New Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction - Tapa dura

A first-rate contribution to the field of film studies. -- Chris Wyatt Cinescape Whatever your opinion of developments in American cinema over the last 30 years, you will be confirmed and challenged by King's aim of showing how these films can be approached and discussed in more than one way... this is going to be a useful resource for student, tutor, aficionado and historian alike. Film Quarterly King has a good handle on both the commercial and the artistic aspects of cinema, which is necessary for comprehending the topic, and he states his case in an academic yet generally accessible manner. Booklist [King's] discussion of the genre is one of the most reasonable to be found anywhere... recommended. Publishers Weekly Film professor King explores how popular films of the 60's through the 90's have been affected by Hollywood's primary function as a multibillion-dollar international business. Variety

What is "New Hollywood"? The "art" cinema of the Hollywood "Renaissance" or the corporate controlled blockbuster? The introverted world of Travis Bickle or the action heroics of Indiana Jones, Buzz Lightyear, and Maximus the Gladiator? Innovative departures from the "classical" Hollywood style or superficial glitz, special effects, and borrowings from MTV? Wholesale change or important continuities with Hollywood's past? The answer suggested by Geoff King in New Hollywood Cinema is all of these and more. He examines New Hollywood from three main perspectives: film style, industry, and the social-historical context. Each is considered in its own right, sometimes resulting in different ways of defining New Hollywood. But one of the book's central arguments is that a combination of these approaches is needed if we are to understand the latest incarnations of the cinema that continues to dominate the global market. King looks at the Hollywood "Renaissance" from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, industrial factors shaping the construction of the corporate blockbuster, the role of auteur directors, genre and stardom in New Hollywood, narrative and spectacle in the contemporary blockbuster, and the relationship between production for the big and small screens. Case studies considered include Taxi Driver, Godzilla, and Gladiator, tracing the roots of New Hollywood from the 1950s to the start of the twenty-first century.