Seams: Lessons from A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) on Gone with the Wind (1939); S.Courtney Hollywood About Hollywood: Genre as Historiography; R.Sklar Some Like it Hot (1959) and The Virtues of Not Taking History Too Seriously; D.Eldridge Vico's Age of Heroes and the Age of Men in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962); M.Roche & V.Hösle Anatomy of a Shipwreck: Warner Bros., The White House and the Celluloid Sinking of PT 109 (1963); N.J.Cull The Long Road of Women's Memory: Fred Zinnemann's Julia (1977); J.E.Smyth Inventing Historical Truth on the Silver Screen; R.Rosenstone 'This is not America; this is Los Angeles': Crime, Space and History in the City of Angels; I.Scott Between Nostalgia and Regret: Strategies of Historical Disruption from Douglas Sirk to Mad Men; V.Dika Further Reading.

Reviews

'Smyth has assembled a stellar cast of authors in a comparatively rare attempt to bring together expertise in both film scholarship and American history.' - Melvyn Stokes, University College London, UK 'This groundbreaking collection of essays redraws the parameters of the historical film, expanding it to include a wide range of films set in the past, notably comedies, westerns and melodramas. Dry debates about historical accuracy and authenticity are rejected in favour of case studies that seek an understanding of the power and pleasures that this genre holds. Written in a lively and accessible style, and harbouring a wealth of authoritative scholarship, it is bound to become a fixture of university courses and a landmark in its field.' - Mark Glancy, Senior Lecturer in Hi

'Smyth has assembled a stellar cast of authors in a comparatively rare attempt to bring together expertise in both film scholarship and American history.' - Melvyn Stokes, University College London, UK

'Smyth has assembled a stellar cast of authors in a comparatively rare attempt to bring together expertise in both film scholarship and American history.' - Melvyn Stokes, University College London, UK 'This groundbreaking collection of essays redraws the parameters of the historical film, expanding it to include a wide range of films set in the past, notably comedies, westerns and melodramas. Dry debates about historical accuracy and authenticity are rejected in favour of case studies that seek an understanding of the power and pleasures that this genre holds. Written in a lively and accessible style, and harbouring a wealth of authoritative scholarship, it is bound to become a fixture of university courses and a landmark in its field.' - Mark Glancy, Senior Lecturer in History, Queen Mary University of London

Hollywood and the American Historical Film explores the specifics as well as the methods whereby Hollywood offers up history to its audiences...this collection brings a new complexity to its topic. These essays are consistently fascinating, and refreshing in their sophisticated approaches. * Charles Musser, Yale University, USA * Smyth has assembled a stellar cast of authors in a comparatively rare attempt to bring together expertise in both film scholarship and American history. * Melvyn Stokes, University College London, UK * Harbouring a wealth of authoritative scholarship, it is bound to become a fixture of university courses and a landmark in its field. * Mark Glancy, Queen Mary University of London, UK *

Author Information

J.E. Smyth is Assistant Professor of History and Comparative American Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. She is the author of Reconstructing American Historical Cinema from Cimarron to Citizen Kane and Edna Ferber's Hollywood: American Fictions of Gender, Race and History.

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