Performing Arts : Film

Changes in American society, the pluralistic nature of its citizens, and its geographic preclude a common definition of what is indecent, profane, or obscene. What may appear to be “dirty discourse” to some may be considered to be laudable satire to others. Renowned media scholars and authors Robert Hilliard and Michael Keith examine the blue side of the airways in Dirty Discourse: Sex and Indecency in Broadcasting . This first-ever analysis of the history and nature of off-color program content explores the treatment of once-forbidden topics in the electronic media, investigating the beliefs, attitudes and actions of those who present such material, those who condemn it, and those who defend it. Written from a social and cultural perspective, Dirty Discourse concentrates on the means of greatest distribution – radio, with its phenomenal growth of 'shock jocks' and rap music lyrics, and provides coverage of television and the Internet. The book shows how and why broadcasting has evolved from the ribald antics of the Roaring 20's to today’s streaming cybersex, contrasting the standards and actions of the FCC v. the First Amendment amidst the over-the-air and in-the-court battles of over-the-top radio. It examines political pressures and legal considerations, including Supreme Court decisions, and efforts to protect children from media smut. more...

Price: $60.00

Of the dozens of books written about Orson Welles, most focus on the central enigma of Welles's career: why did someone so extravagantly talented neglect to finish so many projects? Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has long believed that to dwell on this aspect of the Welles canon is to overlook the wealth of information available by studying the unrealized works. Discovering Orson Welles collects Rosenbaum's writings to date on Welles--some thirty-five years of them--and makes an irrefutable case for the seriousness of his work, illuminating both Welles the artist and Welles the man. The book is also a chronicle of Rosenbaum's highly personal writer's journey and his efforts to arrive at the truth. The essays, interviews, and reviews are arranged chronologically and are accompanied by commentary that updates the scholarship. Highlights include Rosenbaum's 1972 interview with Welles about his first Hollywood project, Heart of Darkness; Rosenbaum's rebuttal to Pauline Kael's famous essay ''Raising Kane''; detailed essays and comprehensive discussions of Welles's major unfinished work, including two unrealized projects, The Big Brass Ring and The Cradle Will Rock; and an account of Rosenbaum's work as consultant on the 1998 re-editing of Touch of Evil, based on a studio memo by Welles. more...

Price: $24.95

Finding the theoretical space where cinema and philosophy meet, Malin Wahlberg’s sophisticated approach to the experience of documentary film aligns with attempts to reconsider the premises of existential phenomenology. Wahlberg discusses a corpus of clas more...

Price: $67.50

No one captured the teen portion of the eighties as poignantly as writer-director John Hughes. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Some Kind of Wonderful are timeless tales of love, angst, longing, and self-discovery that illuminated and assuaged the anxieties of an entire generation. more...

Price: $11.99

This work provides a history of the 20th-century American gangster film. Moving chronologically through nearly seven decades, this volume offers illuminating readings of a select group of the classic films that best define and exemplify each period in the development of the American crime film. more...

Price: $29.95