An Introduction to World Cinema, 2d ed.

Motion pictures are more than just entertainment. In film studies courses in colleges and universities worldwide, students and professors explore the social, political, technological and historical implications of cinema.
This textbook provides two things: the history of film as an art form and an analysis of its impact on society and politics. Chapters are arranged chronologically, covering the major developments in film, like the advent of talkies or the French New Wave. Each era is examined in the context of several exemplary films commonly viewed in film studies courses. Thus students can watch Birth of a Nation and Intolerance while studying the innovations made by D.W. Griffith from 1910 to 1919. The scope is global, embracing the cinematic traditions of Asia, Latin America and Africa, as well as the ever important American and European output. Thoughtful articles from film scholars are included. The flexible structure of the text allows a variety of options for classroom use or personal study.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Over a 30 year teaching career, the late Aristides Gazetas designed a graduate film studies program, wrote courses on international cinema and film history, and directed numerous productions of classic and modern plays. He lived in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

Aristides Gazetas
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 378
Bibliographic Info: 153 photos, references, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3907-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5124-1
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

Introduction      5

1. The Invention of Motion Pictures: 1895–1910      11

2. Early Narratives and the Nickelodeons      21

3. D. W. Griffith and Cinematic Language: 1910–1919      31

4. UFA and the German Studio System: 1919–1925      41

CRITICAL ESSAY: “Caligari” by Siegfried Kracauer      51

5. The Impact of D. W. Griffith on Soviet Montage: 1919–1925      62

6. The French Avant-Garde Tradition and Surrealism      76

7. Hollywood Silent Films in the Jazz Age: 1919–1929      86

8. Hollywood and the Sound Films of the 1930s      100

9. French Cinema of the 1930s      109

CRITICAL ESSAY: “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema” by André Bazin      119

10. The Hollywood Golden Years: 1930–1945      128

11. Italian Neorealist Cinema: 1945–1954      141

CRITICAL ESSAY: “Some Ideas on the Cinema” by Cesare Zavattini      151

12. Hollywood at War and Postwar Paranoia: 1940–1954      159

13. Postwar Japanese Cinema: 1950–1990      169

14. Hollywood in Transition and Decline: 1955–1962      179

15. Symbolist Traditions in the Cinema: 1950s–1970s      190

16. The French New Wave, Part One: 1957–1968      202

17. The French New Wave, Part Two: 1959–1980      211

CRITICAL ESSAY: “L’Année dernière à Marienbad: The Narration of Narration” by Allen Thiher      219

18. Postwar British New Cinema: 1956–1972      228

19. The Italian Cinema of Fellini and Antonioni      237

20. Hollywood Revival and the Anti-Myth Era: 1964–1976      248

CRITICAL ESSAY: “Blow-Up, Swinging London, and the Film Generation” by Peter Lev      259

21. New Italian Cinema of Pasolini and Bertolucci      265

22. New German Cinema      275

23. American Auteurs: Allen, Altman and Coppola      282

24. Revisiting Genre Films in the 1980s and 1990s      294

25. Third Cinema and Post-Colonial Narratives in Africa, Latin America and Asia      306

CRITICAL ESSAY: “From a Hybrid Place” by Trinh T. Minh-Ha with Judith Mayne      315

26. Revisioning History: Contesting Colonialism      323

27. Contemporary Canadian Filmmakers: 1987–2007      335

28. Cultural Politics: Contemporary Inquiries into a “War on Terrorism”      344

Index      355

• “Scholarly…excellent”—The Midwest Book Review

• “The finest book to supplement an introductory film course designed to help college students better understand the significance of the motion picture”—Rogue Cinema

• “Offers critical essays by film scholars…the best film text currently available…the quintessential study guide”—The Current