Cinema of the Other Europe

Book Description

Cinema of the Other Europe: The Industry and Artistry of East Central European Film is the first major study of the cinematic traditions of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia from 1945 to the present day. It explores the major schools of film-making and the main stages of development across the region during the period of state socialism up until the end of the Cold War as well as more recent transformations post-1989. The book examines how European cinema is still mostly synonymous with West European film and how the cinema of Eastern Europe is still largely excluded and under-explored. Including material on directors such as István Szabó ( Mephisto), Krzysztof Kieslowski ( Dekalog, Three Colors Trilogy) and Jan Sverák ( Kolya), this study of the 'other' European cinema thus constitutes a timely appraisal of film history and film studies debates.

The Buchenwald Child: Truth, Fiction, and Propaganda (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture) (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and ... German Literature Linguistics and Culture)

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The Buchenwald Child: Truth, Fiction, and Propaganda (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture) (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and ... German Literature Linguistics and Culture)
Bill Niven
Manufacturer: Camden House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1571133399

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At the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp, communist prisoners organized resistance against the SS and even planned an uprising. They helped rescue a three-year-old Jewish boy, Stefan Jerzy Zweig, from certain death in the gas chambers. After the war, his story became a focus for the German Democratic Republic's celebration of its resistance to the Nazis. Now Bill Niven tells the true story of Stefan Zweig: what actually happened to him in Buchenwald, how he was protected, and at what price. He explores the (mis)representation of Zweig's rescue in East Germany and what this reveals about that country's understanding of its Nazi past. Finally he looks at the telling of the Zweig rescue story since German unification: a story told in the GDR to praise communists has become a story used to condemn them. Bill Niven is Professor of Contemporary German History at the Nottingham Trent University, UK.

Before the Fall: Soviet Cinema in the Gorbachev Years

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Before the Fall: Soviet Cinema in the Gorbachev Years
Anna Lawton
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1401033822

The Day I Fired Alan Ladd and Other World War II Adventures

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A WWII Memoir Like No Other

The Day I Fired Alan Ladd and Other World War II Adventures
A. E. Hotchner
Manufacturer: University of Missouri Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A WWII Memoir Like No Other.......2002-12-14

"Nobody on latrine duty ever got the Medal of Honor." This truism may be found in the wonderfully titled _The Day I Fired Alan Ladd and Other World War II Adventures_ (University of Missouri Press) by A. E. Hotchner. Hotchner may have done some latrine duty in his time, but it wasn't latrine duty that kept him from getting a Medal of Honor. It was show business. It is hard to be a hero, he reflects, but his book is a chronicle of how he sincerely tried to get a chance to show some heroism, and how (though he did his assigned Army Air Force duties with aplomb) he never got that chance. There are many fine memoirs of World War II service, with the last ones coming out now as that "Greatest Generation" passes on. This one is a funny, unique tale of typical military snafus that often sounds as if it was a chapter in _Catch-22_.

Hotchner was eager to do his duty, and he knew just what he wanted to do, become a combat Navy pilot, because he admired the naval attire Dick Powell had worn in a movie. He persuaded a friend to join him in application to Navy pilot training. The friend got in; Hotchner failed his depth perception test. He then persuaded another friend to join him in regular naval officer training. The friend got in, and Hotchner was disqualified for flat feet. But he did get to enlist in the Army Air Force, and was overjoyed to apply to bombardier school. But somehow, his personnel file indicated he had written a musical in college, so he was required to write one for "I Am an American Day." He wrote as badly as he could, and the troops loved it. Hotchner got accepted to bombardier school, but General Fickle liked the show so much, he ordered Hotchner to perform it in all the states under his command instead. Eventually he was going to go into combat, but since he had theatrical experience, his next commander figured he was just the one to make a film about patrolling for U-boats, instead of actually patrolling for U-boats. When he finally was shipped to Europe, he learned in passage that Germany had surrendered.

Hotchner may have turned his repeated disappointments into amusement after many years, but his slim volume reads wonderfully well as one big joke on himself. He has breezy raconteurship for so many funny stories, but there are some episodes that are serious reflections on his times. He has a meaningful encounter with Clark Gable, for instance, going through excruciating military training as a way of getting through the pain of the death of his wife Carole Lombard. He tells us about how New Yorkers wouldn't let a man in uniform pay for his own dinner and drinks, and he shows how women were liberated at the time occupationally and sexually. It isn't his fault this isn't a memoir full of battle heroism, but the war effort was diverse, and his is a unique story.

Despotic Bodies and Transgressive Bodies: Spanish Culture from Francisco Franco to Jesus Franco (Suny Series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture)

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Despotic Bodies and Transgressive Bodies: Spanish Culture from Francisco Franco to Jesus Franco (Suny Series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture)
Tatjana Pavlovic
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Explores new ways to think about privacy and disclosure.

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German Cinema and the Nation's Past
Bärbel Göbel
Manufacturer: VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller e.K.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Media have become extremely important channels for deploying ideology among viewers, readers and listeners worldwide. When film represents history, it inevitably re-shapes, re-interpretes and re-creates history for its audiences. National cinemas addressing national history allow a glance of that nation's understanding of its past today. This study presents a detailed discussion of three nationally significant events in German history (WWII, the 1954 Soccer World Cups, Germany's reunification 1989/1990). This is reflected in The Downfall (2004), Sophie Scholl - The Last Days (2005), The Miracle of Bern (2003), Germany - A Summer Tale (2006), Berlin Blues (2003), Sun Ally (1999) and The Life of Others (2006). They represent a sense and essence of Germany, defining the country expressively as a nation and Germans as one people amidst European Union, Globalization, and the War on Terrorism. How do young German filmmakers investigate Germany's negative past imagery? How was the self-perception of the nation informed in the past and who regulates the imagery displayed now? Germany has begun construction of an identity not founded on guilt, but it does not shy away from interrogating this guilt. This book is directed at researchers in Film, Media, Communications, History and studies addressing nationality and identity.

Mass Culture and Italian Society from Fascism to the Cold War

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Mass Culture and Italian Society from Fascism to the Cold War
David Forgacs , and Stephen Gundle
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0253349818

Book Description

The 1930s to the 1950s in Italy witnessed large increases in film-going, radio-listening, and the sale of music and weekly magazines. The industries that made and sold commercial, cultural products were transformed by the new technologies of reproduction and new approaches to marketing and distribution.

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This comprehensive analytical study of the Phantom of the Opera proposes answers to the question, "why do we keep needing this story told and retold in the Western world?" by revealing the history of deep cultural tensions that underlie the novel and each of its major adaptations. Using extensive historical and textual evidence and drawing on perspectives from several theories of cultural studies, this book argues that we need this tale told and reconfigured because it provides us ways to both confront and disguise how we have fashioned our senses of identity in the Western middle class. The Phantom of the Opera -in varying ways over time-turns out, like the "Gothic" tradition it extends, to be deeply connected to Western self-fashioning in the face of conflicted attitudes about class, gender, race, religious beliefs, Fruedian psychology, economic and international tensions, and especially the shifting and permeable boundaries between "high" and "low" culture. This book should interest all students of the history of Western culture, Gothic fiction, opera, musical theater, and film.

Customer Reviews:

A very extensive look at the Phantom.......2007-07-30

This is the most extensive, in-depth analysis you can find on the Phantom. It's not just a psychoanalytic reading though, and Dr. Hogle looks at all manifestations of the phantom-but especially the book which started it all. He provides great insights into the underlying meanings of the text and why we are ultimately intrigued by the man who becomes a phantom. He has an interesting theory on how the carnivalesque infects the bourgeois opera, the underlying class struggle within the novel, and the identity formation of various characters. With all the pop culture junk out there, it is very refreshing to have a book I can actually use for research-in fact, I'm almost mad because I want to write an article on Leroux's book but Dr. Hogle has done such a thorough study, I'm beginning to wonder if there's anything left to write about (and of course there is). Very much for those who like literary theory, gothic theory, psychoanalytic readings of literature. And if you're just a die-hard phan it's very well worth your effort to understand what Hogle has to say. If you can get past the academic writing, you'll find some of the most interesting things about the Phantom you didn't know.

OK...for researchers.......2005-10-17

This book is very dry and full of "Freudian" suggestions...but this only stands to reason as the original novel (by Gaston Leroux published in 1911) was written during the height of the Freudian belief system....
I would not discredit this work in any way, other than to say it's not a "leisure read" or a bit of foolish, fluffy "PhanFiction" by any means. Those who wish to try it, do so...but be warned...it's more of a university level text that could very easily be used as an assigned text for psychology majors. It's definitely NOT for the silly "Phantom Phan" sect (and this text is often rejected by them).
Whether you buy into Freud and his ideas or not, remember than Leroux was a child of that era and his original novel often depicts many Freudian undertones.

Not easily accessible.......2002-12-16

Hogle's book is written using dense professorial obsurantism. Readers will need an outstanding education and exceptional literary sensitivity to understand what the good professor is trying to exposit. One professional reviewer stated that the author's approach to his subject was "strenuous and original". I couldn't agree more. "Strenuous" completely describes not only this work but also the process of deciphering what it is that Hogle has to say. While it is an in depth and intensely researched look at the implications of this story for western society throughout the past century, it trades psychological insight into the cultural phenomenon for a more contextual social analysis. The personal psychological impact of the story for readers is something he seems to approach only distantly. Unfortunate, because this would give greater insight into the larger social ramifications. Also, Hogle can be repetitive with themes during the course of his analysis of the subject. I have praise only for his commentary on the original Leroux novel, which is insightful and meaningful. His commentary on the remainder of re-adaptations of the original novel ranges from good to weak. This is nowhere more apparent than in his discussion of what he calls, "the most important... renovelization of the original book" referring to the novel by Susan Kay. Here he attempts to prove, in less than four pages, a thesis that is both absurd and ill supported, despite the importance he himself has attributed to the work. Overall, his book is something that those persons enraptured with the story should avoid and that literary scholars should approach with appropriate discernment.

Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood.(Review) : An article from: Cineaste

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Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood.(Review) : An article from: Cineaste
James Monaco
Manufacturer: Cineaste Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B00098RVLY
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Cineaste, published by Cineaste Publishers, Inc. on March 22, 1999. The length of the article is 2038 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood.(Review)
Author: James Monaco
Publication: Cineaste (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 1999
Publisher: Cineaste Publishers, Inc.
Volume: 24 Issue: 2-3 Page: 86(3)

Article Type: Video Recording Review

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Ken Emerson's thickly textured narrative features an affectionate examination of American music's diverse strands as well as a perceptive portrait of the nation's first great songwriter. Stephen Foster (1826-64) was born in Pittsburgh and visited the South only briefly, yet songs like "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Oh! Susanna" drew on black Southern culture to create a uniquely American form of popular music. The author is clear-sighted about the complex blend of racism and genuine compassion that infused Foster's "blackface" compositions.

Customer Reviews:

Doo-Dah...Do wah?.......2001-02-28

I guess I'm the type person referenced in the one guy's review where he stated that those people who are looking for a Point A to Point Z type of biography will be disappointed with the book "Doo-Dah : Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture." Since a Point A to Point Z biography of Stephen Foster was/is exactly what I sought, I've found reading this particular book (in which music plays the lead role and Foster is sadly oftentimes little more than a secondary player) an endurance contest! Don't get me wrong: it's a well written book; just not what I was hoping for.

Doo Dah is the BEST BIOGRAPHY OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!.......1998-04-12

If you haven't read Doo Dah, buy it today!!!! Doo Dah was the best book that I have ever read in my entire life. Unfortunately, the book is not as good as the writer is handsome, and if it was it would be on the best seller list, and I know because he is my uncle. So, show your support of American culture and buy this stupendous biography, by the Master writer, the all time best, the one and only Ken Emerson.

Bow-wow!.......1997-10-16

This is another boonie dog book review from Wolfie and Kansas. Ken Emerson's book "Doo-dah! Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture" is well-written and informative. This is a "life and times" book, rather than a narrowly focused biography. However, the times of Stephen Foster, and the social and cultural history which Emerson discusses, are, like Foster's music, generally more interesting than the sometimes racist and alcoholic Foster himself.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Queen's Quarterly, published by Queen's Quarterly on March 22, 1998. The length of the article is 2353 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Doo-dah! Stephen Foster amd the rise of American popular culture.
Publication: Queen's Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1998
Publisher: Queen's Quarterly
Volume: 105 Issue: 1 Page: 72-81

Article Type: Book Review

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Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture.: An article from: Notes

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Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture.: An article from: Notes
Calvin Elliker
Manufacturer: Music Library Association, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on March 1, 1998. The length of the article is 730 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture.
Author: Calvin Elliker
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 1998
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: v54 Issue: n3 Page: p700(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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DOO-DAH: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture

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DOO-DAH: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture
Ken Emerson
Manufacturer: Da Capo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSGUPC

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Doo-Dah: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture
Ken Emerson
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000Q7W0AA

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