William Brown

Thinking in the Dark introduces readers to twenty-one key theorists whose work has made the greatest impact on film scholarship today, including everyone from Sergei Eisenstein to Michel Foucault, from Judith Butler to André Bazin. Each chapter is written by an expert who explains a different theorist’s key ideas, then gives concrete examples of how they might be applied to both a classic film and a contemporary one. Ideal for teachers and students of film as well as contemporary and modern philosophy, critical theory and semotics, also of interest to the general reader exploring such topics.

Acting for America focuses on the way film icons have engaged in and defined some major issues of cultural and social concern to America during the 1980s. Scholars employing a variety of useful approaches explore how these movie stars' films speak to an increased audience awareness of advances in feminism, new ideas about masculinity, and the complex political atmosphere in the Age of Reagan. The essays demonstrate the range of these stars' contributions to such conversations in a variety of films, including blockbusters and major genres.

Larger Than Life offers a comprehensive view of the star system in 1950s Hollywood and also in-depth discussions of the decade's major stars, including Montgomery Clift, Judy Holliday, Jerry Lewis, James Mason, Marilyn Monroe, Kim Novak, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Jayne Mansfield, and Audrey Hepburn.

Thinking in the Dark introduces readers to twenty-one key theorists whose work has made the greatest impact on film scholarship today, including everyone from Sergei Eisenstein to Michel Foucault, from Judith Butler to André Bazin. Each chapter is written by an expert who explains a different theorist’s key ideas, then gives concrete examples of how they might be applied to both a classic film and a contemporary one. Ideal for teachers and students of film as well as contemporary and modern philosophy, critical theory and semotics, also of interest to the general reader exploring such topics.