Film Theory and Contemporary Hollywood Movies

Film theory no longer gets top billing or plays a starring role in film studies today, as critics proclaim that theory is dead and we are living in a post-theory moment. While theory may be out of the limelight, it remains an essential key to understanding the full complexity of cinema, one that should not be so easily discounted or discarded. In this volume, contributors explore recent popular movies through the lens of film theory, beginning with industrial-economic analysis before moving into a predominately aesthetic and interpretive framework. The Hollywood films discussed cover a wide range from 300to Fifty First Dates, from Brokeback Mountainto Lord of the Rings, from Spider-Man 3to Fahrenheit 9/11, from Sawto Raiders of the Lost Ark, and much more. Individual essays consider such topics as the rules that govern new blockbuster franchises, the '¬Üposthumanist realism'¬" of digital cinema, video game adaptations, increasingly restricted stylistic norms, the spatial stories of social networks like YouTube, the mainstreaming of queer culture, and the cognitive paradox behind enjoyable viewing of traumatic events onscreen. With its cast of international film scholars, Film Theory and Contemporary Hollywood Moviesdemonstrates the remarkable contributions theory can offer to film studies and moviegoers alike.

INTRODUCTION1. The Supernatural in Neo-Baroque HollywoodSean Cubitt2. The Law-of-the-Father and Tarantino's Transcultural ImaginarySasha Vojkovic3. Demystifying Deleuze: French Philosophy Meets Contemporary US CinemaDavid Martin-Jones4. Man without a Movie Camera ' Movies without Men: Exploring the Anti-Humanism of Digital Special EffectsWilliam Brown 5. Saw films and Musical Sound DesignKevin Donnelly6. Videogames into MoviesAlison McMahan7. Proposal for an essay on lesbian and gay films of the last 20 yearsHarry M. Benshoff8. Mementos of contemporary American cinema: On identifying and responding to the unreliable narrator in the movie theatreVolker Ferenz9. The Representation of Trauma and the Popularity of TitanicCarl Plantinga10. Fantasy, Audience Research, and the Lord of the Rings TrilogyMartin Barker11. The Shape of 1999: The Stylistics of American Movies at the End of the CenturyBarry Salt12. Towards a Post-hermeneutic Hermeneutics? Thomas Elsaesser