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Fantastic Planets, Forbidden Zones, and Lost Continents: The 100 Greatest Science-Fiction Films
by Douglas BrodeWhether you judge by box office receipts, industry awards, or critical accolades, science fiction films are the most popular movies now being produced and distributed around the world. Nor is this phenomenon new. Sci-fi filmmakers and audiences have been exploring fantastic planets, forbidden zones, and lost continents ever since George Méliès’ 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. In this highly entertaining and knowledgeable book, film historian and pop culture expert Douglas Brode picks the one hundred greatest sci-fi films of all time. Brode’s list ranges from today’s blockbusters to forgotten gems, with surprises for even the most informed fans and scholars. He presents the movies in chronological order, which effectively makes this book a concise history of the sci-fi film genre. A striking (and in many cases rare) photograph accompanies each entry, for which Brode provides a numerical rating, key credits and cast members, brief plot summary, background on the film’s creation, elements of the moviemaking process, analysis of the major theme(s), and trivia. He also includes fun outtakes, including his top ten lists of Fifties sci-fi movies, cult sci-fi, least necessary movie remakes, and “so bad they’re great” classics—as well as the ten worst sci-fi movies (“those highly ambitious films that promised much and delivered nil”). So climb aboard spaceship Brode and journey to strange new worlds from Metropolis (1927) to Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
Fantastic Planets, Forbidden Zones, and Lost Continents: The 100 Greatest Science-Fiction Films
by Douglas BrodeWhether you judge by box office receipts, industry awards, or critical accolades, science fiction films are the most popular movies now being produced and distributed around the world. Nor is this phenomenon new. Sci-fi filmmakers and audiences have been exploring fantastic planets, forbidden zones, and lost continents ever since George Méliès’ 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. In this highly entertaining and knowledgeable book, film historian and pop culture expert Douglas Brode picks the one hundred greatest sci-fi films of all time. Brode’s list ranges from today’s blockbusters to forgotten gems, with surprises for even the most informed fans and scholars. He presents the movies in chronological order, which effectively makes this book a concise history of the sci-fi film genre. A striking (and in many cases rare) photograph accompanies each entry, for which Brode provides a numerical rating, key credits and cast members, brief plot summary, background on the film’s creation, elements of the moviemaking process, analysis of the major theme(s), and trivia. He also includes fun outtakes, including his top ten lists of Fifties sci-fi movies, cult sci-fi, least necessary movie remakes, and “so bad they’re great” classics—as well as the ten worst sci-fi movies (“those highly ambitious films that promised much and delivered nil”). So climb aboard spaceship Brode and journey to strange new worlds from Metropolis (1927) to Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
Fantastic Transmedia: Narrative, Play and Memory Across Science Fiction and Fantasy Storyworlds
by Colin B. HarveyContemporary culture is packed with fantasy and science fiction storyworlds extending across multiple media platforms. This book explores the myriad ways in which imaginary worlds use media like films, novels, videogames, comic books, toys and increasingly user-generated content to captivate and energise contemporary audiences.
Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination: Georges Méliès's Trip to the Moon (SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema)
by Matthew Solomon"Best moving pictures I ever saw." Thus did one Vaudeville theater manager describe Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon [Le Voyage dans la lune], after it was screened for enthusiastic audiences in October 1902. Cinema's first true blockbuster, A Trip to the Moon still inspires such superlatives and continues to be widely viewed on DVD, on the Internet, and in countless film courses. In Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination, leading film scholars examine Méliès's landmark film in detail, demonstrating its many crucial connecions to literature, popular culture, and visual culture of the time, as well as its long "afterlife" in more recent films, television, and music videos. Together, these essays make clear that Méliès was not only a major filmmaker but also a key figure in the emergence of modern spectacle and the birth of the modern cinematic imagination, and by bringing interdisciplinary methodologies of early cinema studies to bear on A Trip to the Moon, the contributors also open up much larger questions about aesthetics, media, and modernity.In his introduction, Matthew Solomon traces the convoluted provenance of the film's multiple versions and its key place in the historiography of cinema, and an appendix contains a useful dossier of primary-source documents that contextualize the film's production, along with translations of two major articles written by Méliès himself.
Fantasy (Routledge Film Guidebooks)
by Claire Hines Jacqueline FurbyFantasy addresses a previously neglected area within film studies. The book looks at the key aesthetics, themes, debates and issues at work within this popular genre and examines films and franchises that illustrate these concerns. Contemporary case studies include: Alice in Wonderland (2010) Avatar (2009) The Dark Knight (2008) Edward Scissorhands (1990) Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-2007) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) Shrek (2001) Twelve Monkeys (1995) The authors also consider fantasy film and its relationship to myth, legend and fairy tale, examining its important role in contemporary culture. The book provides an historical overview of the genre, its influences and evolution, placing fantasy film within the socio-cultural contexts of production and consumption and with reference to relevant theory and critical debates. This is the perfect introduction to the world of fantasy film and investigates the links between fantasy film and gender, fantasy film and race, fantasy film and psychoanalysis, fantasy film and technology, fantasy film storytelling and spectacle, fantasy film and realism, fantasy film and adaptation, and fantasy film and time.
Fantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums and Genres (AFI Film Readers)
by Christopher Holliday Alexander SergeantThis book examines the relationship that exists between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. Animation has played a key role in defining our collective expectations and experiences of fantasy cinema, just as fantasy storytelling has often served as inspiration for our most popular animated film and television. Bringing together contributions from world-renowned film and media scholars, Fantasy/Animation considers the various historical, theoretical, and cultural ramifications of the animated fantasy film. This collection provides a range of chapters on subjects including Disney, Pixar, and Studio Ghibli, filmmakers such as Ralph Bakshi and James Cameron, and on film and television franchises such as Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon (2010–) and HBO’s Game of Thrones (2011–).
Fantasy Farm Amusement Park
by Scott E. FowlerNot many developers would build an amusement park next door to the successful LeSourdsville Lake amusement park, but Edgar Streifthau was a one-of-a-kind man in Butler County, Ohio. Streifthau, the original owner of LeSourdsville, was forced to sell his beloved park, but he still had the amusement-park bug, and in 1963 he built Fantasy Farm directly next to LeSourdsville. Fantasy Farm's audience was young children, and the concept was successful for decades. The two parks coexisted for 28 years despite periodically appearing in court opposite each other. In 1982, Streifthau sold Fantasy Farm to local carnival owner William Johnson, who ran the park for another decade before finally becoming a victim of the economy. Johnson closed Fantasy Farm in 1991 and sold off all of its assets.
Fantasy Film Post 9/11
by Frances Pheasant-KellyExamining a range of fantasy films released in the past decade, Pheasant-Kelly looks at why these films are meaningful to current audiences. The imagery and themes reflecting 9/11, millennial anxieties, and environmental disasters have furthered fantasy's rise to dominance as they allow viewers to work through traumatic memories of these issues.
Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It
by Matthew BerryAn inside look at the world of fantasy sports from America's most trusted name in the industry. Berry explores the increasingly ubiquitious world of fantasy sports. Every year, millions of people spend their time assembling, managing and obsessing over fantasy teams.
Far Beyond The Stars (Star Trek)
by Steven BarnesWithout warning, Benjamin Sisko is living another life. No longer a Starfleet captain, commander of space station Deep Space Nine, he is Benny Russell, a struggling science fiction writer living in 1950s Harlem. Benny has a dream, of a place called Deep Space Nine and a man named Ben Sisko, and a story he has to tell. But is the Earth of that era ready for a black science fiction hero? Everyone tells him no, but Benny cannot abandon his dream. One way or another, he will tell the world about Captain Benjamin Sisko and Deep Space Nine.
Far From Heaven, Safe, and Superstar: Three Screenplays
by Todd HaynesThree acclaimed screenplays from one of today’s most provocative filmmakers, including the Oscar nominated screenplay Far from Heaven. An award-winning auteur and a pioneer of the New Queer Cinema movement, Todd Haynes has achieved both critical acclaim and box office success with his original, intelligent, and often controversial films. Collected here are three of his most celebrated screenplays. Far from Heaven: Winning fifty critics’ prizes and appearing on two hundred Top Ten lists, Far from Heaven was also nominated for four Academy Awards. Inspired by the films of Douglas Sirk, it tells the story of a 1950s housewife who is alienated by her neighbors when she pursues an affair with her African American gardener after learning of her husband’s homosexuality. Safe: Haynes’s breakthrough feature was voted Best Film of the 1990s by the Village Voice Film Critics Poll. It tells the disturbing story of an affluent suburban housewife whose life is shattered by a mysterious illness. One character suggests that perhaps she is “allergic to the twentieth century.” Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story: Told with a cast of Barbie dolls, this short film about Karen Carpenter’s battle with anorexia was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s Top 50 Cult Movies in 2003. Though the film was ordered destroyed after a lawsuit by the Carpenter estate, it remains an underground classic and “the most talked-about, least-seen film of the ’80s” (The A.V. Club).
Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Faber
by Manny Farber Robert PolitoManny Farber (1917-2008) was a unique figure among American movie critics. <P><P>Champion of what he called "termite art" (focused, often eccentric virtuosity as opposed to "white elephant" monumentality), master of a one-of-a-kind prose style whose jazz-like phrasing and incandescent twists and turns made every review an adventure, he has long been revered by his peers. Susan Sontag called him "the liveliest, smartest, most original film critic this country ever produced"; for Peter Bogdanovich, he was "razor-sharp in his perceptions" and "never less than brilliant as a writer."Farber was an early discoverer of many filmmakers later acclaimed as American masters: Val Lewton, Preston Sturges, Samuel Fuller, Raoul Walsh, Anthony Mann. A prodigiously gifted painter himself, he brought to his writing an artist's eye for what was on the screen. Alert to any filmmaker, no matter how marginal or unsung, who was "doing go-for-broke art and not caring what comes of it," he was uncompromising in his contempt for pretension and trendiness, for, as he put it, directors who "pin the viewer to the wall and slug him with wet towels of artiness and significance." The excitement of his criticism, however, has less to do with his particular likes and dislikes than with the quality of attention he paid to each film as it unfolds, to the "chains of rapport and intimate knowledge" in its moment-to-moment reality. To transcribe that knowledge he created a prose that, in Robert Polito's words, allows for "oddities, muddles, crises, contradictions, dead ends, multiple alternatives, and divergent vistas." The result is critical essays that are themselves works of art. Farber on Film brings together this extraordinary body of work in its entirety for the first time, from his early and previously uncollected weekly reviews for The New Republic and The Nation to his brilliant later essays (some written in collaboration with his wife Patricia Patterson) on Godard, Fassbinder, Herzog, Scorsese, Altman, and others. Featuring an introduction by editor Robert Polito that examines in detail the stages of Farber's career and his enduring significance as writer and thinker, Farber on Film is a landmark volume that will be a classic in American criticism.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Fare Thee Well: The Final Chapter of the Grateful Dead's Long, Strange Trip
by Joel Selvin Pamela TurleyA tell-all biography of the epic in-fighting of the Grateful Dead in the years following band leader Jerry Garcia's death in 1995The Grateful Dead rose to greatness under the inspired leadership of guitarist Jerry Garcia, but the band very nearly died along with him. When Garcia passed away suddenly in August of 1995, the remaining band members experienced full crises of confidence and identity. So long defined by Garcia's vision for the group, the surviving "Core Four," as they came to be called, were reduced to conflicting agendas, strained relationships, and catastrophic business decisions that would leave the iconic band in utter disarray. Wrestling with how best to define their living legacy, the band made many attempts at restructuring, but it would take twenty years before relationships were mended enough for the Grateful Dead as fans remembered them to once again take the stage.Acclaimed music journalist and New York Times bestselling author Joel Selvin was there for much of the turmoil following Garcia's death, and he offers a behind-the-scenes account of the ebbs and flows that occurred during the ensuing two decades. Plenty of books have been written about the rise of the Grateful Dead, but this final chapter of the band's history has never before been explored in detail. Culminating in the landmark tour bearing the same name, Fare Thee Well charts the arduous journey from Garcia's passing all the way up to the uneasy agreement between the Core Four that led to the series of shows celebrating the band's fiftieth anniversary and finally allowing for a proper, and joyous, sendoff of the group revered by so many.
Farewell My Concubine
by Helen Hok-Sze LeungA Queer Film Classic: Chen Kaige's 1992 film about two male Peking opera stars and the woman who comes between them; its treatment of gender performance and homosexuality was unprecedented in Chinese film. Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Fargo: This Is a True Story
by Noah HawleyThe making of the acclaimed, award-winning TV show told exactly as it occurred.From bestselling, Edgar Award-winning author Noah Hawley (Before the Fall) comes the perfect collector's item to the hit TV show based on the film Fargo. This companion to the first three seasons of Fargo, which Hawley created and executive produced, is packed with script selections-including all three pilots-candid, behind-the-scenes photography, exclusive interviews with cast and crew, and much, much more.Learn about what makes Lorne Malvo tick in a fascinating conversation with Billy Bob Thornton. Discover Kirsten Dunst's and Jesse Plemons's favorite scenes. Find out what it was like for Ewan McGregor to play both Stussy brothers. Hear from Patrick Wilson, Carrie Coon, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and many others as Hawley, in this gorgeous, illuminating journey, takes you behind the curtain to reveal the making of one of the best shows on television.
Farida Benlyazid and Moroccan Cinema (Palgrave Studies in Arab Cinema)
by Florence MartinThis book project unfolds and analyzes the work of Moroccan director, producer, and scriptwriter Farida Benlyazid, whose career extends from the beginning of cinema in independent Morocco to the present. This study of her work and career provides a unique perspective on an under-represented cinema, the gender politics of cinema in Morocco, and the contribution of Arab women directors to global cinema and to a gendered understanding of Muslim ethics and aesthetics in film. A pioneer in Moroccan cinema, Farida Benlyazid has been successful at negotiating the sometimes abrupt turns of Morocco’s rocky 20th century history: from Morocco under French occupation to the advent of Moroccan independence in 1956; the end of the international status of Tangier, her native city, in 1959; the “years of lead” under the reign of Hassan II; and finally Mohamed VI’s current reign since 1999. As a result, she has a long view of Morocco’s politics of self-representation as well as of the representation of Moroccan women on screen
The Farm That Mac Built
by Tammi SauerThe scarecrow from Old Mac Donald&’s farm emcees a barnyard theater production that collapses into hilarious chaos in this rollicking rendition of &“The House That Jack Built.&” It&’s showtime on Old Mac Donald&’s Farm! The barnyard animals are putting on a play—a farm version of "The House That Jack Built"— but other animals keep taking the stage and interrupting the production. First some rambunctious monkeys, then breakdancing kangaroos . . . there&’s even a pair of singing elephants. Everyone knows that monkeys, kangaroos, and elephants do NOT belong on a farm . . . so what to do? Bursting with sound effects and rollicking repetition that will have kids clamoring for repeat readings, this hilarious mashup of two favorite nursery rhymes shows that perseverance and teamwork pay off, and that sometimes you just have to roll with the unexpected and try to have fun with it.
Farmed Animals on Film: A Manifesto for a New Ethic (The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series)
by Stephen Marcus FinnThis book aims to show how film can increase awareness of the plight of farmed animals without exploiting them. Much has been written on the rights of animals, be they in the wild or circuses, hunted, experimented on, used for entertainment, or slaughtered and consumed. However, there has been little that has examined in any detail the filming of farmed animals, and nothing on a declaration of rights for such animals, thus leaving them in a limbo of neglect. Stephen Marcus Finn offers a manifesto on how to foster the rights of farmed animals in filming sets out to rectify this lacuna.
The Farrows of Hollywood: Their Dark Side of Paradise
by Marilyn Ann MossThe first intimate look at the cracked fairytale life of Hollywood's first family, the Farrows. John Farrow was Hollywood royalty. An Academy Award-winning director and screenwriter, he was married to the talented and beautiful actress Maureen O'Sullivan, best known for playing Jane in Tarzan films with Johnny Weissmuller. Together they had seven children, including esteemed actress Mia Farrow, mother of journalist Ronan Farrow. From the outside, they were a fairytale Hollywood family. But all was not as it seemed.The Farrows of Hollywood: Their Dark Side of Paradise reveals that Mia Farrow's allegations of sexual molestation by Woody Allen of their seven-year-old adopted daughter, Dylan, has roots in Farrow&’s childhood relationship with her father, John Farrow. John was often an abusive father to his children, his wife, and to his co-workers in Hollywood. Called the most disliked man in Hollywood, John Farrow was a tortured, tragic artist and father. He left his children a legacy of trauma and pain that the family kept hidden. It erupted only years later when Mia Farrow unknowingly revealed her pain through her words and behavior in her allegations aimed at Allen.The book includes new research, never-before-revealed interviews with actors who worked with John Farrow, and an original theory from author, biographer, and documentarian Marilyn Ann Moss.
Farscape Forever!: Sex, Drugs and Killer Muppets
by Glenn YeffethScience fiction and fantasy authors analyze every aspect of the innovative, action-packed, and always surprising science fiction television series Farscape in this innovative and irreverent essay collection. Contributors include Martha Wells on characters Crichton and D'Argo's buddy relationship, P. N. Elrod on the villains she loves to hate, and Justina Robson on sex, pleasure, and feminism. Topics range from a look at how Moya was designed and an examination of vulgarity and bodily functions to a tourist's budget guide to the Farscape universe and an expert's advice to the peacekeepers who, despite their viciousness, never quite seem to pull it off. Fun, accessible, entertaining, and insightful, these musings will appeal to every admirer of this intriguing television series.
Fascism and Millennial American Cinema
by Leighton GristThis book examines a spate of American films released around the turn of the millennium that differently address the actuality or possibility of domestic fascism within the USA. The films discussed span a diversity of forms, genres and production practices, and encompass low- and medium-budget studio and independent releases (such as American History X, Stir of Echoes and The Believer), star and/or auteur vehicles (such as The Siege, Fight Club and American Beauty), and high-budget, high-concept science-fiction films and franchises (such as Starship Troopers, Minority Report, the Matrix and X-Men trilogies and the Star Wars prequels). Central to the book is the detailed analysis of the films, which is contextualized historically in relation to a period that saw the significant rise of the far Right. The book concordantly affords a wider insight into fascism and its various manifestations and how such have been, and continue to be, registered within American cinema.
The Fashion Handbook
by Tim Jackson David ShawThe Fashion Handbook is the indispensable guide to the fashion industry. It explores the varied and diverse aspects of the business, bringing together critical concepts with practical information about the industry’s structure and core skills, as well as offering advice on real working practices and providing information about careers and training. Tracing the development of the fashion industry, this book looks at how fashion can be understood from both social and cultural perspectives. Each chapter contributes to the knowledge of a particular academic or vocational area either through building on existing research or through the dissemination of new research undertaken into specialist vocational disciplines. The Fashion Handbook uses case studies, interviews and profiles and includes chapters written by recognised academics and fashion industry experts. Specialist topics include fashion culture, luxury brands, fashion journalism, fashion buying, design and manufacturing, retailing, PR and styling. The Fashion Handbook includes: a unique and wide overview of the fashion industry chapters on specialist topics contributions from recognised experts in both academia and the fashion industry expert advice on careers in fashion retailing. A must for all students of the fashion world.
Fashion in Film (Pocket Editions)
by Christopher LavertyA beautiful compendium of famous fashion designers, their gorgeous creations and the film stars that wore them.Fashion designers have been involved in movies since the early days of cinema. The result is some of the most eye-catching and influential costumes ever committed to film, from Ralph Lauren's trend-setting masculine style for Diane Keaton in Annie Hall to Audrey Hepburn's little black Givenchy dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's.Fashion in Film celebrates the contributions of fashion designers to cinema, exploring key garments, what they mean in context of the narrative, and why they are so memorable. Illustrated with beautiful film stills, fashion images and working sketches, this book will appeal to lovers of both fashion history and cinema.'Put simply, it doesn't matter how many coffee table books you have on fashion or on film: this one is essential, and delightful, and beautiful.' One & Other
Fashion in Film (Pocket Editions)
by Christopher LavertyA beautiful compendium of famous fashion designers, their gorgeous creations and the film stars that wore them.Fashion designers have been involved in movies since the early days of cinema. The result is some of the most eye-catching and influential costumes ever committed to film, from Ralph Lauren's trend-setting masculine style for Diane Keaton in Annie Hall to Audrey Hepburn's little black Givenchy dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's.Fashion in Film celebrates the contributions of fashion designers to cinema, exploring key garments, what they mean in context of the narrative, and why they are so memorable. Illustrated with beautiful film stills, fashion images and working sketches, this book will appeal to lovers of both fashion history and cinema.'Put simply, it doesn't matter how many coffee table books you have on fashion or on film: this one is essential, and delightful, and beautiful.' One & Other
Fashion In Focus: Concepts, Practices and Politics
by Tim EdwardsThe study of fashion has exploded in recent decades, yet what this all means or quite where it might take us is not clear. This new book helps to bring fashion into focus, with a comprehensive guide to the key theories, perspectives and developments in the field. Tim Edwards includes coverage of all the major theories of fashion, including recent scholarship, alongside subcultural analysis and an in-depth look at production. Individual topics include: men’s fashion, masculinity and the suit women’s fashion and the role of sexuality children, the body and fashion the role of celebrity and designer label culture globalisation and the production of fashion. Fashion in Focus is the ideal companion for students in the arts and social sciences, especially those studying issues such as fashion, gender, sexuality and consumer culture.