The biopic in contemporary film culture / edited by Tom Brown and Belén Vidal.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Brown, Tom, 1978- editor.

Vidal, Belén, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biographical films--History and criticism.

Biographical films.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xii, 309 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Routledge, 2014.

Summary:

The biographical film or biopic is a staple of film production in all major film industries and yet, within film studies, its generic, aesthetic, and cultural significance has remained underexplored. The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture fills this gap, conceptualizing the biopic with a particular eye toward the "life" of the genre internationally. New theoretical approaches combine with specially commissioned chapters on contemporary biographical film production in India, Italy, South-Korea, France, Russia, Great Britain, and the US, in order to present a selective but well-rounded portrait of the biopic's place in film culture. From Marie Antoinette to The Social Network, the pieces in this volume critically examine the place of the biopic within ongoing-debates about how cinema can and should represent history and "real lives." Contributors discuss the biopic's grounding in the conventions of the historical film, and explore the genre's defining traits as well as its potential for innovation. The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture expands the critical boundaries of this evolving, versatile genre. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 cultural shifts 33

1 facebooking the present: the biopic and cultural instantaneity / Rebecca A. Sheehan Sheehan, Rebecca A. 35

2 the contemporary french biopic in national and international contexts / Raphaëlle Moine Moine, Raphaëlle 52

3 the biopic of the new middle classes in contemporary hindi cinema / Rachel Dwyer Dwyer, Rachel 68

4 recycling historical lives: south korean period biopics and the culture content industry / Yun mi Hwang Hwang, Yun mi 84

Part 2 cycles and performance 101

5 performing performers: embodiment and intertextuality in the contemporary biopic / Lucy Fife Donaldson Donaldson, Lucy Fife 103

6 consensual pleasures: amazing grace, oratory, and the middlebrow biopic / Tom Brown Brown, Tom 118

7 morgan/sheen: the compressed frame of impersonation / Belén Vidal Vidal, Belén 140

8 gender, genius, and abjection in artist biopics / Julie F. Dodell Codell, Julie F. 159

9 chanel on screen: female biopics in the age of global branding / Ginette Vincendeau Vincendeau, Ginette 176

Part 3 icons and auteurs 195

10 cinematic boundaries: aleksandr sokurov's the sun as liminal biopic / Alastair Philips Philips, Alastair 197

11 history in the making: sofia Coppola's marie antoinette and the new auteurism / Pam Cook Cook, Pam 212

12 i'm not there: transcendent thanatography / Jesse Schlotterbeck Schlotterbeck, Jesse 227

13 il divo: the biopic, counter-history, and cine/politics in the twenty-first century / Marcia Landy Landy, Marcia 243

14 gainsbourg puppetry in the musical biopic / Robert Burgoyne Burgoyne, Robert 259.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415899406

0415899400

9780415899413

0415899419

OCLC:

781675443