In this first study in English of one of the most vital and stimulating currents in contemporary European Cinema, Alex Marlow-Mann provides a detailed, multi-faceted and provocative study of this distinct regional tradition. In tracing the movement’s relationship with the popular musical melodramas previously produced in Naples, he reveals how contemporary Neapolitan filmmakers have interrogated, subverted and reconfigured cinematic convention as part of a through-going re-examination of Neapolitan identity.

Key features include:

•analyses of over 45 contemporary Italian films, including Paolo Sorrentino’s The Consequences of Love, Mario Martone’s L’amore molesto, Antonio Capuano’s Pianese Nunzio: 14 in May and Vincenzo Marra’s Sailing Home

•a theoretical discussion of the concept of regional cinema

•an examination of the movement in its broader context as both product and critique of Mayor Bassolino’s ‘Neapolitan Renaissance’

•a study of one European film industry in terms of legislation, production, distribution and exhibition.

Alex Marlow-Mann is the Research Co-ordinator in the Centre for Film Studies at the University of St Andrews. He has taught Italian cinema at the universities of Reading, Cardiff and Leeds and has published numerous articles on the subject. He first became interested in Neapolitan cinema when living in the city.

The orginal essays in this volume explore the tension between the evolving global context of film production and reception and the particular provenance of the epic as an expression of national mythology and aspirations, challenging our understanding of epics produced in the present as well as our perception of epic films from the past. The contributors will explore new critical approaches to contemporary as well as older epic films, drawing on ideas from cultural studies, historiography, classics, and film studies.

Contents

Introduction

Section 1: Spectacle

Chapter 1: Monica Silveira Cyrino, “‘This is Sparta!’ The Reinvention of the Epic in Zach Snyder’s 300.”

Chapter 2: Kirsten Thompson, “‘Philip Never Saw Babylon:’ 360 Degree Vision and the Historical Epic in the Digital Era.”

Chapter 3: Leon Hunt, “Heroic Chivalry, Heroic Sacrifice: ‘Martial Arthouse’ as Epic Cinema.”

Chapter 4: Robert Burgoyne, “Bare Life and Sovereignty in Gladiator.”

Section 2: Center and Periphery

Chapter 5: Dina Iordanova, “‘Rise of the Rest:’ Globalizing Epic Cinema.”

Chapter 6: Bettina Bildhauer, “Signs of the Times: The Semiotics of Time and Event in Sirk’s Sign of the Pagan.”

Chapter 7: Tom Conley, “The Fall of the Roman Empire: On Space and Allegory.”

Chapter 8: Mark Jancovich, “‘An Italianmade Spectacle Film Dubbed in English:’ Cultural Distinctions, National Cinema and the Critical Reception of the Postwar Historical Epic.”

Chapter 9: Ruby Cheung, “Red Cliff: The Chinese-Language Epic and Diasporic Chinese Spectators.”

Section 3: Remembering the Nation

Chapter 10: Philip Wagner, “Passing Through Nightmares: Cecil B. DeMille’s The Plainsman and the Epic Discourse in New Deal America.”

Chapter 11: Bruce Babington, “Epos Indigenized: The New Zealand Wars Film From Rudall Hayward to Vincent Ward.”

Section 4: The Family Epic

Chapter 12: Bhaskar Sarkar, in “Epic Melodrama, or Cine-Maps of the Global South.”

Chapter 13: Anne Gselvik, “Black Blood: There Will Be Blood.”

Section 5: The Body in the Epic

Chapter 14: Alison Griffiths, “The Monstrous Epic: Deciphering Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.”

Chapter 15: Saer Ba, “Reading the Black Body in Epic Cinema.”

Deleuze’s Cinema books continue to cause controversy. Although they offer radical new ways of understanding cinema, his conclusions often seem strikingly Eurocentric. Deleuze and World Cinemas explores what happens when Deleuze’s ideas are brought into contact with the films he did not discuss, those from Europe and the USA (from Georges Méliès to Michael Mann) and a range of world cinemas – including Bollywood blockbusters, Hong Kong action movies, Argentine melodramas and South Korean science fiction movies. These emergent encounters demonstrate the need for the constant adaptation and reinterpretation of Deleuze’s findings if they are to have continued relevance, especially for cinema’s contemporary engagement with the aftermath of the Cold War and the global dominance of neoliberal globalization.

Contents

Introduction: Deterritorializing Deleuze

Spectacle I: Attraction-Image

1. The Attraction-Image: From Georges Méliès to the Spaghetti Western \ Impossible Voyage (1904) \ Django (1966) \ Keoma (1976) \ History: Deleuze After Dictatorship
2. The Child-seer in and as History: Argentine Melodrama \ Kamchatka (2002)
3. Folding and Unfolding History: South Korean Time Travel Movies \ Calla (1999) \ Ditto (2000) \ 2009: Lost Memories (2002) \ Space: Geopolitics and the Action-Image
4. Not just any-space-whatever: Hong Kong and the global/local action-image \ Police Story (1985)
5. Globalization ’s Action Crystals: Los Angeles in Michael Mann Blockbusters \ Heat (1995) \ Collateral (2004)

Spectacle II: Masala-Image

6. The Masala-Image: Popular Indian (Bollywood) Cinema \ Toofani Tarzan (1936) \ Awaara (1951) \ Dilwale Dulhania La Jayenge (1995)

Conclusion: The Continuing Adventures of Deleuze and World Cinemas

But what was this exemplary masculinity and what became of it in the aftermath of war? John Mills and British Cinema asks how was it possible for an actor to embody national identity and, by exploring the cultural contexts in which Mills and the nation became synonymous, the book offers a new perspective on 40 years of cinema and social change. Through detailed analysis of a wide range of classic British films, John Mills and British Cinema exposes the shifting constructions of ‘national’ masculinity, arguing that the screen persona of the actor is a fundamental, and often overlooked, dimension of British cinema.

Key Features:

• Provides the first critical examination of the film career of Sir John Mills.
• Uses contemporary feminist and gender theories to examine the body of the actor as a crucial dimension of the film text.
• Explores the concept of a ‘national cinema’ from an innovative new perspective.
• Provides stimulating new readings of key British films, including Forever England, The Way to the Stars, Great Expectations, Scott of the Antarctic, Hobson’s Choice, Ice Cold in Alex, Tunes of Glory, The Family Way and Ryan’s Daughter.

• Develops a comprehensive, philosophical theory of cinema, focusing on film as a medium

• Emphasises the contemporary relevance of issues traditionally linked to classical film theory, such as authorship, narration, realism and character-identification

• Offers a systematic investigation of central features of non-interactive and interactive digital cinema, from films to videogames to virtual reality displays

• Provides a complete guide to the unique characteristics of historical film, distinguishing among sub-genres such as historical epics, war films, biographies, topical films, and meta-historic works like Nixon and JFK
• Offers detailed analyses of groundbreaking films such as Spartacus, Schindler’s List, and United 93
• Examines the dual role of the historical film to entertain and educate, with its tendency to arouse critical and popular controversy
• Stimulates discussion about Hollywood’s power to persuade and reshape our views of the past