Whose Lives Are They Anyway?

Whose Lives Are They Anyway?
Author :
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
Total Pages : 445
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780813549309
ISBN-13 : 0813549302
Rating : 4/5 (302 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Whose Lives Are They Anyway? by : Dennis Bingham

Download or read book Whose Lives Are They Anyway? written by Dennis Bingham and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2010-03-04 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biopic presents a profound paradox—its own conventions and historical stages of development, disintegration, investigation, parody, and revival have not gained respect in the world of film studies. That is, until now. Whose Lives Are They Anyway? boldly proves a critical point: The biopic is a genuine, dynamic genre and an important one—it narrates, exhibits, and celebrates a subject's life and demonstrates, investigates, or questions his or her importance in the world; it illuminates the finer points of a personality; and, ultimately, it provides a medium for both artist and spectator to discover what it would be like to be that person, or a certain type of person. Through detailed analyses and critiques of nearly twenty biopics, Dennis Bingham explores what is at their core—the urge to dramatize real life and find a version of the truth within it. The genre's charge, which dates back to the salad days of the Hollywood studio era, is to introduce the biographical subject into the pantheon of cultural mythology and, above all, to show that he or she belongs there. It means to discover what we learn about our culture from the heroes who rise and the leaders who emerge from cinematic representations. Bingham also zooms in on distinctions between cinematic portrayals of men and women. Films about men have evolved from celebratory warts-and-all to investigatory to postmodern and parodic. At the same time, women in biopics have been burdened by myths of suffering, victimization, and failure from which they are only now being liberated. To explore the evolution and lifecycle changes of the biopic and develop an appreciation for subgenres contained within it, there is no better source than Whose Lives Are They Anyway?


Whose Lives Are They Anyway? Related Books

Whose Lives Are They Anyway?
Language: en
Pages: 445
Authors: Dennis Bingham
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2010-03-04 - Publisher: Rutgers University Press

GET EBOOK

The biopic presents a profound paradox—its own conventions and historical stages of development, disintegration, investigation, parody, and revival have not g
The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture
Language: en
Pages: 325
Authors: Tom Brown
Categories: Art
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-12-17 - Publisher: Routledge

GET EBOOK

The biographical film or biopic is a staple of film production in all major film industries and yet, within film studies, its generic, aesthetic, and cultural s
Transnational Feminist Rhetorics and Gendered Leadership in Global Politics
Language: en
Pages: 257
Authors: Rebecca S. Richards
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-10-28 - Publisher: Lexington Books

GET EBOOK

Transnational Feminist Rhetorics and Gendered Leadership in Global Politics examines the rhetoric surrounding women who hold or have held the highest office of
A Critical Companion to Tim Burton
Language: en
Pages: 279
Authors: Adam Barkman
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-10-16 - Publisher: Lexington Books

GET EBOOK

Unlike anything currently available, A Critical Companion to Tim Burton is a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of all the works of one of the world's most reno
Australian Genre Film
Language: en
Pages: 237
Authors: Kelly McWilliam
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-04-26 - Publisher: Routledge

GET EBOOK

Australian Genre Film interrogates key genres at the core of Australia’s so-called new golden age of genre cinema, establishing the foundation on which more s