Synopses & Reviews
Acclaimed as one of the most influential and innovative American directors, Francis Ford Coppola is also lionized as a maverick auteur at war with Hollywood's power structure and an ardent critic of the postindustrial corporate America it reflects.
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However, Jeff Menne argues that Coppola exemplifies the new breed of creative corporate person and sees the director's oeuvre as vital for reimagining the corporation in the transformation of Hollywood.
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Reading auteur theory as the new American business theory, Menne reveals how Coppola's vision of a new kind of company has transformed the worker into a liberated and well-utilized artist, but has also commodified individual creativity at a level unprecedented in corporate history. Coppola negotiated the contradictory roles of shrewd businessman and creative artist by recognizing the two roles are fused in a postindustrial economy.
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Analyzing films like The Godfather (1970) and the overlooked Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) through Coppola's use of opera, Menne illustrates how Coppola developed a defining musical aesthetic while making films that reflected the idea of a corporation as family--and how his studio American Zoetrope came to represent a new brand of auteurism and the model for post-Fordist Hollywood.
Review
"Well researched, well written, compellingly argued. Writing intelligently and coherently about an auteur as significant and complex as Francis Coppola in a short book is more of a challenge than doing so in a more expansive format. Menne proves up to the task."
--Jon Lewis, author of Whom God Wishes to Destroy: Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood
Review
andquot;Jeff Menne has found a new angle on one of the most remarkable filmmakers of his era.andquot;--Shepherd Express
About the Author
Jeff Menne is assistant professor of screen studies and English at Oklahoma State University.