French Blockbusters : Cultural Politics of a Transnational Cinema /
Michael, Charlie
French Blockbusters : Cultural Politics of a Transnational Cinema / Charlie Michael. - 1 online resource (256 p.) : 26 B/W illustrations - Traditions in World Cinema : TWC .
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Traditions in World Cinema -- Foreword -- Introduction: French Blockbusters? -- 1. The Lang Plan and its Aftermath -- 2. Popular French Cinema and ‘Cultural Diversity’ -- 3. The Debatable Destiny of Amélie Poulain -- 4. Valerian and the Planet of a Thousand Critics -- 5. Countercurrents in French Action Cinema -- 6. Serial (Bad?) French Comedies -- Conclusion: A Disputed Heritage -- Index
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
Rethinks the transnational dimensions of the contemporary French film industryThe digitised spectacles conjured by a word like ‘blockbuster’ may create a certain cognitive dissonance with received ideas about French cinema – long celebrated as a model for philosophical, economic and aesthetic resistance to globalised popular culture. While the Gallic ‘cultural exception’ remains a forceful current to this day, this book shows how the onslaught of Hollywood mega-franchises and new media platforms since the 1980s has also provoked an overtly commercialised response from French producers eager to redefine the stakes and scope of their own traditions.Cutting a swath through recent French-produced cinema, French Blockbusters offers the first book-length consideration of the theoretical implications, historical impact and cultural consequences of recent popular films that are rapidly changing what it means to make – or to see – a ‘French’ film today. From English-language action vehicles like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (Besson, 2017) to revisionist historical films like Of Gods and Men (Beauvois, 2011) and crowd-pleasing comedies like Intouchables (Toledano & Nakache, 2011), the variously filiated ‘local blockbusters’ from contemporary France brim with the seeds of cultural contradiction, but also with the energy of a counter-history.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9781474424233 9781474424240
10.1515/9781474424240 doi
Blockbusters (Motion pictures)--History--France--20th century.
Motion pictures--Political aspects--France.
Transnationalism in motion pictures.
Film, Media & Cultural Studies.
HISTORY / Europe / France.
PN1993.5.F8 / M53 2019
791.430944
French Blockbusters : Cultural Politics of a Transnational Cinema / Charlie Michael. - 1 online resource (256 p.) : 26 B/W illustrations - Traditions in World Cinema : TWC .
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Traditions in World Cinema -- Foreword -- Introduction: French Blockbusters? -- 1. The Lang Plan and its Aftermath -- 2. Popular French Cinema and ‘Cultural Diversity’ -- 3. The Debatable Destiny of Amélie Poulain -- 4. Valerian and the Planet of a Thousand Critics -- 5. Countercurrents in French Action Cinema -- 6. Serial (Bad?) French Comedies -- Conclusion: A Disputed Heritage -- Index
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
Rethinks the transnational dimensions of the contemporary French film industryThe digitised spectacles conjured by a word like ‘blockbuster’ may create a certain cognitive dissonance with received ideas about French cinema – long celebrated as a model for philosophical, economic and aesthetic resistance to globalised popular culture. While the Gallic ‘cultural exception’ remains a forceful current to this day, this book shows how the onslaught of Hollywood mega-franchises and new media platforms since the 1980s has also provoked an overtly commercialised response from French producers eager to redefine the stakes and scope of their own traditions.Cutting a swath through recent French-produced cinema, French Blockbusters offers the first book-length consideration of the theoretical implications, historical impact and cultural consequences of recent popular films that are rapidly changing what it means to make – or to see – a ‘French’ film today. From English-language action vehicles like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (Besson, 2017) to revisionist historical films like Of Gods and Men (Beauvois, 2011) and crowd-pleasing comedies like Intouchables (Toledano & Nakache, 2011), the variously filiated ‘local blockbusters’ from contemporary France brim with the seeds of cultural contradiction, but also with the energy of a counter-history.
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
In English.
9781474424233 9781474424240
10.1515/9781474424240 doi
Blockbusters (Motion pictures)--History--France--20th century.
Motion pictures--Political aspects--France.
Transnationalism in motion pictures.
Film, Media & Cultural Studies.
HISTORY / Europe / France.
PN1993.5.F8 / M53 2019
791.430944