Synopses & Reviews
The biopic presents a profound paradox--its own conventions and historical stages of
development, disintegration, investigation, parody, and revival have not gained respect
in the world of film studies. That is, until now.
Whose Lives Are They Anyway? boldly proves a critical point: The biopic is a genuine, dynamic genre and an important one--it narrates, exhibits, and celebrates a subject's life and demonstrates, investigates, or questions his or her importance in the world; it illuminates the finer points of a personality; and, ultimately, it provides a medium for both artist and spectator to discover what it would be like to be that person, or a certain type of person.
Through detailed analyses and critiques of nearly twenty biopics, Dennis Bingham
explores what is at their core--the urge to dramatize real life and find a version of the truth within it. The genre's charge, which dates back to the salad days of the Hollywood studio era, is to introduce the biographical subject into the pantheon of cultural mythology and, above all, to show that he or she belongs there. It means to discover what we learn about our culture from the heroes who rise and the leaders who emerge from cinematic representations.
Bingham also zooms in on distinctions between cinematic portrayals of men and
women. Films about men have evolved from celebratory warts-and-all to investigatory
to postmodern and parodic. At the same time, women in biopics have been burdened
by myths of suffering, victimization, and failure from which they are only now being
liberated.
To explore the evolution and lifecycle changes of the biopic and develop an appreciation for subgenres contained within it, there is no better source than Whose Lives Are They Anyway?"Bingham offers a highly readable, erudite, multi-faceted, and marvelously innovative treatment of the genre in its contemporary manifestations."
Marcia Landy, author of Stardom Italian Style: Screen Performance and Personality in Italian Cinema
Review
"Bingham offers a highly readable, erudite, multi-faceted, and marvelously innovative treatment of the genre in its contemporary manifestations."Marcia Landy, author of Stardom Italian Style: Screen Performance and Personality in Italian Cinema
Review
andquot;Bingham offers a highly readable, erudite, multifaceted, and marvelously innovative treatment of the genre in its contemporary manifestations.andquot;
Review
andquot;A charmingly written, impressively researched, consistently intelligent study of the movies' most critically neglected genre. Few film books in the past decade have given me so much pleasure and edification.andquot;
Review
andquot;Bingham provides an exhaustive study of the biopic. This handsome, well-illustrated, smoothly written volume is a perfect resource for survey courses and a solid read. Highly recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;The fruit of many years' labor,
Whose Lives Are They Anyway? offers an intelligent and provocative reading of the biopic that will draw its readers back to the films and lives it explores.andquot;
Review
andquot;Fischerandrsquo;s original, wide-ranging book shows that filmmakers have said as much or more than theoristsand#160;about the complex figure of the author in modern culture.andquot;
Review
andquot;Richly detailed, carefully researched, and elegantly written, Lucy Fischerandrsquo;s Body Double signficantly reshapes our understanding of authorship in the cinema while exploring related issues regarding gender, style, writing, and embodiment.andquot;
Review
andquot;Where is the author in film? In this book, Fischer offers a wide ranging, deeply informed view of the concept of authorship in cinema in all its manifestations. This brief review cannot begin to address the multitude of films, scenarists, directors, and films given detailed examination, but the manner in which Fischer discusses the films and their makers, both literary and cinematic, is authoritative and never less than richly detailed. This is a bold and adventurous book that repays multiple readings. Highly recommended.andquot;
Synopsis
The biopic presents a profound paradox--its own conventions and historical stages of
development, disintegration, investigation, parody, and revival have not gained respect
in the world of film studies. That is, until now.
Whose Lives Are They Anyway? boldly proves a critical point: The biopic is a genuine, dynamic genre and an important one--it narrates, exhibits, and celebrates a subject's life and demonstrates, investigates, or questions his or her importance in the world; it illuminates the finer points of a personality; and, ultimately, it provides a medium for both artist and spectator to discover what it would be like to be that person, or a certain type of person.
Through detailed analyses and critiques of nearly twenty biopics, Dennis Bingham
explores what is at their core--the urge to dramatize real life and find a version of the truth within it. The genre's charge, which dates back to the salad days of the Hollywood studio era, is to introduce the biographical subject into the pantheon of cultural mythology and, above all, to show that he or she belongs there. It means to discover what we learn about our culture from the heroes who rise and the leaders who emerge from cinematic representations.
Bingham also zooms in on distinctions between cinematic portrayals of men and
women. Films about men have evolved from celebratory warts-and-all to investigatory
to postmodern and parodic. At the same time, women in biopics have been burdened
by myths of suffering, victimization, and failure from which they are only now being
liberated.
To explore the evolution and lifecycle changes of the biopic and develop an appreciation for subgenres contained within it, there is no better source than Whose Lives Are They Anyway?
Synopsis
Through detailed analyses and critiques of nearly twenty biopics, Whose Lives Are They Anyway? proves a critical point: The biopic is a genuine. It narrates a subject's life and demonstrates, investigates, or questions his or her importance in the world. Explore the evolution and lifecycle changes of the biopic and devolop an appreciation for subgeneres contained within as Bingham explores what is at it's core.
Synopsis
The chapters in
Acting provide a fascinating, in-depth look at the history of film acting, from its inception in 1895 when spectators thrilled at the sight of vaudeville performers, wild-west stars, and athletes captured in motion to the present when audiences marvel at the seamless blend of human actors with CGI. In six original essays, the contributors to this volume illuminate the dynamic role of acting in the creation and evolving practices of the American film industry. and#160;and#160;
Synopsis
Screen performances entertain and delight us but we rarely stop to consider actorsandrsquo; reliance on their craft to create memorable characters. Although film acting may appear effortless, a host of techniques, artistic conventions, and social factors shape the construction of each role. and#160;
The chapters in Acting provide a fascinating, in-depth look at the history of film acting, from its inception in 1895 when spectators thrilled at the sight of vaudeville performers, Wild West stars, and athletes captured in motion, to the present when audiences marvel at the seamless blend of human actors with CGI. Experts in the field take readers behind the silver screen to learn about the craft of film acting in six eras: the silent screen (1895andndash;1928), classical Hollywood (1928andndash;1946), postwar Hollywood (1947andndash;1967), the auteur renaissance (1968andndash;1980), the New Hollywood (1981andndash;1999), and the modern entertainment marketplace (2000andndash;present). The contributors pay special attention to definitive performances by notable film stars, including Lillian Gish, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, Beulah Bondi, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Nicholas Cage, Denzel Washington, and Andy Serkis.
and#160;In six original essays, the contributors to this volume illuminate the dynamic role of acting in the creation and evolving practices of the American film industry. and#160;
and#160;Acting is a volume in the Behind the Silver Screen seriesandmdash;other titles in the series include Animation; Art Direction and Production Design; Cinematography; Costume, Makeup, and Hair; Directing; Editing and Special/Visual Effects; Producing; Screenwriting; and Sound.and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;
Synopsis
Body Double explores the myriad ways that artists and the creative process have been represented on screen. Through the exploration of many distinct forms of cinema, Lucy Fischer examines such topics as the gender, age, and mental or physical health of fictionalized artists; the dramatized interaction between artists, audiences, and critics; and the formal play of written words and nonverbal images.
Synopsis
Body Double explores the myriad ways that film artists have represented the creative process. In this highly innovative work, Lucy Fischer draws on a neglected element of auteur studies to show that filmmakers frequently raise questions about the paradoxes of authorship by portrayingand#160; the onscreen writer. Dealing with such varied topics as the icon of the typewriter, the case of the writer/director, the authoress, and the omnipresent infirm author, she probes the ways in which films can tell a plausible story while contemplating the conditions and theories of their making.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; By examining many forms of cinema, from Hollywood and the international art cinema to the avant-garde, Fischer considers the gender, age, and mental or physical health of fictionalized writers; the dramatized interaction between artists and their audiences and critics; and the formal play of written words and nonverbal images.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; By analyzing such movies as Adaptation, Diary of a Country Priest, Naked Lunch, American Splendor, and Irezumi, Fischer tracks the parallels between film author and character, looking not for the creative figure who stands outside the text, but for the one who stands within it as corporeal presence and alter-ego.
About the Author
CLAUDIA SPRINGER is in the English department at Framingham State University where she teaches film studies. She is the author ofand#160;
Electronic Eros: Bodies and Desire in the Postindustrial Ageand#160;andand#160;
James Dean Transfigured: The Many Faces of Rebel Iconography.and#160;
JULIE LEVINSON is a professor of film at Babson College. She is the author of The American Success Myth on Film, and the editor of Alexander Payne: Interviews.
Table of Contents
acknowledgements
Introduction: A Respectable Genre of Very Low Repute
BOOKand#160;ONE : THE GREAT (WHITE) MAN BIOPIC AND ITS DISCONTENTS
1 Strachey's Way, or All's Well That Ends Welles
2 Rembrandt (1936)
3and#160; Citizen Kane and the Biopic
4 Lawrence of Arabia: andquot;But does he really deserve a place in here?andquot;
5 Nixon, Oliver Stone, and the Unmaking of the Self-Made Man
6 Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould: Ghost Picture
7 Ed Wood: The Biopic of Someone Undeserving
8 Spike Lee's Malcolm X:and#160; Appropriation or Assimilation?
9 Raoul Peck's Lumumba:and#160;Drama, Documentary, and Postcolonial Appropriation
BOOK TWO: A WOMAN'S LIFE IS NEVER DONE: FEMALE BIOPICS
10 Prologue
11 Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story: Toying with the Genre
12 Iand#160;Want to Live!: Criminal Woman, Male Discourses
13 Barbra and Julie at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; ~Funny Girl
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; ~Star!
14 Hacked:and#160;Gorillas in the Mistand#160;and Other Female Biopics
15 An Angel at My Table: Re-Framing the Female Biography
16 Erin Brockovich: Hollywood Feminist Revisionism, after a Fashion
17 Twenty-First Century Women
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; ~The Notorious Bettie Page: Free Will and God's Will
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; ~Marie Antoinette:and#160;The Female Biopic Gets the Guillotine
18 I'm Not There: Some Conclusions on a Book Concerning Biopics
Works Cited
Index