Driving visions : exploring the road movie / by David Laderman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Laderman, David.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Road films--History and criticism.

Road films.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (335 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin, TX : University of Texas Press, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From the visionary rebellion of Easy Rider to the reinvention of home in The Straight Story, the road movie has emerged as a significant film genre since the late 1960s, able to cut across a wide variety of film styles and contexts. Yet, within the variety, a certain generic core remains constant: the journey as cultural critique, as exploration beyond society and within oneself. This book traces the generic evolution of the road movie with respect to its diverse presentations, emphasizing it as an "independent genre" that attempts to incorporate marginality and subversion on many levels. David Laderman begins by identifying the road movie's defining features and by establishing the literary, classical Hollywood, and 1950s highway culture antecedents that formatively influenced it. He then traces the historical and aesthetic evolution of the road movie decade by decade through detailed and lively discussions of key films. Laderman concludes with a look at the European road movie, from the late 1950s auteurs through Godard and Wenders, and at compelling feminist road movies of the 1980s and 1990s.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Acknowledgmentsviii

Chapter 1. PAVING THE WAY1

Sources and Features of the Road Movie

Chapter 2. BLAZING THE TRAIL43

Visionary Rebellion and the Late-g96os Road Movie

Chapter 3. DRIFTING ON EMPTY82

Existential Irony and the Early-197os Road Movie

Chapter 4. BLURRING THE BOUNDARIES132

The I98os Postmodern Road Movie

Chapter 5. REBUILDING THE ENGINE175

The I99os Multicultural Road Movie

Chapter 6. TRAVELING OTHER HIGHWAYS 247

The European Road Movie

Notes 283

Bibliography 297

Index 303.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-302) and index.

ISBN:

0-292-79814-8

OCLC:

191952669