Breaking in to the Movies: Film and the Culture of Politics

Giroux (cultural studies, Pennsylvania State U.), while valuing the intersection of cinema study with feminism, Marxism, and cultural studies, instead focuses on film as "public pedagogy," or as Gore Vidal puts it, a medium of "joy and knowledge." Giroux, for example, takes on class in Norma Rae, gender in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, youth in Dead Poets Society and Dangerous Minds, and race in Pulp Fiction and Fight Club. The essays are varied: Norma Rae is praised as complex, and The Night Porter condemned as neofascist. is seen as contradictory, as promoting individual resistance through tapping into what Giroux calls "affective conformity" (mass manipulation of emotions). And the teenagers depicted in Kids are criticized for "lacking any depth, memories, or histories." Versions of these essays have appeared in such journals as Film Quarterly, Socialist Review, and Pedagogy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices