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Robert Motherwell, Abstraction, and Philosophy (Routledge Focus on Art History and Visual Studies)
by Robert HobbsEmploying an interdisciplinary approach, this book breaks new ground by considering how Robert Motherwell’s abstract expressionist art is indebted to Alfred North Whitehead’s highly original process metaphysics. Motherwell first encountered Whitehead and his work as a philosophy graduate student at Harvard University, and he continued to espouse Whitehead’s processist theories as germane to his art throughout his life. This book examines how Whitehead’s process philosophy—inspired by quantum theory and focusing on the ongoing ingenuity of dynamic forces of energy rather than traditional views of inert substances—set the stage for Motherwell’s future art. This book will be of interest to scholars in twentieth-century modern art, philosophy of art and aesthetics, and art history.
Robert Plant: A Life
by Paul ReesThis biography of the solo artist and legendary lead singer of Led Zeppelin “informs and entertains . . . leav[ing] few stones in Plant’s life unturned.” —Mojo magazineRobert Plant by Paul Rees is the definitive biography of Led Zeppelin's legendary frontman. As lead singer for one of the biggest and most influential rock bands of all time—whose song “Stairway to Heaven” has been played more times on American radio than any other track—Robert Plant defined what it means to be a rock god.Over the course of his twenty-year career, British music journalist and editor Paul Rees has interviewed such greats as Sir Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Bono, and AC/DC. Rees now offers a full portrait of Robert Plant for the first time, exploring the forces that shaped him, the ravaging highs and lows of the Zeppelin years—including his relationship with Jimmy Page and John Bonham—and his life as a solo artist today.Illustrated with more than two dozen photographs, Robert Plant: A LIfe is the never-before-told story of a gifted, complicated music icon who changed the face of rock 'n' roll.“Anyone seeking insight into Robert Plant as a man and musician will find it here.” —Q Magazine“Particularly enlightening on Plant’s formative pre-Zep years in the Midlands, A Life puts the singer’s eclectic career into clear context.” —Dave Lewis, Tight But Loose magazine
Robert Rauschenberg: An Oral History (The Columbia Oral History Series)
by Sara SinclairRobert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) was a breaker of boundaries and a consummate collaborator. He used silk-screen prints to reflect on American promise and failure, melded sculpture and painting in works called combines, and collaborated with engineers and scientists to challenge our thinking about art. Through collaborations with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and others, Rauschenberg bridged the music, dance, and visual-art worlds, inventing a new art for the last half of the twentieth century.Robert Rauschenberg is a work of collaborative oral biography that tells the story of one of the twentieth century’s great artists through a series of interviews with key figures in his life—family, friends, former lovers, professional associates, studio assistants, and collaborators. The oral historian Sara Sinclair artfully puts the narrators’ reminiscences in conversation, with a focus on the relationship between Rauschenberg’s intense social life and his art. The book opens with a prologue by Rauschenberg’s sister and then shifts to New York City’s 1950s and ’60s art scene, populated by the luminaries of abstract expressionism. It follows Rauschenberg’s eventual move to Florida’s Captiva Island and his trips across the globe, illuminating his inner life and its effect on his and others’ art.The narrators share their views on Rauschenberg’s work, explore the curatorial thinking behind exhibitions of his art, and reflect on the impact of the influx of money into the contemporary art market. Included are artists famous in their own right, such as Laurie Anderson and Brice Marden, as well as art-world insiders and lesser-known figures who were part of Rauschenberg’s inner circle. Beyond considering Rauschenberg as an artist, this book reveals him as a man embedded in a series of art worlds over the course of a long and rich life, demonstrating the complex interaction of business and personal, public and private in the creation of great art.
Robert Redford: The Biography
by Michael Feeney CallanThe long-anticipated biography of Robert Redford.Among the most widely admired Hollywood stars of his generation, Redford has appeared onstage and on-screen, in front of and behind the camera, earning Academy, Golden Globe, and a multitude of other awards and nominations for acting, directing, and producing, and for his contributions to the arts. His Sundance Film Festival transformed the world of filmmaking; his films defined a generation. America has come to know him as the Sundance Kid, Bob Woodward, Johnny Hooker, Jay Gatsby, and Roy Hobbs. But only now, with this revelatory biography, do we see the surprising and complex man beneath the Hollywood façade.From Redford's personal papers--journals, script notes, correspondence--and hundreds of hours of taped interviews, Michael Feeney Callan brings the legendary star into focus. Here is his scattered family background and restless childhood, his rocky start in acting, the death of his son, his star-making relationship with director Sydney Pollack, the creation of Sundance, his political activism, his artistic successes and failures, his friendships and romances. This is a candid, surprising portrait of a man whose iconic roles on-screen (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, The Natural) and directorial brilliance (Ordinary People, Quiz Show) have both defined and obscured one of the most celebrated, and, until now, least understood, public figures of our time.From the Hardcover edition.
Robert Schumann and the Study of Orchestral Composition: The Genesis of the First Symphony, Op. 38
by Jon W. FinsonRobert Schumann sketched his First Symphony in only four days--a remarkable feat for an artist poorly versed in the genre. In this study, Jon Finson examines these sketches to show how the composer's experience with symphonic composition and his autodidactic course in orchestration assisted in the rapid fashioning of this symphony--a work deliberately calculated to establish his reputation as a major artist. Finson also provides examples of the autograph score and subsequent editions of the Spring Symphony to reveal Schumann's empirical method of orchestration and his concern for the exigencies of performance.
Robert Shaw: An Actor's Life on the Set of JAWS and Beyond
by Christopher Shaw MyersRobert Shaw, the iconic star of Steven Spielberg&’s Jaws, comes boisterously to life in an up-close-and-personal biography that reveals the brilliant actor, esteemed playwright, prize-winning novelist, and loving and hard-living family man as never before.Robert Shaw unforgettably commanded attention as the weathered seaman Captain Quint in the blockbuster sensation, Jaws. But what came before and after that landmark film is as dramatic as the hunt for the great white shark itself.Capturing the many facets of the vibrant, generous, and sometimes polarizing man is his nephew, Christopher, who explores the forces that shaped a dynamic personality—including Robert&’s indomitable mother, his deeply troubled father, and his activist sister, Joanna, with whom Robert shared an unbreakable bond. Out of the traumatic events of their childhood in the Orkney Islands and Cornwall, Mrs. Shaw pushed her children to pursue their dreams. For Robert, that dream was acting and writing.Despite a storied career on the British and American stage—as both performer and playwright—and a string of hit films including From Russia with Love, A Man for All Seasons, The Sting, and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, international celebrity eluded Robert . . . until he was summoned to star in &“a little horror film&” called Jaws.What happened on-screen was unforgettable. What happened off-screen was chaos. Now Christopher Shaw Myers reveals the true story of the making of the classic. Jaws would become both an artistic success and a worldwide triumph for Robert Shaw. Tragically, for a man shadowed by his father&’s demons, it would also signal the beginning of the end.Drawing on family recollections, personal letters, scrapbooks, recordings, extensive interviews, and a lifetime of his own memories, Christopher paints a unique, intimate, and honest portrait of a man he was proud to call his uncle.
Robert Smithson, Land Art, and Speculative Realities (Routledge Research in Art History)
by Rory O'DeaThis book explores the ways Robert Smithson’s art revealed and defamiliarized the constructs of rational reality in order to allow radically speculative alternatives to emerge. In this way, his art is conceived as a true fiction that eradicates a false reality. By tracing the web of correspondences between Smithson and science fictional, speculative and mystical modes of thought, Rory O’Dea explores the aesthetic encounters engendered by his art as a means to warp the contours of reality and loosen the boundaries of being human. Given the current and impending catastrophes of the Anthropocene, which represents the ever-expanding planetary shadow cast by humanism, the possibility of being other-than-human posited by Smithson’s art is a matter of urgent concern. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, contemporary art, American studies and environmental humanities.
Robert Taylor: Male Beauty, Masculinity, and Stardom in Hollywood
by Gillian KellyBecause of his lengthy screen resume that includes almost eighty appearances in such movies as Camille and Waterloo Bridge, as well as a marriage and divorce to actress Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor was a central figure of Hollywood’s classical era. Despite this, he can be regarded as a “lost” star, an interesting contradiction given the continued success he enjoyed during his lifetime. In Robert Taylor: Male Beauty, Masculinity, and Stardom in Hollywood, author Gillian Kelly investigates the initial construction and subsequent developments of Taylor's star persona across his thirty-five-year career. By examining concepts of male beauty, men as object of the erotic gaze, white American masculinity, and the unusual longevity of a career initially based on looks, Kelly highlights how gender, masculinity, and male stars and the ageing process affected Taylor's career. Placing Taylor within the histories of both Hollywood’s classical era and mid-twentieth-century America, this study positions him firmly within the wider industrial, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts in which he worked. Kelly examines Taylor’s film and television work as well as ephemeral material, such as fan magazines, to assess how his on- and off-screen personas were created and developed over time. Taking a mostly chronological approach, Kelly places Taylor’s persona within specific historical moments in order to show the complex paradox of his image remaining consistently recognizable while also shifting seamlessly within the Hollywood industry. Furthermore, she explores Taylor’s importance to Hollywood cinema by demonstrating how a star persona like his can “fit” so well, and for so long, that it almost becomes invisible and, eventually, almost forgotten.
Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown: SuperCrit #2 (Supercrit)
by Kester Rattenbury Samantha HardinghamThe Supercrit series revisits some of the most influential architectural projects of the recent past and examines their impact on the way we think and design today. Based on live studio debates between protagonists and critics, the books describe, explore and criticise these major projects.This second book in the unprecedented series examines Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown's infamous book which overturned the barriers separating high architecture from the commercial architecture of the Strip.In Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown: Learning from Las Vegas you can hear the couple's project description, see the drawings and join in the crit. This innovative and compelling book is an invaluable resource for any architecture student.
Robert W. Tebbs, Photographer to Architects: Louisiana Plantations in 1926
by Richard Anthony Lewis Robert J. Jr.One of the finest architectural photographers in America, Robert W. Tebbs produced the first photographic survey of Louisiana's plantations in 1926. From those images, now housed in the Louisiana State Museum, and not widely available until now, 119 plates showcasing fifty-two homes are featured here. Richard Anthony Lewis explores Tebbs's life and career, situating his work along the line of plantation imagery from nineteenth-century woodcuts and paintings to later twentieth-century photographs by John Clarence Laughlin, among others. Providing the family lineage and construction history of each home, Lewis discusses photographic techniques Tebbs used in his alternating panoramic and detail views. A precise documentarian, Tebbs also reveals a poetic sensibility in the plantation photos. His frequent emphasis on aspects of decay, neglect, incompleteness, and loss lends a wistful aura to many of the images -- an effect compounded by the fact that many of the homes no longer exist. This noticeable vacillation between objectivity and sentiment, Lewis shows, suggests unfamiliarity and even discomfort with the legacy of slavery. Poised on the brink of social and political reforms, Louisiana in the mid-1920s had made significant strides away from the slave-based agricultural economy that the plantation house often symbolized. Tebbs's Louisiana plantation photographs capture a literal and cultural past, reflecting a burgeoning national awareness of historic preservation and presenting plantations to us anew. Select plantations included: Ashland/Belle Helene, Avery Island, Belle Chasse, Belmont, Butler-Greenwood, L'Hermitage, Oak Alley, Parlange, René Beauregard House, Rosedown, Seven Oaks, Shadows-on-the-Teche, The Shades, and Waverly.
Robert Warren's Guide to Painting Water Scenes
by Robert WarrenPaint a lazy stream or crashing waves with ease!The path to better water-themed paintings has never been clearer. Celebrated teacher and television artist Robert Warren presents a liberating new approach to painting that begins with acrylics and finishes with oils for impressive, luminous effects unlike any other method. Learn how to paint a favorite but ever-changing and complex subject in easy-to-follow steps!Inside you'll find:Complete, illustrated instruction on this exciting technique in which an acrylic underpainting and directly applied value plan set the stage for oil-painting success12 fun step-by-step projects (plus line drawings) you can finish in a few hoursLessons and tips for mastering water in all its forms, including oceans, rivers, lakes, falls, ponds, reflections and moreThe simple solution to overworked, underwhelming oil paintings!No matter your skill level, perfect results are just pages away. So proven is Warren's method for portraying all different types of water that you will undoubtedly want to try it for every subject you paint!
Robert Williams: Conversations (Conversations with Comic Artists Series)
by Joseph R. Givens and Darius A. SpiethA legendary figure of underground comix, Robert Williams (b. 1943) is an important social chronicler of American popular culture. The interviews assembled in Robert Williams: Conversations attest to his rhetorical powers, which match the high level of energy evident in his underground comix and action-filled canvases.The public perception of Williams was largely defined by two events. In 1987, Guns N’ Roses licensed a Williams painting for the cover of their best-selling album Appetite for Destruction. However, Williams’s cover art stirred controversies and was moved to the inside of the album. The second defining event was Williams’s participation in the Helter Skelter exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in 1992. Protests ensued when a room was set aside to feature his work. Uncovering long-forgotten and hard-to-find interviews, this collection serves as a social chronicle of counterculture from the 1960s through the early 2000s. One of the founders of the original ZAP Comix collective in the 1960s, Williams drew inspiration from pulp fiction, hot rod culture, pin-up girls, and traditional academic art. He invented the comics character Cootchy Cooty and worked for the studios of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. He rubbed shoulders with outlaw motorcycle gangs and tested the legal limits of what was permissible comic book art during his day. He has often been described as a figure courting scandal and controversy, a reputation he discusses repeatedly in some of the interviews here. Since the 1980s, Williams has emerged as a force in the fine art world, raising interesting questions about how painting and comic art interrelate.
Robert Wilson (Routledge Performance Practitioners)
by Maria ShevtsovaRobert Wilson is an American–European director who is also a performer, installation artist, writer, designer of light and much more besides – a crossover polymath who dissolves both generic and geographical boundaries and is a precursor of globalisation in the arts. This second edition of Robert Wilson combines: an analysis of his main productions, situated in their American and European socio-cultural and political contexts a focused, detailed study of Wilson’s pathbreaking Einstein on the Beach a study of Pushkin's Fairy Tales as the foremost example of his folk-rock music theatre in the twenty-first century an exploration of his ‘visual book’, workshop and rehearsal methods, and collaborative procedures a study of his aesthetic principles and the elements of composition that distinguish his directorial approach a series of practical exercises for students and practitioners highlighting Wilson’s technique. As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners offer unbeatable value for today’s student.
Robert and James Adam, Architects of the Age of Enlightenment (The Enlightenment World #23)
by Ariyuki KondoDuring the second half of the eighteenth century British architecture moved away from the dominant school of classicism in favour of a more creative freedom of expression. At the forefront of this change were architect brothers Robert and James Adam. Kondo’s work places them within the context of eighteenth-century intellectual thought.
Roberto Rossellini
by Peter BrunetteThis is the first full-length study in any language of the most significant film director of Italian Neorealism. Peter Brunette combines close analyses of Roberto Rossellini's formal and narrative style with a thorough account of his position in the political and cultural landscape of postwar Italy. More than forty films are explored, including Open City, Paisan, Voyage to Italy, The Rise to Power of Louis XIV, and films made in the director's later years that documented crucial epochs in human history. Brunette's book is based on eight years of research, during which he interviewed members of the director's family as well as Rossellini himself. Brunette also draws on an enormous body of European and American criticism and discusses the various intellectual debates spawned by the director's work. This landmark study is both a comprehensive introduction to one of the most influential practitioners of the contemporary cinema and a boldly original discussion of Italian Neorealism. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1996.
Roberts' Illustrated Millwork Catalog: A Sourcebook of Turn-of-the-Century Architectural Woodwork (Dover Woodworking)
by Roberts Co.When E. L. Roberts & Co. -- a Chicago-based wholesale manufacturer of architectural woodwork -- issued a catalog of its millwork products in 1903, the firm boasted that the publication included "more novel and useful features ... than any sash and door catalogue yet published," and that it was a book designed to satisfy "critical buyers who demand stylish and tasteful goods."This volume, reproduced directly from a rare turn-of-the-century Roberts catalog, displays a vast assortment of finely crafted products -- from window blinds, brackets, china closets, church fittings, doors, frames, gable finishes, linen closets, moldings, and office furniture to parquet floors, sashes, shingles, side boards, side lights, store fronts, wainscoting, and windows.Nearly 300 sharply defined line drawings and photographs also provide detailed close-ups of exquisitely carved rosettes, head blocks, grilles, arches, and other decorative accents. Included in these illustrations are superb views of late-Victorian interiors finished with ornately carved balusters and newel posts, paneled walls, exquisite filigree, lovely stained glass windows, and magnificent fireplace mantels.Here's a practical source of plans and ideas for architects, students of architectural history, carpentry enthusiasts, preservationists, restorationists, and anyone interested in the interior design and furnishings of a bygone era.
Robin Boyd: A life
by Geoffrey SerleRobin Boyd, gifted architect, writer, teacher and social commentator, was the leading Australian propagandist for the International Modern Movement in architecture. In partnership with Roy Grounds and Frederick Romberg, he was noted for his innovative domestic buildings. Indeed the suburban home was often a focus of Boyd's thinking, writing and criticism, and in Australia's Home (1952) he provided the first substantial interpretation of Australia's architectural history. But the most popular and controversial of Boyd's nine books was The Australian Ugliness (1960) in which he scourged prevailing tastes in both architecture and popular culture.The sentiments he expressed here made him one of Australia's liveliest social critics. But his criticism sprang from patriotism and ambition for his country. Boyd was a very private man who left few personal letters or records. In this highly acclaimed and beautifully-illustrated book Geoffrey Serle writes predominantly about Boyd's work and public activities, allowing key selections from Boyd's writings to reveal the inner man.
Robin Boyd: Spatial Continuity
by Louise Wright Mauro BaraccoAustralian architect Robin Boyd (1919–1971) advocated tirelessly for the voice of Australian architects so that there could be an architecture that might speak to Australian conditions and sensibilities.His legacy continues in the work of contemporary Australian architects yet also prompts a way forward for architecture particularly in relationship to the landscapes they inhabit through a quality of continuous space found in his work where the buildings are spatially reliant and sympathetic to the places they occupy. A selection of 22 projects are documented comprehensively in this book for the first time. This slice through Boyd’s body of work reveals a gifted, complex and contemporary thinker.
Robin Hopper Ceramics: A Lifetime of Works, Ideas and Teachings
by Robin HopperLearn the art of ceramics with a master! Step into the studio with master artist Robin Hopper as he opens the door to his more than 50-year exploration of ceramics in Robin Hopper Ceramics. Discover the "hows" and "whys" behind Robin's artistry while he shares his innovative insight, personal reflection and life's work. Robin Hopper Ceramics paints an intriguing self-portrait of the man within the legendary artist, teacher and arts activist as it urges artists to push themselves further in their work. More than 400 photos and illustrations showcase finished pieces, ideas and instructions ceramists can easily apply to their own work. Join Robin as he inspires and instructs artists on topics including form, surface, function, design, development and themes. This is the one autobiography that all ceramic artists should have in their studios to exhilarate, educate and encourage them to explore!
Robin Vizzone's Peculiar Primitives: A Collection of Eclectic Projects
by Robin VizzoneStitches that tell a story Primitive lines harken back to our American roots, reminding us of simpler times. Embrace the beauty of hand stitching with whimsical, age-worn designs. From wall quilts to table toppers and primitive dolls to pincushions, you'll sew 12 handcrafted projects with eccentric flair and distinct character—ideal for both beginners and more experienced sewists. Your stitches are meant to tell a story, so put perfection to the side as you create memories with felted wool, distressed cottons, and embroidery thread. • Sew 12 eclectic designs using felted wool appliqué and hand embroidery • Embrace perfectly imperfect construction that truly embodies the primitive look • Savor slow sewing while making handmade gifts for those you love
Robin Williams Design Workshop (2nd Edition)
by Robin Williams John TollettLearn design theory and practical know-how from the award-winning author/design team, Robin Williams and John Tollett! Robin Williams introduced design and typographic principles to legions of readers with her best-selling Non-Designer's book series. Now she and designer/co-author John Tollett take you to the next level of creative design with practical advice and lessons in composition, visual impact, and design challenges. Presented in Robin and John's signature style--writing that is so crystal clear, it's accessible to absolutely anyone--and illustrated with hundreds of full-color design examples, the ideas in this book tackle design theory, visual puns, and layout and graphics strategies for real-world projects. Developing designers will appreciate the authors' imaginative approach and well-chosen examples. Discover practical and effective design principles and concepts--and how to apply them to virtually any project. Learn why some designs are attention-getting and others are not. Learn how to choose just the right look--corporate or casual, classic or trendy--for specific types of projects, such as business cards, letterhead and envelopes, newsletters and brochures, logos, advertising, and more. Test your design acumen by comparing before-and-after examples. Find a wealth of inspiration for your own design projects. Gain insight into the design process by studying the work of guest designers, who offer their personal commentary and insights.
Robin Williams: A Singular Portrait, 1986-2002
by Arthur GraceI had always thought that when I was around 84 and Robin was 80 we could collaborate on a book about the golden years of his career where he could look at my photographs and reminisce about the events and his feelings at the time. Unfortunately, that book was never to be . . . .Photographer Arthur Grace first met Robin Williams in April 1986, at a comedy club in Pittsburgh where Williams was working to polish what would eventually become his award-winning special "Evening at the Met". The two hit it off immediately, and thus blossomed a close friendship that carried them through their increasingly successful careers. Told through a series of stunning photographs of Williams taken by Grace over the course of this decades-long partnership, Robin Williams: A Singular Portrait offers a touching and up-close look at the real Robin Williams-the manic and happy, the pensive and weary, the engaged and disengaged, a true portrait of one of America's greatest comics and most beloved actors.For the millions of people around the globe that Robin Williams has touched, these images, more than 150 photographs, a glorious mixture of stunning color and resonating black and white presented in exhibit format, will be something to embrace and cherish, not simply because of their exclusivity, but because of their intimacy and their honesty.
Robin Wood on the Horror Film: Collected Essays and Reviews (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series)
by Barry Keith Grant Robin Wood Richard LippeRobin Wood—one of the foremost critics of cinema—has laid the groundwork for anyone writing about the horror film in the last half-century. Wood’s interest in horror spanned his entire career and was a form of popular cinema to which he devoted unwavering attention. Robin Wood on the Horror Film: Collected Essays and Reviews compiles over fifty years of his groundbreaking critiques. In September 1979, Wood and Richard Lippe programmed an extensive series of horror films for the Toronto International Film Festival and edited a companion piece: The American Nightmare: Essays on the Horror Film — the first serious collection of critical writing on the horror genre. Robin Wood on the Horror Film now contains all of Wood’s writings from The American Nightmare and nearly everything else he wrote over the years on horror—published in a range of journals and magazines—gathered together for the first time. It begins with the first essay Wood ever published, "Psychoanalysis of Psycho," which appeared in 1960 and already anticipated many of the ideas explored later in his touchstone book, Hitchcock’s Films. The volume ends, fittingly, with, "What Lies Beneath?," written almost five decades later, an essay in which Wood reflects on the state of the horror film and criticism since the genre’s renaissance in the 1970s. Wood’s prose is eloquent, lucid, and convincing as he brings together his parallel interests in genre, authorship, and ideology. Deftly combining Marxist, Freudian, and feminist theory, Wood’s prolonged attention to classic and contemporary horror films explains much about the genre’s meanings and cultural functions. Robin Wood on the Horror Film will be an essential addition to the library of anyone interested in horror, science fiction, and film genre.
Robin and the Making of American Adolescence (Comics Culture)
by Lauren R. O'ConnorHoly adolescence, Batman! Robin and the Making of American Adolescence offers the first character history and analysis of the most famous superhero sidekick, Robin. Debuting just a few months after Batman himself, Robin has been an integral part of the Dark Knight’s history—and debuting just a few months prior to the word “teenager” first appearing in print, Robin has from the outset both reflected and reinforced particular images of American adolescence. Closely reading several characters who have “played” Robin over the past eighty years, Robin and the Making of American Adolescence reveals the Boy (and sometimes Girl!) Wonder as a complex figure through whom mainstream culture has addressed anxieties about adolescents in relation to sexuality, gender, and race. This book partners up comics studies and adolescent studies as a new Dynamic Duo, following Robin as he swings alongside the ever-changing American teenager and finally shining the Bat-signal on the latter half of “Batman and—.”
RoboCop (Constellations)
by Omar AhmedRoboCop was Dutch director Paul Verhoeven's first American film, and was both a commercial and (surprise) critical hit on release in 1987. Marking its thirtieth anniversary, this volume explores the film from a variety of critical approaches, including re-reading RoboCop as a Western; the neo-fascist corporatization of the human body; satire, late-Reagan America and the rise of neo-liberalism; resurrection, death, and the figure of the cyborg in science fiction; and the legacy of the film across American cinema and within Verhoeven's own body of work, which includes Total Recall and Starship Troopers, both of which develop further ideological interests about American culture. "I'd buy that for a dollar!"