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Learn moreWhy do people feel the need to create images of violence, and why do audiences continually watch them? This work brings together the multiple disciplines of psychology, criminology, censorship and anthropology in a study of 40 years of violent American cinema. The 40 years are divided between two volumes. The first volume looks at "American Chaos" from the films "Touch of Evil" to "Brazil". This second volume covers "Millenial Blues" between the films "Apocalypse Now" and "The Edge". Jake Horsley raises a dialogue between scholars and movie buffs as readers struggle to find their own answers to the connection between the need to portray and the need to watch violent films. The study shows the readers how to use violent film as a text with which to analyze society, but without losing touch with the aesthetic qualities of the films themselves. The author uses films such as "Psycho", "A Clockwork Orange", "M.A.S.H." and "Blade Runner". Together, the volumes aim to provide both a critical overview of the films themselves and a cultural study of the social and psychological factors relating to the demand for screen violence.
Jake Horsley seems to arrive from out of nowhere, yet here he is an almost fully-developed and only slightly stoned sensibility. This hothead fantasist offers the excitement of a wild, paranoid style. he lives in the movies, explodes them from the inside, and shares his fevered trance with us. But he doesn't lose his analytic good sense. he's not just a hothead, he's a hardhead, too. Maybe he could use more humor, but couldn't we all? (Intelligent movie criticism is being swamped in seriousness.) He's a marvelous critic. Tackling a new movie, he'll hang in there until he's balanced and sound. It's always a surprise.
| Acknowledgments | p. ix |
| Foreword | p. xi |
| Pulp Culture--Brute Expressions of Rage | |
| Dark Hearts and Knuckleheads | p. 1 |
| Apocalypse Now | |
| Raging Bull | |
| Victims | p. 19 |
| Blow Out | |
| Casualties of War | |
| Wastelands | p. 36 |
| The Warriors | |
| Southern Comfort | |
| The Road Warrior | |
| Age of Monsters: The World According to Oliver Stone | p. 46 |
| Midnight Express | |
| Scarface | |
| Year of the Dragon | |
| Salvador | |
| Platoon | |
| Return of the Id--The Suburbia of Corruption | |
| Scorsese's Ape | p. 67 |
| The King of Comedy | |
| Mysteries | p. 78 |
| Eraserhead | |
| Blue Velvet | |
| A Walk on the Wild Side: Deconstructing the Yuppie | p. 108 |
| Something Wild | |
| After Hours | |
| Something Wicked This Way Comes | p. 121 |
| The Stepfather | |
| The Player | |
| Hollywood Uber Alles--Here Come the Designer Fascists | |
| Chaos by Design: The Action Revenge Fantasy | p. 135 |
| Death Wish | |
| First Blood | |
| Die Hard | |
| Genocide Popularized: Schwarzenegger and the Holocaust Franchise | p. 155 |
| True Lies | |
| American Psychosis: Freddy Krueger and the Dark Side of the Dream | p. 164 |
| A Nightmare on Elm Street | |
| Cannibals in Hollywood: Trashing the Artist | p. 173 |
| Wild at Heart | |
| Silence of the Lambs | |
| Cape Fear | |
| Everything Is Permitted: The Comedy of Nihilism | |
| TV Babies and Movie Blues: The Rise and Rise of Independent Cinema | p. 199 |
| Repo Man | |
| Drugstore Cowboy | |
| The New Brothers Grimm: Joel and Ethan Coen | p. 212 |
| Raising Arizona | |
| Barton Fink | |
| Fargo | |
| Trouble and Desire: Quentin Tarantino's Theatre of the Absurd | p. 223 |
| Reservoir Dogs | |
| True Romance | |
| Pulp Fiction | |
| Last Rites/Last Kicks: The Rodriguez Syndrome | p. 249 |
| El Mariachi/Desperado | |
| Roadracers/The Faculty | |
| From Dusk Till Dawn | |
| Murder in the Millennium--The Metaphysical Strain towards Darkness | |
| Neo-Noir: Early Omens | p. 271 |
| Angel Heart | |
| Near Dark | |
| The Hitcher | |
| Jacob's Ladder | |
| The Evolution of Demons | p. 294 |
| Natural Born Killers | |
| The Devil's Testament | p. 334 |
| Se7en | |
| The Usual Suspects | |
| 8mm | |
| Chasing the Dragon: Split Identities at the End of Time | p. 364 |
| "Twin Peaks" | |
| "The X-Files" | |
| "Millennium" | |
| Lost Highway | |
| Epilogue: Beyond Apocalypse--Yesterday's Hero | p. 407 |
| Bram Stoker's Dracula | |
| Unforgiven | |
| Fearless | |
| Braveheart | |
| Dead Man | |
| Flesh and Bone | |
| The Edge | |
| The Matrix | |
| Bibliography | p. 461 |
| Index | p. 467 |
| About the Author | p. 483 |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780810836709
ISBN-10: 081083670X
Series: Filmmakers : Book 2
Audience:
General
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 502
Published: 3rd November 1999
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 21.59 x 13.97
x 2.85
Weight (kg): 0.63
