Screening nostalgia : populuxe props and technicolor aesthetics in contemporary American film / Christine Sprengler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sprengler, Christine.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nostalgia in motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Aesthetics.

Motion pictures.

Motion pictures--United States--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (208 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Berghahn Books, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this fascinating in-depth study of the impact of nostalgia on contemporary American cinema, Christine Sprengler unpicks the history of the concept and explores its significance in theory and practice. She offers a lucid analysis of the development of nostalgia in American society and culture, navigating a path through the key debates and aligning herself with recent attempts to recuperate its critical potential. This journey opens up the myriad permutations of nostalgia across visual and material culture and their interface with cinema, with the 1950s emerging as a privileged moment. Four c

Contents:

Introduction

Setting the stage: the history of nostalgia

The fifties: nostalgia's privileged object and the origins of its dominant American strain

The nostalgia film in practice and theory

Sin city: reading the tails of a populuxe prop

Far from heaven: creative agency, social history and the expressive potential of costume

The aviator: deliberate archaism, technicolor aesthetics and style as substance

Conclusion: The good German and the good of nostalgia.

Notes:

"Berghahn on film"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [181]-189) and index.

Includes filmography: p. [175]-180.

ISBN:

1-80758-322-8

1-282-62749-X

9786612627491

1-84545-888-5

OCLC:

645101994