Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An invaluable introduction to popular film and the way in which it is studied, this book brings together the critical approaches and issues that have sought to define popular film from the 1950s to the present day.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The eight essays in this volume survey past and current approaches to the analysis of popular film and examine the theoretical debates about the relative values of each approach. The approaches are mass-culture theory and political economy, auteurism and film authorship, genre theory and criticism, star studies, historical poetics, screen theory, feminist studies, and cultural studies. The essays are noteworthy for overall clarity and balance; identification of major influences and historical forces affecting the development of a particular approach; sound analysis of particular strengths and inherent problems of an approach of theory; and discussion of where and how approaches intersect or conflict. Those interested in understanding British film theory and analysis from the perspective of its historical/cultural development will find this an informative book. British film analysis and study would (on the basis of these contributions) appear to be more theoretical and explanatory, more carefully grounded in the study of social context and culture, and more reliant on group or team analysis than on individual analysis. American film scholars can gain a valuable perspective on their own work, as well as understand British intellectual and academic traditions in film analysis. Graduate students; researchers.