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New Books in Film
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/…
Episodes
- New Books in Film
Robert Matzen, “Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe” (GoodKnight Books, 2016)
Jimmy Stewart has a well-deserved reputation as one of the major stars of the classic film era. Yet his life was greatly affected by his experiences as a…
- New Books in Film
Elizabeth Reich, “Militant Visions: Black Soldiers, Internationalism, and the Transformation of American Cinema” (Rutgers UP, 2016)
Elizabeth Reich is an assistant professor of film studies at Connecticut College in New London. Militant Visions: Black Soldiers, Internationalism, and the…
- New Books in Film
Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph, “A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies ” (U. Press of Mississippi, 2016)
While many fans collect all kinds of memorabilia related to their favorite movies, others actually seek out and collect the actual celluloid films. For their…
- New Books in Film
Stephen Lee Naish, “Create or Die: Essays on the Artistry of Dennis Hopper” (Amsterdam UP, 2016)
Stephen Lee Naish first became aware of Dennis Hopper watching David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, jumpstarting what would become a long examination of Hopper’s…
- New Books in Film
Sue Matheson, “The Westerns and War Films of John Ford” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016)
While John Ford made films of more general subjects, he is best known for his movies that illustrated the American West and life during wartime. In her book…
- New Books in Film
Anand Pandian, “Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation” (Duke UP, 2015)
Do we live in a real world or a ‘reel world,’ in which life begins to feel like a film? In this wonderful ethnography of the Tamil film industry, Anand Pandian…
- New Books in Film
Cass Sunstein, “The World According to Star Wars” (Harper Collins, 2016)
Cass Sunstein‘s son, Declan, got dad hooked on Star Wars. And dad, a Harvard Law professor, ended up writing a book about it. “If you’d told me a year ago that…
- New Books in Film
Birgit Meyer, “Sensational Movies: Video, Vision, and Christianity in Ghana” (U of California Press, 2015)
Anthropologist Birgit Meyer‘s most recent book, Sensational Movies: Video, Vision, and Christianity in Ghana (University of California Press, 2015), explores…
- New Books in Film
Harlan Lebo, “Citizen Kane: A Filmmakers Journey” (Thomas Dunne Books, 2016)
Considered by many to be the greatest American film ever made, Citizen Kane was the product of Orson Welles, who made a movie that is still groundbreaking…
- New Books in Film
Jason Mittell, “Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television” (NYU Press 2015)
We are said to be in a golden age of TV. The best stories today are told on television screens in serialized forms. The Wire, Lost, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos…
- New Books in Film
Kimberly Fain, “Black Hollywood: From Butlers to Superheroes, the Changing Role of African American Men in the Movies” (Praeger, 2015)
While black men have been portrayed in film for over a hundred years, they have often been stereotyped or portrayed very badly. In her book Black Hollywood…
- New Books in Film
Alan Sepinwall, “The Revolution Was Televised” (Touchstone, 2015)
What do Tony Soprano and Archie Bunker have in common? Alan Sepinwall, longtime TV writer and critic, knows that the 1970s comedic bigot and 2000s Jersey mob…
- New Books in Film
George Cotkin, “Feast of Excess: A Cultural History of the New Sensibility” (Oxford UP, 2015)
George Cotkin is an emeritus professor of history at California Polytechnic State University. In his book Feast of Excess: A Cultural History of the New…
- New Books in Film
Ranen Omer-Sherman, “Imagining the Kibbutz: Visions of Utopia in Literature and Film” (Penn State UP, 2015)
In Imagining the Kibbutz: Visions of Utopia in Literature and Film (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2015), Ranen Omer-Sherman, a professor at the…
- New Books in Film
Hilary Neroni, “The Subject of Torture: Psychoanalysis and Biopolitics in Television and Film” (Columbia UP, 2015)
Did you notice that after 9/11, the depiction of torture on prime-time television went up nearly seven hundred percent? Hilary Neroni did. She had just…
- New Books in Film
Liam Burke, “The Comic Book Film Adaptation: Exploring Modern Hollywood’s Leading Genre” (UP of Mississippi, 2015)
When Marvel’s X-Men took the movie theaters by storm in the summer of 2000, the studios were both surprised and unprepared for the popularity of a comic book…
- New Books in Film
Elizabeth Haas, Terry Chrstensen, and Peter J. Haas, “Projecting Politics: Political Messages in American Films” (Routledge, 2015)
Politics has been a part of many films, since the beginning of the industry over 100 years ago. These include movies with political subjects, such as Mr. Smith…
- New Books in Film
Laura Isabel Serna, “Making Cinelandia: American Films and Mexican Film Culture Before the Golden Age” (Duke UP, 2014)
During the early decades of the 20thcentury the nation of Mexico entered the modern era through a series of social, political, and economic transformations…
- New Books in Film
Michael Ray FitzGerald, “Native Americans on Network TV: Stereotypes, Myths, and the ‘Good Indian'” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2013)
In his new book Native Americans on Network TV: Stereotypes, Myths, and the ‘Good Indian’ (Rowman and Littlefield, 2013), Michael Ray FitzGerald reviews how…
- New Books in Film
Caseen Gaines, “We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy” (Plume, 2015)
On the thirtiethanniversary of the film, Caseen Gaines has written We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy (Plume, 2015). The book is…
- New Books in Film
Suzanne Broderick, “Real War vs. Reel War: Veterans, Hollywood, and WWII” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015)
In hew new book Real War vs. Reel War: Veterans, Hollywood, and WWII (Rowman and Littlefield, 2015), Suzanne Broderick shares how she discussed a number of…
- New Books in Film
Donald Dewey, “Lee J. Cobb: Characters of an Actor” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
In his new book Lee J. Cobb: Characters of an Actor (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014),Don Dewey discusses Lee J. Cobb’s career, both from his importance as a…
- New Books in Film
Dave Itzkoff, “Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies” (Times Books, 2014)
Clearly prophetic, “Network” was a controversial film that was reviled by television studios and networks, yet became one of the best films of its time. Dave…
- New Books in Film
Paul Seydor, “The Authentic Death and Contentious Afterlife of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” (Northwestern UP, 2015)
Sam Peckinpah’s career as a writer and director was also filled with controversies, but his reputation has not diminished, more than thirty years after his…
- New Books in Film
Tom Hertweck, “Food on Film” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
Movies and television shows often include scenes of eating, either as a side activity of the actors or as an integralpart of a scene. University of Nevada…
- New Books in Film
Hugo Frey, “Nationalism and the Cinema in France” (Berghahn Books, 2014)
Hugo Frey‘s new book, Nationalism and the Cinema in France: Political Mythologies and Film Events, 1945-1995 (Berghahn Books, 2014) distinguishes between a…
- New Books in Film
Chris Morgan, “The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000” (McFarland, 2015)
While there are many well known cult television shows still revered by fans, MST3K continues to have an incredibly large following with a thriving following 25…
- New Books in Film
Kathryn Cramer Brownell, “Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life” (UNC Press, 2014)
We are all aware how important professional movie makers are to modern campaigns. Many trace this importance to John F. Kennedy’s presidential victory in 1960…
- New Books in Film
Joan Kramer and David Heeley, “In the Company of Legends” (Beaufort Books, 2015)
There are a variety of great documentaries about famous films and film artists. Two of the most successful producers of these movies are Joan Kramer and David…
- New Books in Film
Raluca Lucia Cimpean, “The JFK Image: Profiles in Docudrama” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
Even long after his death, President John F. Kennedy continues to be a popular figure. In addition to documentaries, his influence appears in television and…
- New Books in Film
Norma Jones, Maja-Bajac-Carter, Bob Batchelor, “Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
While there are a number of studies of how women are represented in popular culture, Norma Jones, Maja Bajac-Carter, Bob Batchelor’s collection of essays…
- New Books in Film
Steven Awalt, “Steven Spielberg and Duel: The Making of a Film Career” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
Steven Spielberg’s long career as a filmmaker began with television. In addition to episodes of popular TV series, he also directed one of the most popular…
- New Books in Film
Kutter Callaway, “Scoring Transcendence: Contemporary Film Music as Religious Experience” (Baylor UP, 2013)
For many people, filmgoing is a moment to submerge themselves in a new world of meaning and experience a different reality. While film is prominently defined…
- New Books in Film
John Wiley Jr., “The Scarlett Letters: The Making of the Film Gone With the Wind” (Taylor Trade Publishing, 2014)
Margaret Mitchell’s blockbuster novel was released in 1936 to great acclaim. It immediately drew interest from Hollywood hoping to turn it into an epic film…
- New Books in Film
Guy Westwell, “Parallel Lines: Post-9/11 American Cinema” (Wallflower Press, 2014)
The United States and the world underwent a fundamental change because of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In addition to major wars, the event has…
- New Books in Film
Glen Jeansonne and David Luhrssen, “War on the Silver Screen” (Potomac Books, 2014)
War has been a constant topic for feature films since the invention of the motion picture camera. These events made for interesting stories and dynamic visual…
- New Books in Film
Dick Lehr, “The Birth of a Nation” (PublicAffairs, 2014)
Many books on film discuss the artistic aspects of movies, often as they relate to social and political events that affected the filmmakers. In his book The…
- New Books in Film
Bruce Babington, “The Sports Film: Games People Play” (Wallflower Press, 2014)
One of the most enduring film genres is the sports movie. From the earliest attempts at narrative motion pictures to the present day, movies devoted to…
- New Books in Film
Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper, “1950s “Rocketman” TV Series and Their Fans:
When television began to grow in popularity, broadcasters had to come up with programming to fill the day. Growing from the Flash Gordon movie serials, science…
- New Books in Film
Laura Mattoon D’Amore, “Smart Chicks on Screen” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
One of the continuing issues of the entertainment industry is the treatment of women in movies and television. Even with a larger number of female writers…
- New Books in Film
Bridget Conor, “Screenwriting: Creative labor and professional practice” (Routledge, 2014)
Bridget Conor’s new book, Screenwriting: Creative Labor and Professional Practice (Routledge, 2014), looks closely at the creative practice and profession of…
- New Books in Film
Chris Taylor, “How Star Wars Conquered the Universe” (Basic Books, 2014)
When George Lucas first began to write “The Star Wars”, as it was originally known, he had no idea that it would become his main life’s work. Beginning as a…
- New Books in Film
Bryn Upton, “Hollywood and the End of the Cold War: Signs of Cinematic Change” (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014)
While the Cold War ended in 1991 with a whimper, not a bang, it still affects popular culture in many ways. In his book. Hollywood and the End of the Cold War…
- New Books in Film
Hideaki Fujiki, “Making Personas: Transnational Film Stardom in Modern Japan” (Harvard University Asia Center, 2013)
Stardom has a history. Hideaki Fujiki‘s new book traces that history through a story of the transformations of Japanese film stars in the early twentieth…
- New Books in Film
M. Gail Hamner, “Imaging Religion in Film: The Politics of Nostalgia” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
When we watch film various visual elements direct our understanding of the narrative and its meaning. The subjective position of each viewer informs their…
- New Books in Film
Travis Vogan, “Keepers of the Flame: NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media” (University of Illinois Press, 2014)
Last weekend was the NFL Draft, the annual event when teams select college players who have shown the talent to advance to the professional ranks. Staged at…
- New Books in Film
Donald T. Critchlow, “When Hollywood Was Right” (Cambridge UP, 2013)
It seems that everyone in Hollywood is on the political Left. “Seems” is the operative word here, because there are actually Republicans in pictures, at least…
- New Books in Film
Aswin Punthamabekar, “From Bombay to Bollywood: The Making of a Global Media Industry” (NYU Press, 2013)
Aswin Punthamabekar‘s From Bombay to Bollywood: The Making of a Global Media Industry (New York University Press, 2013) offers a deeply researched and richly…
- New Books in Film
Olga Gershenson, “The Phantom Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and Jewish Catastrophe” (Rutgers UP, 2013)
Fifty years of Holocaust screenplays and films -largely unknown, killed by censors, and buried in dusty archives – come to life in Olga Gershenson‘s The…
- New Books in Film
Daisuke Miyao, “The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema” (Duke UP, 2013)
In The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema (Duke UP, 2013), Daisuke Miyao explores a history of light and its absence in Japanese cinema. A…
- New Books in Film
David Konow, “Reel Terror: The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films” (St. Martin’s Press, 2012)
Filmmakers discovered in the early twentieth century that Americans would gladly pay to be scared to death. As the decades marched on, dismissive critics…
- New Books in Film
Louis Menashe, “Moscow Believes in Tears: Russians and Their Movies” (New Academia, 2010)
Did you see one of Eisenstein’s masterpieces “The Battleship Potemkin” and “Alexander Nevsky” in a Russian or Soviet history class? Were you captivated by…
- New Books in Film
S. Brent Plate, “Religion and Film: Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World” (Wallflower Press, 2008)
As each frame of a film goes by we witness a new world that is situated in space and time. This process of worldmaking happens through the cinematic lens but…
- New Books in Film
David A. Kirby, “Lab Coats in Hollywood: Science, Scientists, and Cinema” (MIT Press, 2011)
First things first: this was probably the most fun I’ve had working through an STS monograph. (Really: Who doesn’t like reading about Jurassic Park and King…
- New Books in Film
Jennifer Frost, “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood: Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism” (NYU Press, 2011)
Any pop culture scholar worth her salt will tell you that discussion of Beyonce’s baby bump or Charlie Sheen’s unique sex life is far from apolitical, but, at…
- New Books in Film
Robert J. Corber, “Cold War Femme: Lesbianism, National Identity, and Hollywood Cinema” (Duke University Press, 2011)
The study of non-heteronormative sexualities in the academy continues to be remarkably dynamic. Despite the usual attempts to harden the frame around this…
- New Books in Film
Maria Yatskova, “Miss Gulag” (Neihausen-Yatskova & Vodar Films, 2007)
In this episode of NBRES, we’re doing something a bit out of the ordinary. Instead of interviewing an author about his or her new book, we are going to talk to…
- New Books in Film
Laura Wittern-Keller, “The Miracle Case: Film Censorship and the Supreme Court” (University of Kansas Press, 2008)
Did you ever wonder how we got from a moment in which almost everything on film could be censored (the Progressive Era) to the moment in which nothing on film…
- New Books in Film
Laura Wittern-Keller, “Freedom of the Screen: Legal Challenges to Film Censorship 1915-1981” (University of Kentucky Press, 2008)
This week we interviewed Laura Wittern-Keller about her new book, Freedom of the Screen: Legal Challenges to Film Censorship 1915-1981. Both well written and…