Whether we stream them on our laptops, enjoy them in theaters, or slide them into DVD players to watch on our TVs, movies are part of what it means to be socially connected in the twenty-first century. Despite its significant role in our lives, the act of watching films remains an area of social activity that is little studied, and thus, little understood.In "Watching Films," an international cast of contributors correct this problem with a comprehensive investigation of movie going, cinema exhibition, and film reception around the world. With a focus on the social, economic, and cultural factors that influence how we watch and think about movies, this volume centers its investigations on four areas of inquiry: Who watches films? Under what circumstances? What consequences and affects follow? And what do these acts of consumption mean? Responding to these questions, the contributors provide both historical perspective and fresh insights about the ways in which new viewing arrangements and technologies influence how films get watched everywhere from Canada to China to Ireland.A long-overdue consideration of an important topic, "Watching Films" provides an engrossing overview of how we do just that in our homes and across the globe."

An inside look at how some of the biggest names in the film industry view their craft In this unique collection, New York Times film critic Rick Lyman sits down with notable directors, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers, and other film industry professionals to watch and discuss a movie that each person considers seminal or influential on his or her career. Steven Soderbergh on how All the President's Men influenced Erin Brockovich * Quentin Tarantino on The Golden Stallion * Ang Lee on Love Eternal * Denzel Washington on Ordinary People * Ron Howard on The Graduate and many more Each interviewee's character is revealed in the resulting essays, which deepen our appreciation of landmark films, and give us extraordinary insight into the process of filmmaking. Lyman enhances every essay with a brief biography, career history, and complete filmography of each of the subjects, which puts them in a historical and creative context. Drawn from the enormously popular series in The New York Times, Watching Movies will fascinate film students and curious moviegoers alike.

This introduction to film appreciation uses contemporary and popular American movies to help students develop critical skills in the analysis and evaluation of film. By suggesting what to look for and how to look for it, this text challenges students to sharpen their powers of observation, establish habits of perceptive watching, and discover complex aspects of film art that will further enhance their enjoyment of watching films.

At a time when what it means to watch movies keeps changing, this book offers a case study that rethinks the institutional, ideological, and cultural role of film exhibition, demonstrating that film exhibition can produce meaning in itself apart from the films being shown. Cinema Off Screen advances the idea that cinema takes place off screen as much as on screen by exploring film exhibition in China from the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949 to the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. Drawing on original archival research, interviews, and audience recollections, Cinema Off Screen decenters the filmic text and offers a study of institutional operations and lived experiences. Chenshu Zhou details how the screening space, media technology, and the human body mediate encounters with cinema in ways that have not been fully recognized, opening new conceptual avenues for rethinking the ever-changing institution of cinema.

Offering an accessible introduction to the study of film genres and genre films, this book examines the use of genre in cinema from its beginnings to the present day. This book explains the various elements of genre, the importance of genre in popular culture, problems of definition, Hollywood and the studio system, ideology and genre, national cinema and genre, authorship and genre, and debates about representation. The book also provides an in-depth examination of four key genres: the Western, the horror film, the film musical, and the documentary film. Each chapter provides a historical overview of the genre and a summary of important critical debates, and concludes with a case study that builds on the historical and theoretical aspects already introduced and provides a model for subsequent analyses. Featured boxes throughout the text highlight specific cycles, filmmakers, and trends, and each chapter concludes with a list of suggestions for further reading. Film Genre: The Basics is an invaluable resource for those new to studying film and for anyone interested in the history and ongoing significance of film genres and genre films.

Essays examining the relationships between culture, film, and the audience around the turn of the twentieth century. The current digital revolution has sparked a renewed interest in the origins and trajectory of modern media, particularly in the years around 1900 when the technology was rapidly developing. This collection aims to broaden our understanding of early cinema as a significant innovation in media history. Joining traditional scholarship with fresh insights from a variety of disciplines, this book explains the aesthetic and institutional characteristics in early cinema within the context of the contemporary media landscape. It also addresses transcultural developments such as scientific revolutions, industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, as well as differing attitudes toward modernization. Film 1900 is an important reassessment of early cinema’s position in cultural history. “The capable Ligensa and Kreimeier invited a coterie of renowned Continental scholars and thinkers to reflect on issues of modernity and cinema by harking back to the fin de siècle. . . . Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.” —T. Lindval, Choice

How popular films from Memento to Slumdog Millionaire can help us understand how memory works. In the movie Slumdog Millionaire, the childhood memories of a young game show contestant trigger his correct answers. In Memento, the amnesiac hero uses tattoos as memory aids. In Away from Her, an older woman suffering from dementia no longer remembers who her husband is. These are compelling films that tell affecting stories about the human condition. But what can these movies teach us about memory? In this book, John Seamon shows how examining the treatment of memory in popular movies can shed new light on how human memory works. After explaining that memory is actually a diverse collection of independent systems, Seamon uses examples from movies to offer an accessible, nontechnical description of what science knows about memory function and dysfunction. In a series of lively encounters with numerous popular films, he draws on Life of Pi and Avatar, for example, to explain working memory, used for short-term retention. He describes the process of long-term memory with examples from such films as Cast Away and Groundhog Day; The Return of Martin Guerre, among other movies, informs his account of how we recognize people; the effect of emotion on autobiographical memory is illustrated by The Kite Runner, Titanic, and other films; movies including Born on the Fourth of July and Rachel Getting Married illustrate the complex pain of traumatic memories. Seamon shows us that movies rarely get amnesia right, often using strategically timed blows to the protagonist's head as a way to turn memory off and then on again (as in Desperately Seeking Susan). Finally, he uses movies including On Golden Pond and Amour to describe the memory loss that often accompanies aging, while highlighting effective ways to maintain memory function.

This second edition of this successful textbook has been completely rewritten, updated and revised and now contains some of the most recent research and theory on most areas of social psychology. The emphasis on social cognition provides a unifying theme and topics covered include material on conflict and cooperation, including sections on prejudice, aggression and helping behaviour. How we attribute personality characteristics from observation of the behaviour of other people and ourselves is examined, along with leadership, group decisions and different types of relationships. Fully illustrated and written in an easily accessible form, each chapter provides learning objectives and self assessment questions to provide a comprehensive introduction.

Audience studies - a key area in media/cultural studies

New York's repertory movie houses specialized in presenting films ignored by mainstream and art house audiences. Curating vintage and undistributed movies from various countries, they educated the public about the art of film at a time when the cinema had begun to be respected as an art form. Operating on shoestring budgets in funky settings, each repertory house had its own personality, reflecting the preferences of the (often eccentric) proprietor. While a few theaters existed in other cities, New York offered the greatest number and variety. Focusing on the active years from 1960 through 1994, this book documents the repertory movement in the context of economics and film culture.