by Todd McGowan (2014)
Since the release of Do the Right Thing in 1989, Spike Lee has established himself as a cinematic icon. Lee's mostly independent films garner popular audiences while at the same time engaging in substantial political and social commentary. He is arguably the most accomplished African American filmmaker in cinematic history, and his breakthrough paved the way for the success of many other African Americans in film. In this first single-author scholarly examination of Spike Lee's oeuvre, Todd McGowan shows how Lee's films, from She's Gotta Have It through Red Hook Summer, address crucial social issues such as racism, paranoia, and economic exploitation in a formally inventive manner. McGowan argues that Lee uses excess in his films to intervene in issues of philosophy, politics, and art.
Brian Neve
"In 1999 Elia Kazan received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement; it was a controversial award, for in 1952 he had cooperated with the House Committee on Un-American Activities, for which he was ostracized by many. Kazan's life and work in the cinema are due a reassessment - one that is presented by Brian Neve in this book, drawing on neglected archive sources, including Kazan's own papers, and situating Kazan within the culture and politics of his times."--Jacket.
William Pencak
"Derek Jarman's films explore the possibilities and limitations of same-sex love and self-expression during various historical eras, from ancient Egypt to present times. His work covers a millennium of sexual repression and efforts to escape it. Jarman presents a cinematic history of people whose homoerotic passions had a major impact on western civilization in religion, art, politics, philosophy, and war.". "This book provides background information on each of Jarman's fifteen scripts and films. The chapters are "program notes" to his films from a historical perspective. An interpretation of Jarman's intentions, gleaned from the director's writings and writings about him, is also provided. This work reveals Jarman's importance as a keen student of the limits of historical knowledge, and delineates the role of history in inspiring change or preserving inertia in the present struggle against homophobia."--BOOK JACKET.
Ricardo Daza
"Mies van der Rohe in a steel and glass building smoking a cigar - this historical photograph of the world-famous architect fascinated and intrigued the author so much that he painstakingly researched the events surrounding it. He takes the reader step by step through all the architectonic and personal details in the photograph, interpreting and analysing them. With the tension of a detective story, he examines the evidence, makes deductions and gradually brings to light elements of Mies' biography, enhanced by attractive sequences of illustrations. From this one photograph the author draws a skillful picture of Mies - the architecture, the man and his character."--Jacket.
Brenda Daly
Joyce Carol Oates's authorial voice is lavishly diverse. In her works she divides herself into many voices, many persons. This up-to-date examination of Oates's novels argues that the father-identified daughters in her early novels have become, in the novels of the 1980s, self-authoring women who seek alliances with their culturally devalued mothers. Oates's struggle to resist and transform male-defined literary conventions is often mirrored by the struggles of her female characters to resist and transform social conventions.