Shows / New Books in Film
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
Stephen B. Armstrong, "I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of Rock 'n' Roll High School" (Backbeat Books, 2023)
Stephen Armstrong's new book I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of Rock-n-Roll High School (Backbeat Books, 2023), provides a detailed production…
- New Books in Film
Big Night
Sometimes, the idea for a film would work on paper—such is the case with Big Night (1996), a film that packs in as much real life a full novel. “Love” as a…
- New Books in Film
Cutter’s Way
There may be some dated or downright silly elements of Cutter’s Way, Ivan Passer’s 1981 mystery—but what’s great about it outweighs any of its clumsiness and…
- New Books in Film
Smith Mehta, "The New Screen Ecology in India: Digital Transformation of Media" (British Film Institute, 2023)
In The New Screen Ecology in India: Digital Transformation of Media (British Film Institute, 2023), Smith Mehta takes a deep dive into the world of social…
- New Books in Film
Paul Crenshaw, "Melt with Me: Coming of Age and Other '80s Perils" (Ohio State UP, 2023)
In his new collection of essays, Melt With Me (Mad Creek Press, 2023), Paul Crenshaw examines the intersection of 1980s pop culture, the Cold War, and the…
- New Books in Film
Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik, "Maghreb Noir: The Militant-Artists of North Africa and the Struggle for a Pan-African, Postcolonial Future" (Stanford UP, 2023)
Upon their independence, Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian governments turned to the Global South and offered military and financial aid to Black liberation…
- New Books in Film
Marlena Williams, "Night Mother: A Personal and Cultural History of the Exorcist" (Mad Creek Books, 2023)
Never watch The Exorcist, Marlena Williams's mother told her, just as she'd been told by her own mother as a Catholic teen in rural Oregon when the horror…
- New Books in Film
Lost in America
“What makes something funny” is difficult to articulate, but Mike and Dan try with one of their favorite comedies, Albert Brooks’ Lost in America. His 1985…
- New Books in Film
Geraint D'Arcy, "Mise en scène, Acting, and Space in Comics" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)
Geraint D'Arcy's book Mise en scène, Acting, and Space in Comics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) explores some of the less frequently questioned ideas which…
- New Books in Film
The Vanishing
If you have seen Sluizer’s original 1988 thriller—not his 1993 American remake with Jeff Bridges and Kiefer Sutherland--you’ll know exactly why we are doing it…
- New Books in Film
Melanie Williams, "A Taste of Honey" (Bloomsbury, 2023)
What makes a film a classic? In A Taste of Honey (Bloomsbury, 2023), published as part of the BFI Film Classics series, Melanie Williams, a Professor of Film…
- New Books in Film
Hieyoon Kim, "Celluloid Democracy: Cinema and Politics in Cold War South Korea" (U California Press, 2023)
Before South Korea became the democracy and media powerhouse that it is today, it underwent several decades of authoritarian rule during the Cold War from the…
- New Books in Film
Rope
Rope (1948) may not be top-shelf Hitchcock, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting and worth repeated viewings. After arguing back at those who find Jimmy…
- New Books in Film
Diana Rickard, "The New True Crime: How the Rise of Serialized Storytelling Is Transforming Innocence" (NYU Press, 2023)
The New True Crime: How the Rise of Serialized Storytelling Is Transforming Innocence (NYU Press, 2023) by Dr. Diana Rickard examines how serialized crime…
- New Books in Film
Jeffrey Angles, ed., "Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again: The Original Novellas by Shigeru Kayama" (U Michigan Press, 2023)
Godzilla emerged from the sea to devastate Tokyo in the now-classic 1954 film, produced by Tōhō Studios and directed by Ishirō Honda, creating a global…
- New Books in Film
Sorcerer
In 1973, William Friedkin terrorized the world with The Exorcist and then decided to make a film even more grim: a remake of George Clouzot’s The Wages of…
- New Books in Film
A Better Way to Buy Books
Bookshop.org is an online book retailer that donates more than 80% of its profits to independent bookstores. Launched in 2020, Bookshop.org has already raised…
- New Books in Film
Kristen Lopez, "But Have You Read the Book?: 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films" (Running Press Adult, 2023)
Published earlier this year from Running Press, Kristen Lopez’s But Have You Read the Book?: 52 Literary Gems That Inspired Our Favorite Films looks at almost…
- New Books in Film
Robyn Muir, "The Disney Princess Phenomenon: A Feminist Analysis" (Bristol UP, 2023)
The Disney Princesses are a billion-dollar industry, known and loved by children across the globe. In The Disney Princess Phenomenon: A Feminist Analysis…
- New Books in Film
The Blues Brothers
Jake and Elwood sing “Everybody Needs Someone to Love” and everybody loves The Blues Brothers: “You … me … them … everybody!” Join Mike and Dan for a…
- New Books in Film
Tingting Hu, "Victims, Perpetrators and Professionals: The Representation of Women in Chinese Crime Films" (Liverpool UP, 2021)
How are women represented in Chinese crime films? In what ways do the representation reflect traditional Chinese values and contemporary Chinese…
- New Books in Film
Caveh Zahedi, "Digging My Own Grave: The Films of Caveh Zahedi" (Factory 25, 2015)
Digging My Own Grave: The Films of Caveh Zahedi (Factory 25, 2015) is the most comprehensive collection of filmmaker Caveh Zahedi possible with 36 films…
- New Books in Film
The Wages of Fear
Clouzot’s 1953 thriller may be the ultimate bait and switch, moving from a character study of four desperate men in limbo into one of the most suspenseful…
- New Books in Film
Diana W. Anselmo, "A Queer Way of Feeling: Girl Fans and Personal Archives of Early Hollywood" (U California Press, 2023)
In A Queer Way of Feeling: Girl Fans and Personal Archives of Early Hollywood (University of California Press, 2023), Diana W. Anselmo queers the earliest…
- New Books in Film
Beth Tsai, "Taiwan New Cinema at Film Festivals" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)
Taiwan New Cinema (first wave, 1982–1989; second wave, 1990 onward) has a unique history regarding film festivals, particularly in the way these films are…
- New Books in Film
In a Lonely Place
Halfway through Casablanca, we learn why Rick Blaine is so cynical, angry, and embittered; we also feel glad at the end when he takes off his armor and begins…
- New Books in Film
Karima K. Jeffrey-Legette, "Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls" (Lexington Books, 2022)
Karima K. Jeffrey-Legette's book Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls (Lexington Books, 2022) examines depictions of…
- New Books in Film
Chesya Burke, "Hero Me Not: The Containment of the Most Powerful Black, Female Superhero" (Rutgers UP, 2023)
First introduced in the pages of X-Men, Storm is probably the most recognized Black female superhero. She is also one of the most powerful characters in the…
- New Books in Film
PostScript: The Barbie Movie: A Conversation about a Cinematic and Cultural Event
Today’s episode of POSTSCRIPT explores and examines director Greta Gerwig’s film, Barbie. This Warner Brothers’ movie has been in theaters for under a month…
- New Books in Film
The French Connection
How much will a viewer tolerate? What if you took away all the quick and easy ways in which movies dole out information? What if you made the hero…
- New Books in Film
David Humphrey, "The Time of Laughter: Comedy and the Media Cultures of Japan" (U Michigan Press, 2023)
David Humphrey’s The Time of Laughter: Comedy and the Media Cultures of Japan (U Michigan Press, 2023) examines the roles of mediated laughter in the media and…
- New Books in Film
California Split
“Drifting” seems like a great word to describe many of Robert Altman’s films, especially California Split, his 1974 buddy film with Elliott Gould and George…
- New Books in Film
William J. Mann, "Bogie and Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood's Greatest Love Affair" (Harper, 2023)
From the noted Hollywood biographer comes this celebration of the great American love story—the romance between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart—capturing its…
- New Books in Film
Raging Bull
What is it like to experience emotions without being able to identify their sources? What happens when a person feels intense self-loathing but cannot…
- New Books in Film
The Fourth Wise Man (with Jonathon Fessenden)
Jonathon Fessenden, theologian and editor of Missio Dei, invited me to talk about The Fourth Wise Man, the 1985 film based on the 1895 Henry van Dyke novella…
- New Books in Film
Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation
Computer graphics (or CG) has changed the way we experience the art of moving images. Computer graphics is the difference between Steamboat Willie and Buzz…
- New Books in Film
Alix Beeston and Stefan Solomon, "Incomplete: The Feminist Possibilities of the Unfinished Film" (U California Press, 2023)
This field-defining collection establishes unfinished film projects--abandoned, interrupted, lost, or open-ended--as rich and under-appreciated resources for…
- New Books in Film
The Great Dictator
What’s the most edgy film you’ve ever seen—one that makes you uncomfortable and doesn’t tell you how to feel or react? We’d bet that it isn’t as close to the…
- New Books in Film
Film Chat: Hsin-Chien Huang on VR Film in Taiwan
The host was Adina Zemanek, in conversation with Hsin-Chien Huang, a new media creator with a background in art, design and digital entertainment, whose works…
- New Books in Film
Penelope Ingram, "Imperiled Whiteness: How Hollywood and Media Make Race in 'Postracial' America" (UP of Mississippi, 2023)
In Imperiled Whiteness: How Hollywood and Media Make Race in "Postracial" America (University Press of Mississippi, 2023), Penelope Ingram examines the role…
- New Books in Film
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
Ethan Hunt’s mission in this seventh installment of the series might seem as challenging as Tom Cruise’s: to get people back in theaters for an almost…
New Books in FilmBombay Talkies
Debashree Mukherjee talks about the pioneering film studio founded in 1934 in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) by Himansu Rai and Devika Rani. Its cast and crew…
New Books in FilmWirsching: Bombay Talkies B-Side
In this episode of High Theory, we continue our conversation with Debashree Mukherjee about the pioneering film studio Bombay Talkies, founded in 1934 in the…
- New Books in Film
Mani Sharpe, "Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)
In Late-Colonial French Cinema: Filming the Algerian War of Independence, Mani Sharpe peploys the term “late-colonial” to describe (mostly) French films made…
- New Books in Film
Xiaoning Lu, "Moulding the Socialist Subject: Cinema and Chinese Modernity (1949-1966)" (Brill, 2020)
Xiaoning Lu received her BA and MA in Chinese Literature and Language from Nanjing University and Fudan University respectively. She then earned her PhD in…
- New Books in Film
Michele Meek, "Consent Culture and Teen Films: Adolescent Sexuality in US Movies" (Indiana UP, 2023)
Teen films of the 1980s were notorious for treating consent as irrelevant, with scenes of boys spying in girls' locker rooms and tricking girls into sex. While…
- New Books in Film
The Matrix
Do you possess ideas—or do ideas possess you? Is it better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied? Why is The Matrix so universally loved by people…
- New Books in Film
Mathias F. Clasen, "Why Horror Seduces" (Oxford UP, 2017)
From vampire apocalypses, shark attacks, witches, and ghosts, to murderous dolls bent on revenge, horror has been part of the American cinematic imagination…
- New Books in Film
Ball of Fire
When Mike casually remarked to Dan that he had just re-watched Ball of Fire, the 1941 Barbara Stanwyck / Gary Cooper screwball comedy co-written by Billy…
- New Books in Film
Robin Steedman, "Creative Hustling: Women Making and Distributing Films from Nairobi" (MIT Press, 2023)
What is the future of the global creative economy? In Creative Hustling: Women Making and Distributing Films from Nairobi (MIT Press, 2023), Robin Steedman, a…
- New Books in Film
Jennifer Caplan, "Funny, You Don't Look Funny: Judaism and Humor from the Silent Generation to Millennials" (Wayne State UP, 2023)
In this comprehensive approach to Jewish humor focused on the relationship between humor and American Jewish practice, Jennifer Caplan calls us to adopt a more…
- New Books in Film
Suk-Young Kim, "Surviving Squid Game: A Guide to K-Drama, Netflix, and Global Streaming Wars" (Applause Books, 2023)
In Surviving Squid Game: A Guide to K-Drama, Netflix, and Global Streaming Wars (Applause Books, 2023), scholar Suk-Young Kim reflects on Netflix's most-viewed…
- New Books in Film
Tilly Bridges, "Begin Transmission: The Trans Allegories of The Matrix" (BearManor Media, 2023)
In Begin Transmission: The Trans Allegories of The Matrix (BearManor Media, 2023), trans woman and screenwriter Tilly Bridges takes you through the trans…
- New Books in Film
Mulholland Drive
David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001) is in the same neighborhood as Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd and asks us to think about similar ideas: the power of…
- New Books in Film
Stella Dallas
Stella Dallas, the star vehicle for Barbara Stanwyck, hinges on a thought experiment: if you knew that by pushing a button your child would be happy for the…
- New Books in Film
Sunset Blvd
How would you handle years of adoration and fame? Do you think you’d still be, essentially, yourself but with a better car—or would you become a different…
- New Books in Film
Arturo Rodríguez Morató and Alvaro Santana-Acuña, "Sociology of the Arts in Action: New Perspectives on Creation, Production, and Reception" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023)
What are the latest developments in the sociology of the arts? In Sociology of the Arts in Action: New Perspectives on Creation, Production, and Reception…
- New Books in Film
Elephant Man
George Orwell said, "By fifty, every man has the face he deserves." To what degree does David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980) respond to the idea that our…
- New Books in Film
Xiaomei Chen, "Performing the Socialist State: Modern Chinese Theater and Film Culture" (Columbia UP, 2023)
Xiaomei Chen's book Performing the Socialist State: Modern Chinese Theater and Film Culture (Columbia UP, 2023) looks at three "founding fathers" of Chinese…
- New Books in Film
Monika Raesch, "Abbas Kiarostami: Interviews" (UP of Mississippi, 2023)
The cinephile community knows Abbas Kiarostami (1940–2016) as one of the most important filmmakers of the previous decades. This volume illustrates why the…