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This book examines performances in the American film industry’s highest-earning and most influential films. Countering decades of discourse and the conventional notion that special effects are the real stars of Hollywood blockbusters, this book finds that the acting performances in these big-budget action movies are actually better, and more genre-appropriate, than reputed. It argues that while blockbusters are often edited for speed, thrills, and simplicity, and performances are sometimes tailored to this style, most major productions feature more scenes of stage-like acting than hyper-kinetic action. Knowing this, producers of the world’s highest-budgeted motion pictures usually cast strong or generically appropriate actors. With chapters offering unique readings of some of cinema’s biggest hits, such as The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, Iron Man and The Hunger Games, this unprecedented study sheds new light on the importance of performance in the Hollywood blockbuster. .

Motion picture acting. --- Motion picture actors and actresses --- Film acting --- Moving-picture acting --- Acting --- Motion pictures-United States. --- Screen Performance. --- American Cinema and TV. --- Motion pictures—United States.

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Studying the case of Latin American cinema, this book analyzes one of the most public - and most exportable- forms of postcolonial national culture to argue that millennial era globalization demands entirely new frameworks for thinking about the relationship between politics, culture, and economic policies. Concerns that globalization would bring the downfall of national culture were common in the 1990s as economies across the globe began implementing neoliberal, free market policies and abolishing state protections for culture industries. Simultaneously, new technologies and the increased mobility of people and information caused others to see globalization as an era of heightened connectivity and progressive contact. Twenty-five years later, we are now able to examine the actual impact of globalization on local and regional cultures, especially those of postcolonial societies. Tracing the full life-cycle of films and studying blockbusters like City of God, Motorcycle Diaries, and Children of Men this book argues that neoliberal globalization has created a highly ambivalent space for cultural expression, one willing to market against itself as long as the stories sell. The result is an innovative and ground-breaking text suited to scholars interested in globalization studies, Latin-American studies and film studies.

Motion pictures --- Motion pictures, American. --- Ethnology-Latin America. --- Globalization. --- Latin American Cinema and TV. --- Latin American Culture. --- Global cities --- Globalisation --- Internationalization --- International relations --- Anti-globalization movement --- American motion pictures --- Moving-pictures, American --- Foreign films --- Ethnology—Latin America.

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American Revenge Narratives critically examines the nation’s vengeful storytelling tradition. With essays on late twentieth and twenty-first century fiction, film, and television, it maps the coordinates of the revenge genre’s contemporary reinvention across American culture. By surveying American revenge narratives, this book measures how contemporary payback plots appraise the nation’s political, social, and economic inequities. The volume’s essays collectively make the case that retribution is a defining theme of post-war American culture and an artistic vehicle for critique. In another sense, this book presents a scholarly coming to terms with the nation’s love for vengeance. By investigating recent iterations of an ancient genre, contributors explore how the revenge narrative evolves and thrives within American literary and filmic imagination. Taken together, the book’s diverse chapters attempt to understand American culture’s seemingly inexhaustible production of vengeful tales.

Culture --- United States --- Motion pictures --- America --- Cultural and Media Studies. --- American Culture. --- Popular Culture. --- American Cinema. --- North American Literature. --- Mass Media. --- Cultural studies --- Study and teaching. --- United States. --- Literatures. --- American essays --- United States-Study and teaching. --- Motion pictures-United States. --- America-Literatures. --- Communication. --- Popular Culture . --- American Cinema and TV. --- Media and Communication. --- Communication, Primitive --- Mass communication --- Sociology --- Culture, Popular --- Mass culture --- Pop culture --- Popular arts --- Communication --- Intellectual life --- Mass society --- Recreation --- United States—Study and teaching. --- Motion pictures—United States. --- America—Literatures.

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Subverting Mainstream Narratives in the Reagan Era explores how artists, novelists, and directors were able to present narratives of strong dissent in popular culture during the Reagan Era. Using but subverting the tools of mainstream novels and films, these visionaries’ works were featured alongside other books in major bookstores and promoted alongside blockbusters in movie theatres across the country. Ashley M. Donnelly discusses how the artists accomplished this, why it is so important, and how new artists can use these techniques in today’s homogenous and mundane media.

Culture --- United States --- Communication. --- Motion pictures --- America --- Cultural and Media Studies. --- American Culture. --- American Cinema. --- North American Literature. --- Popular Culture. --- Media and Communication. --- Communication, Primitive --- Mass communication --- Sociology --- Cultural studies --- Study and teaching. --- United States. --- Literatures. --- United States-Study and teaching. --- Motion pictures-United States. --- America-Literatures. --- American Cinema and TV. --- Popular Culture . --- Culture, Popular --- Mass culture --- Pop culture --- Popular arts --- Communication --- Intellectual life --- Mass society --- Recreation --- United States—Study and teaching. --- Motion pictures—United States. --- America—Literatures.

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This book argues that 3D films are becoming more sophisticated in utilising stereoscopic effects for storytelling purposes. Since Avatar (2009), we have seen a 3D revival marked by its integration with new digital technologies. With this book, the author goes beyond exploring 3D’s spectacular graphics and considers how 3D can be used to enhance visual storytelling. The chapters include visual comparisons between 2D and 3D to highlight their respective narrative features; an examination of the narrative tropes and techniques used by contemporary 3D filmmakers; and a discussion of the narrative implications brought by the coexistence of flatness and depth in 3D visuality. In demonstrating 3D cinematic aesthetics and storytelling, Yong Liu analyses popular films such as Hugo (2011), Life of Pi (2012), Gravity (2013), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013, and The Great Gatsby (2013). The book is an investigation into contemporary forms of stereoscopic storytelling derived from a unique, long-existing mode of cinematic illusions. .

Culture --- Motion pictures --- Cultural and Media Studies. --- Film/TV Technology. --- Digital/New Media. --- American Cinema. --- Cultural studies --- Study and teaching. --- United States. --- 3-D films --- Cinematography. --- History and criticism. --- Aesthetics. --- Photography --- Chronophotography --- 3D films --- Moving-pictures, Three-dimensional --- Stereoscopic motion pictures --- Three-dimensional motion pictures --- Three-dimensional display systems --- Aesthetics --- Animated pictures --- Motion pictures. --- Digital media. --- Motion pictures-United States. --- American Cinema and TV. --- Electronic media --- New media (Digital media) --- Mass media --- Digital communications --- Online journalism --- Cinema --- Feature films --- Films --- Movies --- Moving-pictures --- Audio-visual materials --- Performing arts --- History and criticism --- Motion pictures—United States.